Kinder 3

Today I had the pleasure of observing the Kinder 3 classroom at Costa Verde School during the morning.  Kinder 3 is the equivalent of a regular Kindergarten class in the United States.  The students are all five or six years old.  One interesting fact about the schooling system in Mexico is that there are 3 levels of Kindergarten.  Kinder 1 is for students who are two and three years old, Kinder 2 is for students who are three and four years old, and Kinder 3 is for students who are five and six years old.

The Kinder 3 classroom that I observed was comprised of ten boys, three girls, one male teacher, and one female teacher.  The classroom follows the Waldorf approach to education; therefore, a lot of creative play and socialization are encouraged amongst the children.

The first thing I noticed when walking into the classroom was the calm, peaceful music that was playing in the background.  I thought that the music was very relaxing, and it was a great tool to set the tone of the day for the students as they were walking in.  As students came into the classroom sporadically, there was quiet talking instead of loud shouting—I think in part due to the music.  I thought that this peaceful music was such a great idea that I would consider starting off the day of my future classroom in such a way as well.

Once all the students arrived to school, Maestro Manuel did a short read aloud.  After, the students continued with their theme of “bridges” by working together to draw a bridge on a large piece of poster paper that was laid on the floor.  While they were working, they were continuously reminded that they were “los ingenieros” (engineers).  With the use of this term, I was once again reminded of how important specific language usage is in a classroom; referring to each student as an engineer made him or her feel important, smart, and capable of constructing a bridge.  It also reminded students of the types of careers they can strive to have in the future.  Once they were done drawing the bridge, the students were then able to construct their own bridge using PVC pipes, tables, cushions, blocks, and chairs.  Once their long bridge was built, the students rolled marbles down it and then continuously edited/modified the bridge so that it did exactly what they wanted it to do.  Most of the students participated in this bridge making experience at least for a little while, though eventually some students became bored with it and moved on to playing different things.  Some students read books, others shaped people and animals out of clay, and still others drew pictures.  Students were free to choose whatever activity they wanted; there was no direct, teacher-led instruction at any point in time.

After about 45 minutes of creative play time, the students went outside to play.  While students could choose to do whatever activity they wanted to outside, sack races and stepping stone activities were set up for them as options to choose from.  After playing outside, the students ate lunch.  This concluded my observation time in Kinder 3.

One really neat classroom idea that I took from Kinder 3 had to do with seating arrangements.  Instead of having the students sit on the floor during the read aloud at the beginning of the school day, each student had his or her own little plastic chair to sit in.  These little chairs were arranged in a circle so that all the students could still see each other and share ideas.  I really liked the small chair idea because it allowed each student to have his or her own space.  Students were not hitting each other or distracting each other because their hands and feet remained in their own space.  Furthermore, they all remained in a sitting-up position that allowed them to pay attention better instead of rolling around and lying down on the floor which often occurs with younger students who are sitting on the floor.  If I have enough money in my classroom budget someday, purchasing small plastic chairs for my students to use every so often is something I would be very interested in doing.  It was just a very neat way to manage the class during large group time.

All in all, I loved my observation time in Kinder 3.  It helped me solidify my desire to be a Kindergarten teacher even more!  I hope to be able to teach this age someday!

The little plastic chairs that each student used to sit in during large group time.

Stepping stone activity outside.