- Noraa Ransey, NBCT
- Murray, KY #grade 1 #social studies #science
So amazing! This looks like a conference I would enjoy!
Unearthing Joy, Gholdy Muhammad
Book Whisperer, Donalyn Miller
7 Mighty Moves
Everyone Wins
I try to add diverse inventors to each unit which we read and write about. My firsties love learning about famous people that look like them. I hope to plant the seed they can do it too! I always start with Garrett Morgan who is from Kentucky like my students and myself.
I send a Dojo message and or postcard reminding them of summer read and feed activities and tell them I miss them. I also do the same when registration opens to remind them it’s time to register for the new year.
My firsties love I have. Who has, Kahoot, Blooket, and working problems together on whiteboards. I try to vary review choices throughout each chapter.
I model expectations each visit to the carpet. I also name a student at the end who followed all the rules as a Heggrety Hero or whatever we are working on. If I need to really get their attention I model terrible carpet behavior and they are so shocked to see their teacher: interrupting, acting silly, or blurting and they try extra hard to be the best.
In early primary my lessons are consistently I do, We do, You do. This is basically a mini-lesson followed by partner or table work and then independent practice. I have seen great success in all subjects.
In first grade we have used Chat GPT to create decodable passages on various levels and skills.
In a first grade class I definitely need carpet time and library space. I set those up first and then an area for small groups. Next I work on student and teacher space. Mine changes a little each year depending on my students.
I love XTRA math a computer program and using centers with a partner to quiz each other. Cards are an easy way to play a game with a fluency focus. I like to play with them in small groups and then they can play on their own.
As an elementary teacher I consider it essential to model for students how their strengths can be their superpower. W have social lessons and I model the correct way and incorrect way of dealing with problems and plan solutions. I have had the most success with neurodivergent students like adhd and channeling their energy with leadership tasks or “jobs” they can do daily to help themselves and others.
I purposely plan science topics into my math and ELA curriculum. This reinforces the learning and engagement. I always include science topics in our projects as well.
In Kentucky, in a STEM field, means your degree program falls under the umbrella of science, technology, engineering or mathematics. While you can't major in STEM itself, programs in this category include ones that emphasize research, innovation or the development of new technologies.
We have a one to one mentor program in place. We observe, cover while they observe others, and meet for any needs they may have. I think another way to make all feel welcome is to make sure they feel part of the team. Make time to plan together and show them anything we do regularly they are new at.
I purposely leave a note in my peers mailbox. If I notice something amazing I celebrate with them. We also have weekly shoutouts where we send accolades to our peers. It’s looked forward to each week.
We have 24 hours to complete and our district offers at least that many in the summer. We do not receive anything except our PD hours which are required.
Place value is best introduced with manipulatives until they master hundreds, tens, and ones. I like doing small group instruction to assess where kids are and what to teach them next. I love having the kids play place value games while I work in small groups. There are over 1,000 free games for place value on teachers pay teachers. I use this one with uno cards frequently and another called bundles and sticks. This can be found on the Kentucky Centers for Mathematics along with many other math games! https://www.kentuckymathematics.org/docs/kcm_virtual/KCM_Virtual_Focus_on_Place_Value-Kim_Jones-handouts.pdf
1. Take pictures of all technology so when I hook it back up it’s so much easier.
2. Donate items I have not used the past year.
3. Make Meet the Teacher copies to avoid coming in the summer.
4. Declutter library and resources trash items that are torn, replaceable, making our space unorganized.
Our Kinders come in the spring and to Kinder Camp in the summer. Everyone has a Meet the Teacher day in which families and students come for a short presentation, drop off supplies, and see their classrooms, friends, and teachers. It’s always a success.
We use Destiny Discover through Follett and our families can access all technologies we use on one spot. We also use a password card for all students to use in class and at home. It makes access so much easier.
We are closing out the year this week with a unit on he olympics and our own first grade olympics! It’s a favorite every year.
I do most fluency work in small groups with decodable passages and sentences. We also do partner reading with familiar text. I also send home a nightly passage parents can use to practice fluency at home. I also switched to focus on the 109 power words shown below before tackling other lists and phrases.
Rubrics all the way. Maybe use some exemplars and grade with them. We have the same writing rubric all year. Math varies by content. I’ve had lots of success just doing grading together.
We start the beginning of August and finish middle of May. Due to weather we are end of May this year. I love having all of June off and limited PDs in July.
