Big Idea: Through listening and speaking, we connect with others and share our world.
Curricular Competencies: Exchange ideas and perspectives to build shared understanding.
Content: Strategies and processes: oral language strategies.
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Subject: Mathematics (K)
Core Competencies: Critical Thinking and Reflective Thinking
Big Idea: One-to-one correspondence and a sense of 5 and 10 are essential for fluency with numbers.
Curricular Competencies: Develop, demonstrate, and apply mathematical understanding through play, inquiry, and problem solving
Content: Number concepts to 10 and direct comparative measurement.
Lesson / Activities
*Note: This literacy lesson was extremely short as the teachers’ main focus in the morning was math. I did not take any photos as students were participating in the show and tell activity.
Soft start: The teacher mentioned that she usually has a message on the board for the students to read but missed it for this day. She also takes attendance by having the students come up to the whiteboard when they arrive at the start of the day. They read and answer a “yes” or “no” question by placing their name tag under their chosen answer. The question usually starts with the letter they are learning. Today’s question was “Do you like watermelons?”
Show and tell: Each week, the class has show and tell time. About five students participate each day, and their objects must start with the letter they are learning. This week, the focus was on the letter “W”. The students who are presenting must give three different clues (e.g., my object holds money, my object can fit into a purse and it is leather) then students with raised hands get a chance to guess (wallet). After the class has guessed the right answer, the presenter gets to choose three people to ask them a question about their object – the questions must relate to the show and tell.
This activity, as I observed today, fosters wonder, creativity, and communication. The students enjoyed it, and I believe it’s a great way to build a classroom community. Students get to share something special to them, allowing others to make connections and share common interests.
*I wanted to share the math activities I observed and participated in as math was the main focus for our visit.
TIC-TAC-TOE Game: Students used fun Easter-themed markers to play multiple rounds of chick vs. rabbit tic-tac-toe! They were encouraged to use strategies and pay close attention to where they placed their marker and where their opponent placed theirs.
At this station, students used a bunny to help them count or add on the number line. They would place their bunny on the first number in the equation (e.g., 3) and then move it the number of spaces indicated by the second number (e.g., 3) to find their final answer on the number line.
At this station students had to figure out what number goes in the blank box. The teacher directed them to look at the number on the top of the rainbow and count that number of coins out. Then, they needed to look down at the number of coins at the bottom right side and count out that number of coins and put them to the side. Whichever number they were left with was the number that goes into the blank space on the rainbow.
The students had to measure along the line on these pre-made cards (like shown above). They measured the image using Saint Patrick’s Day themed coins and then they had to write their answer in the little square in the top right corner.
Personal Reflection:
I am grateful that I got to spend my last visit in the Kindergarten classroom! My practicum is in a Kindergarten class this year, so I found this last visit extra special as I got to see how another Kindergarten classroom runs, examples of different transitions, as well as some helpful resources and activities. I enjoyed how the classroom teacher got us to work with a small group of students during math centers, as it gave me the chance to see how she implements new activities and organizes student-led activities. All in all, I believe this visit was a great learning opportunity for me. I took away a lot of useful strategies, tips, and resources that I can hopefully implement in my practicum class as well as in my future classrooms!
Big Idea: Playing with language helps us discover how language works.
Curricular Competencies: Read fluently at grade level, Communicate using letters and words and applying some conventions of Canadian spelling, grammar, and punctuation
Content:
Strategies and processes: reading strategies, oral language strategies, and writing processes.
Language features, structures, and conventions: concepts of print, print awareness, phonemic and phonological awareness, letter formation, sentence structure, and conventions.
Lesson / Activities
*This list of activities was inspired from a UFLI (phonics) lesson I observed, how the lesson went & in the order it went
Sounds + actions: As a whole group students and the teacher did sounds and actions to “th” (fast), “th” (slow) and “ch” – these are the sounds and compounds students are working on.
Word Work: Students began word work at their desks using their blending boards – the teacher asks them to spell out words using their letter blocks and changes only a few letters in the word until the short activity is done (e.g., chat -> chap -> cap -> tap -> tip.) *The teacher has a blending board under the document camera as well so students can refer to it throughout the activity .
Irregular Words: As a class they went over irregular words on the white board. Irregular words are words that cannot be decoded easily. As a class they said them out loud then, “decoded” the words by saying the “regular” parts of the word which is indicated by the “ ” symbol as well as the parts they need to “learn by heart” which is shown with the “ ” symbol.
