This essay discusses how to build a classroom community with kindergartners. It discusses specific activities for this age, as well as insights about how they think and learn.
1. Instructional Context-My class includes 25 five and six year old kindergartners; 24 African-American students and 1 Caucasian student. I have 11 girls and 14 boys in my full-day kindergarten class where I teach language arts, math, science, social studies, and health.
My class is a typical kindergarten group, in that they are very active and learn best by doing. They are a very talkative group and are in constant competition to share their ideas and to have "their turn" to participate. I have some particularly active boys, one of which is on medication for ADHD, another who has autism, but is currently not receiving special services, and a 3rd who came to me from another district's developmentally delayed kindergarten classroom. The majority of my students can sit still for 20-30 minutes but I have 5.....
