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S2 E1 - Getting Ready for Kindergarten Ft. Kindergarten Teachers · Inside the OSD

• 0:01
  SPEAKER1: [Classroom Chatter] As we get closer to the end of summer, the minds of families and parents turn to the new school year.
• 0:11
  While this is old hat to families and students who have been a part of the OSD for a while, it can be a time with many questions for those who are just
• 0:19
  starting out.
• 0:20
  Today on Inside the OSD, we are going to get some answers to common questions about kindergarten from the experts, four of our own kindergarten teachers.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER2: Welcome to this episode of Inside the OSD podcast, where it's all about the kids.
• 0:38
  Here is your host.
• 0:39
  Lifelong educator, and our superintendent, Dr.
• 0:42
  Leslie Bergström.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER1: This is an important topic for students and families who will be starting kindergarten in a couple of weeks.
• 0:52
  So thank you for being here today.
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  Let's start by having each one of you introduce yourself where you teach kindergarten and how many years you've been in the OSD.
• 1:02
  SPEAKER3: My name is Paula Slattery and I'm a kindergarten teacher at Brooklyn Elementary and I have been in the Oregon district - this will be my 24th year.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER1: Oh, thank you.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER3: Hi, I'm Laura Jicha.
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  I'm one of the kindergarten teachers at Forest Edge.
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  This is actually my 24th year in teaching.
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  My 21st year teaching kindergarten and my ninth year in the Oregon School District.
• 1:24
  Wow. I am Christina Strutt.
• 1:27
  I just changed my name this summer from Christina Olafson.
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  This is my second year with the district teaching kindergarten, and I am at Netherwood Elementary.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER1: Thank you. I'm Marci Ingham.
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  I'm one of the
• 1:39
  SPEAKER3: kindergarten teachers at Prairie View.
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  This is my 18th year teaching kindergarten, but my fourth year in Oregon.
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  Boy, it
• 1:45
  SPEAKER1: really sounds like if you teach kindergarten, you kind of stick with kindergarten.
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  That's really what it sounds like.
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  That's kind of cool.
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  It's a niche in teaching for sure.
• 1:58
  So this is a super exciting time for families, but it's also a really big transition for our little students and their families too.
• 2:06
  So what is the one thing you would say to families in anticipation of kindergarten?
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  And I'd love each of you to contribute something to that one.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER4: The first word that came to mind for me was just relax.
• 2:20
  Kindergarten is often like starting a new job when your child is going to be gone all day, every day.
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  It's a very long day in the beginning and they will probably come home tired, hungry, maybe a little bit cranky.
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  And they may not want to share much about their day, but give them about a month or so to settle into routines of school.
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  And they will start sharing and they will start getting into the routine and it will be easy.
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  It will get easier.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER1: That's lovely, Paula.
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  But it also reminds me of what I was like when I was teaching for that first month of teaching.
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  I would come home hungry, tired, a little bit cranky and not wanting to share.
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  SPEAKER3: Oh, yes.
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  SPEAKER4: And I still do as well.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER3: Yes.
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  SPEAKER4: I just want to be quiet and not talk and not hear my name for the next eight hours.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER3: You know.
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  SPEAKER1: That sounds like it's a real human thing.
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  The transition.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER3: I think kindergarten is the most exciting and unique year for you and your child.
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  New friends and new experiences will be an important part of your child's day.
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  Your child will spend the kindergarten day in playful, fun activities while learning new skills and expanding their knowledge at the same time.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER1: Yeah. Thank you.
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  SPEAKER3: In kindergarten, a word or a buzz word is "problem solving." So just know that when your kindergartners are coming in, there's going to be so many different
• 3:36
  levels of situations where they're going to get the opportunity to build independence and to problem solve with a lot of support there, too.
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  And so there's going to be a lot of things that will pop up during the year and just know that we're all on the team to support your student and to help them to
• 3:52
  thrive and have a positive relationship with school.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER1: That reminds me of that book, "Everything You Ever Needed to Know You Learned in Kindergarten," right?
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  How to get along with others, how to problem solve.
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  SPEAKER4: Take a nap.
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  SPEAKER1: Take a nap. You bet.
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  SPEAKER4: You bet. It's all in there.
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  SPEAKER1: I think I'd like to say welcome to the family.
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  I feel like we all have our own families and things that we do outside of school.
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  SPEAKER3: But teachers are just
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  SPEAKER1: as excited as the kiddos to start school -- to start a new year.
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  And so I think of them as like my daytime family that I spend all the time with them.
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  So we're excited to meet everybody
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  SPEAKER3: and get started.
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  SPEAKER1: That's lovely. So with kindergarten, really with all grades, even though we have four schools represented here, we know that the experience is very
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  similar because the academic standards are the same.
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  The social emotional learning standards are the same.
