I love creating bulletin boards that represent the learning of the children in my classroom. Our old curriculum was very subject bound. At times we would have a writing, art, science or math focus on them. I love the freedom of our new curriculum as it has changed to the Four Frames. There are so many cross-curricular links and I love being able to show that off. One of my personal favourite ideas is to make a collage of current photos and collages we have made of the learning in our classroom. We have five different bulletin boards in my classroom so we use one board for each frame except we use two to separate demonstrating literacy and mathematical behaviours. If you're interested in checking these out, click on the image below to pick it up from my store! There are five title pages and four pages with the corresponding expectations for each of the Four Frames. The titles are identical to what I have in the photos above but the expectations look better in the download. I hope you enjoy it and find it useful for your classroom!
Through my research on and 15 years of practice with collaboration in the classroom, I’ve been working towards taking this HUGE concept of collaborative learning and simplifying it for easy application in EVERY classroom. Here’s what I’ve discovered
This Project Based Learning activity allows your students to critically think about what would be the best learning environment for them.
Through my research on and 15 years of practice with collaboration in the classroom, I’ve been working towards taking this HUGE concept of collaborative learning and simplifying it for easy application in EVERY classroom. Here’s what I’ve discovered
Collaborative tasks are a great way to help students build relationships, foster leadership skills, develop teamwork traits and have fun.
The other night I was thinking about how much I love collaborative group work. Although teaching how to work collaboratively can be tough in kinder, I believe the benefits are well worth it. Working collaboratively encourages students to communicate, cooperate, and participate. It asks them to work towards a common goal and also provides opportunity for peer teaching. It is a skill that students will use not only in the classroom but in their everyday lives. With standards focusing on "college and career readiness" it has to be noted that knowing how to work in collaborative groups is very important. As a teacher I'm always thinking of ways to get my kids working collaboratively and I don't just mean in centers. Yes, I feel they are learning many of these skills during center work, but when I say collaborative group work I mean working together towards one goal. So how about having them work collaboratively on high frequency words? Every primary school teacher spends time teaching their students high frequency words. We sing songs, play games, do centers, complete printables etc. We are continuously trying to think of fun new ways to teach these words and make sure that our little ones know them inside and out! So... Many teachers use a printable like this in centers or possibly for independent work so why not take this idea and turn it into something more. If you like this sheet you can buy it here I'd call it HFW Collaborative Teams. I would place students in groups of 3-4 and then together as a team they would have to read, write, find, and build a high frequency word that we are currently learning. Here's how it'd work... 1. Read Students would be given a flash card with their high frequency word on it. Sitting in a circle they would pass the card around and each person reads it aloud. They would do this 3 times and then check of "read" from their task sheet. 2. Write Next students would each take turns writing the word on one sheet of paper. Each student needs to write the word once. After all students have written, the group can check off "write" from their task sheet. 3. Find it Students will use their book baskets to "hunt" for the word in books. Together they need to find it 4 times. They will place a sticky note on the books where they have found it. After finding the word 4 times they can check off "find it" from their task. 4. Build it Lastly, as a team students will need to decide how to build the word from given materials (I will provide a HFW word material box from which students can pull). They need to all agree on what they will do then create the word. Depending on materials in the box, some ideas might be making a collage word, building the word with blocks, rainbow writing the word, using pasta to outline the word etc. I imagine this being created on a larger scale possibly poster size. Once they have built the word they can check off "build it" from their task sheet. After all students have finished we will take time to share out our group creations. Also I would have my students complete a "how'd it go" reflection sheet in regards to how they worked collaboratively. Possibly something like this. Click the picture to grab it for free. Creative Clips by Krista Wallden @ http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Krista-Wallden Would you try this in your class? Do you do collaborative group work?
