Print these on cardstock, laminate, cut apart and tape to student's desk to remind them of their shoulder partners, face partners, table number and letter. ...
Kagan strategies are nothing new – if you haven’t been to a conference then surely you know a teacher who has. I was one of those teachers that absorbed all the information teachers could give me about Kagan Learning since I was never lucky enough to attend. While I pushed cooperative learning and being interactive, […]
Hey Y'all! This is Chandra from Teaching with Crayons and Curls! I hope that you've been enjoying our posts this month and have learned some magical new ideas to use in your classroom with our Teaching Pot of Gold: Making Learning Magical blog series! I don't know about you, but I truly believe that for my students to LEARN, they have to be ENGAGED! So, I'm here to share some magic about how I try my best to keep my students engaged! My husband is also an educator and many of our conversations are school related. He has been so fortunate to attend many more education conferences than I have, and has always been willing (and excited) to share the information he has learned with me! At one of the conferences that he attended, he was very lucky to learn all about Kagan Structures. I had never heard about Kagan Structures before, but now I am completely hooked! I have to figure out a way to be officially trained or find a way to attend a workshop! If you've never heard of Kagan Cooperative Learning, but you are looking for ways to engage your students and provide them with experiences for cooperative learning, I highly suggest looking into these structures! This book is absolutely incredible! One of my favorite structures is Show Down! My students absolutely LOVE this activity and it's a great way to review for a math test while also allowing them to work cooperatively- hello Speaking and Listening standards!!! You can read about the specific directions for how to complete this activity from the creator, Laura Candler, on her blog! I changed it up a little bit in my classroom for my firsties, but it's still very similar! My students always use dry erase boards for this particular strategy. I LOVE using dry erase boards in my classroom because they are fast and easy, and my kids love using them! Win, win! I have my students work in small groups of about 4 students and they sit in a small circle. We usually sit on the floor for this activity and I walk around the classroom to take observations on their work- great quick assessment tool! In the actual directions, there is a team captain that switches a task card over! However, I usually just display the problem students are solving on the Smartboard. The task cards are a great way for you to differentiate the problems each group is working on, but since I usually use this activity for a test review, we are all working on the same problem! Once the problem is up, students get to work independently. I have them try to keep their dry erase boards hidden from the other members of their group, so that they are working independently. Once I notice that most students are done working, I yell "SHOWDOWN" and students turn their boards around so that all the students in their group can see their work. This is when they work cooperatively to discuss how they solved their problems or completed the problem. They can celebrate successes or tutor each other on how to correctly solve the problem. This is NOT a game, nobody wins or gets point! It's truly about working together and teaching each other! My students get so excited everytime I tell them we are about to complete Showdown, which makes my teacher heart so very happy! I would LOVE to know what Kagan Structures you love using in your classroom! Make sure to comment below with your favorites! For even more ideas from The Primary Peach, be sure to follow us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook to catch all the latest news and updates!
Cooperative grouping is a simple way to increase student engagement. Kagan structures provide a variety of activities that promo...
Door Esther: Het nieuwste boek van Dr. Spencer Kagan heet Coöperatieve werkvormen. Deze is uitgegeven door Bazalt. En ik ben ZO enthousiast dat ik eindelijk ee
Do any of you use Kagan strategies in your room?? It's all about cooperative learning - team work and partners and building a classroom family, if you will. One of my favorite things that I took away from Kagan is the desk assignments... He makes a mat, but I found the mat to be just in the way and got beat up...so I made little labels that I tape to the desks. I used to have desk pockets taped to all the desks.... (The desk pockets are part of my classroom decor packs! This one is in the Blue & Green Chevron pack) Inside their desk pocket is their behavior card (which is blank because school had not started yet. But you can read about how I do my behavior cards at THIS post. But WAIT until after you read the rest of this post before leaving...or make sure you come back! lol). I also put in their team job cards into the pocket. I copy off each team onto a different color. I have up to 5 jobs per team, but I try to only have 4 people to a group (it's a Kagan training reason), so I usually don't use the materials job and just have my team leaders do that one. Some of the ideas are from the Kagan strategies - what they say to use for jobs, but I changed a few to "match" my room better. If you want them, click the pick below to snag them for free. But now, at this school, we all have to use the clip chart dealy-bob...so I have the personal ones from Rachel...which you see sticking up behind my name tags. By the way, I made those name tags and you can download them for FREE in {THIS} post! So now I don't really need the pockets on my desk anymore, because I can just make all my 1s the Team Leader for the day/week and all my 2s for Material people for the day/week. I have the labels taped to the desks, going around so that they go in a circle.... here's a better "bird's eye view" of what I mean. Now, with Kagan, your supposed to have groups of 4. And in my perfect world, I would LOVE to have only 16 kids for the WHOLE. ENTIRE. YEAR. 4 groups of 4. An even number. Be still my heart. But, alas, that doesn't always happen... So this is what we do when we have odd numbers...or can't make another group of 4. The A and B on the labels is for partner working.... the shoulder partner and face partner will always be opposite, one will always be A and one will always be B. So when you are working together on something, you can say "Partner A will start and then partner B," or vice versa. I like to mix it up. The C people!? Well, hopefully, you have 2 C people and they can then always partner up. If not, no worries! Because you KNOW you always have someone absent...so my 1 C person is my floater. They don't mind. They like it. They get to move around. And they love that! The training that we had said that they would rather us have 2 groups of 3, than a group of 6, because a group of 6 is too many for small group cooperation. I get it. I like it. So I decided instead of using the square mat, I made my own cute little labels to go on their desks. And I made them in group colors, so I can call the "red" group down to the floor, and then the "blue" group. I don't have remember who is in it. I don't need to remember who is team captain either because I can just say "1s, please come get the papers" or "3s, please go the get the offices." It's brilliant. I don't need to remember who is where, and I like it that way!