After Esser runs out we are not having summer school at all. I hate it! I have set my students up with reading goals, technology, and fact practice. I also help with the local library and summer reading. Our community is amazing.
I challenge myself every year with a professional goal and spend the year growing in that area. This year I chose the Science of Reading and read books, listened to podcasts, tried to implement new strategies, and decided to take letrs a training. Year 20 here and still learning and growing!
My team is the best team! We meet every Tuesday and plan together. We all work together to get the work done in closing plans and weekly news letter. We also take turns making copies so we have everything we need by Friday! This keeps us on track.
I have a classroom rug that fits all of my students with a carpet spot and their number. I also have some flexible seating choices in our meeting area. These include three wobble seats, a four seater bench and a small sofa. I assign kids to their spot most of the time. These optional seating choices were needed to spread us out, my wigglers need an option, and one friend always had a hard time getting up out of the floor due to physical needs so He has the sofa and friends so he is not isolated. I use the bench for a few kids that need a more concrete seat. We are all in the same place and everyone has a sense of belonging as this is a place for learning. We chant “carpet time is learning time” to start.
We spend most of the day outside. We do a nature walk, scavenger hunt. playground clean up, stop drop and read in nature, a day full of sunshine and learning!
I use Lexia, Reading Eggs, and Epic regularly. Nothing better than daily reading to and practice.
We have a living calendar linked and updated regularly. We also have a sub calendar like this too. It keeps us organized and is easy to access.
I LOVE Pete the Cat and The Napping House! I love series I can hook my readers on as well!
We don’t have funding this summer. I do work with a nonprofit and we use resources from scholastic for our most at risk. We offer reading and math and food!
In KY current teachers have the option to complete Letrs. I am taking it and my district is paying me upon completion. They are piloting a SOR praxis with the aspiring educators and they do have to take it but at this point they don’t have to pass to certify.
I use this punch card and we write the goal on the card. When they get to ten punches they get to eat lunch with me. It’s my students favorite reward and free for me!
@Clark We LOVE FlipGrid! Have you heard of GridPals? It’s the same thing but penpals with another class in another school. My students love it so much and are so engaged!
We do morning meetings with a literacy focus and a quick journal write to start the day. Both are enjoyed by the class and help start our day focused on literacy.
We published a book called The Best Part of Team Ransey and it will be in just in time to have a publishing party. I used community donors to make sure they all got a copy. We will author share our couple of pages and enjoy a celebration together!
BEST DAY of learning!!!
Here is ours from last year. We are still finalizing this years countdown!
I love using Mystery Science to get in some daily thinking about Science with discussion or journaling.
We are about to start this STEM process https://a.co/d/2Rajtg8. It takes about three weeks for the caterpillars to grow and turn into butterflies and there is so much to learn through the process!
We do a lot of exploration in first grade.
I would create a google sheet it would take a little effort to set up but then you’d have it to share. Try searching templates. There may be something you can copy.
I’ve used it to make flyers, field trip forms, back to school presentations, lots of daily necessities. I will have to check out videos!
Our librarian has made us a Destiny Discover page on our chromebook's so we can easily get to each site or app. We have several favorites. Math- Zearn and Xtra Math, Reading- Lexia, Epic, and Reading Evgs. Review- Kahoot and Blookit. We have others we use sometimes but these are used regularly! #iteachfirst
I do think it’s magic when you get to watch the students interact and learn from each other. When a teacher can sit back and watch this… wow!
I believe model and practice is so effective. From day one set expectations and then model everything. How to sharpen a pencil. How to line up. Morning routine are all things we model and practice: If we are out a few days or on a break we practice those expectations again. I believe positive practice works so much better than any consequece.
I like to do some theme studies where all the subject are around a theme like the summer olympics, dinosaurs, beaches, or glow day. We make a day or week of it and transform the room into a learning adventure. Kids help pick themes and guide learning to make lessons even more engaging. I also call in parent volunteer to read and share expertise.
Your graphic is easy to follow and could be printed and easily used. I like to from day one ask for grace and give grace. Most parents are doing the very best they can and also sending us the very best they have. Knowing this I work with all parents hoping that just because we had a rough start doesn’t mean every time cannot be positive. I continue to make every effort to build a community with all stakeholders and if that doesn’t happen after a visit or two I ask for help from a peer or admin for future visits.
We love to read so many poets, especially Shel Silverstein. We collect some in a poetry collection and also add some off our own poetry writing and spring art. It is so fun every year!