Howdy, friends. I am getting more preparation done for my classroom as I know you are too (if are lucky enough and have not started school yet!) I presented some staff development workshops this summer and was able to share my classroom with other teachers in my district. Just for the record, these teachers are the inspiration behind "Kindergarten Down River." They helped me realize the full potential of my vocation. Thank you, Texas friends. During these workshops, a specific format is used. It goes something like this: I model and share a piece of a lesson and then the teachers share the instructional strategies they saw present. This really holds me accountable for the correct modeling of these strategies. Finally, the teachers apply the strategies that I shared during the workshop by modeling their own mini-lesson with a small collaborative groups. I am a "newer" teacher in comparison to many of the teachers whom I meet at these workshops, but they are truly so excited to learn "new tricks" (as one sweet teacher shared with me in an email today.) In college, this newer generation of teachers has been taught more about building a classroom community of learners, rather than being taught content knowledge (I have a real problem with this--but that is not the topic of this post!) Many of the cooperative learning strategies that can be utilized in the classroom are much newer to a large group of these teachers. I must say, my school district has put a lot of emphasis on the structure of the classroom and I have yet to see a classroom, at the schools I have worked at, with individual desks separated into "the grid." Here are a few tricks that you would see if you walked into Kindergarten Down River: Students are grouped in teams of three or four. All students are separated into teams of three or four. Smaller groups allow (force) students to communicate. Any group larger than four usually is more problematic as far as behavior is concerned. Each student chooses a number in the group (1, 2, 3, or 4--depending on group size). Students have the choice to pick the number so they have ownership of it. Each student is required to know the response to my question because they do not know who is will be called on in their group. (I tell them after they have time to discuss! This way every student is "on the hook" or accountable!) Each group is assigned a different color. I place $1.00 small metal buckets in the middle of the tables that are the color of the team. (Target sells these in the party aisle. Hobby Lobby has some in seasonal and party sections.) When I dismiss groups to join me at the rug or line-up for lunch, I use their group color. There are other variations to this: You can use shapes, numbers, or academic vocabulary words that change but meet a specific unit. I have lots of great ideas on how to do this, but I stick to colors as it is just easier for me to remember. Once you get in a habit, it is hard to break it! I have a small metal bucket with spoons in it. Yes, I said, "Spoons!" Cups or Buckets to Label Table Group/Spoons to Call on Students Each spoon has a number on it. The number written on the spoon represents the student in the group is that number for their group (See Step 2 if you forgot already!) I just bought these new Crayola plastic cups the last time I was in San Antonio at H-E-B for 66 cents. I only used standard white plastic spoons for this with Sharpie marker written numbers. My friend, who I often collaborate with, gave me a great idea this summer. Have you been to a frozen yogurt shop lately? Does your favorite shop stick a funky spoon in your yogurt when you pay? Mine does! Take a break, grab some "fro-yo" (I think that is what the youngsters call it), and SAVE YOUR SPOON. The future of the Earth depends on it. Think about your carbon footprint. You can save the planet! Here the routine I use to implore this strategy now that you have all the key pieces: Tell the students that, "In just a minute you will be responsible for discussing a question with your team. It is important that all team members have a turn to speak. When each member has a turn to speak, you need to work together to come up with a response for your team. You will not know who I will be calling in, so it is important that everyone is ready to share." Ask ALL of the students a question. Have all the students repeat the question. (This helps build language skills which is very important in a classroom with a high ratio of English learners.) Then, tell the students something to note that they need to begin. I say, "Heads together," and use a visual cue. The visual cue I use for this command is I put both of my fists together which represents the word, together. I allow enough time for students to process the information, being mindful that some students need additional time. Then, I call all of the students "back together." I say, "Back together." All of the students who are finished put their eyes on me. Anyone that is in the middle of their conversations, finish up quickly and then put their eyes on me. (This is a routine I teach that values all students and their processing times.) I grab my metal bucket with spoons in it and I mix them up. As I am mixing them up, the students all stare at me because they are very curious as