Blog

The following blog post is written by Ken (Melissa) Susman, a TI member and the DECC parent of Madison Susman, who attends Miss Nancy and Miss Angela's Purple Lizard class. Ken works as an Instructional Coach at Parkway Northeast Middle School and wrote the following article for the December edition of his newsletter which goes out via email to staff and faculty. 

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS, PRESCHOOL STYLE 
BY KEN SUSMAN

I recently went to my daughter’s preschool to celebrate her birthday. It was expectedly adorable, filled with four and five year olds singing, paper crowns, and cookies. I expected my dad heart to be filled with warmth, but I did not expect my teacher brain to be buzzing when I left. I was there only for 45 minutes and saw kids engaging with content in multiple ways.

For her birthday, my daughter carried a small globe around a rug with the sun in the center. She carried it around five times, explaining that each year is one trip around the sun. She counted the five trips around out loud. Then, students went to their tables for snacks. There, they practiced their manners, saying please and thank you and passing things to others. They worked on their motor skills by pouring their own water from pitchers. Then, they shared a nonfiction book about pumpkins that they wrote, starting by telling my wife and I what nonfiction means. The teachers reminded them that they were both the authors and the illustrators of the book. After snack, they went to the carpet and laid down to look at books. Finally, the teacher read them a picture book and they practiced asking questions about what they saw and what they heard and predicting what might happen next.

In 45 minutes, students touched on math, science, vocabulary, reading habits, reading strategies, character education, and motor skills.

Obviously our content is different than the content of my daughter’s preschool class. Algebra, experimental design, the causes of the Civil War, investigative journalism, French, and the trombone don’t all fit nicely together in a single seamless set of lessons. Over the last few years, though, we’ve really started to think bigger picture about where our curricula intersect and how we can make it relevant and something that kids truly remember and conceptualize. Our world is interdisciplinary and the work we do is important. Let me know how I can help you in your quest to bring real world, interdisciplinary experiences to your students.