Cooperative Learning #9 & Little Bus Flash Freebie

Today is my last day of summer break. I am going into my new classroom tomorrow to organize and put things where I need to. Next week is teacher planning week, and I have so much to do!

Storyboard is a cooperative learning structure that I have introduced earlier on my blog. For the Throwback Thursday part I'm focusing only on the Storyboard part of my post. Click HERE to see that full post.



Not sure if she is having this today? She joined others in a big giveaway for August 1-5th.

----- Below part was originally posted on April 5, 2013. -----

3. Last month, I went to a Kagan workshop, and learned a new strategy called Storyboards. I created my own Storyboard (not Kagan endorsed) for my Australia unit, G'day Mates. The week before spring break, we learned about Australia animals. We also talked about nouns and verbs. This song was on a pocket chart as we changed the nouns and verbs using Australian animals. This week, we continued learning about Australia with the Great Barrier Reef. This time, we used a Kagan Storyboard strategy. Each group got a storyboard, cards, and a pointer. One student from each group passes out the cards. As a whole group, we sang the song and put down the cards as we sang the words. This group didn't quite get it, as they missed putting two of the pictures down.

 

This activity came from my G'day Mates unit.

We continued throughout the week with this activity, and they got better with working together in placing down the word cards as they were sung.

This activity came from my G'day Mates unit.

 

Now back to the present...

 

After the first week of school, we will be following the new Reading Street Series in my county. I made a thematic unit to go along with the first story, The Little School Bus.

 

Link to TPT store will be added once it's there!

 

In it, I have included a storyboard structure with using the letters. I will first introduce this on a pocket chart during whole group activities. After a few days, I will give each group their parts to review one letter. We will do this activity in small groups, but still whole group. When they are ready, I will add more letters. After they are familiar with this structure, I will put the storyboards at a literacy center for students to practice their letter recognition and sounds. Here is a preview.

 



 



 This unit also includes:

 

1. Who Rides This Bus?- A letter and beginning sound sort for small groups or independent work. There are 4 different variations included: color or black and white in either Basic Print or D'Nealian.

 

 

 2. Letters on the Bus Pocket Chart & Storyboards- in Basic Print or D'Nealian.

 

3. Road Rally- Even though there is a free set of road letters at Making Learning Fun, I used Charlotte's Clips to create a learning center for my students.

 

 

4. Bus Stop: Write the Room- Just a simple write-the-room activity for copying words onto paper.

 

 

5. Bus & Letter Webs- These are to be printed out and used on class charts.

 



 

6. How Do We Go Home Graph- Parts to make a graph on how students go home. Use bulletin board paper to glue parts onto. Students write name and draw picture on sticky note to place on graph. Then collect data and write about it on the bulletin board paper. See example below:

 

 

 

7. Five on the Bus- Use counters, beans, or children pictures to make 0-5 on the bus mats.

 

 

 

8. Ordinal Numbers- Pocket Chart pieces to tell story of The Little School Bus (Reading Street story) and practice ordinal numbers.

 

 

 

9. Putting the Buses in Order- Students put buses in order and find number matches.

 

 

 

10. Shape Bus Craftivity- Students use shapes (rectangle, circle, square, octagon) to make a bus.

 

11. Little Yellow Bus Snack- Students make a little yellow bus out of a graham cracker, yellow icing, Oreos, and Chex cereal.

 

If you are interested in this packet, I am offering it as a FREEBIE to my followers until Sunday evening 6PM Eastern time. I am almost done with it, so Saturday I will start sending it out to you. Just leave me a comment to this post or email me at learningwithmrsbrinn@gmail.com to let me know how you follow me and your follower name: Google Friend Connect or Bloglovin. Make sure you leave an email address too, so I can email you my newest digital packet.

 

If you would like to link up a post about cooperative learning, please do. I would love to hear how others are using these strategies in their classrooms. If you ever get a chance to go to a Kagan workshop, I highly recommend it. It has helped me to better manage my classroom, and get my students to interact and be engaged more often. I am not being paid for this statement. It is my opinion, and definitely worth an educator's time. I was fortunate to have my workshops paid for through school funds. :0) This is the last cooperative learning linky of this summer.

