Syreeta Bennett's blog

In kindergarten, the curriculum starts with the child and expands to the world. It starts with the fives senses and moves to trees. I like the connection of the tree and the young child.  As a tree,  the  young child grows physically, and mentally. Their curiousity blooms and like a tree,  the child has basic needs to allow their metacognitive skills to flourish. It is our job as educators to water and feed them as a gardener does.

In kindgergarten the students are learning measurement using inches and centimeters through cubes. They also have an unit in Science on animals. I would like to do a lesson on scale using animals and have them think about animals in comparison to others. I would start with asking them to name different animals and then put them in order from smallest to largest. Next I would have them make an observation about how many inches and centimeters each animal is. I would then  using life size shapes of some of the animals they name,  measure each animal using the centimeter cubes and large rulers. The students could compare themselves and me to the animals. They also can draw pictures of the new order, they can also measure other living objects.

I found that Allison's lesson was interesting. I'm not a biology person, so having a lesson that was grounded in my life experiences was a welcolmed change. Since I'm teaching kindergarten this year I will have to mofify the lesson.  In the beginning of the year I will ask them to draw of picture of what they want to do in school. I will then ask them to draw a picture of what scares them about school. I then want them to draw of picture of what they want me to do in school.  I will then ask them to share their pictures in a group and I will walk around discussing their pictures with the kids. Afterwards I will bring them to the floor and with volunteers, create a chart recording children ideas about their pictures. Finally, I will summarize the leasson and chart.

My name is Syreeta Bennett and I teach at Pastorius Elementary School. This year I am moving from fifth grade to Kindergarten.  I am excited about my new position and is looking forward to introducing Science to my students. I enjoy using inquiry in my classrooms. I am always amazed at what my students develop and learn through their own questions and ideas.  My biggest challenge this year is becoming familiar with a new curriculum and learing how to introduce and incorporate inquiry into a kindergarten classroom. 

Francis D. Pastorius Elementary School is located at Chelten Avenue and Sprague Street. It is in an urban setting and goes from kindergarten to seventh. I wanted to do a blog on resources in the neighborhood because many of our students are not exposed to the many treasures in their own community.

It is not a secret, neighborhoods change and I think that my students would find it interesting to see how their neighborhood has changed. I have below two maps that shows how the immediate neighborhood change from 1871 to 1895.