Kagan in the Early Weeks

Whew! The last two weeks have been a whirlwind! We survived parent orientation, open house, and 2 full weeks of school! I've got so many things to share with you that we've done, but I thought I would start by sharing how I implemented Kagan these first weeks. Many of you asked lots of questions after I wrote this post about how I incoporated Kagan last year, so hopefully, I can give you some more ideas!

In a nutshell, this is why I love Kagan...

Before I introduced an actual structure, I taught my kids about "Think Time." Think time is huge in Kagan {and research shows its benefits}, and to help my students understand that think time is not talking time, I taught them that before we discuss with partners or teams, we put our fingers on our head for think time. They rocked it!

The very first structure I introduced was Inside-Outside Line. This is most definitely NOT an easy structure to master. However, I really wanted to use it to sing our good morning song each day, so I figured I would dive right in! Basically, half the class lines up and faces the other half of the class {also in a line}. Then, we sing one round of our song {Dr. Jean's Hello Neighbor}. After that round, one line stays "planted,' and the other moves one person down. The last person goes to the other end. This goes on for 3 more rounds until the song is over. Later, I'll use this structure in conjunction with Quiz, Quiz, Trade and others to review skills. The kids love singing the song with each other, and I love that each child interacts with random friends, not just kids they knew prior to start kindergarten. Look how happy they are!

The second structure I introduced {because we use it multiple times a day} is Rally Robin. Basically, this is where partners go back and forth discussing a question/prompt. These can be just for fun {we did types of candy}, or academic {character traits, words that start with a letter, etc.}. This structure is great, because no one can hide. Every student has to talk, and every student has to listen {thus meeting a ton of our speaking/listening standards}. When I went to Kagan for Little Learners this summer, the presenter suggested giving young students talking balls when teaching Rally Robin to give them a visual of when it was their turn to talk. I ordered these little smiley balls on Amazon, and they worked perfectly! I love how engaged my kiddos are in just the first week of school!

Another structure similar to Rally Robin that I used these past 2 weeks is called Primary Interview. Usually, this structure is done in a team, but we used it in whole group when we introduced it. The kids are working with their shoulder partners and they interview each other based on a question/questions I give. Since most of my students are not accustomed to having to really listen in a conversation, I started small. I gave my students one question to ask their partner, and they had to be a very good listener, because they later shared with the class what their partner's answer was. Later, partners will share with their teams, which cuts down on how much time sharing takes. Some of the things my partners interviewed each other about what their favorite food, their favorite thing to do, and their favorite color {we were doing this for fun, but you can absolutely use this as an academic structure as well}. To make the structure a little more fun, I bought these inflatable microphones on Amazon, and my kids loved them!

Next week, I'll introduce more structures, and review the ones we already know. I am already seeing the positive benefits in my classroom, and I would love to hear from you if you try them!