 

 

 

 

 

12

Cooperative Learning #8 & Match It Flash Freebie!

I am so excited to be sharing another Kagan cooperative learning structure with you today! This one is called Match Mine. It reminds me of the game "Telephone" that I played as a kid. Below is a picture of some of my kinderkids engaged in Barnyard Friends. I prepared this game from Kagan's book, Match Mine: Language Builder. To play, I prepared the boards and pieces by color coding and laminating them. I only needed 10 sets, since 2 children played the game at a time. Partner A places his pieces on the board in any order. Partner B waits without peeking! Next Partner A uses verbal cues to tell Partner B to put the pieces on his board. Partner A uses directional words such as top, bottom, above, below, next to, left, right, in the middle, etc. Partner B listens and puts the pieces on his mat. When they are done, they check their board to see if they are alike. If so, they cheer. Then they switch roles and play again. In the picture below, my students used farm animal pictures to place in the 9 boxes.

The Barnyard set is at school. However, I am prepping some more games from that particular Kagan book. I plan to put these at literacy or math centers after my students have had practice playing the game with my guidance. Click HERE to see where to buy the book. Here is a picture that I took to show you some of the pages inside. It's a great resource! This structure is great for language building. It hits these Kindergarten Common Core standards:

1. SL.K.3: Ask and answer questions in order to seek help, get information, or clarify something  that is not understood.
2. K.G.1: Describe objects in the environment using names of shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.
3. Florida SS Skill- SS.K.G.1.1: Describe the relative location of people, places, and things by using positional words.

I could see adapting this for older grades with vocabulary. One partner has the words, while the other has the definition. I think math could easily be adapted to this structure as well!

I do not use this strategy at the beginning of the kindergarten school year. I feel that most of my students aren't quite ready for it. Kagan's version is a bit more advanced. There are great examples that can be used after the first months, but during the first months I prefer something simpler. So I created my own version to use during the first months of kindergarten. It focuses on letter and number recognition, and also includes color, shape, and names of classmates. I am offering it as a FLASH FREEBIE at my TPT store for the first ten individuals who would like it! Offer expired.




Click the picture to go to my TPT store to check it out.

Next week is my last week of summer, and so it will also be my last week of my Thursday's Cooperative Learning Linky. Feel free to link up any cooperative learning strategy you would like to share. If you don't have a blog, you can comment or ask questions in the comment section. I would love to read your thoughts about cooperative learning structures!

 

5

Thursday's Cooperative Learning #7

 

I am off to do a little bit of hiking today... hopefully it won't be unbearably hot or raining. I am also done with my 3rd Reading Endorsement class. Last night was my last one for the summer! Only 2 more courses to go for the fall and spring.

 

So with that said, this will be a quick post. I want to go over a strategy I use with my kinders that Kagan calls "Sage N Scribe". I pair students up to work together. Partner A has a pencil to write and Partner B tells Partner A how to solve the problem. Partner A writes what Partner B tells him. If he does not agree, he may coach. Then they switch roles. I've used this with our alphasmart projects or making words activities. On the alphasmart Partner A will write Partner B's response. Then they switch roles. Since I only have 10 alphasmarts, this gives my whole class an opportunity to use technology in the given time frame. With Making Words, Partner A has the letters and Partner B has the paper. Partner A explains how to make the word, and then Partner B writes it down. Then they switch roles. Sometimes, my students partner up and use this strategy when working with math problems.

 

I have my partners write in different colors. This is a management technique with cooperative learning strategies. Each child writes his name in a different color than his partner. That way when I am checking their work, I know who wrote the work.

