1. Establish a gathering place:
I call my gathering place 'community circle'. The space itself has an oval shaped carpet, the Smartboard, a rocking chair for read alouds, a large pocket chart for fluency poems, or word study activities (doubles as the pocket chart center during small group time), and an easel with chart paper next to my chair for developing anchor charts.
I use this space for our morning meeting, where we establish our A/B buddies for the day (this means that no matter how many times my children are called back to the community circle, they will always sit next to their A/B buddy (for that day). My table groups are all teams of 4...or 5 if I have a an odd number. If someone is absent for the day, they know to form trios (a team of 3) at the community circle. Children are always called to the carpet when all team members have the correct materials ready for the next activitiy and are sitting in the quiet position (hands folded and sitting quietly). I use to refer to A/B buddies as just that...but last year on one of the wonderful blogs...I found a teacher referring to A/B buddies as Peanut Butter/Jelly (she also used visuals)...and since I sometimes have to have a trio...that adds 'Bread' for me. My children simply know that whenever I pose a question, peanut butters go first, then jelly, then bread if we have a trio. Works like a charm especially in the beginning of the year when not everyone know their letters...but everyone is familiar with a peanut butter/jelly sandwich! Thank-you to whoever came up with that idea...I am much indebted to you because you helped solve a lot of 'who is my partner issues-then who goes first again? I just label them (with pictures 1st) peanut butter, jelly or bread.
My community circle is typically used for Whole Group (at my school Whole Group consists of vocabulary, read aloud, comprehension, high frequency word/word study and fluency). In the beginning of the year I use it for instruction of establishing rules, routines and procedures. But...this year after reading The Daily 5, this year I will also incorporate a daily discussion of our schedule...changes in the day...and a reflection piece where you bring students back to the whole group to discuss learning.
2/3 Good Fit Books and My Book Boxes:
At our school, we have a period of time each day already built into our schedule which we call MIRP. (monitored, independent, reading practice). This is different than DEAR time as it adds a conferencing time with at least 5 children per day with teacher's documenting conferences. I already have book baskets for my children but, I didn't have a way to determine the Good Fit other than to use the five finger rule...which with my Ks, wasn't working very well. I love the IPICK which I think could work by January but I feel like I need something a bit simpler in the beginning. I am really trying to trust in the Daily 5 but I just don't see beginning of the year Ks getting it-at least initially. I need to visit some of the other responses to see if anyone else is feeling like me. I am going to use some of the anchor charts that I saw developed about 'what it looks like to read'...loved those and the cool visual of either the bike or Goldie Locks....I think I'm leaning that way. I loved the shoe lesson, but I will have to get a feel for my group...they may just need Goldilocks.
4. Anchor Charts:
I already complete a lot of anchor charts with my students and while I am teaching a unit, I don't have a problem with displaying them. It is after the unit when students still need to refer back that I can't find a happy way to display them or store them. Right now I have them all rolled up in a corner...Ugh! I need some suggestions in this category.
5. Use of Signals and Check-In:
I use Kagan Cooperative Learning structures in my classroom so signals have been apart of my world for some time. I use a hand up (like a stop sign), when children see me do this they are to get quiet within 3-5 seconds (by putting their finger over their lips and other hand in the air) and if a team member needs support in getting quiet, they are to gently get their attention and point at me until all team members are giving the signal too. I wait until I have everyone's attention before giving any directions, passing out materials, posing a question etc... The trick is to practice, practice, practice. They never come to me know how to get quiet so it takes many repetitions to get this down. About mid year, I had to change my signal...this time to a clapping pattern as the quiet signal 'novelty' wore off and I needed something different. I also use a bell to signal the changing of centers. I did order two of those wand musical thingys...that I am really excited about. Thanks to whoever for that idea. Can't wait to get those!
I haven't called it 'Check-In' but I will next year. What I have done for a reflection piece is have children respond to a question by showing a (1,2,or 3). 1=I really get it, 2=I kind of get it, 3=I need to learn more. I still think I will stay with this system as even a 3 doesn't mean a child doesn't know...they just need more information.
6. Correct Model/Incorrect Model
I have always demonstrated everything...but who really needs to be doing it? Well...the kids do! I occasionally have used correct models but have never taken it to the next step...which by the way I can't wait to try! OM gosh...won't it give the struggling child with behaviors a big positive yahoo! If they get to model! Love this!
Can't wait to move onto Chapter 4. Please feel free to point in the right direction for any of the help I need. I would greatly appreciate any comments and for you to join my blog. I promise it will get better! Talk to you soon! Caryl :)
How do you keep track of who is the A partner and who is the B partner? My kids always "forget" who their partner was. I love calling them peanut butter and jelly, thanks for the idea!
ReplyDeleteI used to use Kagan Cooperative Learning structures with my older kids, but I had a hard time transitioning them to kindergarten. I would love any tips you may have!
Hi Sarah, Thanks for commenting on my post. There is a limitless list of ways to keep up with who is A and who is B. But what happened in my K class was that I had to narrow it down to only 2 because the children became confused with more than that (I tried more...then finally decided to stick with 2) Once pairs (or trios) are established, I always stated that partner A...peanut butter, will be the person with the longest hair, partner B...jelly,is the person with the shortest hair. If there is a partner C...bread they will just be the 3rd person to take a turn. There is usually enough of a difference in hair length for that to be a good choice (and easy for Ks to remember b/c they are looking at their partner)and limits any arguments b/c it is such an obvious difference that they can easily see. The other choice (when I wanted to change it up a bit or if we were in a standing position was to have the tallest person be A...peanut butter, shortest person B...jelly and if there is a C...bread, they are 3rd. To go along with the Daily 5, (and b/c they are Ks, it took lots of modeling and repetition. I tried to word instructions the exact same way each time. Ks are SO...predictable that after awhile it seemed like they could function on 'automatic pilot'...which was great b/c some of my other K teachers were complaining that their Ks were having trouble with understanding A/B partners and my class seemed to be running so smoothly-at the least the A/B partner part of the day. I downloaded pictures of a peanut butter jar, jelly and a loaf of bread and pin them to their shirts for the first couple of weeks of school or until they have a firm understanding of peanut butter/jelly/bread. I joined Kagan online magazine for a lot of great tips. http://www.kaganonline.com/online_magazine/ (click on the discussion board and register it is free)I commented on one of the Kindergarten boards and Melissa Wincel wrote me back. She is/or has been in the past a Kagan trainer (and a former K teacher)...she supported me all through last year with ideas on how to implement Kagan in K. Her Kagan email is melissawincel@Kaganonline.com I also purchased a Kagan resource book called 'Language Arts for Little Ones' ISBN 978-1-879097-09-4 which is perfect for implementing Kagan structures in a primary classroom. Hope I've been helpful. Best wishes next year!
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