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  So there's a lot of similarities.
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  Even though some of the details within each classroom can be very different.
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  So given that, would one of you walk us through a day in the life of a kindergartner?
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  SPEAKER3: Sure, I can do that.
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  It's important to note that our days involve a balance of whole group and small group activities.
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  Movement and social skills development are constantly mixed in with our academic time.
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  We want learning to be developmentally appropriate as well as fun.
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  We'll be working on reading and writing skills, phonemic awareness skills, math skills, social emotional skills.
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  We'll be doing a lot of that problem solving.
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  Then you also throw in rotations, recess breaks, lunch and the best part of the day, free choice.
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  When they get to play and do what they want and interact with their friends and then the day is done.
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  It's important to note that because the kiddos work hard, even when they're playing, your child will come home exhausted, just like Paula had shared,
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  particularly in the first few weeks of school.
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  Because of this, it's so important to establish a routine at home with an early bedtime and help your child adjust.
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  Along with that, please also know that if your child melts down at home after school or in the evenings, this is normal.
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  They simply need the time to adjust and they will adjust and they will be successful.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER1: That's -- thank you so much for mentioning bedtime, too, because I think that's a summer conundrum for parents because of the light.
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  It's lighter outside longer.
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  It's very easy for kids to stay up a lot later.
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  And then the transition to school can be so abrupt if you're not thinking ahead and trying to get them to bed a little bit earlier, a few weeks before school
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  even starts.
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  SPEAKER3: It's so important to do that.
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  Yeah.
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  SPEAKER1: Thank you. How do you keep in touch with and get information to families with the understanding that every teacher has something a little bit different?
• 6:34
  SPEAKER4: I'll take that one. My main form of communication is email.
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  I love being able to sit down and jot a quick email right when something happens or right when I think of something or even at the end of the day, if I
• 6:48
  scribble myself a note, then sit down and send an email.
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  I also like emails because it gives -- if I'm asking them something or telling them of a situation, they have time to think about it and and comprehend it and
• 7:01
  whatever. And so that's that's the way I do it typically.
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  And it might just be a little something.
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  "Oh, you know, Susie spilled her milk and she's got a different shirt on".
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  And just to try to let parents know they might be hearing things and this is what it was.
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  I also send a weekly newsletter home every Friday, and I do that over email as well.
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  But if a family if email doesn't work for them, I can send it on a paper copy.
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  And I also find email works nice.
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  If there's split parents, I can have both on my email chain and it's a good way to communicate with all family members.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER1: So if a family needs something on paper instead of email, they should just tell you directly and you take care of that?
• 7:47
  I'm sure that's the same for everybody.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER4: Yes. And then I would just print it off and send it home with their kindergartner.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER1: That's nice. Thank you.
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  I remember sitting on the on the carpet with Mrs.
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  Nelson, my kindergarten teacher, and having her call each one of us up one by one to take home our newsletter.
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  And then as soon as you get it, you get to go back to the coat hooks and put stuff on.
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  So now you just get to send it and the little kid doesn't have to wait in line for their copy of the newsletter.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER4: And worry if it's going to make it home at all.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER3: That's true.
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  SPEAKER1: I'm sure we didn't have backpacks.
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  I just carried
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  SPEAKER3: it all the way home.
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  SPEAKER1: Okay. Do students leave the kindergarten classroom to go to other classes?
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  And if so, how do they navigate the school building?
• 8:32
  SPEAKER3: That can be such an exciting beginning of kindergarten is exploring the big school that they get to be a part of now.
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  And we all staff in the building kind of have kindergarten eyes, too, that they're watching to help out any friend who is not with the group.
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  But most of the time they're going to be with their teacher and with the group being supported and to find the new spaces.
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  And as I mentioned before, independence is a goal of kindergarten.
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  So giving them the skills and teaching them and making sure we know where all students are at all times, but then also at the end of the year, starting to
• 9:06
  give them opportunities for independence to navigate.
• 9:09
  But they'll be leaving the classroom to go to places like rotations, classes, and they'll be going to the library or to tech classes, or they'll be going to
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  recess and the lunchroom.
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  And so there's a lot of places that they'll be accessing in their school.
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  And when we're doing that, we're getting into a line and going together.
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  We're practicing what it looks like, sounds like, feels like.
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  It's the cutest thing.
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  It's the
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  SPEAKER1: cutest thing. Yeah.
• 9:35
  SPEAKER3: And so we get to -- with support, they're going to see a lot of spaces in the school building.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER1: That's nice. Thank you.
• 9:42
  Well, how does lunch and recess work?
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  I'll take
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  SPEAKER3: that. Like Christina said, we are going to be there to help them.
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  We will set
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  SPEAKER1: up the routines.
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  We'll establish the expectations when we go to different places and for lunch and recess before we even have lunch or recess.
