Playdough Standards

Today was our 100th day of school. Our celebration went well, even though the kids are wild. They brought collections of 100 items like 100 pennies, or 100 cotton balls or 100 toothpicks.

We had a grade level meeting though, with our AP and the liasion for the new GA Performance standards. After we came out of there, I felt disheartened. I felt like, somewhere we've lost the essence of kindergarten. They told us we can't do things anymore just because they're fun or cute. We have to know what standard it's for, and make sure the kids know as well. I want to say, where's the developmentally appropriate practices? What standard does fine motor skills such as cutting and pasting fall under? (there isn't one so far) What standard is playdough and blocks?

This isn't to say our admin team are ogres. They're not. I know they'll give us the freedom to determine our lesson plans as long as we have the standards to back them up. I feel like I need to see a classroom where play is at the heart, but backed up by the standards. Part of the problem is these standards are so new... some things get overemphasized to make sure the staff are all trained properly so that if test scores in the upper grades don't improve, everyone's butt is covered when the fingerpointing begins.

The other thing is they started asking/talking about inclusion toward the end. There's a lot of hot issues for us, since we *are* inclusion, more so than 1st grade and on up. When you have special ed kids, they have modified standards and IEP goals. If we're supposed to start posting work and standards, only the work that meets or exceeds the standards are supposed to put up in the halls. What do we do about inclusion kids' work, who's standards would be viewed as "easier" by another child? Do we post different sets of standards? Do we not include that child's work because it's not the same level as other children's work?

sigh

I'm frustrated....