Kindergarten Day: Reflection

Written by Emily Sporer and Belinda Ward

Monday, April 10th was a beautiful, sunny day - a perfect day to enjoy outside activities with kindergarteners! Two kindergarten classes from William Penn Elementary School visited our education class (EDUC 210/211), for the third and final time this school year.

Unlike the previous two times, where we did arts and crafts activities together, we were able to take advantage of the good weather and brought the students to the turf. There, the kindergarteners were divided into a number of groups, and each group was paired with a group of students from our own class. Each group went to a different area of the turf, where we first read the story, I'm Like You, You're Like Me: A Book about Understanding and Appreciating Each Other, which promoted the idea of friendship and being kind to one another, despite our differences. After we finished reading the story, it was finally time for some fun!

Each of our groups had a different activity set up, and the students rotated among the different groups every five minutes, so they were able to make it to every fun station! Our group set up relay races, which the students really enjoyed. First, we had students split up into two teams, where they competed in dizzy bat races. Afterward, students then lined up side-by-side, and competed in another race, this time egg and spoon relay races. Depending on how fast the children were able to complete the race, we challenged them to do the race in different ways, such as keeping one arm behind his/her back, or even walking backward! The kindergarteners really enjoyed these challenges, and it was impressive to watch students do so well – some did better than we even could!

Other groups had different activities set up, such as playing with chalk and hopscotch, hula-hoops, and three-legged races. One group even had a giant parachute, reminiscent to our childhood, which was definitely a big hit with the children as well. At the very end, all of the kindergarteners and the members of our class joined together to play with the parachute as an entire group – it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

All of the kindergarteners left Moravian University that day tired, but smiling. Our education class was overjoyed to work with these kindergarteners throughout the year. We have been working so hard in our classes, where we have learned so much about child development and being able to see the transformation in front of our own eyes was a very rewarding experience. As a group, we saw them at the beginning of their kindergarten year, then around halfway through it, and finally for the last time on April 10th.

As each time passed, we noticed the changes in their cognition and social skills, and we were so excited to see the amazing improvements they have made. Our class wishes we could spend every day with them, but we know they are making such progress in their classes. Kindergarten Day was an amazing experience for us, and we are excited for another group of lucky education students to take on this tradition!