Mrs. Collins is starting off the day by trying to get the attention of her PreK class. "1,2,3, eyes on me," exclaims Mrs. Collins, expecting attentiveness from her students to begin the lesson.
Mrs. Collins did not receive the response she was hoping for. Instead, most students continued to play, talk, and do whatever they wanted to do.
As if there are not enough distractions in the room already, four and five year old children all have one thing in common... needing to use the restroom at the most inconvenient times. "Mrs. Collins!!!! I gotta go to the potty!!! Bad!!!" said one student just as she had finally gotten the class to calm down.
Mrs. Collins is informing her class that today is Earth Day. She taught a lesson on how to take care of the Earth.
Now it is time for their math lesson. Mrs. Collins said that over the years she has noticed that students learn best by participating in engaging songs with corresponding dance moves.
The children are dancing and singing along to the 1-20 counting song for kids. They truly were engaged and having fun almost as if they didn't realize they were actually learning.
It is time to calm the students down for more learning time after their song and dance break. "Waterfall, waterfall," whispers Mrs. Collins; "SHHHHHH," say the children in unison.
The waterfall attention getter did not work for this student. He was not happy when he was reprimanded for not being on task.
Mrs. Collins has the attention of most of the class while reviewing the calendar. The. children seemed to enjoy the interactive aspect of this part of the lesson.
She pointes out the student that is not engaged in the lesson and reminds him to pay attention. This worked for about 30 seconds and he was back off task again.
Mrs. Collins' lesson is interrupted to zip up a student's jacket. Another thing all PreK students have in common: they love to take their jackets on and of, on and off.
The kids are excited and rush to the active board pointing, jumping, and screaming. The students had just been instructed to remain on their spot about 10 seconds prior.
Mrs. Collins raises her voice to tell them to get back to their spot. "Guys! We do this every day. You know the rules. GET TO YOUR SPOT!"
This student walked to the back of the classroom to ask me to tie his shoe in the middle of the lesson. Another thing all PreK students have in common: their shoes come untied multiple times a day and they have no idea how to tie them.
It is time to practice for their PreK farewell program that they will sing and dance at in a few short weeks. Mrs. Collins lined the students up and prepared them to practice their songs.
The students enjoyed practicing their songs and dance moves. Everyone stayed on task pretty well during this activity with the exception of a few students.
This student was just exhausted after rehearsing for her program. It is tough being a PreK student!
This student was not ready for dance time to be over. He went to the back of the classroom to sneak in a few extra moves.
At the end of the day, Mrs. Collins just laughs it all off. "They're just kids, and even though some days are tough, I wouldn't trade this for the world," she said.
