Workstations demonstrate - and celebrate — students’ progress
For students of all ages, one of the thrills (not to mention a reason to celebrate their own success) has been to get a good report card from the teacher, along with the parent(s) meeting with the teacher to get the good news in person. While the parent-teacher-student conference has been a staple of educational assessment for decades, the Regina Catholic School Division (RCSD) is excited to introduce a unique method of updating parents on how their child is progressing. Parents of Kindergarten and Pre-Kindergarten students will be introduced to student-led learning walks in November. Given that the theme of this year’s Education Week is Supporting and Celebrating Success, it’s especially appropriate that these walks are what we call a Celebration of Learning conference.
Traditionally, parents were informed of their child’s progress verbally at parent-teacher-student conferences. However, the Celebration of Learning conferences actively illustrate and involve the parents in the activities their child takes part in at school.
Prior to accompanying their child to each station, parents receive a guide detailing the exercises that their child will be executing. The setup involves the students taking their parents around to workstations that exhibit a variety of skills. For instance, for the kindergarten walks, four of five parent/child groups rotate through centres that focus on five different skill-sets: knowledge and alphabet, mathematics, oral language and literacy skills, fine motor, and gross motor skills. By accompanying their child at each station, parents will not only witness their child completing the tasks, but will be able to recognize the areas that their child completes confidently, and in which areas they could use some practice and assistance.
“Our hope is that parents and caregivers gain insight into the learning environment of the pre-kindergarten and kindergarten classroom, while observing their children demonstrate essential skills,” said Sean Chase, superintendent of Education Services.
At the knowledge and alphabet station, parents might be asked to observe their child’s ability to distinguish between upper and lower-case letters, and to pose questions such as: • What letter does your name start with? • What sound does it make? • What letter do you think the following words start with:
fish, king, sun? The children may use the interactive Mimio board or classroom tablets to demonstrate their knowledge of initial consonant sounds rhyming, sequencing and so forth. Parents will have the opportunity to see how interactive and engaging the activities can be, and how independent the children are in their use of technology.
Upon reaching the mathematics station, the children might be asked to complete hands-on activities to demonstrate their knowledge of math concepts that involve identifying the numbers zero to 10, creating sets of given numbers, comparing items that are heavier or lighter, creating patterns, or constructing three-dimensional shapes.
At the oral language and literacy skills station, children are shown a three e-picture story and then asked to tell the story in proper sequence. The children are also asked to tell a familiar children’s story, such as The Three Bears, in their own words.
While at the fine motor skills station, parents participate with their children in activities such as under-the-table art, stir it up!, sponge squeeze and lid match to engage the children in different levels of motor development in preparation for writing.
The gross motor skills station may see the parents and children tossing beanbags into buckets, kicking a soccer ball, jumping forward and backward, balancing on one foot and skipping forward with alternating feet — all demonstrating gross-motor development.
The developmental skills represent the pre-kindergarten Essential Learning Experiences and kindergarten curriculum as put forth by the Ministry of Education. They are assessed on the Early Years Evaluation.
While completing the tasks or upon completion of the stations, the teacher meets with the parent(s) and student to discuss their observations and the child’s progress. This process not only provides an opportunity for the parents to ask questions of the teacher, based on what they observed from their child, but it also reinforces that the parent is an active participant in the child’s pedagogical journey
“The resulting dialogue with the teacher helps celebrate students’ success and outlines opportunities for growth,” said Chase. “Parents leave the experience as an empowered educational partner, It really is a powerful celebration of learning."