Ms. Adamiec, a new addition to St. Robert School in the 2023-2024 school year, has moved from her fifth grade teacher position in order to teach the 4K students. The fifth grade has combined into a single class this year with Mr. Fedie as their teacher, and 4K needed more hands, which motivated a change for Ms. Adamiec. Ms. Admiec was thrilled to work with the younger kids even though she says she will miss fifth grade.
The switch to 4K was a big change for Ms. Adamiec. She says that she misses connecting with her older students in conversation as she could get to know them as people. However, with the kickoff of the new school year she has found some highlights with her new teaching position. She says that one benefit to teaching the younger students is that “I get to be more creative in my lesson planning.” She also says she got to build things like a bat cave for her younger students. Another benefit she has found is that her new partner, Mrs. Wieck helps guide her as she learns to teach the kindergartners.
While Ms. Adamiec is learning how to teach a younger group, Mr. Fedie has to learn to navigate a bigger group of kids on his own. With one big class of fifth graders it can be challenging to work and learn at the same time. One difficulty that has come up for Mr. Fedie is the lack of a partner teacher. He says, “I don’t have a partner to collaborate with on ideas and strategies and different things like that.” Mr. Fedie has worked with a partner most of his time at St. Robert so this is a difference that he has to adjust to. Mr. Fedie also describes Ms. Adamiec is a “great partner to work with and she works really hard.” Ms. Adamiec also says that she misses Mr. Fedie as a teaching partner. However, she also states, “I still talk to him almost everyday.”
Mr. Fedie, despite the disadvantages to working solo, there are some advantages to having a whole class without a partner to collaborate with. He states that he thinks an advantage is “I really get to know my students well.” Because there are so many children in a classroom (and only one teacher), there is a higher chance that he will connect and get close with his students. Another advantage is that “it’s really fun to teach science class. That’s something that I previously hadn’t done in a while and so those are definitely advantages from the beginning.”
For Ms. Adamiec, moving from 5th grade to 4K is a huge jump. There are many differences between 5th graders and pre-kindergardeners. A difference that Ms. Adamiec points out is that she does a ton more singing, dancing, and silly faces than she did in 5th grade. Not only are there differences, but there are also many challenges that Ms. Adamiec faces when working in 4K. A challenge that she has to face is the pre-kindergartners are “less independent so you have more time issues. It is something that 5th graders don’t need for the most part.”
Overall, moving from 5th grade to 4K has its advantages and disadvantages. Ms. Adamiec gets the advantages from teaching many different aged students over the years. She does still miss teaching 5th grade, working with Mr. Fedie, and connecting with the older students. However, she is having a great time working with Mrs. Wieck and spending time with the pre-kindergartners.
