And Suddenly...Alternative Seating!

Here's a bird's eye view of my classroom this spring. I was sitting on top of my cubbies when I took these pictures. I had six round tables, and each had four chairs. When the kids and chairs were at the tables, it was CROWDED. But that's also because I have a lot of stuff, and a lot of areas in my room.

I'd read a lot about alternative seating, and Shannon was already making the transition in her classroom, so I thought it was something I'd get on board with this coming year. I mentioned it to my principal, and the next thing I knew, a 4th grade teacher stopped by the room, saying, "I hear you want to get rid of some of your round tables?" (I never realized what a hot commodity they were!) I let him have one...then he came back for two more. I was on my way!

Shannon and I have always thought that the last weeks of school are perfect for "spring training." We still have kids to practice new ideas with...and they love exciting changes! It's the perfect time to work out bugs in anything that you want to implement in the fall! I thought it would be a great time to figure out "how to's" with alternative seating for next year. Because let's face it...I wasn't going to get those tables back. I didn't want them, either. The room was already so much more spacious!

I asked our custodian to take the legs off of one of the three remaining round tables. I bought cheap tennis balls from Target to put on the raw legs, so they wouldn't scratch the floor. I got four colorful lawn furniture cushions from Target, too. They were on sale! The "short table" quickly became everyone's favorite spot...unless they preferred the "tall table."

I asked our custodian to bring this table in from the hallway. It was just an extra table sometimes used for tutoring. No one really needed it. He raised it up almost as high as it would go. I only had one stool for this table, but the kids didn't mind. They wanted to stand!

I thought that I would have problems with behaviors...but I saw an immediate decrease in behaviors. The kids were very willing to "pick and stick" to a spot when it was time to work. Their supplies were in their toolboxes, so when the work time was over, they just put their toolbox back in their cubby, and came back to the carpet for the next mini-lesson or whole group activity. If they didn't like their seat, they knew that at the next work time, they could pick a new seat. I didn't have much arguing or fighting over spots, because the consequence of that was to have the area closed. The Peeps and I moved very easily into alternative seating! Love it, love it, love it!

There are only two "regular" tables left...and this year, I'm going to add stability balls or wobble stools...I haven't decided yet. The Peeps also have the option of working on the carpet with a clipboard.

I'll take more pictures to share next year. The changes to the room happened in May this year, and the last weeks of school went fast!

Planning for Writer's Workshop

Summertime, summertime...time to relax and play and plan. We're at it this week, working on getting plans set for writing next year. Our district uses the Lucy Calkins writing program, which is cumbersome for kindergarten, to say the least. There's good stuff there, don't get me wrong, but it's hard to siphon out. Those lessons take a long time to read and think through, and can be hard to break down for kinders who don't have any prior experience with writing.

Shannon and I do a lot with goal setting with our kids...individually and as a whole group. We've developed our Goal Setting for Writer's Workshop set to help kids keep in mind what goals they're working towards, and to help us focus on the most important skills for the children to master during the year.

This page can go right in the middle section of each child's writing folder. Keep a small file box of goal sheets handy, and as they are applicable to each child, add them to the writing goal sheet. This is a good way to differentiate for different learning needs...each child can focus on his/her goal when writing!

If you don't want to mess with strips of goals to glue in the folders, you can photocopy the list of goals instead. Put this in the folder, and put star stickers or other marks to show when a child has mastered the goal.

Check out Goal Setting for Young Writers on TpT to see the complete list of goals. If you have goals that you'd like to see added, let us know!

Whole Class Data Display

We've learned a LOT about whole-class data display this year! Our principals asked us to incorporate this into our instruction more, and we were skeptical...this is KINDERGARTEN, and it seemed like this was one more "push down" that would be developmentally inappropriate. It was wonderful to be wrong! Our children LOVED seeing data displayed, and as the year went on, they took charge of how and when it happened!

The first task was to make whole class data display developmentally appropriate; something that the kids could buy into and easily understand. Bring on the cookies! I thought that kids would have fun with a "cookie monster" themed display, and we could "crunch the numbers" together. The Peeps and I decided on simple class goals that we wanted everyone to master...so letters and letter sounds came first, along with numbers to 10 and basic shapes. I created a bulletin board like this!

Throughout the year, the kids were eager to "check their cookies." As I assessed children in small groups or 1-1, they asked me to hurry up and update the cookies. Whenever the principals popped in the classroom, the kids got up to show them how we were doing. All of the kids knew what our goals were, and they knew how they were doing as far as meeting the goals. 

