On Friday, my class celebrated Valentine's Day. Each student brought in Valentines for each student in the class and also were responsible for bringing in candy, ice cream, cookies, juice or chips. While planning for this celebration, the first grade and Principal of Hickman struggled to find a time to have the party. The first grade schedule this year is completely chaotic and broken up into awkward time slots between related arts, lunch and RTI time. Because of this, it is hard to fit in a party with enough time and also everything that needs to get done in that day. RTI time is a huge chunk of the day and also takes place at the end of the day. Initially, the Principal suggested the celebrated take place either before RTI or at the end of the day at 230. The first grade teachers were furious. First of all, having a party with the abundance of sweets and snacks before any other instructional time would be a mistake. Second of all, 230 is the most chaotic part of the day where students come back from RTI and pack up for dismissal. There is no way that we would have enough time in 30 minutes to have a party and pack up to leave.
The first grade teachers suggested that for one day we either not have RTI or shorten it for 15-30 minutes so that these students would have enough time to celebrate the holiday. They complained that the school was taking away their childhood and making them rush a celebration into 20 minutes that 6 year old students should be able to enjoy. I completely understand the importance of RTI time and know that it is mandated. However, I do feel that loosing 30 minutes of it, one time, would not hurt the students in any way. I really feel that we are putting way too much stress on 6 year olds at such a young age when they should have at least some time to enjoy themselves. I remember in elementary school having many different holiday parties and my teachers somehow incorporating instruction into them in some fun way. Honestly, I didn't turn out that bad..so they wouldn't either.
Gahh, I completely agree with you! I'm in 4th grade, so the situation is a little different because there really is a need for all of that instructional time, but even the 4th grade team found a compromise. Students were allowed to bring valentines to school to exchange, but the real "party" was actually a lesson on plant and animal cells in which the students made cells out of cookies and candy, and got to eat them afterwards. Even though it wasn't directly related to the holiday, I liked that they got to do something fun and special involving desserts.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that they have to "squeeze something in" in 1st grade is...depressing? I will say that student teaching has given me a new appreciation for how much difference a day can make, but holiday celebrations were the highlights of elementary school for me! Valentines parties, Thanksgiving reenactments, and various holiday parties can all be educational and fun if executed correctly. I don't think the teachers at your school were being dramatic by saying the school is "taking away their childhood" by trying to push aside the Valentines Day celebration.
It's honestly really frustrating that the district puts SO many requirements on even the younger elementary grades. Academic learning is extremely important, of course, but elementary school is also a crucial time for students to be developing social skills and building learning communities. That can't happen if the focus is on academics, testing, RTI, etc. all the time and there is no time for fun. :(
Ditto, Ilana and Dana. So here's the thing. In 5th grade (I was homeschooled) schoolwork only took me 3 hours a day. I would often wake up at 6am and be done by 9am--and then I had the rest of the day to play. Play included a lot of reading for fun and being outside and dolls and legos and board games and video games. And I argue not only that I turned out okay, but that I am smarter than I would have been if I had been doing school work all day long. Here's an interesting article that talks about the value of free play during the school day. http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/06/how-finland-keeps-kids-focused/373544/ . So work is extremely important to our students, but so is play.
ReplyDeleteI can definitely RT what you all are saying, but to play Devil's advocate... I think here's the converse. RTI time is important because we're moving to a system where students can only get identified for special education services if they're given appropriate intervention every single day and data points via progress monitoring is taken once a week for FIFTEEN WEEKS. We need FIFTEEN data points to qualify our kids. I think we've all come into contact with those sweet kids who are in obvious need services- imagine them having to sit in a classroom without those services for FIFTEEN weeks, while their intervention in i-time is continuing to not work and the teachers who care about them can't do anything because we simply don't have enough data. That breaks my heart y'all. Every day that we miss intervention, we're missing a chance to get those kids qualified sooner and getting the services they need and deserve. I am 100% not saying that they don't equally as much need fun and laughter and Valentine's Day, but I am saying that it's our job as educators to figure out how to fit in both. It's not easy, but it's exactly what we signed up for.
