Assessment: Body Parts

One of things I assess with my Kindergarten and emergent English Language Learners is the names of our body parts.  (How can we expect our students to let us know that something "hurts", if they don't have the necessary vocabulary?)

After assessment, we sing songs like "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" and "Tooty Ta", play a body parts Memory matching game, read an easy-to-read booklet on body parts and play Body Parts Bingo.

My students like all of the activities, but Body Parts Bingo seems to be the favorite!  And...they especially LOVE picking up the bingo chips with my "magic magnet wand"!!  (If you don't have a set of magnetic bingo chips and wand, I highly suggest that you invest in them.  Children love using them and it makes for easier game clean up!)

My magnetic bingo chips and wand are some leftover ones of my Mom's.  She bought them at a garage sale in Florida.  I think she used them occasionally when she and my Dad wintered near Sarasota in February and March.  I found the box in my parents' basement after she had passed away and my Dad and I were cleaning.  Every time we use the magnetic chips and wand I think of my Mom.  I know she would have gotten as much of a laugh out of watching my students' fascination with the "magic" wand and chips as I do.

I had some body parts assessments with line drawings and clip art, but I just wasn't satisfied with them.  So, I spent some time on Google images and created an assessment using photographs.  It wasn't hard to create a table in Word and insert the photos.  I like the assessment so much more with photos rather than drawings! 

 

After I finished making my assessment, I took the same images and created eight different Body Parts Bingo boards.  Again, I used tables in Word.  It took a little time, but the result was worth it.  My students love the bingo game and we've played it several times.  I also printed out copies of the assessment and the bingo boards for my colleague, Mrs. Sunshine and her paraprofessional, Mrs. Foil.  I laminated the boards and assessment and sent them over last week.  Mrs. Sunshine is great about sharing things with me, so I returned the favor!

Here's a sample of what my body part bingo boards looked like after I finished them.  It wasn't terribly hard to make them and well worth my time.

B-I-N-G-O!!!!!  

I Thought You Were Smarter Than That!

Hello!  I have been super busy.  Yes, I'm taking classes to add a K-12 Reading Endorsement on my teaching certificate.  I'm probably crazy as a loon to do so, but I consider myself a life long learner.  I took an online Phonics course (in a very abbreviated time slot) that really kicked my rear.  So much to remember in so short of a time!  I managed to finish it AND take another reading assessment class at the same time.  I'm enjoying a short break from my studies plus our spring break is this coming week.  I'm not doing anything fun, unfortunately.  I'm cleaning my house.  Ugh!  It needs to be done.  Scrubby scrub scrub!

Now, back to the title of this post.  On Friday, my fourth grade goofy boys  (Taxi Boy and California Kid) burst into my room at the end of the school day for their ESL class time.

Taxi Boy blurted out, "It's Friday!  Can we play a game??"

"Yeah!!" interjected the California Kid.  "A game!  Please???"

Now, I had already decided we were going to play a game, but I let them "convince" me that we would play a game.  I turned on my projector and calibrated my mini Smartboard.  Then I announced, "OK, we will play a new game called the Vocabulary Quiz Game."

Immediately, the two boys looked at me like I had two heads growing out of my body.  They chimed in together.  "Vocabulary????  That's not a game. Come on, Mrs. Gumby!"  ( Talk about two pouting boys!!)

I told them to just give it a try.

Our ESL unit recently received the Vocabulary Quiz Game from Lakeshore Learning.   Here's a link if you would like to take a look at it.     It's similar to Jeopardy in format.  I let the boys choose their five categories from the following:  Definitions; Multiple Meanings; Antonyms; Prefixes and Suffixes; Using the Word; Homophones; Contractions; and Figures of Speech.   As they got to choose, the boys started to warm up to the game.

                         

I told them I would be Team Mrs. Gumby and they would be Team California/Taxi.  We would see who could win.   We played two games and they won both games.  (Yes, I let them win.)  There was a lot of fist bumping and cheering coming from my room as the boys "defeated" me.

The funniest thing came when they were leaving my room.  Taxi Boy looked at me, wrinkled his nose, and said to me, "I thought you were smarter than that!"

 I smiled at him and said, "Wait until next time.  I might just "skunk" you!"

He looked at me and said, "Hey!  Is that an idiom??"

Hooray!  He finally figured out what an idiom is!  It's taken me seventeen weeks, but he's starting to get it.

