The kindergartners I have been observing are in the pre-operational stage of development. This means they are fairly egocentric, developing their fine motor skills, and beginning to socially interact. Because it is the end of the school year, most of the students are already six years old and are getting close to moving out of this stage.
Physically, they are all able to correctly grip a pencil or crayon. They are now using normal-sized pencils, as opposed to the large ones they began the year with. This shows that they have developed their fine motor skills. They are also very active at this age; they need to take breaks to get up and move around often. If the teacher feels like they have been sitting for too long, she will give them a chance to play "Silent Leader," which is a game where one student leads the class in a series of silent stretches. She also staggers activities between the meeting rug and group tables, so between tasks students are able to get up and walk around. She makes sure that they do not spend too much time in one place to keep them from getting bored and fidgety.
The teacher set simple goals for her classroom, such as each student counting to one hundred, recognizing 26 letters, and recognizing 54 letter sounds. These are appropriate cognitive goals for where the students are now. They should be able to recite the alphabet and identify long and short letter sounds. Some students are also able to identify sounds of blends and digraphs, such as "th" and "ch." Most students are able to count to one hundred, with only about three struggling.
The students are now used to interacting with their peers. They are eager to work in groups and are agreeable when the teacher decides who will work together. There is rarely any bickering between the students; they take turns with little argument and work together successfully. Emotionally, the students are still very eager to demonstrate what they know or to help out around the classroom. I noticed that when the teacher asks a question, particularly about a reading they did as a whole class, most students raise their hand, even if they don't know the answer right away. They are excited and want the attention and praise from the teacher.
I decided that I wanted to collect a random assortment for interviewing people on their view of intelligence, so I posed the question on Facebook. I ended up with three responses from three very different people. However, I think they are all related to each other. I believe if you ask a child to tell you about an intelligent person, they would tell you the person would get 100's on everything, they do really good in school, and they're really smart. As a person matures, they are able to recognize that intelligence has many levels. I think I would describe an intelligent person as focused, a critical thinker, and creative. Here is a screenshot of the Glog I created to share my results.
Intelligence grows and forms as we mature. Because there are so many different types of intelligences, it is easy to expect different answers from anyone you ask. One person may picture a traditional "nerd" when they think of an intelligent person, while someone else may picture an artist or musician. None of these ideas are wrong, which is what makes this topic so interesting.
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