We have a few themed days that are always a hit! We have the olympics, paper, rock, scissors tournament, beach day, dinosaur day, and water day! I teach first and we celebrate and learn at the end of the year!
I am attaching our ABC Countdown from last year.
We use this book as well for our first lesson. I love hearing the question who was right and the surprise when we say BOTH, it is your opinion!
We play would you rather every day during this unit and kids are so engaged and ready to explain reasons why!
We have so many exciting topics to write about like worst chore, best special, favorites, We have some other favorite books too that help solidify this target! Here are two of my personal favorites.
I have done and will continue to do amazing professional development to stay on top of my practice. The BEST professional growth I have ever completed is the National Board process. I learned more about my self, my students, and my profession than anything I have ever done. I highly recommend seeking certification!
There are two versions of Shifting the Balance one for K-2 and one for 3-5. Both books explore Shifting the Balance: 6 Ways to Bring the Science of Reading into the Balanced Literacy Classroom. The website is amazing and has made its way into our classrooms as well. You can find it here https://thesixshifts.com/. My team has used the 109 Power Words and seen lots of growth in fluency. We formally used Fry Words. Everything is embedded in research and worth exploring. I loved doing this study as a group. There are resources on the site for that as well. LETRS has been a second step for me because I knew I personally needed to relearn some strategies embedded in my daily routines for the last 20 years. I’ve seen success and it was hard to
change, but I am seeing even more success now. I am even seeing growth in the bottoms 10% that has grown to the 33% and higher. I do think it’s a journey seasoned teachers must take to figure out what stays and what has to go. Ask me anything else I have left off.
My district offered LETRS training for a stipend or rank change. We also did a book study on Shifting the Balance and adopted Into Reading by HMH. It has been so many changes, but also seeing so many successes!
Model from the beginning this is “our classroom”. Have students do things daily like pick up the floor, clean the tables, stack chairs. Assign a librarian to your class library and train them to organize it. Your custodian will appreciate it and your students will become more responsible.
If there is anything a parent volunteer can do at home ask. I have pencil sharpeners, laminators, cutters, and party volunteers. They make it fun and I just give a couple suggestions.
Set a timer for 15 minutes every afternoon and put things away that are left out throughout the day. If time is still left sharpen some pencils or organize a drawer.
Create a weekly schedule and stick to it. Mondays are for parent contacts, communication, sending home weekly and monthly news. Tuesdays I plan with my team. Wednesdays WE tackle copies and resources needed. Thursday and Friday I grade and organize materials for next week. I leave Friday knowing I am ready for next week.
My first grade team worked together to create a power point of school rules and first grade expectations. We add our own personal information and expectations and end with questions. I like to end with a scavenger hunt families can explore the room and our day and have a slot to meet with the teacher. It has gone very well the past several years.
As a veteran teacher and a NBCT in the area of Literacy all the research and personal study led me to letrs training. I am almost complete with year one and will sign up for year too. It is so important to never stop learning and growing!
We are in session, bought glasses for all students and will have a day of learning. We did this a few years back too and it went well. I teach first in Murray, KY. People are traveling all over the world to stay an hour away from us.
@Brandi This sounds like a great way to start the way as well! I will look it up! Thanks for sharing. 🫶🏽
Also, I LOVE the graphic! Thank you for sharing!
We have policy in place that mandates who and how services are offered in Kentucky. This year we started making an improvement plan for any child not meeting expectations in reading. Here is a checklist we use to create and communicate how the plan is going. We have several resources available on the KDE website. I find it most important to keep parents in the loop on progress or lack there of. Our interventionist send data a minimum of once per nine weeks usually more often. It seems to be going well the first year in place.
We explore influential women through daily read alouds and research. Here are some of our favorites in first grade.
1. Shark Lady
2. Mae Among the Stars
3. Planting Stories
4. Malala’s Magic Pencil
5. She Persisted
We have 30-40 minutes daily and assess in many ways formative and summative. My students love science. They love thinking like scientists to solve problems. They love experiments and changing variables and trying again. Most of our science is hands on but we also do a lot with vocabulary and writing to solve a science problems. Are biggest units in first grade our sound, light, and animals. We end the animal unit with a first grade zoo and my students present all they have learned about animals, habitats, and needs with a trifold posters, and oral presentation. It is one of the most amazing days of the year!
GRACE would be my suggestion. You never know what the other person is carrying and you can be the one that chooses to listen and respond professionally. If you do this consistently when it comes your time in need of grace it will come. Don’t take anything personally, parents are sending their best and peers are bringing the same. Sometimes are going to be hard, but typically the good far outweighs any bad!
