Classroom Call Backs (Attention Getters)

     Ever stop to count the number of times you have to get children's attention throughout the day? Neither have I! But I would guess we're talking double digits. Multiply that by 5 days in a school week and your clap/clap/stomp, lights out, or "All set/You Bet," gets real old by the end of the first week! So if your "Macaroni Cheese/Everybody Freeze" isn't as "chill" as it once was, you might need to add a few more attention getters to your teacher's toolbox!

     So to help meet my own attention getter "quotas," I created some call and response rhymes/chants for each month of the school year.

Here's how they work:

      In September, I'll introduce the two call backs and use them repeatedly until the children know them well. When October arrives, the same rhymes/chants are altered slightly to reflect a seasonal theme providing a novel, but consistent routine for gaining children's attention.  For example, in the “Ten Up on Top” call back, children are "holding up" apples in September, pumpkins in October, pies in November and so on. With the "head and shoulders" call back, children "freeze" like different seasonal characters such as scarecrows, monsters, or turkeys.  Even within a month such as October, there is lots of opportunity for variation as you can substitute "candy corn" for "pumpkins"  or "mummy" for "monster." 

You can get the March FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here:

You might also like these:

   

Have fun with those Kinders and thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

 

    

  

    

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Class Cheers

    When I was pregnant with my first child, I noticed pregnant women everywhere! Certainly pregnant women were nothing new, but I was tuned-in in a way that I had never been before. Positivity is like that too! The more you look, the more you’ll find! 
    While there are lots of ways to reinforce positive behavior, I’m not a fan of many of them.  Mostly because there is often a flip-side to these techniques where something is taken away or witheld when behavior is not-so-positive.  There’s a lot of see-sawing and keeping track and I have a hard time being consistent and equitable.  Maybe that’s just me! 

     Class cheers, however, are something I can really rally around!  They encourage me to look for the positive and, together with the children, celebrate accomplishments, good deeds, kind words, and more! They are also just plain fun and the kiddos light up like a Christmas tree when the cheer is for them!

     So, if you’d like a few cheers in your “back pocket,” I’ve written one for each month of the school year allowing you to introduce a new seasonally-themed cheer from September to June. Use these to recognize individual children, partnerships, teams, or even the whole class while building classroom community and creating a positive learning environment. 

You can get the March Cheer FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

You might also like this:

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

   

  

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Hands-in-Your-Lap Rhymes

      While criss-cross applesauce might seem like magic in September, it has usually lost its charm by December.  So if you’re like me and find that your classroom management needs a tune-up right about now, try these monthly hands-in-your-lap rhymes to provide a consistent, but novel routine for gaining children’s attention. 

     The first two lines of each rhyme invite children to move their hands in fun and engaging ways such as flickering like a candle, kneading dough, or flying like a bird. In the third line, the word “lap,” introduced in the September rhyme, is playfully switched out to match a seasonal theme and children can imagine their lap as a mixing bowl, mailbox, flower pot, nest and more.  The last line, Ready, set, go! is repeated throughout and signals to children that teaching and learning is about to begin!

You can get the March Hands-in-Your-Lap rhyme FREEBIE here:

or the whole set here!

You might also like this:

Thanks for dropping by!

Jackie

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Getting Started in Kindergarten: Getting to Know You

     It's so easy for me to get caught up in the back-to-school to do list of room set up and name tags that I sometimes lose sight of the most important goal for September - getting to know the children.  In the first month, I don't have to teach them all how to read, use number bonds, or stretch words, but I do need to explore where they come from, what their interests and abilities are, and what their hopes and dreams are for kindergarten. They also need to get to know me and the rest will come a lot easier if we take this time. 

     Here are some of the first experiences we had last year during those “Get to Know You Weeks.” 

     We drew birthday cakes and shared how old we were (well maybe not me!) and found out which of us have birthdays in the same month.  The cakes were a nice first sample of their drawing and coloring.  

     We read stories and sang songs of characters with unusual names such as Tikki Tikki Tembo, Chrysanthemum, Bingo and Catalina Magdalena.  Then we looked closely at our own names, counted the number of letters and made name cards.  We did this in small groups which gave me the opportunity to see if the children could identify and sequence the letters independently or if they needed support.

     We looked closely at our faces in mirrors and explored the ways we were the same and different.  We created faces with loose parts and drew self-portraits as inspired by the books Let's Make Faces and Faces.  The self-portraits were repeated at the end of the year to show our growth over time.

     We shared our writing folders, which were decorated with pictures to tell about ourselves, and would later be used as a source for writing ideas.  We learned about each other's likes/dislikes and I was able to observe their listening and speaking. 

     We explored our school's motto (Treat others the way you want to be treated) and talked about what that meant to each of us. We made a concrete representation of it in the form of a golden circle.

     We took a fall walk and wondered about the things we saw and touched.  We created a chart of our observations and began to ask questions about the season.  I noticed that some children were able to offer a question while others struggled to do this.

     We explored the centers and materials in our room.  Some children played alone while others worked together. Some were able to sustain play while others flitted from one choice to the next. I watched to see which centers they were most interested in and which they visited the least.

     We sang lots of songs and paired them with movements.  Most children enjoyed participating but a few were more self-conscious.  Some children had good body control while others needed a little support.

     We read, talked, and responded to many books, including The Invisible Boy, and the children were invited to make connections between themselves and the characters and/or stories.  Their connections told me about their experiences and gave me insight into their language use. 