 

 



1

Thursday's Cooperative Learning #6

 

 

Just a quick post, as I have a couple more assignments to finish for my Reading Endorsement class. At the beginning of the year, with my older students (1st & 2nd) or with my kindergarteners' big buddies, I use Kagan's Find Someone Who... as an icebreaker. This is a fun way to get to know more about our friends in our class. Each child gets one ditto, and finds a friend who can answer one of the questions in a box. Then that friend signs the box. This structure fills the need for movement and social interaction with peers. Below is a slide from my set of Kagan posters that I created with various clipart, the main picture being from Kagan's Powerpoint Pals. These are posters to help guide the process of the cooperative learning structure. Kagan has their own on their site. Click below to go to Kagan Online.

 

 

 

If you put in a search for Find Someone Who on TPT, there are certainly many resources. Here are a few of my favorite freebie finds on TPT.

 

Find Someone Who With Pictures 

Find Someone Who Back to School Packet

 

Other educators have taken this and applied it into the academic area.  Amanda Pauley from Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten and Sheree Peterson from Peterson's Pad have offered freebies using this structure while tying in the Common Core standards.

 

 

On a different note, I feel honored to be awarded the Liebster Award. I feel I am not a new blogger... been around the past year... I'm just slow like a turtle. :0) The turtle did finish the race though. (The turtle is my running mascot- random fact.) Thanks to Amber from School is a Happy Place, Stephanie from Polka Dot Palace, and Sara from The Primary Buzz for this recognition. I am happy to be part of the blogging community, and having an opportunity to share and learn with others.

 

 

 

To accept the nomination I must:
1. Link back to the blog that nominated me
2. Nominate 5-11 blogs with fewer than 200 followers
3. Answer the questions posted for you by your nominator
4. Share 11 random facts about yourself
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you nominated them

 

There are a plethora of blogs that I would love to nominate... but I am limited with the guidelines and my time spent here today. Here are a few that I would like to nominate...

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mrs. Shelton's Kindergarten

 

Smart Kids

 

 

Now to the 11 questions (I'm cheating here... as I am picking the 11 I want to answer.)

 

1. Why did you start blogging? Last year, I began discovering TPT and teacher blogs. I didn't think I had the time to devote to a blog... and I am a private kind of individual. However, I wanted to share and learn from others, so I went for it.

 

2. What is your favorite outdoor activity? I love the outdoors!! Downhill skiing is my all time favorite... not something I can do where I currently live.

 

3.Where do you like to vacation? I love to travel. I wish I could go to Greece or to Peru. I haven't been to those places yet. I want to see the ruins and beauty of Greece, and in Peru, I want to hike up to Machu Picchu.

 

4. What is one goal you have made for yourself this year? I want to spread kindness. I want to help my students find ways to spread kindness through Random Acts of Kindness. I think this goes well with the filling buckets classroom management system I use in my classroom. I also hope to do this outside of school.

 

5.6. Are you married? Do you have any children? I am married and we do not have any children. Instead we have two little dogs.

 

7. What is your favorite childhood memory? Riding my tricycle, munching on a pickle, and laughing with my friend. Don't remember his name... we were like 4 years old at the time.

 

8. Are you a coke or pepsi person? If you don't drink soda, then what is your drink? I love coffee! I associate warm fuzzy feelings with it, as I get together with friends to drink some coffee. I didn't drink coffee for over a year, but back to it again. My other drink is water... I typically have a water bottle with me.

 

9. What is one teaching tool you can not live without? Lots of books! I can teach anything as long as I have a great book to use. Books open a world of possibilities.

 

10. Favorite quote? When I had a classroom website, I posted this because I truly believe it goes with my philosophy of teaching: "Use what talents you possess; the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” ― Henry van Dyke

 

11. Best moment/experience while teaching? Everyday in the primary grades brings wonderful experiences. I can think of quite a few stories. However, I will always remember my very first class. A few of their faces pop up immediately, and I think of a time. I remember the shy Vietnamese girl, I tried connecting with through our culture. She drew and wrote about pho, a type of Vietnamese soup. I was very excited trying to explain to the other children what it was. She smiled at me so proud. I even spoke Vietnamese to her. One day she looked up at me, and asked why I spoke Vietnamese funny. That cracked me up... I have an accent. My relatives like to laugh at me, and they say it's cute...

