One (Kind) Kindergarten: February 2019

I love teaching comparing numbers and quantities every year in kindergarten! In kindergarten, these two standards address what kindergartners need to know and do to master number and comparisons:

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.6
Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.1

CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.CC.C.7
Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.

I developed some tasks that are designed to make sure your students go beyond "this one is bigger because 5 is bigger than 3." Ideally, I want my students to masters at least three strategies that they can defend to compare numbers: counting, matching one to one, and using a number path (number line or 100s chart). This is a great task to begin with. Students don't need any formal knowledge of comparing to be successful. Check in with their strategies as you walk around the room to see which strategies students are using. Pick students to present their ideas to the group. During presentations, you can provide the vocabulary (greater than, less than, and equal to). I also let students name the strategies they used--they called them "count," "matching," and "number line."

After completing the tasks and solidifying the strategies used in the tasks, your students might be ready for more of a fluency piece. You can have students partner up to roll dice and compare sets, have them roll and build a greater than, less than, and equal to set, or play "guess my number" while giving less than, equal to, and greater than hints (i.e. "My number is less than 18. My number is greater than 12. What is my number?"). I gave my students number lines to play this game so they could show me their guess.

Compare away! And download 3 comparing tasks below:

Download Comparing Tasks

Love,

Ms. M

No comments

I am so proud of the littles around this time of year. They are developing so well in their reading and writing skills, all at their own perfect paces.

Kids start to really pay attention to letters and sounds at this stage. They notice when one friend has a "long word" and they begin to venture out into spelling multi-syllabic words. I find this is the perfect time to begin introducing students to sound and spelling patterns that will serve them now that they have even MORE to say!

-ar is a good jumping off point for students because it is in a ton of words that are familiar to them that they might want to use--car, jar, star, start, cart. They will have a blast brainstorming other words that they can hear the sound in--and making up nonsense words with the sound as well.

I introducing the sound and spelling pattern using my district's sound cards which include a phrase "The big dog is barking /ar/ /ar/ /ar/" you can pair with a picture of a dog barking and a hand motion.

You can practice skills such as differentiating words that are spelled similarly, blending onset and rime, reading sentences, segmenting words, etc., throughout the week as you spend between 5-10 minutes reviewing the sound and spelling pattern. Even students who aren't quite ready to use it in their writing will benefit from the exposure and practice.

I love these PowerPoints to get this in to my daily phonics routine. I hope you find them helpful!

Love,

Ms. M

Get the -ar PowerPoint here!

No comments

Last year, I designed the classroom of my dreams. My first two years, everything in the classroom was reflective of being a first-year teacher with a tiny budget and using what was already around. My colors were red, blue, and yellow. My classroom was cute enough to get by, but it wasn't what was in my heart.

My classroom this year reflects who I am so much more closely! Everything is in ROYGBIV order, clean lines, multicolored on a black or white background, and in my favorite font. This is because I designed all the pieces myself!

Today, I am sharing the watercolor ABCs I made. This ABC posters feature all letters and the short sounds for all vowels.

I hope you can get some use out of these ABC posters, and more importantly I hope your classroom is a place you feel safe & happy this year and throughout your career!

Download watercolor ABCs

Love,

Ms. M

No comments

Differentiating is one of those oft-used terms in modern education that gets thrown around. I remember in college, differentiation would feel essential, and as I began to plan lessons for my internships, student teaching, and first class it would become time-consuming and exhausting. Every child is so unique and special--how can one teacher serve every student in the class?

Turns out, differentiation doesn't always require hours of planning...sometimes it takes your grade-level assignment and just a few tools:

post-it notes
yellow highlighter
pen

In kindergarten, I find that these three simple tools provide endless ways to differentiate for students at varying levels of English proficiency and skill level. Sticky notes can provide a sentence frame to get started, a quick word bank, or a model for students who are reversing or struggling with getting a sight word. Highlighters can allow students to state an idea that they are not yet able to write--for example, students who enter without any phonics/phonemic awareness skills. They can trace over words or letters to write their ideas. You can use a pen to draw _____ for each word a student wants to write. You can further differentiate by helping students remember what they wrote by filling in a beginning or ending sound as needed. The pen is also helpful as students dictate their writing to you!

Sentence frames, word banks, phonics support, blanks, models, and word support--you can have differentiated supports at multiple levels all with just three tools!

Love,

Ms. M

No comments

Newer Posts

Older Posts

One (Kind) Kindergarten

About Me

Find Me!

Categories

recent posts

Sponsor

Facebook

Blog Archive