to what number I will pull out of the bucket. (This is why I emphasize that each student should be prepared.) I pull a spoon out of the bucket and reveal the number to the students. Typically, they all shout out the number on the spoon. This is one less job for me and helps them read their numerals which supports our mathematics standards! I say, "Everyone listen, as number 1 from the purple table shares." Everyone listens. I usually thank that student for sharing. Then, I say, "Everyone listen, as number 1 from the blue team shares.." and so on. I KEEP THE SAME NUMBER FOR THIS ROUND OF REPORTING OUT. There is no need to switch them each time, or it lets students "off the hook." It is important that each team reports out and you hold them accountable. Use this cooperative learning strategy in all subject areas, no matter what grade level you are in and you will see your students' language skills greatly improve. Happy Communicating! Laura
Collaboration. That infamous buzz word we hear echoing through the hallways, in the teacher seminars, professional development, blogosphere, Pinterest, it’s everywhere. And the one primary response most teachers give when presented with implementing collaboration in their classro
Through my research on and 15 years of practice with collaboration in the classroom, I’ve been working towards taking this HUGE concept of collaborative learning and simplifying it for easy application in EVERY classroom. Here’s what I’ve discovered
Collaboration. That infamous buzz word we hear echoing through the hallways, in the teacher seminars, professional development, blogosphere, Pinterest, it’s everywhere. And the one primary response most teachers give when presented with implementing collaboration in their classro
Growth mindset teaches children that they are a life learner, they can do hard things and that their brain is always growing. Check out our top tips and book suggestions!
When you are reading through your curriculum and you spy a “group project” suggestion, do you wince internally and quickly try to find a way to adapt it into an individual project, or even skip it all together? Believe me, I’ve been there. Activities and projects with more than one participant are t
Explore these fun and informative ideas to build a strong classroom community in primary grades! From student jobs to team building activities, foster a sense of belonging in kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade. These classroom community lessons to build friendship, respect, and kindness will help you create a learning environment where students thrive. Grab the FREE classroom community activities and respect scenario role play task cards to get you started!
Collaborative learning refers to obtaining knowledge through collaboration with colleagues when carrying out a task or solving a problem.
Through my research on and 15 years of practice with collaboration in the classroom, I’ve been working towards taking this HUGE concept of collaborative learning and simplifying it for easy application in EVERY classroom. Here’s what I’ve discovered
Check out these 12 Tips for New Kindergarten Teachers to help you ease those nerves and feel confident in the classroom this year!
Hey, everyone! It's Deanna from A Primary Owl, are y'all gearing up for the end of the year? It's closing in on us really fast! Packing up, end of the year checklists, grades....all of this just piles up so quick! Plus I don't know about you but if you have your own children you also have chorus performances, dance recitals, coach's gifts and teacher gifts, etc of your own to get. So I thought I would put together some ideas of things we all could do now at the end of April (almost May) to help get a jump start on things and maybe, just maybe we can get ahead???? CLEAN OUT YOUR COPIES So this is a huge clutter area for me, my team sends so many copies and frankly I just don't do all of them. So last week, I organized. I figured out what I still needed to do before the end of the year. I also decided what might be saved for next year and then with all the left overs I asked a parent volunteer to make review packets for my kids to take home for the summer. Not all of them will do it, but I do have parents that appreciate a little work over the summer and I don't feel bad for wasting all that paper. START TAKING THINGS HOME I collect junk from home around my desk! Like coffee mugs, water tumblers, lunchboxes, sweaters, gifts from parents, you name it! Plus I always leave one winter coat at school just in case I forget my coat, so last week I took home a great big bag of all that stuff.....a more few things that I won't have to drag home the last week of school. What do you have around that you could take home now? CHECKLIST/SUMMER PROJECTS Start your checklist now! Or at least get ready to start it! Designate a basket for special projects that you want to work on over the summer. When you come across something as you are cleaning or organizing, throw it in there. I already got my school's end of the year checklist, so I put it on one of my special clipboards so I don't loose it. I also keep my own checklist of things I need to get done around my room. I love printing these off and putting them on my clipboard to keep me on track! {click the picture to get your FREEBIE!