We do common assessments every 9 weeks to measure ongoing progress. For daily and weekly monitoring try Xtra Math. The kids love it and we celebrate becoming a master of each area. In first grade it’s typically addition and subtraction BUT if a kid is ready for multiplication we let them give it a try.
WE Use NWEA for the whole grade and focus on oral reading fluency and reading data. We also use STAR phonics to help guide intervention needs.
We practice RAP, restate, answer, prove. It gets the students used to doing this every time they answer this type of question.
I love this series of chapter books to read aloud all year. There are many seasonal choices and Junie B is so fun!!!
This is a classic and an amazing story to share with all age levels. It’s now a movie and I love sharing a book BEFORE they see the movie.
I always record myself reading this the night before school and send it to my new class. It is a favorite every year.
This book series teaches respect to all people and things. They are super fun read alouds you can incorporate lots of lessons.
I love reading this book and discussing the Power of Yet! We make a poster of what we are going to work on first. They know I can’t jump rope well but I am working on it!
We have a Social Committee that plans a fun activity every month. We do secret pals all year and an occasional sunshine cart of surprises. We do a beginning of the year, Christmas and end of the year party as well. We like to spend time together and get to know each other.
I LOVE reading aloud to my students every day. We do a book a day all year. I could literally give you 200 favorites! I’ll drop a few here. Each year I start the year with Our Class is a Family and talk about we all make Team Ransey.
I always see success with setting small goals and meeting them. Start with the Power of Yet and share something you are working on. They often feel like everyone else can do things they cannot and often are not celebrated. The motivation from meeting small goals soon enough turns into large gains!
I’ve always liked career day where you can visit the police station, fire station, and other local choices. Sometimes we do one at school for example a chef comes in and we cook pizza. Or a local artist gave us do an art project like a self portrait. I can always tie a trip to standards with read alouds or math units.
We use our intervention team when possible especially at the beginning of the year. We use star phonics, NWEA MAP for reading and math and then common assessments k-5. The classroom teacher completes the common assessments every nine weeks. The other tests are given on chrome-books and usually a grade level at a time. We have a few additional tests for those below benchmark. Sometimes it seems like a lot, but I also get different useful information from each assessment. I try to motivate my students with a lunch club for any growth. We celebrate all gains.
I did think of making a FlipGrid. I had success in the past with a student that was nonverbal 90% of the time but would talk if in a quiet room. I may try this!
I love all Kagan strategies for cooperative learning. It’s important to model and implement new strategies weekly as well as practice strategies already introduced so students are successful. If I had to choose only one I recommend team building activities weekly! Try any mentioned in the graphic.
I am in year twenty and challenge myself to grow the profession by being a mentor. I went through the National Board Certification process and am certified in the area of literacy. I save my yes for things I am passionate about and give 110% as I learn and grow with my mentees.
The past two weeks my first graders have been doing research on their rain forest animal of choice. They created an informational paragraph and poster to share. They are practicing a 2-5 minutes oral presentation they will share with students and families the Friday at our First Grade Zoo. They have known the purpose through each step as we close out informational writing. I can say my students are experts and ready to share! I also did a room transformation this week that has fueled their excitement to read and write! Friday we celebrate!
Model and practice daily. Use rubrics for expectations. Show exemplar pieces. Write with a purpose and make sure students understand the purpose each day. Celebrate growth of individual students daily!
I love using mentor texts as models for many different samples of text and writing. After using them as models I have a special book bin students can use when practicing independently. I would say k-8th could benefit from mentor texts.
One of my favorites this year is Cultivating Joy.
In this follow-up to Cultivating Genius, Dr. Gholdy Muhammad adds a fifth pursuit―joy―to her groundbreaking instructional model. She defines joy as more than celebration and happiness, but also as wellness, beauty, healing, and justice for oneself and across humanity. She shows how teaching from cultural and historical realities can enhance our efforts to cultivate identity, skills, intellect, criticality, and-indeed-joy for all students, giving them a powerful purpose to learn and contribute to the world. Dr. Muhammad's wise implementation advice is paired with model lessons and assessment tools that span subjects and grade levels.
I second the Shifting the Balance book and accompanying website: https://thesixshifts.com/
The resources are easily accessible and ready to use from lesson plans, phonemic awareness assessments and resources and the 109 Power Words. The power words have been a focus and game changer this year for my first grade team.
