Games, Science and Organization! And A FREE File to Get You Organized

Ever wonder what kinds of topics I present?  Here are a few snippets from some of the sessions during a recent conference. Be sure and read all the way to the bottom! I have a FREE File for you!

Phonemic Fun for Everyone

Want  to work smarter, not harder? One way--“recycle” game ideas. This means taking an older game idea and adding a little bit of a different twist to make the kids think they are playing a whole new game! Here is an example for Penguin Bingo!

• Take ANY abc bingo game and put it with a deck of beginning sound cards.
• Say the name of the item on the card and the kids have to cover the letter the picture begins with.
• Now the game has moved from an ABC recognition game to a beginning sound game! No need to make a new game!

Literacy Games and More

Here is another way to “recycle” game ideas. This time we are going to play the same exact game, just change the clip art.  The kids think they are playing different games. But, we aren't wasting any time teaching more rules and procedures.  Here's how we play:

• Hangman is a great game! You can play it using almost any theme….build Santa, add flowers to a pot, build a house, etc.
• Another easy way to play is just to use a wooden puzzle. As they guess a letter that isn’t in the word, put a piece of the puzzle in the tray. Can they guess the word before you build the puzzle?
• REMEMBER….we are using hangman as a game to teach! It’s easy to get caught up in winning and losing when you are as competitive as me!
• Here are a few ways to get more out of the game:
• Give the children a list of the words you are choosing from.
• Tell the children how many letters are in the word, and invite them to draw that many lines on their boards.
• Proceed to read the words down the list, deciding which ones it could be.
• Have the children write their guess on their lines.
• Now, invite a child to guess a letter.
• If the letter is in your word, write it in the correct spot.
• Now, invite the children to look at their word and see if they have that same letter in that same spot.
• If not, they erase their word. Read through the list again deciding which word it could be and write another guess down.
• Continue until the word is figured out!
• This calls more attention to actually READING the words! 

Science Blasters 

I love, love, love  science. The main goal in kindergarten is to teach a love for science and the scientific process. Each experiment will take them through the process:

• Ask a question
• Do research or ask yourself, “What do you already know?”
• Construct a hypothesis, “What do you think will happen?”
• Test hypothesis through an experiment.
• Analyze your data and draw a conclusion.
• Communicate your results.

So here’s how this lesson would go:

• First, read a non-fiction book about ducks and their feathers. You may only need to read a small section from a non-fiction book.
• Next, read “In the Rain With Baby Duck”.  In this story, baby duck doesn’t like to get wet, but the parents love it! Ask the children “Why do you think the parents are not getting upset about getting wet but the baby duck is?”

• Now use the scientific process to do the experiment. Remember…what is important is going through the steps not how elaborate the experiment it.

Classroom Organization

To keep myself and my daily materials organized I use this stacking unit. Here's what I do:

• Use some kind of system, I use stacking plastic drawers, to make a drawer for each day of the week. (You don’t need Monday.)
• On Friday, collect EVERYTHING you need each day for the following week and put it in the drawer. Go ahead and put the things you will use on Monday out in the room where you will use them.

How about what do you do with the things as you are preparing and finishing up? Here’s what I do:

• Again, I use stacking plastic drawers. Make drawers for: To Make, Ready, Put Away.
• On Monday, place patterns for anything you need made for NEXT week  in the “To Make” drawer. This way, ANY adult that helps in your room can pull from that drawer. Parents will help too if you ask!
• As things are prepped, instead of them handing it to you, just ask them to place it in the “Ready” drawer. On Friday, you will take the things from this drawer to move to your “daily” drawers.
• The last drawer, “Put Away” is where I put things as I finish. Instead of just laying things on my desk, on the table, in my chair, or on the counter, I put EVERYTHING in this drawer. The kids can even do it for me! Then, when the drawer is full, I can take everything out, sort and put it all away at the same time.

And here is the freebee!!! Print these to go inside of your drawers for organizing your daily materials! Click on the title page to download!