} INVENTORY ITEMS Does your school do a huge inventory? We do, so I've already started finding some bar coded things I know are going to be on the inventory list and put them aside on a shelf. I also started returning items to the media center that I have checked out that I no longer need. I also ask my media specialist for a list of things I have checked out that I need to start looking for. At least then, if I am missing something I can start looking for it now and not later! GRADING This one is huge! I start getting so burned out on grading papers! But if I get too behind then I can't catch up when grades are due. Make the important grades a priority (like I have stack of opinion writing that I keep shoving to the bottom of my pile) and figure out what papers you can just put some stickers on and call it a day! How do I keep my papers organized? I love my IKEA cart! MOVING Are you moving to a new classroom or a new school next year? Start looking for boxes NOW! I am moving a new school next year and I already asked our copy lady and our cafeteria manager to save me some boxes. Organize as much as you can before you start packing and it will make unpacking so much easier! END OF THE YEAR GIFTS This is the best time to start thinking of all those gifts you need to get, room moms, volunteers, the teachers on your team....and your own children's teachers! Starting early means hopefully you won't be rushing around at the last minute and forget anyone. Need some more end of the year ideas? Follow our Pinterest board! And pin this post for later:
If you don’t already know by now, I am quite a fan of collaborative learning. Maybe fan isn’t quite the right term, obsessed may be more accurate? Either way, I am passionate about implementing collaborative learning into the fiber of my classroom and advocating for and equipping other teachers to u
Through my research on and 15 years of practice with collaboration in the classroom, I’ve been working towards taking this HUGE concept of collaborative learning and simplifying it for easy application in EVERY classroom. Here’s what I’ve discovered
Stop! Collaborate and Learn! Do you have that Vanilla Ice song stuck in your head now? Well all singing aside, let's talk collaboration. Collaboration is such
Cooperative learning is an excellent way to put students in charge of their own learning! Check out these 10 different activities for your classroom!
If you are starting the year with new colleagues, or even if you have been teaching with the same teachers for years, but you want to hit the “reset button” to re-evaluate and discuss how you work together, use these 6 talking points to help you set the expectations for how to collaborate well with
K-1 POETRY UNIT I love teaching poetry to kindergarten and first grade students! Even though I have this labeled as Unit 8 in my Writing Series , I actually teach poetry throughout the entire year. We follow the same routine and students look forward to our poetry week every month.
Sentence Building for Autism and Special Needs, Speech therapy, OT. Forming sentences is very important for young learners or those with autism. The students will match the corresponding pictures to name the preposition while simultaneously writing a sentence. They will work on answering questions and use proper sentence structure. There are 2 ways to use this file: 1. Print the first 14 pages and use the pages as a “cut and paste” activity. The students will use glue to paste the correct answers where necessary. 2. Print all the pages on photo paper and laminate them. Cut out the pages containing the cards with pictures and images. Use hook and loop dots on the back side of each card and in the middle of each blank square on the boards. Thus the activity can be reused as many times as needed. *** Students can build 2 types of sentences: -using cards with words and hints (dots for the numbers and pictures for the object words), then -using cards with only words, as shown on the title page. This is a great matching activity for K and 1st and for students with autism. LEAVE FEEDBACK AND RECEIVE TPT CREDIT! Dear buyer, I wanted to remind you about the fact that you can build up TPT credit by leaving feedback on my products. You can submit feedback at the time of purchase or go to My Purchases for a list of what you have bought in the past. Next to each title you`ll find a Leave Feedback button. If you click and leave a rating and comment you`ll receive the credit. Then go to TPT Credits to learn how to redeem your credits on future purchases! Follow me on Pinterest Follow me on Facebook BECOME A FOLLOWER OF MY STORE! Being a follower of my store you`ll learn about my new products, sales, and discounts! Become my follower by clicking on the green star on any of my pages and receive email updates in your TPT inbox. YOU MAY ALSO LIKE FREE Build a Sentence - Fall Build a Sentence - Farm Animals Build a Sentence - Vegetables Build a Sentence - Fruits & Berries WHAT? HOW MANY? WHAT COLOR? Autism & Special Needs Activity HOW MANY? WHAT COLOR? Christmas Activity Yes/ No Questions What Questions Category Sorting Boards
Have you ever heard the saying, “If you can teach it to someone else, than you really understand?” Well, I recently told a few teachers t...
