I thought I'd do a quick little write-up on what differentiation currently looks like in my classroom. I'd love to hear what you think. Even better, I'd love to learn about how you tackle the diverse academic (and social) levels we see in the first year of elementary.
My workshop graphic organizer. #1: teacher table; #2: desk work; #3: quick desk work and then library; #4: free choice (puzzles, blocks, dramatic, doll house, etc) | Here is the graphic organizer that I use during workshop. I project the image on the smart board as a reminder for both the students and myself. My groups fluctuate. Although I mostly work with leveled groups, I also like to use heterogeneous groupings from time to time. In the past, I have used badges and color coordinated yarn necklaces to help us keep track of groups. But I wanted to try something new that would allow for a faster set-up and transition. I'm loving it so far! |
This activity took place at the Teacher Table (TT). I meet with my advanced kindergarten students first. This is an example of the writing activity we worked on. I hope you are able to see (the photo is not very clear) that these students wrote 3 sentences using the sentence frame: We like_________. I did a mini lesson on spacing and punctuation with this group, since sight word reading was not a need. |
This group can read the sight words also, but needed extra practice with vocabulary. We did a lot of talking in this group. You might be able to see that I highlighted the words as I spoke the sentence. Working in a small group allows me the time to do this to everyone's paper. In other words, I would not be able to deliver this type of individualized instruction in a whole group setting. Students then read the sentence back to me, one at a time. We concluded by writing one sentence. I wrote along with them. Being that it's still the beginning of the school year, they still need that teacher model. |
These little darlings are not ready for the "writing." And I don't believe in putting unnecessary stress on them. They are in TK and have TWO years to master the program.The focus here was letter formation. I frequently use the same resources as the rest of the class but switch the focus to letter formation or letter identification for those that need it. As you can see, we used the back of the worksheet to play a quick letter identification game using the letters in the word "like." |