Yes, I am smarter than you think I am, Taxi Boy!  Wait until our rematch after Spring Break. 

Popping with Sounds

Pop, Pop, Pop!!

Our Kindergarten teacher shared a super game/activity kit from Lakeshore Learning with me this week.  I tried the Pop and Match beginning sounds and ending sounds kits with my Kindergarteners and first grade students.  They absolutely loved these game kits.  I found the kits to be a great way to talk about basic vocabulary words as well as practicing beginning and ending sounds in simple CVC and CVCC words. 

However, by far the BEST part of the activities (in my students' opinions) was getting to use the really cool dome shaped  die "poppers" that come with the kits!!  (The "poppers" remind me of the die rolling device found in the board game, Trouble.)  As students take turns playing the games, they get to press down on the dome of the "popper" to roll the die inside.  It's definitely a sensory and kinesthetic buzz for some kids.  I can't wait to try the next set (medial sounds kit game) after Spring Break!

Pop, Pop, Pop!!

 

Skip-Bo Junior

As I said in my previous post, I really love using games with my English Language Learners!  This week we tried a new game called Skip-Bo Junior.  Wow!  My kids had a blast with the game and much laughter was heard in the room.  My older students (upper elementary) especially got into the game.  You would have thought we were in Las Vegas or something! 

Skip-Bo Junior is wonderful game for teaching the concept of sequence, especially numerical sequence.  We discussed "sequence" before the game and we came up with examples (alphabetical order, months of the year, days of the week and numerical sequence of one through 10).

 

But, I had to laugh at the comment of one of my older students!  After we had talked about the rules of the game and reinforced the idea of numerical sequence of 1-10, Pretty Nails Girl looked at me and piped up.

"Mrs. Gumby!  Are we learning vocabulary words???"

Oh yes, my dear...Mrs. Gumby is sneaky that way!  Heh, heh, heh!

In Skip-Bo Junior, each player is dealt a stockpile of cards and then attempts to win by playing all the cards on building piles in numerical sequence from #1 through #10. The first player to get rid of all of their stockpile cards first wins! Skip-Bo Junior is great fun for ages 5 and up, and comes with simplified game rules and appealing, kid-themed graphics.

Sequence for Kids

There are so many wonderful board games available for children to play.  I like including games in my lesson planning because I can incorporate a lot of enjoyable practice for my students in speaking, reading and listening in English.  Some of the games I use are Chutes and Ladders, Battleship, Scrabble Junior, Monopoly Junior and Guess Who. 

Recently, I heard about Sequence for Kids.  I found a set at school and borrowed it from a colleague.  Wow!  What a great game!  I "test drove" it with two third graders last week. 

First, I copied the instructions.  I gave each student a copy and a highlighter.  We took turns reading the instructions and highlighting important text.  As we read the rules, I placed the board, the cards and the game chips on the table.  We spent time examinining the items and discussing the rules.  We also talked about strategies on how to win the game. 

The next day, I had the game spread out on the table and ready to go.  We briefly discussed the rules and started playing the game.  It was fun to watch the students as we played.  They were quite the strategists, even though they hadn't played the game before.  I know that next week, they'll be begging to play the game again on Friday Fun day! 

Of Pigs and Prepositions

Last week, I started a unit on positional words with some of my students.  I found a deck of cards in my cabinet and decided to try them out.  The cards are called Pigs and Pals Preposition Fun Deck from Super Duper Publications.

Wow!  My kids LOVED these cards.  They thought the pictures on the cards were extremely funny.  My students and I giggled as we played Go Fish and Memory/Concentration with the cards.  There was a lot of laughing and fun in the ESL room this week!

Next week, I'm going to bring in my digital camera.  My students and I are going to take pictures of a stuffed animal.  We'll be traveling around the school taking photos of the animal under a table, on the water fountain, etc.  I'm interested in seeing how creative the students can be with their photography skills.  I'll print out the photos at home and bring them back to school.  (Our district is in a severe budget crunch.  There's no way I can print color copies at school. Ugh.)  

Later, each primary group will make a poster sized foldable with the photos and labels.  Here's an example I found on the internet on the Get in the Fold! blog.

We'll see how our foldables turn out!  I think the kids will have a great time.  Watch out for the intrepid photographers in the hallways of Cheerful School.  Say "cheese"!!