The purpose of this course blog is to serve as a practice exercise in EDM 510 Microcomputing Systems in Education.
Group C,
This week I am excited to be starting a new position. I will start Wednesday as a pre-school teacher for an inclusion class at the elementary school where I have been serving as an aide for the past six weeks. My class will be comprised of students ages 3-5. Before this year, I had taught fifth grade at a private school for 10 years, so this is going to be a little different for me. I think this will be a lot of fun, but also very challenging. In this blog, I am asking for your help. Please help with ideas for lessons, activities, games, or books to share. If you have taught younger students or have children of your own, please think of fun and educational activities. If you have not had experience with younger students, then think of fun activities from your own childhood. Thank you for your help and all the wonderful ideas I know you will have!
As a classroom management tool, this activity was successful for me.
ReplyDeleteGive Me Five-
Hold up your hand. Tell students, "I have five rules for good listening."
Model first. Tell them to listen, first, and watch you.
Students can either stand or be sitting "criss cross applesauce."
Chant in a soft voice.
"Give me five.
My eyes are watching (point to eyes).
My ears are listening (point to ears).
My mouth is quiet. (point to mouth).
My hands are still (hands by your side or in your lap).
My feet are still. (point to feet).
These are my five rules for good listening."
Repeat this with students chanting.
Tell students, "if you follow these five rules, I know you are ready to listen."
They should be quiet, still, and ready to listen, now.
I hope this help,
A. Rockwell
Thank you for the idea. I can see where this will be very beneficial. It will help get the students ready to listen. I might even make a poster with pictures of eyes, ears, mouth, hands and feet to point to if any need a reminder during carpet time.
ReplyDeleteI unfortunately have very limited experience with young children. I did, however, look up some fun activities you may use in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteAs a child I struggled with math. I don't remember, but I'm sure I had problems even in Kindergarten with counting. You could give a paper (similar to a bingo card) to each child. Some squares will have numbers in them, and some will not. The child should fill all the squares that are blank. Numbers will go in order so student is able to practice counting.
To add a little color to counting you could have a play-dough number at the top of the paper. Under the number there are 10 boxes. If the play-dough number is a yellow seven, the student should put seven little bits of yellow play-dough into the boxes (one bit goes in one box). This way the student can practice color matching and counting. Hope this helps!
Also, I really like Andrea's idea! Seems perfect to get the students to focus on you.
Thanks for these ideas! Any suggestions are helpful right now.
DeleteKayla
I have very limited experience with younger childern also. (I probably need to brush up on all of the activities though since I have a little one coming up on Preschool age soon.) However, I do have lots of experience with Google and Pinterest. I love using them both! I found a beginning sounds activity that seems easy to put together and fun to do.
ReplyDeleteMaterials needed:
some small items that begin with the sounds you are teaching (the picture showed a variety of smaller toys)
some sort of container or containers to label with the letters for those sounds
Directions:
Have students place the items in the corresponding container.
This could be used for middle and ending sounds as well. Also, as the students master the activity, it could be placed in a center.
Here is the website for the blog where I found this fun activity. She also has many other activities listed.
www.theprincessandthetot.blogspot.com/2012/04/whats-on-tray.com
I love the idea of sorting items by beginning sounds. I have seen this done with picture cards, but the students will enjoy using objects more than pictures. I will be sure to check out the blog. Thanks for your help!
DeleteCurrently, I am working in preschool. One game that the children really love is Magic Rock. Here is how you play the game. The teacher gives the instructions, and the children turn into an animal. The children begin the game by curling up into a rock.
ReplyDeleteMagic Rock
Magic Rock
Can you turn into a dog?
The children pretend to be a dog.
The teacher uses a bell to signal the children to turn back into a rock.
At the end, the teacher has the children turn back into boys and girls.
The children must love this! I will be using this, probably starting tomorrow. Thank you for the idea!
DeleteKayla,
ReplyDeleteHere's an old game that I have adapted to play with younger kids and teach them simple things like colors, numbers, letters, names of birds, etc. I shared it with Jessica and here it is for you too:
It would help if you can make "clip-ons" with colors or numbers for each child but they are optional. The children make a circle with one child in the center who is the "Gardener." S/he walks inside the circle saying "I was born a gardener. I love all flowers. All flowers except blue ones!" At this point the kids who are marked or just were designated as "blue" must jump out of the circle and maybe squat, while the rest of the kids need to quickly "close the ranks" by holding the hands with kids on their right and left. If someone is too slow and the Gardener catches this kid, that child becomes "It. The game teaches alertness and focus as well as colors, numbers, etc. You can perfect it any way you like it.