I had worried a little that the kids would feel bad if they didn't reach a class goal. I shouldn't have! As I encouraged the class, and modeled a "we'll get there" attitude, the kids mirrored that. One day I was amazed when two boys used their reading workshop time working together to master letter sounds...because that was a class goal.  The principals offered to have a cookie party for us at the end of the year, and that was a HUGE motivator for everyone to continue to reach the goals we set. As we continued to work on various skills, the kids would say, "We need to add that as a cookie!"

Shannon and I had some other ideas for data display, too! 

Here's one for our Rockstars!

Whole-class data displays can be wonderful teaching and learning tools! Try using one with your students! If you use a data display like this, let us know in the comments, or tell us how yours is different! We'd love to hear your ideas!

See these on TpT...Crunching the Numbers, How We Slice It, Our Greatest Hits

Rock Fish!

I saw the book, Only One You, and loved it! I tried painting rock fish with my Girl Scout Brownies...there are only 7 in the troop. It was fun, but didn't have the end result I wanted. I still thought it would be a terrific end-of-the-year project for the Peeps, and then I could put it in their time capsules! Shannon wanted her Rockstars to do it too. So we had to figure out step by step instructions. (Click on the picture for the Amazon link.)

The rocks I used with the Girl Scouts were black craft rocks from Michaels. They were beautiful, but we wanted something more economical. So we bought a bag of landscape rocks. They are assorted sizes, but that worked great! The Peeps helped me sort by size, and then they each chose the rock they wanted! (Have kids put their names and the year on the bottom side of the rock they choose.)

Drawing lines on the rocks with pencil is the first step. Then choose colors and get to the painting part! I didn't have my collection of lids at school, so I was desperate for something that I could put just a dab of paint on. All I could quickly put my hands on was a pack of poker chips. But they worked really well! (Next time, I'll use milk lids!) The Peeps were very focused with their painting. Here they are at the "low" table, the "tall" table, and a regular table. (We love our new seating options!)

After the children painted the first colors, we let them dry. Then we added details after recess. Later in the afternoon, we added the black sharpie outlines. By then, some of the children had lost interest in working on their fish, so I let them choose if they wanted to do the outlines or if they wanted me to. Several of the kids did it themselves! The next morning, we painted the top with a clear coat of nail polish, and wrote our names and the year on the back. (That step really should have been first.)

Here are a few rocks from the Rockstars! Shannon had her kids practice making lips on paper before they drew them on the rocks. I think they look better than mine do! I also love those eyelashes!

We made some printables to go with the project. The kids pretended to "swim" around the room with their rock fish while they found friends to sign the boxes during the "Find a Friend" activity. It was so cute! I made it easy enough for the kindergartners to read themselves (for the most part!). Lots of times, this type of page is too tricky for my Peeps...but they could do this one!

Here are pictures from the TpT set. Each one links to our store. Check it out!

Jazzing Up Our TpT Store

It's so challenging to learn new things! I've been working and working on adding something interesting to our quote box on TpT. I've made progress...but still have lots of learning to do!!

Gobble! Gobble!

We made a Yahtzee-like game called "Gobble! Gobble!" This is a great way to practice sight words! You need an old coffee creamer container...or any type of container that you can turn into a turkey and put dice in. The coffee mate containers are neat because they have a shape that lends itself to becoming a turkey! 

The body and feathers are just foam shapes, hot glued on to the container. (The label comes right off, and you'll have a nice clean container to work with.) 

On blank dice, write any six words you like. We chose sight words that are tricky for our kids right now: here, this, said, am, my, like. Then we have a "Full House" and "Gobble" spot on the score sheet.  To play, children take turns rolling the dice. On a single turn, you can roll the dice a total of three times. Choose what words to try to collect, and keep any dice that work towards that. Then roll again until all three rolls are taken. For example, I roll the dice, and I see that I have two "this" words. I put them aside, and roll three dice again. If I get more "this" words, I can add them to my total. I can roll one more time to see if I can get them all on "this." Then I write down my score.  Put a star for a Full House (two of one word and three of another). "Gobble" is what you say when you get all five dice on the same word!  You can put a star on your score sheet for that, too! The game is over when all categories are full. 

We're going to make a snowman next, so that we can continue this game into the holiday season!

We're On Target!

We're working on making meaningful learning targets that we can use with the kindergartners each day. So far, it's awesome! We made huge "targets" to put where the children can reach them. As part of the Morning Meeting, the boys and girls put the target skills for the day on the big target. There are three per day--one for reading, one for writing, and one for math. They are written to be easily understood by the children, but have the actual common core standard written underneath. When we post them in the morning, it sets up the learning for the day, and makes it so easy to refer back to the targets during the specific lessons!