So,
if you have ever seen the musical, MY
FAIR LADY, you
will know exactly what I am talking about when I say that many days I feel like
Professor Higgins as I stand in front of my classroom trying to connect with my 5 year olds while I introduce a new concept and wonder to myself,
“Do they get it?” Their little eyes look up at me like I am an alien speaking some foreign language from outer space.
When this happens I quickly instill some of my wonderful tricks of the trade
that often bring them back to this planet…or at least makes them wake up and
laugh. This is when you can see me making silly noises, wearing funny outfits,
drawing awful pictures, and dancing around my room looking much more like an
alien than they thought I was before. But as the saying goes, drastic times
brings drastic measures!
But today, I got to celebrate the moment when all that extra time, effort, and self humiliation
paid off by receiving an email from a parent. This is what happened. I
have been working with circle maps in my classroom from the beginning of the
year. One activity where I use a circle map is when I introduce the phoneme for a letter of the alphabet to go along with our Alphabet Animal Mini Phonics Books. Every
week we brainstorm words that begin with the same beginning sound of the letter.
I draw them on a circle map and we use it throughout the week with our ABC Phonics, Printing, Crafts and More activities.
This
week I had a little boy who was ill and was unable to come to school for two
days. His mother was checking in to tell me he was coming back to school the next day and attached the picture below. Yes! That is a circle map and he has drawn
pictures that begin with the letter O and labeled them. Just like Professor
Higgins I declared...
I THINK HE'S GOT IT!!!