Songs: The teacher also added in songs (not part of the UFLI program) to help students further their understanding of how to say them and spell them properly. The website that was used had great videos that showed the students exactly how it was spelt, actions and catchy tunes to help them remember!
Writing Words: Students got their white boards out and spelt the words the teacher was saying (e.g., “can you spell the word “so”, spell the word “the”, spell the word “you” etc.)
Review of “Schwa” words: The teacher made sure to address the words we say “relaxed” which is called “schwa” – for example in the English language we say “d” like “duh” not just the “d” sound and same with “a” we say it as “ah” not just “a.” So, the teacher made sure to address this so students are learning the proper way of phonics not the “relaxed” way.
Let’s read together: All together the class read out sentences that had words in it that they were focusing on (e.g., Chuck and Beth had lunch.) I like the idea of students having the chance to just read sentences instead of sentences with pictures as I believe it will help them strengthen their understanding of the meaning of the sentence. Additionally, the teacher made sure to go over C.A.P.S for their sentence, “do all the words that need capitals have capitals? is the appearance of the sentence correct? (finger spaces between letters, written left to right etc) does the sentence have proper punctuation? are all the words spelt correctly?“
Let’s spell together: the teacher prompts the students with a sentence and asks them to spell it out, word for word. As the students are writing it out she is also writing it alongside them on the smart board. I really like that the teacher puts circles for the amount of words in the sentence and checks them off as they go. Additionally, they also use the C.A.P.S method to make sure the sentence is a proper sentence.
Decodable text / “Rockin’ Reader”: Students come back to the carpet space and read “decodable” texts that are presented on the smart board – after students have read the sentences all together the teacher chooses a “rockin reader” and they get a little slip of paper that says they won “rockin reader” that gets put in their folder then they get to pick a prize, either a sticker or a “desk pet” which is a little eraser.
Student groups / centers: The teacher has preplanned groups (4 groups of 4) based on the students literacy ability, this is done so the teacher can focus on the “lower” levelled groups as often as needed. The students rotate between four different groups; 1 – teacher “lesson,” they focus on phonics and to get additional support if they are struggling with understand the UFLI lessons, they also work in their “UFLI Check In Booklet” (photo presented below) 2 – phonics game, 3 – another game related to the content, and 4 – either levelled reading or another game related to literacy. The students rotate between all of the centers so they each get a chance to participate at each of them. The centers usually last about 5-8ish minutes.
This UFLI check in booklet is only used at the teacher center as the students get prompts from the teacher on what to write – these are mostly only used on Friday’s and they correspond with the lesson number.
I believe this booklet is a great way to keep up with students learning (assessment) and to see how they progress over time!
“Roll and Read” – this is a two player game, the goal is to get a whole column of your coloured chips. Each student takes turns rolling dice – if they get a 3 then they must go to the 3 column and say the word before putting their coloured chip down. This goes on until time is up or someone fills a column with their colour. *This game comes with the UFLI lesson*
This game is similar to the game “snacks and ladders” – students are to roll the dice and move that many spaces that is presented on the dice (the arrows allow you to either skip a few spaces or move you back a few spaces.) Once they get to their space they are to read the word and place their marker on that spot. This continues until someone has reached the finish line! The game allows them to practice the phonics / words they are learning. *This game is also part of the UFLI lesson – each lesson has a set of games that correspond with the lesson.*
This reading center is only used if the students have reached a level higher than “d” for reading as students are able to read fluently and on their own once they have moved past a level “d.” The teacher groups students based on their literacy abilities so a group of students can use this center to practice their reading skills. If there is a group that has not yet passed level “d” in their reading they will participate in another UFLI game.
Personal Reflection
I absolutely loved my time spend in the “ ” classroom! I learnt so much from the classroom teacher as she made time to sit down with us to discuss what she was doing in detail, how it is going with the students, what is working and what is not etc. She also provided us with a lot of resources and insights on what we can look forward to and what is working for her that she recommends we try out in our future classrooms! Being able to participate and walk around while an actual lesson is taking place was extremely beneficial as I got to see in real time how to do activities / lessons like the ones explained above and how the students respond to said lessons. Additionally, watching these activities showed me the importance of having students move a lot during a lesson, having different elements to keep them engaged as well as letting the students do the learning by constantly talking not just the teacher talking. All in all I am very thankful that I got to observe the “ ” classroom and am excited to see different literacy lessons take place in the following classrooms.
