FDK Learn and Play

This January I experienced a teaching first - I studied Lunar New Year (also called Chinese New Year) with my kindergarten class. Let me tell you, we all loved it and learned so much! I had a little one join our class this year, having moved here from China, as well as a few other students who are also of Asian descent, so I knew I wanted to try it this year. However, as it isn't something from my own culture, I needed to do some learning on my own first. From there, I created some resources that I wanted to use with my class, which you can find here if you are interested:  https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lunar-New-Year-Pack-5115304 . The storytelling area in my classroom is very popular, so I chose a book to model it after and then collected the materials needed.  The book "Ruby's Chinese New Year" is a really fun story, it talks about traditions of the Lunar New Year as well as explains the twelve animals of the Zodiac. I chos

It's not a great time to be a teacher in Ontario - we're fighting for the future of a publicly funded quality education amid a storm of misinformation. While I can't combat all of the misinformation floating around in the media and on social media, I can share a little bit of my own personal truth as a teacher. Contrary to the stance I see taken by a great number of keyboard warriors on social media platforms - I care about my students. A lot.  As you know by the name of this blog, I teach full day kindergarten (FDK) in Ontario, Canada. The FDK program is "play-based" - which means I set out educational provocations for the children to play, learn and explore in a structured and well documented environment. It is NOT a free-for-all, which is a common misconception. I spend my nights thinking of new and exciting ways to get my students interested in mathematics, science, literacy and the arts - and I spend much of my paycheque bringing that to life. Here are tw