Kindergarten Centers By Vicki

Ok, I have been teaching kindergarten since 1979. Some things (curricullum/technology/even what kids come knowing) have changed, but some things haven't changed. Kids require explicit instruction and Boundaries. I also have 27 children and no aide. We are an all day public kindergarten. Let me try to explain how you can "make this work". First divide and conquer. 1.) I have 10 centers in my classroom Library, Computer, Homeliving, Blocks, Community(this varies and is thematic store/Dr./Firestation/ etc. People and puzzles, Easel, Wet Discovery, Dry Discovery, Writing.
For instructional purposes these are designated as "colors" (Red Center, Blue Center etc)

2.)I also have what I call "work stations" which are tables, and these number the same as the days of the school week ( a four day week has four work stations, three day week has three etc.)
For instructional purposes these are called #1, #2,etc.
3.) I also have a horse-shoe shaped table which I call "Teacher Table"
When "Center Time" comes, you will divide your class by 4 into heterogeneous groups.
1/4 will come to "Teacher Table"
1/4 will be divided and go to the "work-stations"
1/4 will visit the first five centers (they can go with partners, and not all the centers will be occupied)
1/4 will visit the last 5 centers (again, as pairs)
Each group will stay about 20 minutes, the children at "teacher table" receive instruction/read to teacher/are assessed etc. The work stations are divided into Math/Pre-reading/Art/ fine-motor/ Thematic. These activities should be "somewhat independent. But, I post a chart at each one with "rebus style" instruction, and give the directions orally each day.......after the first day, I ask a child who was at the station the previous day, and completed the activity successfuly to give the instruction to the group, and I just "talk them through it".
The centers should be COMPLETELY independent, and are noisy and active.
After 20 minutes, I ring a bell, we clean up, and I read the instructions as to where each child will go next. I read these ONCE. If a child does not listen, they are required to miss 3 minutes of the activity. THEY HATE this, and after a time or two it is RARE that anyone does not listen.
Then we rotate....I change the order of the groups each day, so that no group is at the teacher table last every day.
I keep a chart in my plan book.
I could tell you how I create this chart if you are interested........

Tips for Teaching High Frequency and Sight Words By Tiffani Mugurussa

Tips for Teaching High Frequency and Sight Words

By Tiffani Mugurussa on October 30, 2012

• Grades: PreK–K, 1–2

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Many people believe sight words and high frequency words are synonymous. Although many high frequency words are also sight words, there is a difference. Sight words are typically words that students recognize immediately (within three seconds) and can read without having to use decoding skills while high frequency words are words that are commonly found in the English language. Amazingly, 50 percent of our written material is made up of 100 of these most frequently used words.

As a kindergarten teacher, I am usually the first person to introduce these words to my students. I begin introducing and teaching the words only a few weeks after the school year has started. Once we have become familiar with the alphabet, we jump right into learning words. Our list of words is composed of both high frequency and sight words. I refer to this list as our Super Star Word List.

There are many techniques and strategies for teaching these words. I try to use a combination of several because what works for one child may not work for all. Being able to recognize these words by sight can help to make students faster and more fluent readers.

 

Teaching Sight Words Through Music

If you are familiar with some of my previous posts, you know how much I enjoy using music in my classroom, and singing the sight words only seems natural. Kindergartners and little kids, in general, like to sing. Singing a catchy tune that also helps them to remember how to spell a word is just one more reason to use music in everyday teaching.

I have two resources for singing the sight words that I like to use. The first is from Dr. Jean, and the second is from a Scholastic teaching resource titled 25 Super Sight Word Songs & Mini-Books.

Teaching Sight Words Using Word Walls

Word walls are a great resource in the classroom when they are put to use. Just having a wall of words isn't enough — students need to be taught how touse the wall. Playing games that allow students to interact with the wall can help students learn where the words are located. Then, when a student needs a particular word, they will know where to find it. In my classroom I have two word walls, one with many of the high frequency words and the other showing only the words that my kindergartners must learn. As each new word is introduced, the frame is moved to highlight the new word.  

 

Teaching Sight Words Through Games

Playing games is a great way to learn and reinforce the words students need to learn. Here are a few of the games we play in class and that I encourage families to play at home with the flash cards I provide them:

• Concentration — Write or print each word on two cards, shuffle, and lay face down to play.                             
• Go Fish — Create a Go Fish game using the words you want the students to practice learning.
• Word Searches — Create word searches using sight words or use one of the many available on the Internet.
• Wordo — Played just like the game Bingo, but using sight words on a blank grid card.
• Read the Room — For this game I post words around the room for students to find and record on their recording sheet. They think it is so much fun to walk around with a clipboard writing down words. We play this game all year long. Each time I add new words and change the cards the words are on. In the picture below, the words were written on leaves.

 

Teaching Sight Words Through Writing

The Daily Message

Each day I write a short message to my class. I do my best to use the Super Star Words we have already learned. After I write the message, I have students come up to read and circle the words with a yellow marker. We then reread all the words and count how many we have circled. 

Whiteboard Writing

I have a class set of whiteboard sentence strips. We use these to practice writing our Super Star Words. I will say the word, and then we spell it out loud before I model how to write it. Once students have written their word, they hold up their board for everyone to see. After we've learned a few words, we start writing simple sentences.