 

Which brings me to some random things about me...

 

1. I used to speak enough Arabic and French to get by. I didn't have an accent in Swiss... many thought I was a native.

 

2. I love shopping at Anthropologie. Here is one of my favorite dresses I wore to my friend's wedding last year.

 

That is the Mr. Brinn with me.

3. I have inspired my husband to come into the classroom to help me out. He is great help, and the kids love him.

 

4. Click here to an earlier post to learn more... and it has more pics.

 

Thanks again to Amber, Stephanie, and Sara. I feel fortunate to be able to have met and learn with educators all over the place! I hope to have an opportunity to meet up one day. :0) 

 

Whew!! This was not a quick post with the awards!! :0)

 

OOPS- For my questions, please pick any that were asked by my nominees... thanks!

 

 

 







4

Thursday's Cooperative Learning #5

If you have been following along, reading my posts focused on cooperative learning, you would know that I have shared some basic cooperative learning strategies: HandUp-StandUp-PairUp, Quiz-Quiz-Trade, RallyRobin, and Circle of Friends. Today, I want to share a different approach by using games for brain breaks and skill review.

I am so glad that this past year my school district allowed us to go on Youtube! There are many fun resources that can be used in the classroom. Just Dance Kids has some fun videos on Youtube that my kids love to dance to. My kinders also love dancing and learning their sight words through HeidiSongs. These songs also help make transitions go a little easier.



Source: Kagan Online


Kagan has a book called Silly Sports & Goofy Games. These are 206 great games to use for a brain break or reviewing skills. It is just plain fun, and builds classroom community. Here is a video that shows some children playing a game: Row, Row Your Boat video

One game in the book that I would like to try is the Clapping Game. This reminds me of a Hot & Cold game I've played as a child and with my own students. First you split your students into small groups of 3-4 students each. One child from each group leaves the room, as the groups decide which items they want their teammate to find. (Only one item for each team.) These items should be out in the open and easy to access. Once the items are chosen, let the other children come back. No one is talking, but instead clapping to show how close their teammate is to the item. For example, loud and fast clapping as one gets close to the item or soft and slow clapping when far away from the item. Once the teammate finds the item, the team celebrates with a group hug. I think this would be a fun game to play with my kinders at the beginning of the year. After introducing the game, I would have my teams pick an item with a specific beginning sound.

Another game in the book is Snowball. First, have half of the class write their names on rectangular pieces of white paper. The other half of the class writes their names on rectangular pieces of blue paper. Then each child crumbles up his paper into a "snowball". Each half of the class face each other and begin throwing the snowballs trying to keep the snowballs on the other side of the class. At the end, each student takes a snowball of an opposite color and the whites interview the blues first. Then let the blues go and interview the whites. I have not played Snowball in this way. Instead, I have my students practice their sight words by reading the sight word, crumpling the paper, and throwing the snowball. Before throwing, they have to read the snowball. The next time, I have my class play this game I am going to have them pair up at the end by finding their partner with the same sight word. This could also be done in math, using number sense, addition, or subtraction.

One game in this book that I have yet to play with my students is called Shoe Scramble. I think this game would be fun on the day I introduce Daily 5's IPICK and the right fit for books. Students sit in a circle, take off one shoe and put it in the middle. Then they all hold hands and do not let go. Each student must pick up a shoe and locate the owner without letting go of their hands. This would be a fun community building activity. I believe the leaders would show themselves in this activity.

I hope you have a wonderful July 4th!! If you have a great brain break activity/resource, please link up... you have until next Wednesday, July 10th.

 

0

Thursday's Cooperative Learning #4 & Giveaway

 

Thanks to Amanda for hosting this week! I love sharing and learning about how to do cooperative learning activities with young children. So I may date myself by saying that in the late 90s... I took one of my first cooperative learning workshops. One strategy shared was the Inside Outside Circle. At the time, I was a first grade teacher, and thought to myself no way, that strategy is for the BIG kids. So I stuck to RallyRobin, small groups of 3-4 students or pairs. When I worked with high school students, I used Inside Outside circle for community building activities. Such a fun way to meet and greet different faces!

