Approach offers individual instruction.
By: Casha Caponegro
Kindergarten student Zack Kleiman was nearly done with his scarecrow. He had already created the figure’s pants, shirt and hat out of different patterns of wallpaper, but something was missing from his colorful project.
"I think I’m going to put hair on next," said Zack, gluing shredded crepe paper to the scarecrow’s head, hands and feet to serve as hair and straw.
Zack’s art project was one of four activities going on Monday in Audrey Smith’s kindergarten room at the Cranbury School.
The children were divided into four centers: a reading and writing center, an art center, a game center and a coloring center. For four days a week, the children move through each center, doing a different activity each day.
"This gives them more individual attention," said Ms. Smith, who heads the reading and writing center. "It gives me a chance to help each child with their reading and writing skills and practice the skills they learned in their reading lesson."
At the reading and writing center children practiced writing letters using a packet of worksheets. Ms. Smith sat at the head of the table, lending help to students experiencing difficulty.
"We’re working on our letters," said Jack Beach, proudly displaying his completed worksheet. "First we did ‘B’ and then we went on to lower case ‘b’ and then ‘C’."
In order for Ms. Smith to coordinate four separate activities with such a large group of students, she relies on the assistance of parent volunteers.
"I asked parents to sign up at the beginning of the year," said Ms. Smith, who has been using centers as part of her classroom since she began teaching at the Cranbury School 19 years ago. "They take turns coming in. There is usually two in the room at a time."
Ms. Smith said including parents in the classroom activities can be beneficial for parents and students.
"Usually, I’ll make sure that a child is in their parent’s center," said Ms. Smith. "It helps parents feel they’re contributing to their child’s school experience. It also gives them a chance to get to know their child’s classmates."
Helping out at the art center was parent Jan Arnold, whose daughter, Alison, was busy cutting out a bright, floral pattern for her scarecrow’s pants.
"I like being able to interact with the kids and getting to know my daughter’s class," said Ms. Arnold.
Also helping out at the art center was student teacher Pam Szabo from Rider University, who will be with the kindergarten class until December.
"She was one of my parents," said Ms. Smith. "I had three of her four children, so I have known her for years."
Across the room at the game center, another parent, Perri Greenhall, helped students learn the difference between big and small. Each child drew a card with an object drawn on it and decided if the pictured object was bigger or smaller than they are.
"A bathtub is bigger than me," said Emily Toplin, putting her card in the area marked "bigger."
"I picked a butterfly," said Heather Kaiser, placing her card in the "smaller" pile.
"The game center reinforces reading and math skills," said Ms. Smith. "We do different games each week."
Across the room, Marie Mattes helped children color their own small books, which were based on a larger book, "My Five Senses: A Lion’s Tale."
"I read the book with them and now they are coloring their own version so they can bring them home to show their parents," said Ms. Mattes, a teacher who visits the class once a week to do a special activity.
"It’s about a lion," said Matthew Tan, who was busy coloring. "He makes five senses."
On the three days that Ms. Mattes does not visit the class, the coloring center becomes a playing center in which the children are allowed to play quietly.
At the art center, Zack was just about finished gluing hair and straw onto his scarecrow. All he needed now was someone to help him draw a smiling face.
The scarecrow projects are just in time for the class trip to the Von Thun Farm, in South Brunswick, which will be on Oct. 10. In addition to a tour of the farm, the children also will go on a hayride.
"I’ve been on a hayride before," said Zack nonchalantly. "It was pretty fun."

