Last year, my school began to really focus on student engagement, and to do that, my principal worked extremely hard to get all of our staff some sort of Kagan training. If you've never heard of Kagan, you can check their website out here. I have loved every training I've been too - I have never been bored! Last year, I was able to go to a one day cooperative leaning, a one day win-win discipline, a model school open house, and a one day brain based learning. I even got to meet Dr. Kagan himself at the brain based learning workshop {and yes, we were dorks and had our picture made}.

Basically, like their tagline says, Kagan is all about engagement. The goal is that every child will be engaged in meaningful learning and to do this, they use different structures. There are LOTS of structures, so it can be very easy to get overwhelmed at first. {That's why I love their trainings - you learn by doing structures and not just hearing or reading about them}. These structures accomplish a few things...

To clarify, these structures are a means to establish cooperative learning in your classroom - not group work! In traditional group work, one student can do all the work while others do nothing. Kagan has all students accountable during learning! 
My goal this past year was to do a really good job at 2-3 structures. Two of my favorites {because they are super easy to implement with kindergarteners} quickly became Quiz, Quiz, Trade and Take Off, Touch Down. For Quiz, Quiz, Trade, each student gets card, then they stand up, put their hands up, and pair up with the person closest to them {this is also a strategy called Stand Up, Hands Up, Pair Up}. Then, the students greet each other {this is big in Kagan}, answer the question on their card/read a word/whatever the card has on it, give praise {something else that's big}, and then go find another partner. Every child is engaged! There is no one not interacting or learning! Here's a few pictures from when we used this structure with our word cards.

These cards are folded in the middle, so that there is a hint on the back in case the students have trouble.

To check out the word cards we used for the structures above, click the picture below.

There are tons of other Kagan structures that I've used, or that I hope to try out this coming year and I plan on sharing more of my favorites on the blog. Next week, I'll be in Orlando for the Kagan Summer Academy where I'll get to attend two more Kagan workshops and I am super excited!

Read more »

Vickie

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!

Read more »

Vickie

As I've blogged about a few times before, I big time love using Kagan structures in my classroom! Now that we're rolling along and routines are in place, I've been able to introduce a variety of structures to my students, and they are loving them.

Using these structures has made our classroom such a positive place with kids praising each other, helping each other, and celebrating every success. They also cut down on negative behaviors because kids are active and engaged, not to mention my students are working on social skills {which are quickly becoming lost in a world of screens}. 
These are the structures we've been using lately... 

Rally Coach 

Rally Coach is a super easy structure to teach! Basically, students work with their shoulder partner or face partner and take turns doing an activity. One partner takes a turn, while the other coaches. When it's a student's turn to coach, they are making sure their partner is doing the activity correctly, and if they're not, they give them some gentle coaching. When their partner does the activity correctly, the coach gives praise. Then, the students switch roles. We use this structure a lot in literacy centers! We also use it with sorting and sequencing activities.
In this picture, these partners were sorting animals that live on a farm, and animals that don't.

 We also used Rally Coach during our 3 bears unit when we practiced positional words.

 

Choose a Chip

Talking Chips is similar to Rally Coach in that students take turns and coach each other, but it can be used with partners or a team. It's also used with some type of card {flashcards usually}. Students place the cards in a central area, then take turns picking a card, reading/solving it, then coaching {correcting or praising}. It's a quick, easy way to work on a skill, especially fluency with sight words or math facts. You can choose whether kids start with the words face up {we do this right now to build students' confidence - they have a choice of which word they pick} or face down {we'll move to this later}. A few other ways you could use this structure would be to use letter or number cards to practice identification, picture cards to practice beginning sounds, or cards with groups of objects to practice counting.

 Showdown

In Showdown, teams work together, usually with a captain. However, in kindergarten, the teacher is the captain for now ;). We've been using this structure as a quick math review when we have a few extra minutes. I give each kid a white board {or let them write on the table}, give them a question {for example, I'll draw x amount of dots on a ten frame and they write the number, or I'll write an equation and they solve it}, and they write their answer keeping it a secret to begin with. 

When everyone has their answer, I say "Showdown," and they show their answer to their teammates. As a team, they have to decide if they have the right answer, if someone needs to change their answer, etc. I love watching and listening to the kids explain their answers to each other. It's so much more meaningful than me just telling them!