 

Well a couple of summers ago, I took a SIOP workshop, and learned about the Circle of Friends. It is very similar to the Inside Outside Circle. I saw that Inside Outside Circle could be done with my kinders! What changed my mind, was that the first grade teacher had her children sitting in circles, while she stood in the middle of these circles. This was the management tool I needed to try this with my kinderkids.

 

Here's a video of a teacher explaining and doing the structure with her students: ESOL SIOP Inside/Outside Circle

Here's one in progress:

 

One activity that I like to do this with is my kinderkids is making a sight word book using their pictures and names in it. It is a great way to learn their new friends' names. I will need to adjust it this year, as my school district will be using Reading Street. Instead of writing I see..., my kinders will write I am... (student name is under the picture of each child). This activity is one included in my Start School: Using Brain-Based Research packet.

 

 

I use this structure for my kinderkids to practice math problems, as well as sharing their student author books.

 

 

How would you use this cooperative learning structure in your classroom? Link up or comment to tell about your favorite cooperative learning structure or activity. I would love to read what you are planning or have done with cooperative learning! Link up over at Mrs. Pauley's Kindergarten!

 

 

 

I noticed that many of my fellow blogger friends are throwing a BlogLovin Giveaway! Thanks to Amanda & Stacia at Collaboration Cutie's for this idea and button!

 

 

If you are following me on BlogLovin- thank you! If you are not, you may want to try it out. For my BlogLovin followers, I am giving away 2 items from my TPT store. I will randomly pick a winner sometime Sunday evening (June 30th). Just comment to this post, telling me you are a BlogLovin follower! Remember to check back Sunday evening, as I will announce the winner and will need to contact you via email. :0) Congratulations Markisha!!

 



12

Cooperative Learning #3 & Science Mentor Text

Summer is in full swing! I am loving the flexibility of time to get my hair cut, catching up with friends, going to a couple workshops, getting a facial... I am feeling refreshed!

 

 

For my Thursday's Cooperative Learning, I wanted to discuss how I use RallyRobin in my classroom. Sometimes, I group my students in pairs or in small groups of 4-5 students. I am also joining Collaboration Cutie's Science Mentor Text! :0) When integrating science into my reading curriculum, I love using Pebble books. These books have great photos and simple text great for my little ones. Not only are they high interest books, but they are also good for those older students who need simpler text for reading. I got mine through Scholastic Books. Click below to check Lions out at Amazon.

 

 





 

 

Before reading one of these books to my kinderkids, I have them get their materials (whiteboards, pencils, & tree maps) and meet me to sit in groups of 4. I put a grouping mat on the floor, and my students pick a number to sit by. Some groups may have 3 or 5 students. Either #4 is missing from a group or I have two #4's in a group. Here is a picture of a small group of 4...

 

The whiteboards are flipped over and used as a writing surface for their graphic organizers. My wonderful kindergarten assistant made the grouping mats for my team and I to use with our students.

Before reading the book, I ask my students to brainstorm words that they think will be in this book. In each group, starting with the number 2's, they keep going around and around sharing their predictions until time is called. That is a RallyRobin structure. We continue the discussion with what we know about lions, starting with the number 4's. Then I begin reading the story, stopping at various points. I help them make connections to the book by asking if they saw a lion before. Starting with a specific # they share within their group. Sometimes, I call on a particular # in each group to stand up and share something from their group. The tree map comes into play while I read the story to my students. The above picture is not the lion tree map, but I did use this one from Kim Adsit. (My kinderkids loved this project! We also made the lion king of ing.) I would ask my students to tell what lions are starting with a specific #. Then I would call upon some children to share something that their group shared. After that, I gave time for students to write their responses on their tree maps. They helped each other and wrote down the different ideas. After reading the book and completing the tree map, they went to their seats to complete their art project.

 

This lion project came from KinderGals website. Links are in above paragraph.