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  We'll take them there. We'll give them a tour of the lunchroom.
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  We'll show them where the lunch lines are.
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  If you're taking, you know, which which lunch option you're taking, you'll go in a separate line, where to wash hands, where to put your lunch boxes, all the
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  routines in that room or what happens there to come or when it's time to go, also.
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  Same with recess. We'll go together as a class.
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  We'll show them the playground, where the boundaries are, where the toys are, all the things.
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  And we'll really just help them learn those routines.
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  They are going to think they know what to do on the first day when they come in, like, "Oh, I know how to go to lunch.
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  I know how to play at recess." But we will help establish those routines and show them what to do.
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  So it's assume nothing situation where you're at the very beginning and parents should also think about that too.
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  When they're packing a lunch, like "what can the child open independently?" Now we know that there's always adults to help.
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  So absolutely, you know, it's completely okay for us to to open something for the child.
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  But it also probably feels pretty good when you can sit down and open up everything that's in your lunch by yourself without asking for help.
• 11:02
  So that would be a thing for parents to think about this summer, too, right?
• 11:06
  Yes.
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  SPEAKER4: And another thing along that line, when you're packing a lunch, don't pack so much that it's overwhelming that your child opens and doesn't know where to
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  start and ends up eating nothing.
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  Oh, that happens?
• 11:17
  Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes just small portions of a few things.
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  And also the lunchroom is just such an exciting dynamic place.
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  They're looking all over the place, maybe not focused on their meal right away.
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  So yeah, just small portions of things that they like.
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  So it's not too overwhelming when they open that lunch box and don't even know where to start.
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  SPEAKER1: Well, that's good advice. I wouldn't have thought about overwhelming with my lunchbox work, so that's good to know.
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  So how do they get to the right place to be picked up at the end of the school day?
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  Whether they ride the bus or they get picked up by someone at school.
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  This, I know, is a very point of high concern for families, making sure that their students know what to do when school is over.
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  SPEAKER4: Yes. And what we do at Brooklyn is I line my students up in their bus order to coincide with the bus order that's outside.
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  Oh, my. And then I put my kids that get picked up at the end of the line because.
• 12:16
  Well, I'll tell you that.
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  So then we go out about probably at least five, maybe even sometimes ten minutes before release time.
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  So we get out there before the rest of the population comes out.
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  And so we walk and we stop at bus 12, we put everybody on bus 12.
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  Then I got a new line leader and we keep walking and then we put everybody on bus 15 and we keep walking and then we end up at the flagpole by the front door.
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  And that's where I tell parents to meet their -- the people who get picked up or get a ride, then that sets the tone for the whole year.
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  So once the kids do know how to walk on their own, the ones that get picked up go to the flagpole.
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  So mom and dad don't come down.
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  Don't try to pick them up.
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  Don't try to pick them out of the line.
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  Right. Wait at the flagpole, because that's where the kids will be taught to go and meet you.
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  And then eventually when they -- and you can kind of tell some years it's quicker, some years it's later.
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  And that's fine -- that kids will go to the bus on their own.
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  But we are always out there with them.
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  And when I do tell my kids they can go on their own.
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  If I have a few that don't want to, I'll still walk them to the bus.
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  I'll be out there if something if busses are out of order or something.
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  Yeah, we're always out there.
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  And then at the end we have a pocket chart where we flip if Miss Slattery's class is out.
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  So I always tell the kids, "Don't worry, I'm not going to flip that tag until we are all out and all where we need to be.
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  So the busses aren't going to leave without you." And then we just need a communication with mom and dad.
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  If the the pick up routine changes.
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  If they usually ride the bus but are getting picked up or vice versa or someone else is picking them up, please again send an email, write a note, leave a phone
• 13:59
  message. But we have to have some communication to know that something is changing.
• 14:06
  Otherwise they will go what we usually where we usually send them at the end of the day.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER1: And any of you can answer this, but where should parents send that information if grandma is going to pick them up instead of going on the bus, should they
• 14:19
  tell the teacher or should they tell the main office?
• 14:22
  SPEAKER4: They should tell the teacher because the main office is a very, very busy place and they don't always have time to run messages down to us.
• 14:30
  So yeah, either shoot an email -- I tell parents I check my phone and my email at 2:30 every day to see if something has changed.
• 14:38
  Okay. So yes, I always say send an email or a phone message so that and then date-- and a date.
• 14:44
  So I know -- because a lot of times we have kindergarten.
• 14:47
  "Oh, I'm going home with Johnny today on bus 12." Well, no you're not if I haven't talked to mom or dad about it, so.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER3: I do just slightly different.
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  I do suggest for my families to let me know, but just in case, that day I woke up with the flu or something and I wasn't there.
• 15:05
  I do ask them to see see the main office so that I'll be the main person keeper of that information.
