Teacher to Teacher Column by Ms. Karen B. Coucke
Hello? Hello? Kindergarten Calling During a busy literacy center rotation in my kindergarten classroom, located in an urban school district with high-poverty and high number of English Language Learners, the dull roar of the students’ chatter fills our spacious classroom. The diverse group of 28 students stands, sits, and kneels at various literacy centers scattered throughout the room. When the timer buzzes, I remind students to clean up their centers for the next rotation. They quickly scurry to clean their centers, in order to find out their next activity. A group of four students lets out a collective cheer when they choose to play in the dramatic play kitchen center. This center is one of the most popular places to play in our classroom. A plastic red push-button phone is the most sought-after item. The phone has no fancy noises when buttons are pushed, no lights flash on or off, no touch screen display beckons, and no computer voice asks questions from the other end. It is a simple, plastic red phone. I listen to a conversation of a student on the phone at the start of this center rotation: Student 1: “Hello? Hello? Hi Grandma! OK, see you soon!” Student 1 to the other students in the center: “Hurry, hurry! Grandma is coming over. We have to clean the house and cook something to eat!” Student 2: “We better hurry! I’ll sweep the floor!” Student 3: “I will take care of the baby.” Student 4: “What will we cook to eat?” As they begin to discuss what they should “cook” for Grandma, I realize this plastic red phone is a link to language development and play, one I almost overlooked. The phone was given to me by another teacher who was cleaning out her classroom. I thought about telling her I didn’t want it as I thought the phone wouldn’t captivate my kindergartner’s attention. Little did I know, the unassuming, red phone would spark language development in my classroom and lead to children-focused ideas to build further conversations and literacy engagement which helps all of my students advance in literacy and language development. Centers and Play Center rotations are a foundation for learning in most early childhood classrooms and provide different experiences for students to practice new skills and engage with peers (Wellhousen & Giles, 2005). Centers provide students opportunities to explore concepts with classmates and create situations in which they are familiar with and include imaginative play. A prominent theory in the field of early childhood focuses on the importance of play and social development of the child (Bodrovra & Leong, 2007). However, with the pressures of meeting rigorous standards and testing accountability, this theory seems to become an old toy no longer wanted; it seems a teacher-centric focused classroom has become the norm. Bowdon (2015) examined data from two nationally identified kindergarten groups, one from 1998 and one from 2010. This data included teacher reports on how instruction in their classroom was organized. Findings indicated child-selected activity declined in both high- and 48
