Hi Michele, I wish someone would come into the kindergarten where I work and ask the same question, since there is so little coherence.
The benefit of teaching thematically is that it helps children make connections and can assist in saving time because you do more than one thing at a time. That doesn't mean everything has to have a pumpkin on it, nor does it mean that every single thing you do during that theme has to be theme-related. Some things just pop up and don't *fit* but you don't throw them out. If you study fall harvest, isn't that a theme? Do you connect it with other curriculum areas? I'm wondering what prompted the questions about doing themes. Teaching in such a way that comprehension drives your practice and teaching thematically are not mutually exclusive.... in fact to me, I would think that teaching thematically would help teach the comprehension. I have been teaching thematically for years, especially when teaching mixed-grade classes, and I've never had a classroom overwhelmed by pumpkin borders or christmas trees. Perhaps you are already teaching thematically but it doesn't *show* on your walls? Just asking.... Renee On Sep 29, 2007, at 7:17 AM, A.Michele Paci wrote: > Hi All, > > I'm in need of some input. I'm new to kindergarten and am having a few > questions about my practice. I've been getting lots of questions about > why I'm not running a 'theme-based' program in kindergarten (e.g. > apples in September, harvest/pumpkins in > October...). I basically believe that comprehension drives my > practice; that is, when I am teaching the students how to make > connections, for instance, we work on this in all areas of the > curriculum in a way that is authentic and meaningful, where > possible. Sure, that may mean we study fall harvest, but I don't need > to make pumpkin templates for everything I do, nor does my art > response need to connect to the fall. I feel that by teaching these > comprehension strategies across the curriculum as my > cornerstone, I will create critical learners. However, I am definitely > open to other's opinions. Does anyone have a good article that I could > read on the matter? > > Thanks for your input, > Michele, A kindergarten newbie > > _______________________________________________ > Mosaic mailing list > [email protected] > To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to > http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/ > mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. > > Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive. > > "Painting is just another way of keeping a diary." ~ Pablo Picasso _______________________________________________ Mosaic mailing list [email protected] To unsubscribe or modify your membership please go to http://literacyworkshop.org/mailman/options/mosaic_literacyworkshop.org. Search the MOSAIC archives at http://snipurl.com/MosaicArchive.