I start the year with positive notes home. I make sure the first call home is a compliment. I often do a call that is a simple "your child had a great first day/week." Do you have any questions? I ask parents for grace and give grace myself. I let them know we are a team. If you build this up front the difficult conversations are a little easier once you build trust.
My first graders LOVE cards to practice math skills. Here is a great article with lots of choices.
https://www.weareteachers.com/math-card-games/
Also love playing War and Place Value War. You can find the template free at https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-Place-Value-WAR-Game-4811802
I laminated it a couple years ago and still use it as a center! I found uno cards at Dollar Tree and they are in our Math Tool Boxes! #sofunandlearning
I use whole body listening. There are several songs and videos to help model this for students. We just sit at the carpet now and quietly rub our arms and repeat each characteristic in a whisper until we are all set. Kids love this to calm down.
The 2nd through 5th grade teachers use this resource-
XtraMath is a free program that helps students master addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts. With just 10 minutes a day you will see growth in math fluency! My own son wanted to do this at home and loved getting the next certificate
I don’t have exactly what you asked for in a free resource so I am sending you a site that has several free resources for this. Teach CVC words with these fun activities that are going to make learning to read and spell CVC words both fun and engaging! My students love word work as a center and the games with an elbow partner.
I love using picture books to teach empathy. The ones in this article have created great lessons and class discussions. This is a topic I revisit often.
https://selfsufficientkids.com/childrens-books-teach-empathy/
Fifth grade teachers I work with do a journal entry and SEL check in on a google form. Students share anything they want the teacher to know privately and quickly. I prefer a choice board for my class. We have individual boxes of legos, playdough, reading, or an art choice. My students love the slow start and I love not grading another “morning work”. It’s always a calm morning.
I leave it at school and do something I enjoy. Tonight I went to a book study with other women who are always good supports and laughs. Other days I go for a walk or play in the park with my son. It’s important to me to check home stress at the door when I come in and leave school stress at the door when I leave.
I do many things to build rapport, but my students favorite is lunch with the teacher. We eat and chat just like family time. Kids love it and I love learning about them in a nonacademic setting.
I have used this resource mostly for creating ELA resources like decodable passages, word work, and other age/skill appropriate activity. I have also dabbled in letters home and modify it to sound more like me. It’s a great resource for any need if you’re struggling with where to start.
My first suggestion would be to use the 109 Power Words before anything else. The list is a result of the science of reading research and you can read more about it here.
https://thesixshifts.com/2022/08/looking-for-a-bit-of-magic-in-your-sight-word-instruction-start-here/
Engage all of their senses. Using multi-sensory activities with children, in which they fill in missing letters or rearrange letters to correctly spell a sight word, or "write" a word using their finger in the air or on a table. Children are more likely to retain a sight word in their long-term memory when practice includes these multi-sensory strategies. Students can use sand, pipe cleaners or magnetic letters to build sight words.
Sort sight words into categories. It can be helpful to show kids how to sort sight words into categories, such as “rule followers” and “rule breakers”. However, this should be used with more fluent readers who have already built early decoding skills and can sound out words.
Read and play with sight words daily. Children will become better at reading sight words automatically when they have daily opportunities to interact with text at home. Reading daily will naturally reinforce the learning of sight words, and you can also get creative with games, art projects, and other interactive activities.
The best is when I can get my favorite retired teacher sub who can pick up my plans and teach. I try to plan ahead to get her. But, also life happens so I have a review sub tub for each quarter with all the important papers like attendance, student needs, etc. I also have a lesson for each subject that would be considered a review with all necessary books, copies, materials in one sub tub ready to go. The read aloud I choose has extra activities to go with it. For example, I used Snowman at Night and included a couple writing, phonics, and an art project that can be used with it. We never know when we will get sick or have a sick kid so this is how I plan. My next door teammate knows where it is and will pull it out for me. Tada!
This question sends me straight to teaching kids to read. As a first grade teacher I have two different students for this post I will focus on the reluctant reader versus the struggling reader. A reluctant reader is a child who can read but won’t. This child can read but may refuse to do so by misbehaving when asked to read. The reluctant reader may become frustrated during reading or need to be persuaded to pick up a book. Reluctant readers do not read for pleasure. Reluctant readers do not see reading as a fun activity. Many reluctant readers might prefer to do anything else but read.
You have to answer why are these readers reluctant?
Before we can try to motivate the reluctant child to read, we must first, identify why the child refuses to read. Children may express hesitancy toward reading for a variety of reasons, a few of these reasons may be:
they find reading boring or the reading material presented to them disinteresting. They have a poor attention span and thus have trouble connecting with books. They do not recognize the benefits of reading.