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Teamwork and collaboration! These are important parts of raising a 21st-century learner in the classroom, yet many students do not entirely understand what this it. I stress the importance of teamwork and collaboration throughout the year, but I take time in the beginning of the year to help students truly understand what it means. Throwing […]
If you’ve been reading a lot of my collaboration posts and feeling like you don’t know how to get started and feeling overwhelmed by the thought of creating a collaborative project from scratch, I am here to tell you there is an easier way!
We need to help our students work together by teaching collaboration & cooperation! Here's how to practice this in the primary classroom.
Understanding how to use prepositional language is a fundamental skill children require for a number of curriculum subjects such as Maths and English, but the place where this skill is required the most is in the subject of Geography. Last fortnight I discussed how to teach the concepts of special places and today I want to build on that blog post to discuss the importance of prepositional language in map making. In the Australian HASS curriculum, Foundation students are required to discuss and map the features of special places using prepositional language and in Year 1 students need to label and map places using directional language. So a solid understanding of prepositional words and their use is essential before you can begin map making. A good test of your students' understanding of prepositional language is the Drawing Game. This is always a good warm-up as well, before starting your Geography lessons. Students take a blank piece of paper and follow each instruction you give them (give them slowly so they have processing time). Draw a sun in the top left-hand corner Draw a hill in the middle of the paper Draw a house on top of the hill Draw a road below the hill Draw a flower in front of the house Draw a cat next to the flower Draw a bee in between the flower and the cat And keep going to cover any new prepositional words you might want to use that day. When done, review student work and see who is the good listener and who doesn't know their prepositional words (listening is also a skill required for following prepositional directions). You can make all sorts of fun games with prepositions such as using the Prepositional Flash Cards (found in my store) to play a very funny classroom game. Give a student a soft toy (or any object but soft toys look funnier) and then pull out a prepositional flash card and the student must demonstrate the preposition with the toy. So you may pull out 'in between' and the student has to place the soft toy in between themselves and another student, 'on top' they might place it on their head! Once your students are familiar with prepositional words, then move on to some Prepositional Activities such as the sentence pull through (also available in my store). Get students to practice creating and working with sentences with prepositional words in them. Now the ground work for prepositions has been done, you can move on to map making. Begin with front view (birds-eye view is harder to explain at this point but you can move on to more advanced map making later, but the purpose just now is to understand the reason you make maps; to state where objects are). As with all subjects, move from what the student knows and understands to the unknown. So begin with mapping the classroom, the most familiar place to your students. Start by brainstorming the features of the classroom and move to mapping out those features on your whiteboard. After the classroom, you can move to your discussion of special places (grab my freebie in my last blog post) and move to the school playground. You can take map making further by discussing what makes this place special and build upon this with a daily writing task. Lastly, get students to demonstrate what they have learnt by getting them to map a place very familiar to just them... their bedroom! This is a great homework task and will really let you see what they can do with their map making. If parents do decide to help students at home, this is a double bonus as they can reinforce the skills they have learnt and see what their child is capable of doing on their own. You may find these products useful for map making and all are available in my store bundle.
Read about four different ways you can engage your upper elementary students with the content while working on their listening and speaking skills. These collaborative activities will help students learn about each other, build classroom community, and master their collaboration skills.
