Terry Starko's Classroom

For the 2000 to 2001 teaching year I find myself going between two schools in our district.  My morning class has 17 children in it.  My afternoon class has 18 children in it.  Curiously enough, both groups have only 5 girls and are thus made up mostly of boys.  This will be a good year to watch the development of literacy due to the high number of boys in each.

My morning class is very active, the children are more independent and need to develop more skills in working and sharing ideas together.  They are spending a great deal of time learning to listen to one another and to help one another.  Sharing and supporting one another's ideas and attempts and literacy events will need to be developed.  They have many ideas to share and love to talk about their ideas.  They like to listen and take part in our interactive circle times.

My PM class is also a Logos class, a class with a religious content.  It has a very different feel than my morning class.  My boys are very active, full of ideas, and work well with each other.  They include one another in their play and they share and support one another more and more as the weeks go by.  My girls are quieter and are definitely learning how to negotiate space and materials with the boys.  This group is coming together more quickly than my morning group.