Games, Games, and More Games

Over the summer, I spent time creating another game for my reading groups. Last year's group kept me challenged. I had to keep creating higher level games because they kept soaring through reading levels. If you come and observe me, I will tell you that I am firmly convinced that games are my main reason for kids reaching goals. Last year's K group were all on level or higher in reading!

How my reading groups work? I meet with every group every day. My kids are in differentiated, flexible groups. I end up having usually 4 to 5 groups.

I do a modified Daily 5. What do you mean?

1. Kids are put into differentiated groups and rotate the stations together.
2. Students rotate to a new station every 10 minutes. Partly due to my ELA block and partly due to attention span.
3. I set colored timers off so they know which station. I absolutely love http://www.timeme.com/alarm-clock.htm. I set timers to match my station colors. At the end of the station, kids hear the sound I set on the timer (usually drum) and know to go to the next station. Clean up? I set a separate sound (usually Ba Dah 16sec), and they know to put everything away. It is truly magical!
4. Stations:
1. Teacher Station: 
1. Monday: I focus on our Student book stories (Journeys) and leveled readers (Journeys).
2. Tuesday-Friday: We focus on letters, sounds, and/or sight words.
2. Word Work: 
1. Monday: Students work on phonics activities with a Journeys Smartnotebook lesson.
2. Tuesday: Students do activities on a created Symbaloo: http://edu.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAABMwVhqsAA41_k-WRFA== If you use IRLA, feel free to use the link, but be aware that I tend to update this one quite often.
3. Wednesday: Students rainbow write our sight words in the program "Pixie." The nice part of Pixie is that it will read words.
4. Thursday: Students do Symbaloo again.
5. Friday: Students do the special section I created on Symbaloo called "Friday Fun." The games are still educational, but they are different for variety. https://edu.symbaloo.com/shared/AAAABC_0WSsAA41_lGWHiQ==
3. Listen to Reading: Another Symbaloo: http://edu.symbaloo.com/mix/listening87 If you have a great site you use, let me know. I did transfer all to the computer because the kids really struggled with books on tape/CD.
4. Work on Writing: Kids use the program "Pixie" to have a continuing journal. I am able to look at it via my computer, which is really nice.
5. Read to Self: I only use this station if they are done early or I need another group station. We have plenty of time during the day they are reading by themselves or with someone else, since we have to have a focused reading time. I use leveled books for this. 

Yes, I do a lot of computers. Our school is lucky to be one-to-one. Each student has shortcuts in a Word document. I have created a shortcut on each desktop, so I can change stations from my main computer. Here is a pic of what they might have:

If the student is to do a station on the computer, there is a link on the station's symbol.

Yes, I do math stations too. I teach them which station matches which character. The color tells them which station, which matches my timer.

Wednesday-Friday, I play games at my Teacher Station.
My favorite go-to game has been "Apple Orchard." I created it similar to Hi-Ho Cherry-O. Students spin a wheel. If they land on a number, they get that many sight word cards to read. If they read it correctly, they keep the card. If they land on a bird, they lose a card. If they land on an apple basket, they lose all of their cards. I printed my cards on colors depending on the level. That way if I have a group of readers who are reading at different levels (like my higher reading group), they can all play and at the end I can easily sort the cards back into their appropriate levels. Our current reading program has set sight words that are linked to colors.

My new game? Old Maid. I am hoping it is a hit this year. We will see.

Other games I play? Candy Land Sight Words, Chutes & Ladders Sight Words, Cookie Crunch Sight Words, and Fishing, which I got from: http://differentiatedkindergarten.com/colorize-your-classroom-with-editable-sight-word-fishing-fun/?m I really love fishing. I use her template for my words and for math facts. My letter and sound games I have gained from a lot of different sources. Crocodile Snap is one of my favorites.
You can find my games at my TPT store: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pamela-Wray

I recently created my existing games into editable pdfs. That way if you don't use our reading program you can create your own cards.

TPT is having a big sale August 1-2, 2017. My items will be on sale, too.

Setting Up My Room

I plan to go into my classroom soon. Maybe even next week but for sure in 2 weeks. The gradual set up will begin. I will post a classroom reveal when I am done setting up.

Each year I tweak something, whether it be decorations or arrangement. This year it is my Focus Wall. I am simplifying it. Last year, I just had too much. Really, my Kindergartners aren't reading it. It is for me and administration. So, I didn't need so much information. However, I want to make sure I have the letter for the week, the week number, and sight words for the kids. I also need to keep learning targets and success criteria. I will post a pic when I have it up.

When you see pictures of my classroom, you will definitely notice one big missing item...my teacher desk. That probably was one of the most freeing things I have done! How often do you use your desk? I didn't. It was a glorified dust collector, which only held my sub plans. I never sat at it. I am pretty satisfied with a table for my reading/math groups and my computer station.

What is my theme? This year will be monsters. I use Monsters Inc. monsters and ClassDojo monsters. I have redone many of my posters to feature monsters. Last year, I redid my entire alphabet line to have Monsters University monsters. I would post a picture, but I don't want to violate copyright.

I have 3 main colors: black, white, and yellow. I have been tempted to add other colors, but so far...no.

Welcome to My Blog

A new school year is quickly approaching, and so much is already going through my mind. Well, in reality, my mind never truly stops thinking about school, which drives my husband absolutely crazy.

I am a teacher in WA state. I will be teaching Kindergarten again this school year. Yay! I have been teaching since 1997 but K since 2001, so it really is all I know anymore. So hopefully I won't be asked to move to another grade level.

I was asked recently if I had a blog or website. Nope. So, here we go.
I have been asked a lot of questions from people how I do certain things and never have time to explain adequately. Hopefully, this blog will give a little glimpse inside my classroom. So, if you stop by, "Welcome! I am so glad you came."

I will plan to share my class set-up, reading stations, math stations, and general tech info. Yes, I use a lot of technology. We are a one-to-one school. Each student has a Microsoft Surface. My K students are doing everything from interactive stations, Pixie journals, to OneNote responses. I am always changing how I do things, so will let you share my journey.