 We've also used Showdown with our math lessons. Here, teams were deciding how many more scarecrows would make 6.

Quiz, Quiz, Trade

I've blogged about this structure before {see here}, but Quiz, Quiz, Trade is a great structure that we incorporate daily for a quick review. Right now, we mainly use it to review beginning sounds/letters. Students use another structure {Stand Up, Hands Up, Pair Up} to find a partner. Then, they greet each other, quiz each other on the card they have {ask what they beginning sound and letter is}, give praise, switch cards, and find a new partner. My kids love this structure, and I love how many social skills they're practicing! 

You can grab the cards we've been using here as a freebie {they go along with this free alphabet chart}

Simultaneous Round Table

To be honest, we've only used this structure once, but I loved it! During this structure, every member of a team is working on something - a project, a worksheet, anything really! I set the time for about 2-3 minutes, and when the alarm sounds, everyone slides their work/project to the person beside them and they start working on the one they now have. This continues until everyone on the team has worked on all projects and they are complete. We did this after we read Go Away, Big Green Monster. I put construction paper in the middle of each table, and everyone started making a big green monster, recalling details from the book. After 3 minutes, they passed their project, and started adding on to the one that had been passed to them. At the end, each member of the team had worked on all the projects from the team. It was awesome how different and creative they turned out! I could hear them get a new monster and say, "Wait, this one has green eyes and the story said yellow eyes," or "I like how you made the nose!" The kids liked them so much they asked our principal to have them displayed in the front hallway!

This post doesn't nearly come close to doing justice to how Kagan can impact your classroom. If you ever get the opportunity to go to a training, I highly suggest it! They are wonderful!! To find out more about Kagan, you can visit their website. I have a variety of their books, but if you're just starting out, I recommend the Cooperative Learning book. It will help get you started!

Read more »

Vickie

Somehow, we've managed to already make it into our 7th week of school...7 weeks! Truthfully, it all feels like a bit of a blur, and in a few more months, I probably won't remember any of it {everyone says the beginning of kindergarten is like childbirth - right?}. However, right now, we are in the swing of workshops {what we call literacy centers}, and my kids are doing a great job! We have been working hard to work on our whisper voices, not interrupting my group, and using Rally Coach in many of our workshops {another Kagan structure I hope to share about soon!}.
At the beginning of the year, I have so many students on various levels, so I try to start meeting their needs immediately. For some, that means basic visual discrimination and fine motor. I've been using these lowercase letters and mats in a small sensory tub {this one has leaves for fall right now}, and having the kids use tweezers to pick a card, then put it on the correct mat. Best of both worlds!

When the kids finish finding all the cards, they can use a highlighter to do a little letter detective activity. They love highlighters!

We've also been working on our fine motor skills while practicing matching lowercase to uppercase letters. For this center, I got some paint sticks at Wal-Mart, wrote letters on them, wrote letters on clothespins, and that's it. Super easy! I also have a group that is matching lowercase to lowercase or uppercase to uppercase.

Some of my students began school already knowing many of their letters, so they've been working on beginning sounds. In my large sensory tub, I have dyed noodles, and my kids use the tweezers to find pictures and match them to the correct letter mat.

Another area my kids need a lot of practice in this year is letter formation/handwriting. We've been doing lots of roll and write with our letters and sight words and making our letters out of playdoh.

As we were getting deeper into small groups and workshops, I realized I was going to need more centers that worked on letters and sounds that were simple, quick to make, and still fun for the kids. So, I created a new pack of simple alphabet centers that can be used any time of year {each center comes in color and black and white!!}. So far, my kids have used the beginning sound clips, letter match puzzles, and beginning sound puzzles. For the puzzles, I don't have pre-made lines to cut the pieces. I free hand the cut so they are self correcting.

 To see more from my new center pack, you can click the picture below.

I'm also using, and will use in the coming months, some of my themed centers. It's a chore some times to change them out, but my kids love themed centers year after year! To see other centers from this post, click the pictures below.

If you don't currently use literacy centers in your classroom, I urge you to start taking baby steps to using them. It is truly amazing how much differentiation you can get in during this time, and the growth the kids make!

Read more »

Vickie