Keeping Kinders Engaged
I know we are all feeling it. This time of year is always challenging, but with the added stress of virtual teaching, teacher exhaustion and burnout seem to be at an all-time high. Some states are ending their school years now, while other districts have weeks remaining. How can you and your kindergarten students stay motivated, engaged and excited to finish out the year? Here are a few ideas that I came up with to help with this exact scenario!
Boom Cards!
If you haven’t tried these out yet….you need to! Try one of my free decks to see how they work! Boom Cards are a great way to keep learning exciting and engaging. They are easy to share using a variety of online platforms. I have been assigning my boom cards through Seesaw, but you can also do it right within their website.
Boom Cards are essentially virtual flashcards. Each card has a question or task and students receive instant feedback about their answer. These can be used across all subjects and with all ages. My kindergartners absolutely LOVE them. It’s a great way to mix up tasks and practice a variety of skills. Here is an example of my Domino Addition Deck. These can also be used once we make the transition back to in-person learning. I also have a bundle available targeting initial consonant blends! Check out those decks here.
I Spy!
I’m sure you have tried the classic show-and-tell or scavenger hunt activities by now, but have you tried I Spy? This idea came from one of my colleagues. This is so much fun to do during live video calls with your class. Make sure students are using grid or tile view so they can see all the participants. You start the game by saying I spy with my little eye something that is _____. Looking around at all the students you will pick something. Students raise their hands in order to take turns guessing our I Spy item. After you lead a few rounds the kids can try it on their own. This is great for a zero prep activity that the kids will love!
Number Bingo
Number Bingo was a HUGE hit during my class calls this week! I saw something similar while looking online and decided to try it. Part of the time was spent showing the kids how to draw the board and filling it in with numbers. We just did a basic 3×3 board to keep things easy. After drawing the squares, the kids chose numbers to add. This was easy to differentiate for all my groups. My first group used numbers 0-10 and my higher groups used numbers 0-20. I shared my board as a model if needed. Then, to play the game I simply called out numbers and they marked them on their boards. It was so much fun seeing them get excited about a bingo or filling their board. In total this took about 15-20 minutes per group. The kids were engaged the entire time and were asking to play another round! I highly recommend this low-prep activity for your next class call!
Sight Word Hangman
This has been a huge hit with the kids! I have a small dry erase board that I use, but you can always do this on regular paper or a virtual shared screen. I use the sight words that we have already added to our word wall and the kids take turns guessing a letter. This is a great game for virtual learning, but also translates back to classroom teaching. Whenever we have a few extra minutes before lunch or our specials, we throw in a round of Sight Word Hangman. This could be used in any grade and sight words could be swapped out with word families, blends, vowel teams…the possibilities are endless!
Pictionary
Another great activity for your class video calls is Pictionary. Using paper or a small whiteboard give the kids a category and start drawing. Again, students raise their hands to guess what you are drawing. If your students are comfortable they could take turns as well. I will say it gets a little bit tricky when you try to teach kindergartners how to hold something up to the camera (yikes). The kids really enjoyed this and it was another zero prep activity. Sticking to animals or household items is probably easiest. This game is also great for practicing asking questions and keeping track of the previous hints and guesses. I really love games like this that offer a variety of skill practice.
Flat Teacher
I fell in love when I saw this idea online. Whoever started this is an absolute genius! You know the book Flat Stanley? Imagine you are Stanley and your kids get to take you around and pretend you are there with them. This has been the cutest thing EVER! I used my current bitmoji and a template with a poem, but you could always just make your own for free. I would recommend adding your real picture/face to the bitmoji body to make it more realistic. I sent mine to be printed at Fedex/Kinkos and picked them up the next morning. I printed a poem and my bitoji in color for all my students for less than $1.50 total. Stamps for mailing were another cost, but again, it was minimal. The kids have been sending in pictures with their flat Mrs. Inwald and it is the best. So far, I have gone on bike rides, bounce houses and helped to build a fort. This is another sense of normalcy for our kiddos right now.
TALK!
I personally am not doing any live teaching right now. I pre-record a couple short videos ahead of time and these are shared in our weekly lesson plans. I will link a sample here! I am so impressed with teachers posting their live lessons (with any grade) with calm and organized participation. But guess what! That’s not for me! I have found that my kids JUST WANT TO TALK. They want to tell me about the fort that they made. They want to show me what they’re having for lunch. They want to just have a normal conversation. They don’t want me to ask them about their sight words or math facts. It is the absolute best feeling to sit back and watch your students interact with one another. They ask questions, laugh with their friends and have a chance to share with an audience. The content and curriculum will always be there. The human interaction and strong connections that you have worked so hard to build in your classroom this year are the hardest part to recreate and maintain. Take a minute to step back and just BE. BE with your class. BE a listener. BE their support.
Last, but arguably most importantly….TAKE A BREAK!
This last tip is for you! There is no doubt that you are feeling exhausted physically, emotionally, and mentally right now. This is not normal. This is not the teaching that you signed up to do, but you have adapted. We had virtual learning thrown our way and had about a week to figure it out and make it incredible. You did it, but this is not sustainable. Your entire body and brain have been on overdrive for months now. Taking a break and walking away, even when the work isn’t done or perfect, is necessary. Take the weekend off. The Seesaw posts will be there on Monday. That email you need to send to parents? It can wait a few hours. Make sure you are setting boundaries and turning off work/school mode at some point every single day.
I know the feeling. There is always something more you can do, add or make. But that’s the thing….it will always be there. Set healthy boundaries and time windows for your school work. That will look different for each of us, but it has to happen. It’s the same as staying in your classroom until 8:00 every night. It’s not sustainable OR productive. Sure, every once in a while, you need to do that, but it can’t be your norm.