ReplyDeleteI am all for the Valentine's Day Party, and all for the fun and joy of learning (duh). We had one and it was a blast. I let my kids make cards as part of our morning work, as long as they wrote 3 solid sentences, proofread by a partner and by me first. I just also think we have to consider every side of the story!
In the fourth grade at Lockeland, since the classes are departmentalized, it would have been difficult to find time that was not already designated for some instruction. One of the teachers took it upon herself to incorporate the festivities into her lesson. While I don't think they had a full party (which is more typical for the older grades; I can understand younger grades wanting to really acknowledge the holidays), she was able to incorporate some aspects of a party into her lesson during each class's math block. While I'm unclear on what the details were, they had a class assignment to decorate a box with math equations that all came out to 2.14 or 214 (as in 2/14 or February 14). They then had time in class to discuss their boxes and show off their hard work, and they were also given time to hand out their Valentines they had brought in and put them all in the other students' boxes. At that time, they were allowed to have some of the treats, and at other times throughout the day, such as lunch, recess, and dismissal, students were allowed to have one of their treats. I know this doesn't fully replace a party, but it did seem to be a nice way to incorporate the excitement of the holiday into the day without creating too much of a distraction.
ReplyDeleteI know this wouldn't work everywhere, and it might not work with younger grades, but I was impressed with how well it worked at Lockeland. The students got to enjoy the excitement of Valentine's Day while still having a normal day for most of the rest of the day. I agree with Ilana, that parties are some of my best memories of elementary school and they provide fun bonding experiences that are also a vital part of school. It is hard to find that happy medium for situations like this, but I think we should strive to make time for these exciting breaks for students. If we can find creative ways to fit them into the day, that can help alleviate some of the stress of creating time for a party, but we could also just have a party during lunchtime and allow students to eat lunch while socializing at the party. There are many ways to try to incorporate the excitement without taking too much away from the school day/
The fourth graders at Lockeland were also told that they wouldn't be having a Valentine's Day party because they were the oldest students and they wouldn't be having them in Middle School. In reality, the reading and social studies block was designated to making Valentine's cards for the class with similes and metaphors. I really thought that this was a great balance between work and play. Rather than completely nixing the idea of a celebration, students spent about 3/4 of the block making cards for their class while incorporating figurative language. It also allowed my teacher and me to get an idea of how the students understood similes, metaphors, and even the differences between your and you're.
ReplyDeleteI think in elementary school, there is time for a party. They are still young! Just as others have said, the parties in elementary school were one of my favorite memories. I completely agree that as students get older, teachers should pull away from these celebrations. However, I think there are so many ways to incorporate educational activities and content into the celebrations! I hate seeing these moments taken away from the students.
Sally - I totally hear what you're saying. It's definitely smart to look at situations like this from all angles - especially when considering how little time there is in a school day - things have to get done!
ReplyDeleteSpeaking as someone who had kindy for their first placement however, I totally see what Dana means. RTI is a hugely important time and getting in these data points is vital. However, there is a ton of stress in kindergarten and first grade that is just so unnecessary. In every single one of my conversations with Trina after she observes my lesson, she comments on how intense and complicated the instruction is for such young children. And she's right! It is crazy how much we ask from these 5 and 6 year olds!
Here's what I think: if RTI this one day, for first graders, was SO necessary that the Valentine's celebration needed to be only 20 minutes - then the teachers need to make a concession when planning. Integrate the Valentine's Day theme and fun into lessons that are more mundane, sing Valentine's Day songs while tidying up the room or leaving for recess, make a Valentine's Day game out of packing up for the day, etc.
I also feel like shortening RTI time really could have been a good compromise - the students could have still had enough instruction and practice to get out of it what they needed to while also giving them time on a FRIDAY (which is also going to be a crazy hectic time, especially in the afternoon) to celebrate.