Teaching Sight Words With Manipulatives

What manipulatives do you use when working with words? Using different manipulatives during word work time can make learning seem more like a game. My students enjoy using the large magnetic letters to build words. Here are few other activities I use that involve the use of manipulatives:

• Build the words with letter tiles or magnetic letters. 
• Stamp the words using alphabet rubber stamps. 
• Use alphabet cookie cutters or play dough letter stamps to stamp the words into play dough.

 

Teaching Sight Words Through Reading

My students get very excited when they begin to recognize the words they have learned in the books we are reading. I have a large collection of sight word readers. These books are available for my students to look at and read when they have finished their work. They also have their own personal book boxes where they keep the books we have made in class. Our class library contains a large selection of the Scholastic Sight Word Readers. I really like using these books because they are easy for my students to read, and the text is repetitive and predictable. The class sets also come with printable book masters and worksheets that I use as follow-up activities. To start your own collection of sight word readers, I recommend Sight Word Readers Box Set: A Classroom Set of Engaging Little Books That Teach the First 50 Sight Words.

Learning to read can be challenging and a lot of work. Children who learn to read high frequency words by sight will increase their confidence and fluency in their reading. Teaching sight words through songs, games, and the use of manipulatives makes learning them easy.

Kindergarten Sorts and Classify Objects into Sets

Kindergarten Sorts and Classify Objects into Sets

TAGS: KINDERGARTEN

WEDNESDAY, JULY 23, 2014 8:32:22 PM

Common Core Taxonomy: Common Core, Kindergarten, Counting and Cardinality, Number and Operations in Base Ten, Operations and Algebraic Thinking

COMPARING NUMBERS/COUNT TO TELL NUMBER OF OBJECTS/ NUMBERS IN ORDINAL PRESENTATION & BEGIN TO COMBINE OR ADDING NUMBERS

Students skills should now present abilities to name the relative position of an object in a small ordered collection use ordinal numbers such as first, second, fifth, eighth, etc. Be able to recognize and describe orally line order (peers in activities).

Students may now understand that order is dependent on which object/event is identified as the starting point, so distinguish 'third from the door' from 'third from the window' etc. Contexts are spatial (lining up), temporal (the second hour of the day) and personal (I came first).

Strong focus should be placed on proper enunciation of order word (first, second, third, etc.)

Time: There does not need to be a set time limit for this skill.  Some of the most valuable lesson can happen through out the school day around a “supplementary” time frame of lining up for specials or going out to recess.

Formal lessons should be done over multiple days and lesson times should be from 15 to 20 minutes.

Lesson Objectives:  

Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.

Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.

Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects.  

COMPARE NUMBERS

Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, by using matching and counting strategies.
Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.  Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, by using matching and counting strategies.

Common Core Mathematics & State Standard met:  

Counting & Cardinality and Operations & Algebraic Thinking                                          

Kindergarten Level 

Outline & Activities:                                                                                                                        

1) A good supplementary activity that can happen multiple times during a school day is to have students participate in classroom activities such as lining up at the door, going to their tables, setting tables for snack, or handing out supplies for activities using student “helpers “teachers can emphasize the ordinal language. For example: “The students in Blue Group can go to their table first”, “John can line up at the door first and Mary can be second”, “The children in Red group were first to be ready for lunch.”

2) Formal activities can be presented in the context of “physical” education games. Young children love races. Vary the types of activity so that all students will have a chance to fully participate in what it means to be first, second, or third.  The following activities require only a large space (gym or recess field) and will support concepts of first, second, third. Activity suggestions are: running, skipping, hopping, walking heel to toe, egg & spoon race, or three-legged race.

3) Supporting a students need to visualize first, second, third, to last can be done with activities that support visualization Using a long line of teddies (or other objects) facing forwards, the teacher can ask questions such as those below.  The teacher presents an order of objects (such as red, green and blue unifix cubes). Teacher presents a pattern (2 red, 1 blue, 3 green) and asks, “What would come next?” Students can look at the objects. The next challenge is to have the teacher recite the pattern and have the students attempt to respond with their eyes closed, which forces more advanced strategies.

Questions can be proposed to different degrees of difficulty, depending on students’ comfort levels and willingness to take chances.

Skill: focus only on (first, second, third, etc.) Which block is behind this one (pointing at the third)? (Answer: the fourth)

Question: How do we know it is the fourth? (Response we count from the front, or students count “first, second, third, fourth” or some students may simply state that 4 comes after.

Which block is behind the fifth? (Answer: the sixth)

Question: How do we know it is the sixth? (Students count from the front to reach sixth, or (students say “first, second, third, fourth,” or (someone may state know that 6 comes after 5.

Which block is two behind this one (pointing at the fourth block)? (Answer: sixth block)

Which cube or block is in front of the tenth one? (Answer: the ninth)

Question: Now we have 7 blocks. Which block is last / second last / third last?

Preparation & Materials Needed: Red, green, and blue unifix cubes in sets of 10.

Assessment:

Interim Assessment: Activities 1 and 2 are perfect to evaluate students’ comprehension of concepts and skills.  These activities can be revisited multiple times!

Summative Assessment: Build a rubric to focus on activity #3.  Present questions to students one-on-one.

Extensions/Expansions & Variations: Make use of these supplementary activities! that can

Have students participate in classroom activities such as lining up at the door, going to their tables, setting tables for snack, or handing out supplies for activities using student “helpers “teachers can emphasize the ordinal language. For example: “The students in Blue Group can go to their table first”, “John can line up at the door first and Mary can be second”, “The children in Red group were first to be ready for lunch.”