As we were
sharing ideas last week in Des Moines a teacher remarked that it was just like
a giant swap shop! That it
was! Help yourself to some of
these great ideas!
Partner
Spelling
Children can use
this technique to practice spelling words with a partner. One child sits and hides her eyes while
the other student stands behind.
The standing partner writes/draws on the sitting partner’s back as the
teacher points to spelling words.
The sitting child raises her hand when she thinks she knows the
word. When all partners have
responded they raise their heads and spell the word together.
*This technique
could be adapted to shapes, letters, numerals, etc.
Numeral
Puzzles (Samantha Duncan)
Cut out large
numerals. Write addition and subtraction
facts on the numerals and then cut them apart as shown. As children match up the answers they
will complete the puzzle.
This would be a
perfect ongoing assessment. Each
month have children make a brochure by folding a sheet of paper into
thirds. Have them draw the
following in the six sections. Be
sure and date these and save until your end of year conference.
1. Draw all the shapes you can.
2. Draw your best tree.
3. Draw a person (or yourself).
4. Write all the letters you can.
5. Write all the numbers you can.
6. Write your name or all the words you
can.
*You could call
this your 2013 assessment and start in January. You could also adapt the tasks for different grade levels.
Invite 3 or 4
children to be agent experts and wear a letter. Explain that their mission is to be sure every friend in the
room knows all about their letter.
The rest of the class raises their hands and the “agents” must get to
each one and ask them a fact about their letter within a set time. (For example, name of the letter,
sound, lines required to make it, something that starts with their letter,
etc.) When they have had a visit
from an “expert” the rest of the class can put their hand down. At the end you can tell them they have
accomplished their mission!
Nightly Five (Angie Bonthius –
ilovekindergarten.com)
Angie explained
that they do the “Daily Five” during the day and the “Nightly Five” for
homework during the week. The
children hang this on the refrigerator and they can do tic tac toe or the whole
sheet by Friday.
You can change
the activities by asking children to identify the title, the front of the book,
the author’s purpose, the characters, etc.
Angie also sent
this link of a video her daughter made up with cheerleading friends to teach
the vowels. It’s awesome!
A B
C D E
F G - G?
Hang your bottoms
down, down.
Hang your bottoms
down.
Some letters stand
tall.
Some sit on the
ground.
But hang those
bottoms down, down!
Bean Bag Listen
and Toss (Lori)
Have children get
a partner and give each group a beanbag (or wadded up sheet of paper). Children listen for a letter at the
beginning or end of a word. If
they hear the sound they toss the beanbag to their partner.
Play Dough
Letters (Kristi Bilbrey)
Pat play dough
flat on a flat surface. Trace a
letter, number, shape, etc. in the play dough with a play knife. Cut drinking straws into fourths. Children place the straws into the
shape that is traced. Encourage
them to say the letter name, sound, etc. as they put the straws in the play
dough.