The list of reasons why a reluctant reader refuses to read can go on and on. Yet, it is important to be aware of why the child refuses to read and to motivate him/her to do so. If a child who can read, stops reading, then he/she will face further challenges in their ability to learn. Reading allows children to increase their vocabulary and helps them to express thoughts and ideas in speech and writing. If a reluctant reader continues to stop reading, he or she will face difficulty understanding more challenging text.
I love this question! I’m attaching a graphic I now use regularly with my primary students. I first want to point out you must know your own math identity as a teacher. I went through an early numeracy project where we first looked at ourselves. I now use my own struggles and former lack of confidence to show students how to grow as they follow each practice in math. There is progress in the struggle. Do you use any of these strategies in your class?
Love the visual question! I am a first grade teacher. I communicate regularly what we are learning and what the child needs practice with. We work on reading fluency, words, phrases, and passages. I communicate what is going well and what they need to practice.
Each family gets a full report every 9 weeks with grades, formal assessment reports, growth, etc. I just feel like parents need more than that no matter the level. If they are struggling or in need of a challenge I send ideas and activities. This has resulted in continued growth for the child and parents that trust the process.
For struggling students I do ask to meet in person more than the twice a year parent teacher conferences. I feel face to face explanation is important as we use interventions and plan for the best for their child. Team Ransey is more successful when all caregivers are on the same page.
Thank you for sharing this resource. It’s so fun and engaging. I know my first graders will love it!
We have in place a volunteer twice a week that is a retired teacher and grandmother to the class. The kids LOVE reading to her and showing her how many new words, phrases, and new books they can read. She has been an amazing asset to our reading growth.
We also celebrate every gain like mastering a new list. We are working on the 109 words this year. Our celebrations can be in small groups or as a whole class in which we stop and give an “oh! Yeah!” or clap for the student reaching a goal. It has really built our class family. My school likes to celebrate big goals, but don’t forget about those small gains as well.
We track our reading with a punch card and any Friday my kids earn 10 punches we have lunch club in which they eat with me. It is by far their most favorite reward and I get to know my students better while I celebrate their success. The kids hold on to their cards until they get 10 so eventually I eat with everyone!
We prepare for NTI days based on our Kentucky Department of Education regulations. We do not use a LMS or single form of technology because we have many without access to technology and or internet at home. We provide a NTI packet with a choice board and daily math and reading activities. These are all review activities and not new instruction. The choice board does include digital options we use at school as a choice. My grade level does a team and parent TEAMS meeting for any family that can join . We review what is due and do morning meeting type activities like number talks, a literacy activity, calendar and some form of art or fun activity. This is not part of a grade, but helpful especially when home more than one or two days.
In the elementary setting we have had a couple trainings and I have implemented it to save time and creative planning. We have created decodable readers, generated letters to parents and then personalized, it has been a lesson planning tool and used to complement lesson plans. Chat GPT is a good tool to learn and try AI for the classroom setting.
I do similar check ins but in google forms. They check in and out during the day and have the opportunity to tell me anything they want to know. This also gives me a digital log so I can look for patterns and data easily. Students are eager to share and do so in much more detail on their devices. I do things in person as well.
We use games as well for basic fractions in first grade during calendar time and small group centers. One of our favorites is a Kagan structure called Match Mine. Student A chooses fraction pieces and explains what a fraction is and then student B recreates it. Student A then checks and if it is correct they offer praise if needed they can also coach to correct any mistakes . It feels like a game but also is a great opportunity to use math vocabulary and skills. My students beg to do this activity with multiple skills.
Anytime I use a phonemic awareness or phonics activity I introduce and model it during our carpet time focused on oral and listening skills. They know the daily target is to be better readers, writers and listeners because of regular discussion. If there is a specific benefit for a skill we discuss it and why it will go into our daily practice. As my students master skills they become the leaders and explain the purpose. My students are first graders and learn and stay engaged as I model and love becoming the leader. If they can teacher each other you know they have mastered the skill.
Stages of writing development:
Preliterate stage: Scribbling is good (0 to 2 years)
Emergent stage: Letters appear in writing (2 to 4 years)
Transitional stage: Letters start to become words (4 to 7 years)
Fluent stage: Spelling starts to have meaning (5 to 6 years)
If you need tips of strategies to move your students from one stage to the next I would be glad to send some information on that as well.
