Shaun Benoit's Kindergarten Classroom

In a column written in early September I noted that some children had two or three years of pre-school experience before entering kindergarten, while others had none.  I also wrote that some youngsters are a full year older than their classmates.   I thought it a daunting task to manage a classroom of 5 and 6 year olds with differing educational and maturity levels.  I wondered how teachers make the experience inclusive, exciting, fun and educational for such an uneven group of anxious learners.

Superintendent Lawrence Feinsod invited me to accompany him on a visit to Shaun Benoit’s kindergarten class at Bloomingdale School last week.  Doctor Feinsod introduced me to Regina Gavin, Bloomingdale’s principal, and the three of us observed as Ms. Benoit taught her class.  After Ms. Benoit had read books and taught a lesson, Ms. Gavin stepped in to manage the classroom while Feinsod and Ms. Benoit took a few moments to talk with me and answer my questions. It was an interesting and enlightening visit and I’m happy to share my observations.

As is generally the case in an elementary school, Ms. Benoit’s is the largest of the classrooms at Bloomingdale School.  There are six distinct learning stations, a full bathroom, and enough room for 25 children to form a semi-circle as Benoit reads a story and teaches.  The room is bright, open, decorated in autumn colors, and extremely well organized.  Each child has a cubby.  The learning stations – computers, letter work, painting, sounds, rhyming and math - are well stocked with the necessary teaching/learning materials.

The books Benoit read, first aloud and then together with the class, had a Halloween theme. In the first book, rhymed words and sounds were emphasized.  This is part of reading readiness and important to those children who are best reached through their auditory sense.  Other children learn best through their visual or tactile senses.  The second book was about the harvesting and preparation of a pumpkin.  Benoit read several pages aloud and then she and the class read those same pages together.  As the book was being read, Benoit peppered the children with questions (What can you make from a pumpkin?  What else?), and managed to call on most of them. 

Benoit had two large pumpkins next to her chair as she read.  After they completed the reading part of the lesson, Benoit asked her class, “If a pumpkin is put in water, will it float or sink?  Why?”  She drew out a few of the quieter kids.  Then they took a tally.  Each child had to put a tally mark on the easel, crossing the fourth mark with the fifth.  The class was asked to add the tally.  There were 11 who said float with 14 who thought the pumpkin would sink.  The pumpkin was then lifted and put into a tub of water.  It floated.  Again, she asked, “Why?”  She was looking for “air inside the pumpkin’ or buoyancy but none of the children came up with that answer.  She then explained why the air inside the pumpkin allowed it to float rather than sink.

Of the 25 children that Benoit was teaching, one was learning disabled and another has been diagnosed with Asperger’s Disorder – a mild variant of Autistic Disorder.   There were two aides in the classroom, one because there were more than 20 children and another to assist the child with Asperger’s.  

None of the children in the morning class are reading, though one of Benoit’s students in the afternoon session does read.  The kindergartners get homework, two assignments, three times a week.  These assignments require parental involvement and reinforce the daily lessons.  Many of the students are ready to begin reading.

One of the lessons Benoit teaches on an on-going basis is respect, manners and social skills.  As she read the books and asked questions, some of the kids began to edge closer to her, blocking the view of other children.  She asked them to return to their place explaining that the other child couldn’t see.  The children also have a process in place for conflict resolution.  If one child is bothering another the process requires asking the troublemaker to stop, asking again, then ignoring the other child and finally, moving to a different place in the circle.  If this doesn’t work, the child can bring the problem to Benoit.  When we talked after the lesson, Benoit noted that one girl had moved before we got to the classroom, but had returned to her place before the lesson was finished.  She wondered why the girl had gone back.
In my conversation with Feinsod and Benoit I learned that kindergartners no longer have a nap period.  Today’s youngsters lead a more scheduled life than their parents and grandparents did.  Most have had a pre-school experience and no longer need a nap to complete a two and a half hour session.  Some children are dropped off at 7AM for before school care and then head to other programs kindergarten ends. 

Benoit does a tremendous amount of planning and preparation for each class.  This permits her to maintain order and teach her lessons.  Benoit is teaching her 18th year of kindergarten. She taught fourth grade for a year but missed the “light bulb” moments and affection that she experienced with 5 and 6 year olds. Shaun Benoit clearly enjoys what she’s doing and she’s good at it.  She is “on at all times’ and exhausted by week’s end. 
Benoit makes the kindergarten experience inclusive, exciting fun and educational for 50 anxious learners every day.   The children are happy to be in her classroom and the affection she receives from her charges is well earned. 

Marc Kelley is a resident of Cranford and can be reached at mkelley@eclipse.net