Kids are Kids

While kids have so much to learn, it’s important to recognize what kids already

know. Spending time to get to know the kids is a great opportunity to learn about what

they already know. Kids know a lot more about things than people would expect. While

getting to know the kids, the teacher is showing they care, that they want to know more

about the kids. Learning about what kids already know is like baseline data. The teacher

can take this information and build onto it when creating lessons. The teacher can also

have kids teach other kids the information they already know. For example, during

research groups – yes, five-year-olds can do research – each group of students has a

different topic (The haunted house project, 2017). At the conclusion of the research

portion, students from each group tell the whole class what they learned about their

topic. Kids can research by looking at age-appropriate books (a picture says a thousand

words) or by listening to audio books.

Slow down – They’re only five!

Especially in kindergarten, it’s important to remember the age group of the kids in

the classroom. While some may think that the kids are capable of a lot more rigorous

schedules and activities because they are now school-aged kids, it’s important to reflect

on the fact that only a couple years ago, the kids in the classroom were just babies.

Slowing down in kindergarten means taking a lot of breaks. Breaks include watching a

short kids’ show, playing outside, playing with toys, giving only a few directions at a

time, or giving the kids time to free draw and talk amongst their peers about whatever

they want. While it’s important to get through the standards and the curriculum, it’s also
equally important to slow down and let the kids be kids. They’re only five! Mental health

still exists with five-year-olds (InBrief). One of the goals for teachers, in my opinion,

should be to make the classroom and school a place where students want to come to

because they know they will have a good time there. If the teacher doesn’t take time to

reflect and slow down, the students can easily become burned out – five-year-olds are

human, too!

Purposeful Play

To the average person, play in a classroom may look like a time for the teacher

to get through their To-Do list; a time for the teacher to sit down and check emails, or

eat a snack. While the teacher may be doing this during purposeful play, the motivation

operation for purposeful play is all the benefits the kids receive while doing it.

Purposeful play looks like kids in different parts of the classroom, either reading with

friends, playing in the kitchen with friends, playing with blocks and cars with friends,

coloring with friends – being kids in a classroom

environment with friends.

While the teacher spends the majority of

the school day interacting with the kids, it’s

important for the teacher to give time to step back

from the stage and let the kids interact with the

other kids. Unless someone is hurt or the noise

volume is too loud, the teacher should limit their

interactions with the students during purposeful

play, in my opinion. This is a time for the kids to discover new things, “develop vital

cognitive, linguistic, social and emotional skills” (What does purposeful play look like?

2019). Purposeful play allows kids to “build knowledge, experiment with literacy and

math, and learn to self-regulate and interact with others in socially appropriate ways”

(What does purposeful play look like? 2019). The teacher can use their professional

judgement for when it’s a good time to step in and redirect the kids.

Purposeful play gives the kids opportunities to solve their problems on their own

(West, 2019). Kids tattle on other kids because they don’t know how to resolve their

problems, and they need an adult to help guide them. Sometimes, especially from what

I’ve experienced in late November, kids come up to the teacher just to tell them an

incident that happened and how they resolved it. They aren’t tattling; they’re informing

the teacher that they know how to solve their problems based on what they were taught.
 References

InBrief: Early childhood mental health. (n.d.). Retrieved from

https://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/inbrief-early-childhood-mental-

health/.

The haunted house project: Interest based learning. (2017, November 22). Retrieved

from https://mrsmyerskindergarten.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-haunted-house-

project-interest.html.

West, T. (2019, June 16). Purposeful play book study- Section 1: All about play in

preschool and kindergarten. Retrieved from

https://littlemindsatwork.org/purposeful-play-book-study-section-1-all-about-play/.

What does purposeful play look like? (2019, January 10). Retrieved from

https://berkshirecountryday.org/what-does-purposeful-play-look-like/.