• 15:10
  But they know if I had a substitute that day, that information isn't just held in my email.
• 15:15
  Okay.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER1: Yeah, that's. That's a good tip too.
• 15:17
  Thank you. I'm envisioning you, Paula, as sort of like the mama duck and all the ducklings walking behind.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER4: That's exactly how
• 15:25
  SPEAKER1: most
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  SPEAKER3: of us that is.
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  SPEAKER4: Exactly what it looks like.
• 15:27
  And it's been described that many, many times.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER3: I bet. I can't deliver them to
• 15:33
  SPEAKER1: the exact
• 15:34
  SPEAKER3: place they need to go. Exactly.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER1: Which is exactly how it needs to be.
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  Right?
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  They're little babies.
• 15:41
  So then is there anything we can do over the next couple of weeks to get ready for kindergarten?
• 15:46
  We've spoken about bedtime and maybe even a practice run with the Lunchbox, but is there anything else that might be helpful?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER3: Oh, absolutely.
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  And these are things that they can start at any time and continue to practice throughout the year.
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  Talk about and name their emotions and just get a real good feeling for the feelings that they're having, play games, play outside practice, taking
• 16:10
  turns, take walks and talk about things that they see and hear and make those observations.
• 16:16
  The communication piece is so huge.
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  Let your child do things independently, have them zip up their coat and open their own snacks and clean up after
• 16:29
  themselves. Practice following two and three step directions.
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  Say first you're going to do this, then I need you to do that and start adding on to those responsibilities and also let your child see you making
• 16:43
  mistakes and watch you problem solve how to fix them because they learn so much by watching the adults around them.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER1: Oh, that is so sweet and so much more meaningful than bedtime and lunch.
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  Lunch preparation.
• 16:57
  Thank you. All right.
• 16:58
  So any final thoughts for kindergarten students or their families?
• 17:02
  Anything you want to add right now to kind of wrap it up?
• 17:08
  SPEAKER4: I would just reiterate again, relax.
• 17:12
  Show your student that you're excited and then they will get excited.
• 17:16
  And it's so wonderful that we have the ready, set, go conferences so the kids can at least have some time to come in to meet us to find their room.
• 17:25
  And I really think that kind of puts everybody -- moms and dads and kindergartners at ease that they get to come in and and see their classroom
• 17:34
  beforehand. But yeah, just be excited.
• 17:37
  And one other thing is, whatever their routine getting to school is going to be for the year, you should try to do that on the first day.
• 17:45
  And if it's riding the bus and then you need to come to school and make sure that's fine.
• 17:50
  But typically, if they're going to ride the bus during the school year, you should try to do that the first day.
• 17:56
  So they don't think they can persuade mom and dad to give them a ride every day or make sure they know this is just a special day.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER1: So starting routine as early as possible.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER4: Yeah. Okay.
• 18:08
  SPEAKER1: Yes, Thank you.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER3: I think just
• 18:11
  SPEAKER1: as was
• 18:12
  SPEAKER3: already stated, giving them an opportunity to take the lead in opportunities and you're going to get to watch them as they're in kindergarten grow and develop.
• 18:20
  And so let yourself have those moments where you let them take the lead and watch how they're growing and developing, too.
• 18:26
  That's nice.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER1: I think we're just all super excited
• 18:29
  SPEAKER3: to get the year
• 18:30
  SPEAKER1: started and reach out
• 18:33
  SPEAKER3: if you have questions, that's better.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER1: I'd rather have 100 emails to answer questions and get things straightened out rather than having some wondering.
• 18:41
  Because if you have one question, other families might have the same question too.
• 18:45
  So please reach out for anything.
• 18:48
  Yeah, we're just super excited to start the year.
• 18:50
  Well, I just love how responsive everybody is and understanding of the fact that there are a lot of emotions wrapped up in the first day of school for a
• 18:59
  little one, the first day of school in the school building, because a lot of them were for students.
• 19:04
  But coming to the elementary school, that's a really big step.
• 19:09
  Yeah. So understanding all the emotions that are wrapped up into that and being responsive to first, the families and our first students and then the families.
• 19:18
  Thank you all for that.
• 19:22
  Thanks for tuning in this week.
• 19:24
  We know you're getting ready for the school year and want to remind you that there is a wealth of information on our website, such as details on school
• 19:32
  meals, school supply lists, school safety, school pick up and drop off instructions, how to talk to your kids about a wide variety of topics and much
• 19:42
  more. Just go to OregonSD.org and look for the "For Families" tab.
• 19:48
  We can't wait to welcome you to the 2023-2024 school year and we'll see you soon.
• 19:56
  Remember that you can find links to all episodes of Inside the OSD and submit topic ideas on our website at
• 20:04
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• 20:11
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• 20:17
  We'll see you next time on Inside the OSD, where it's all about the kids.