 

 RallyRobin is a simple cooperative learning group structure easily adapted into any curriculum. I love how it gets each student talking. Kagan has posters, technology, and clipart about their structures for sale at their website. Last winter, I bought the Powerpoint Pals to make my own cooperative learning structures posters. I show them on my IWB. Click on the picture to visit Kagan Online.

 

 

 I also use Kagan's Timer Tools to help with timing. In the lion tree map activity, I did not. Instead, I had my students show me they were done by putting their hands on their heads. This gave me an opportunity to check and monitor my students. To draw interest, I used a student selector tool to pick students to share information. This helped made them accountable for the information they were sharing with their groups. I liked it also for the ones who had a difficult time brainstorming ideas, because they got information from their groups already. Kagan also has Student Selector tools. Instead, I use two free ones that I got from Mimio Connect and Smartboard Exchange. If you have an interactive whiteboard, these are great resources to use. It is free to use. If you do not have an IWB, you may be able to use, I did before I wrote my grant for the Mimio. :0) I used my big screen tv to display the information and used the keyboard/mouse. Not the same, but it works too!

 

I did not use the grouping mats at my tables last year. Instead, I have my students name on a ring. Each student had the opportunity to be the team leader for one day, and then would start all over again. I called on my team leaders to get group supplies or help when needed. With a new classroom, and new furniture, I plan to use these mats at the tables. I will print one for each group, trim off the credits, laminate, and put on my students' tables.

 

Click here to get it for your classroom.

Click above button to visit Collaboration Cuties and their Science Mentor Text Linky.
There are lots of great ideas and freebies being shared there every Sunday!

 

Join me in sharing how you use cooperative learning in your classroom! Link up your thoughts of how you use cooperative learning structures in your classroom or comment with your thoughts or questions. I will be in a 2-day workshop, Got Mimio? Advanced next week... so next Thursday I will be there. I am hoping to have something special for you! 

An InLinkz Link-up

 

 

6

Thursday's Cooperative Learning Week 2

 

 

It's week 2 for my Thursday's Cooperative Learning Linky. Today, I wanted to go into another strategy that I use often as a review for my kinderkids. Kagan calls it Quiz-Quiz-Trade. It is similiar to StandUp-HandUp-PairUp.  First, students StandUp-HandUp-PairUp. Partner A quizzes. Then Partner B answers. Partner A praises or tutors as needed. Then partners switch roles, so Partner B quizzes and Partner A answers. When completed, they trade cards, and raise their hands to find a new partner. I found this video on youtube of a 3rd grade class participating with this cooperative learning structure. I really like how they praise and cheer each other.

 

 

 

Here is another video of a class adding s or ies to the ending of  a word.

Here is a link to another video of a first grade class reviewing spelling. Before the actual activity, the teacher goes over the procedures with her class: First Grade Spelling.

One way I use this cooperative learning structure in my kindergarten classroom is to review our sight words. My kindergarten team and I have split our sight words into one of six colors (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple). I can differentiate by having one part of the class working on red words, while another group is working on orange words. This allows for differentiation and students can work on their own levels.

I also find it is important to teach my littles words for when a partner is not answering. I ask them to say, "Do you need more time or help?" I love it when they use these words and help as needed. On the back of my cards, I sometimes have an answer to check their work.

 

For language arts, I use many activities from this particular kindergarten book. It is a great Kagan resource.

 

 In math, I created my own resources to review skills. I just finished up my 1,2,3 Cooperative Learning With Kindergarten Math and posted it on TPT. Add your link or comment by next Thursday, and I will send it to you for free. Otherwise, you can purchase it on TPT for $4.

 

 

 Link up or comment below on how you use cooperative learning in your classroom. You may want to even share a lesson that works particularly well.You can use this code to add the Inlinkz to your own page. Just copy and paste the red code where you want it in the "HTML" mode: <!-- start InLinkz script -->
<script type="text/javascript">
                document.write('<script type="text/javascript" src=http://www.inlinkz.com/cs.php?id=283627&' + new Date().getTime() + '"><\/script>');</script>
<!-- end InLinkz script -->

 





0