As I've blogged about a few times before, I big time love using Kagan structures in my classroom! Now that we're rolling along and routines are in place, I've been able to introduce a variety of structures to my students, and they are loving them. Using these structures has made our classroom such a positive place with kids praising each other, helping each other, and celebrating every success. They also cut down on negative behaviors because kids are active and engaged, not to mention my students are working on social skills {which are quickly becoming lost in a world of screens}. These are the structures we've been using lately... Rally Coach Rally Coach is a super easy structure to teach! Basically, students work with their shoulder partner or face partner and take turns doing an activity. One partner takes a turn, while the other coaches. When it's a student's turn to coach, they are making sure their partner is doing the activity correctly, and if they're not, they give them some gentle coaching. When their partner does the activity correctly, the coach gives praise. Then, the students switch roles. We use this structure a lot in literacy centers! We also use it with sorting and sequencing activities. In this picture, these partners were sorting animals that live on a farm, and animals that don't. We also used Rally Coach during our 3 bears unit when we practiced positional words. Choose a Chip Talking Chips is similar to Rally Coach in that students take turns and coach each other, but it can be used with partners or a team. It's also used with some type of card {flashcards usually}. Students place the cards in a central area, then take turns picking a card, reading/solving it, then coaching {correcting or praising}. It's a quick, easy way to work on a skill, especially fluency with sight words or math facts. You can choose whether kids start with the words face up {we do this right now to build students' confidence - they have a choice of which word they pick} or face down {we'll move to this later}. A few other ways you could use this structure would be to use letter or number cards to practice identification, picture cards to practice beginning sounds, or cards with groups of objects to practice counting. Showdown In Showdown, teams work together, usually with a captain. However, in kindergarten, the teacher is the captain for now ;). We've been using this structure as a quick math review when we have a few extra minutes. I give each kid a white board {or let them write on the table}, give them a question {for example, I'll draw x amount of dots on a ten frame and they write the number, or I'll write an equation and they solve it}, and they write their answer keeping it a secret to begin with. When everyone has their answer, I say "Showdown," and they show their answer to their teammates. As a team, they have to decide if they have the right answer, if someone needs to change their answer, etc. I love watching and listening to the kids explain their answers to each other. It's so much more meaningful than me just telling them! We've also used Showdown with our math lessons. Here, teams were deciding how many more scarecrows would make 6. Quiz, Quiz, Trade I've blogged about this structure before {see here}, but Quiz, Quiz, Trade is a great structure that we incorporate daily for a quick review. Right now, we mainly use it to review beginning sounds/letters. Students use another structure {Stand Up, Hands Up, Pair Up} to find a partner. Then, they greet each other, quiz each other on the card they have {ask what they beginning sound and letter is}, give praise, switch cards, and find a new partner. My kids love this structure, and I love how many social skills they're practicing! You can grab the cards we've been using here as a freebie {they go along with this free alphabet chart} Simultaneous Round Table To be honest, we've only used this structure once, but I loved it! During this structure, every member of a team is working on something - a project, a worksheet, anything really! I set the time for about 2-3 minutes, and when the alarm sounds, everyone slides their work/project to the person beside them and they start working on the one they now have. This continues until everyone on the team has worked on all projects and they are complete. We did this after we read Go Away, Big Green Monster. I put construction paper in the middle of each table, and everyone started making a big green monster, recalling details from the book. After 3 minutes, they passed their project, and started adding on to the one that had been passed to them. At the end, each member of the team had worked on all the projects from the team. It was awesome how different and creative they turned out! I could hear them get a new monster and say, "Wait, this one has green eyes and the story said yellow eyes," or "I like how you made the nose!" The kids liked them so much they asked our principal to have them displayed in the front hallway! This post doesn't nearly come close to doing justice to how Kagan can impact your classroom. If you ever get the opportunity to go to a training, I highly suggest it! They are wonderful!! To find out more about Kagan, you can visit their website. I have a variety of their books, but if you're just starting out, I recommend the Cooperative Learning book. It will help get you started!
We will embark on a colorful journey through Easy Art Projects for Kindergarten.