This year I'll be offering some of these same experiences, while adding a few new ones.  Most are included in the last deck in the Kindergarten Kick Off series, Getting to Know You.  You can find it here:

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

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Getting Started in Kindergarten: Building Community Through a Shared Language

     When I think of community building, my first thoughts are of ice breakers or team building games that I use to help children get to know one another.  Yet, it's also about a shared language that can either be intentionally set in motion by the teacher or left to develop on its own.  If you've ever been to an Apple Store, you may have experienced the Genius Bar "vibe" that comes from explicit training in empathy and a manual that clearly defines the specific language used when helping customers.  It's pretty impressive and not as evident in the Geek Squad at Best Buy.

     So for my little "geniuses,"  I'm going for the intentional approach with guiding words in the form of a class motto, a set of promises, and affirmations.  The plan is to introduce and model this language with the hope that children will internalize it, transfer it to self-talk, and begin to use it "out loud" in their interactions with one another.    

Think about this when developing your own shared language:

Choose Your Words Carefully: Whether you decide to call them rules, agreements or promises, choose language that is kindergarten friendly. Break down terms such as "respect" into smaller, "bite-sized" chunks for kinders.  Here's how I whittled down respect into four promises: 

We take good care of ourselves. 

We take good care of each other. 

We take good care of our learning space. 

We take good care of our Earth.  

Then, I further broke down the promises into affirmations to get even more specific. You can get the posters here:

Make It Transferable: 

Your "big ideas" need to be transferable into your every day interactions with children.  Identify prompts or catch-phrases that you can use consistently and make sure they are ones you would want to hear the children saying to each other!  

Make it Tangible:  Create a concrete version of your guiding words to help children visualize it.  Use this to introduce each rule/agreement/promise, slowly adding to it in the first weeks of school.  When finished, use it with pairs or individuals as a support tool and set it out for children to explore during their play.  Here's the one I'll be using!

The wood pieces represent our community circle and will be personalized with children's pictures.

Language Do's and Don'ts:  Use the phrase, "We don't talk that way in here," when addressing language that is not positive or appropriate.  Children will also use it to respond to others who are speaking unkindly. 

If you'd like a kick-off plan for developing a shared language with your children, check out the third Kindergarten Kick-off Deck: Our Motto and Promises where you can find my plan for the year.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

    

Getting Started in Kindergarten: Establishing Routines and Procedures in a Fun and Engaging Way

     So it's the first day of kindergarten and your new kinders are all excited because everyone has been telling them how much they are going to love school.  Then, they get to school and you start talking and talking and talking about how to use the bathroom or be a good listener and, well, let's face it, it's not very exciting! Here are some ways to make introducing routines and procedures a little bit more fun and engaging.

1)  Tell a Story:  Use a book or tell a real-life classroom story to set the stage for the routine/procedure you are about to introduce.  I like to read the Interrupting Chicken by David Ezra Stein when introducing good listening habits and tell the story of how a child waited all year to hear her birthday announced on the loudspeaker and then missed it because she wasn't listening.      

2) Use Gestures:  Many routines involve several steps. Create a hand motion for each one, use them as you are naming the steps and invite children to "mirror" you.  You don't have to know sign language to do this just make up the motions as you go along or ask the kids for their ideas.

3) Set it to Music:  Create a little "ditty" to help children sing the steps of the routine. Just take a familiar tune such as Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and change the words. Don't worry about how good it is or how well you sing (just apologize to your teaching assistant in advance), the kids will love it! In the beginning of the year, I "sing them in" with our Hello Jobs song as they enter and begin unpacking.  This not only focuses them on the task, but reminds them of the steps.

4) Act it Out: Use a My Turn, Your Turn approach to practice the procedure.  You model the correct steps (My Turn) and then choose students to show the class how to do it. (Your Turn).  Follow that up with a chance for the whole class to practice while you provide feedback.  This gets them up and moving and gives you an opportunity to see who might need a little extra support.

5) Use Props: Use puppets or stuffed animals to role play or model the desired behaviors. I use a big stuffed Teddy Bear to model ways to sit on our carpet.

     These ways are not only fun and engaging, but are multisensory strategies that help the brain secure learning to memory.  You can find some of these strategies sprinkled throughout the second Kindergarten Kick-off Deck: Routines and Procedures. 

     What are some fun ways that you engage children while getting your classroom up and running?  

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie

Getting Started in Kindergarten: Introducing Materials

     In a previous post, I wrote about Getting Started in Kindergarten and the deck that got me organized for the beginning of the school year. I’ve had some teachers ask if I would be willing to share it, so I decided to "fancy it up" this summer and make it more usable for others. In doing so, I broke the deck into several decks that could be used alone or combined to build your first day of school (and beyond!) I'll be sharing the rest of the decks along with more Getting Started ideas in future posts.

     The first deck, Introducing Materials (you can get it here), uses the Responsive Classroom approach of guided discovery to introduce classroom supplies such as glue sticks, pencils, crayons, scissors, and more.  The goal of guided discovery is to get children excited about the material, provide opportunities for free exploration, and to establish routines for caring for and storing materials.

Here's a quick summary of the approach.  

Introduce and Name: The teacher builds interest, names the material, and creates a shared background knowledge.

Generating Ideas: Children are invited to think and share ways to use the material.

Exploration and Experimentation: Children use the ideas shared in the previous step to explore and experiment with the material.

Sharing Exploratory Work: Children learn from each other as they share the ways they used the material during the previous step.

Cleanup and Care of Materials: Procedures for storage and use of the materials are modeled and practiced. 

Open-ended questioning is used throughout guided discovery to give children a voice in their classroom community and to let them know their ideas and suggestions are valued.  

     This has been my go-to method for not only introducing school supplies, but also math manipulatives and some center materials.  How do you provide first experiences with materials in your classroom?

Thanks for stopping by!

Jackie