Our Kindergartens Are Growing Up!

Now that Spring Break is over the Stevenson Kindergarteners are being dropped off in the morning and at lunch time at the back of the school to prepare them for next year. Here in School Age 1 we are slowly making preparations for the eventual move to School Age 2. The children have done a lot of growing and learning this year. We continue to guide them in their growing independence.

One of the most exciting of these preparations is the walk to school. We have started having them walk back to school after lunch and will gradually add other opportunities to walk to school or back to daycare as the weeks go by.

When we first started Kindergarten we walked holding a partners' hand, in a line, with a teacher at the front and a teacher at the back of the line. Then, after Christmas we progressed to walking in a "Kindergarten line up". This means we were walking in a straight line, not holding a partners' hand, with a teacher in the front and and the back of the line!

This week we have started teaching the children how to walk to school with a friend. There is a teacher at the crosswalk and a teacher at Stevenson School (at the corner of Silver and Berry) watching and guiding the children as they walk to school. All the teachers have walkie talkies.

It starts off as it always does, with the children ready for school lined up at the wall outside of our classroom. Next, the teacher in the hallway with the walkie-talkie picks two or three children to walk across together and says their names into the walkie-talkie.

 

One of the teachers holding the walkie is waiting for the children BEFORE the street to remind them of the patrol signals or where they need to stop if they need it (spoiler alert: none of them have needed reminders). They have shown a great deal of knowledge about safety when crossing the street!

Once the children are safely crossing the road, the teacher at the patrols walkies ANOTHER teacher to let them know they are on their way. This third teacher is standing on the sidewalk at the corner of the school where she can see both, the children as they cross the road, and the children as they enter the school yard.

Once the children have safely entered the school yard, the last teacher walkies the other two teachers the names of the children who are finished their journey. Once all of the children have made it across the road the teacher at the crosswalk follows the final group into the schoolyard where both teachers will count to make double sure everyone made it.

The children are so proud of their new responsibilities and are taking this very seriously. They think they are "walking to school on their own"... but the teachers are always close by. 

~ Ms. Cottrell & Mrs. Pollreis