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Too many classroom icebreakers require students to take big social risks with people they barely know. Or they don't really help students get to know each other. Or they are just plain cheesy.
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
Students circulate through the classroom and meet new friends! Here's a great team building activity I like to have on hand for the first week of school! Use "Find a Friend" for a quick structure to allow for student interaction, to model classroom expectations for movement in the room, and to review and practice classroom manners. With the recording sheet in hand, students circulate through the room to pair up with a new friend. Students greet each other and take turns to ask a question related to the grid. For example, student A will say say to student B, "Do you like to read?" Student B will reply, "Yes, I do like to read." Student B will then sign his name in the corresponding box on Student A's paper. (If the student replies with a "no", I encourage my first graders to try again and to ask about something else on the paper. After all, we have different likes and dislikes.) Before rotating, students thank each other. Students mix and pair again with a new partner to complete the grid as time allows. I do remind the children that they may only sign someone's paper one time. These activities promote positive interaction, movement, and community. It also allows for me to model (...again) how to stand up and carry the paper/pencil, how to find a partner quietly (by making eye contact), how to say "please" and "thank you", and how to speak using an inside voice. Click here to download this "Find a Friend" activity. link Here's One for Color Words. Click on the image below to download this "Find a Friend" activity. (Some children may need to have support with recognizing and reading the words.) Like Those? Here's one for number words, too! Click on the image below to download this "Find a Friend" activity. Happy Holiday Weekend!
Movement in the classroom is beneficial for many reasons. First and foremost, getting up to move in the classroom might help anxious students relieve stress.
Group Fruit and Veggie Partner Pairing Cards are the perfect solution for teachers looking for an easy way to organize their guided reading or math groups! There are enough cards for 5 groups of 6, but each group does not have to be filled with 6 people. The cards are simple to cut, assign, and laminate for durability. They are also differentiated, so the teacher can assign group names or create their own. Even more, the set includes an editable tracking sheet to monitor group dynamics and optimize learning. Group Cards make Classroom Management breeze—no more wasted time worrying over group assignments and making sure everyone is included. With these cards, you can quickly assign groups while making sure every student feels a part of the collective. Plus, tracking sheets make monitoring groups easy so you can optimize learning. Best of all, Group Cards make teaching fun for the students, too. With creative names, fun visuals, and engaging activities, your students will love coming to class and learning in groups. So don't let group activities become chaotic and unorganized. Need Partner Pairing Cards for small student groups of different sizes? Grab my Small Group Partner Cards BUNDLE that has the resources you need to create groups of 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6! GROUPS INCLUDE: The Sweeties Brownie, Sugar Cookie, Milkshake, Cotton Candy, Ice Cream, and Cake The Fruities Apple, Banana, Cherry, Pineapple, Coconut, and Watermelon The Veggies Broccoli, Tomato, Corn, Turnip, Carrot, and Potato The Fast Foodies Hamburger, French Fries, Burrito, Chicken Nuggets, Pizza, and Frozen Yogurt The Breakfast Club Syrup, Bacon, Pancakes, Waffle, Cereal, and Egg You can use these cards for guided reading, math groups, or class games that require "teams!"
Happy Sunday, friends! Tonight I want to share with you one of my favorite Kagan structures – Stand Up, Hand Up, Pair Up (SU, HU, PU). Kagan Structures are all about cooperative learning – not group work – with frequent modeling, celebrations, community building, and brain breaks…sounds fun, right? Kagan structures hold every student accountable...
Kagan mats for your tables! Comes with 8 already done! This also pairs well with my classroom jobs poster! Slide 9 has a link to edit the mats.
These Kagan Structure posters are a great collaboration tool for your classroom. Increase student talking time and impress admin with these ready-to-use, step-by-step posters! Unique designs on each poster. Ready to print in PDF form!
ALDO becomes WALDO! Explore a lesson design outline with lots of resources for mixing and matching strategies, EduProtocols, and digital tools.
Inclusive Classrooms ~ "Promote a safe and welcoming classroom school and community where individual differences are valued..."
The first day of school is full of so many things: anticipation, wide-eyes, school supplies, new faces, maybe a few butterflies. And I...
