How to Pull Small Groups in Kindergarten

I do a group rotation every day.  There are four groups, and everyone is in a group. One table is for language arts, one is for math, one is for a social studies or science related art project, and one is for either an independent activity with a manipulative or some type of reading or math game or activity with a volunteer.  If no volunteer shows up to help, then I give the children a manipulative to play with, such as pattern blocks, unifix cubes, or puzzles.

During this rotation, I do the language arts table activity myself, (like guided reading or writing, or a worksheet, etc.).  I have another group doing an art project, hopefully with a volunteer but possibly independently if necessary.  There is always a manipulative, like pattern blocks or unifix cubes for them to play with when they finish.  They are not allowed to pick out another toy instead.

For math, my aide usually does a follow-up activity with my kids.  I introduce the concept and also practice it whole group either before we begin our small groups, or on the previous day.  Then a helper does the follow up with manipulatives in a small group during our rotation.

The fourth table is a follow up activity of another sort, usually a reading or math game that they can play with a volunteer.  If a volunteer doesn't come, I give them puzzles or some other type of manipulative to play with independently.  It's much harder when a volunteer doesn't come, but it can work if you need it to work.  The teacher of the RSP class at my school also likes to send her kids over to help the Kindergarteners as a means to increase their self-esteem, so sometimes I get one of those kids.  They love it!  And usually, they really can be of use and are helpful to me!

As for what types of activities I do each day of the week, this is a very rough schedule of how I organize my plans:
For the language arts table:
Mondays:  Guided reading groups.  (I have them ability grouped on Mondays for sure, and then only ability group them on the other days if I need to.
Tuesdays:  A CVC worksheet that has the same sight words included on it as are in our reader for the week.  As the kids work on it, I have each of them read all of the sentences on it individually to me.  These are worksheets that I made up for this purpose.  OR, I give them a little xeroxed reading book out of paper that has the word in it that they need to work on.  I have them looking for specific sight words in it and have them color those words certain colors.  The books are repetitive, so they usually find mostly the same words on each page.  So, they would color all of the word "the" that they find yellow, and the word "can" red, etc.  While they are looking for these words, I ask each of them to read the booklet to me individually.
Wednesdays:  We always do guided writing on Wednesdays.  To find out exactly how I do this, I would recommend that you check out my last blog entry on writing with Kindergartners.  I described the whole thing there in detail.
Thursdays:  We do some type of CVC activity, such as making our own CVC booklets or play a memory game with CVC words, etc.
Fridays:  We review whatever is needed on Fridays.  If they don't need to review something, sometimes we play a phonemic awareness game or activity.  If I have some testing to do, I might give them rhyming word puzzles or a color word worksheet  to do while I do some individual testing.

At our math table, I usually have my aide play games with them regarding our math unit that we are working on.  I have card games like "Bang" and Bingo for number recognition; I have some problem solving boxes with manipulatives in them; I have games for comparing sets, etc.  A lot of these games are on my Musical Math Resource CD that you could get if you wanted to have a bunch of games to print out.  We spend one day a week just working on writing numbers, and another day each week  putting numbers in order.  I keep a list of what number the kids have mastered putting them in order up to, and I have each kid work on a bag of numbers that is right for them- either 0-10, 0-20, or 0-30.  That leaves three days per week just working on other types of skills, like addition or telling time, etc.

Then there is the art table.  I always have an art project prepared.  Most of the time, they are working on making a page in a book that they will get to take home and read when they are all finished.  I almost always have them working on a "Singable Book" that we read/sing together daily.  These books tend to revolve around our science or social studies theme, but I do have one rhyming words book that they do, and a couple of math books that they also make.  These books, the songs that go with them, and the masters for the books are all going to be available on my website within a couple of weeks.  The CD is being printed now and is called "Little Songs for Language Arts," since it will have some phonemic awareness songs on it also, in addition to the singable books.  The resource CD with the masters and directions for the books will be called, “Printable Projects.”

 The fourth table is the "extra" activity one that is run by a volunteer, if I have one.  The activity that they do depends a lot on the skills of the volunteer I get on each day.  Some of them love to just play bingo with the kids, and I have developed quite a lot of different bingo games that follow my curriculum closely.  One of my volunteers is a teacher that is staying home with her kids for a while.  She always does a Sing and Spell the Sight Words worksheet when she comes.  These are worksheets that follow my Sing and Spell the Sight Words CD's, and they are on the HeidiSongs Resource CD.  All they are is just the words to the songs, with the "target" word left out, as in a cloze activity.  So the kids sing the song with her, and then try to track the words to the song written on chart paper.  They find all of the target words that they can find on the chart, and underline them with Wikki Stix.  Then they each have a Sing and Spell booklet with those worksheets in them.  They find the correct page, and fill in the missing word over and over.  So if the song is about the word "go," then they would be writing the word several times within the context of the song, and then try to read the song back to that volunteer.  If there is extra time, they use magnadoodles and review some of the words from previous weeks by singing the songs together and writing the words.

Also, once a week, I have a dad that comes and takes the kids out for motor development, too.  So instead of working with them at that extra table, he takes them outside and does motor development activities with them during that 15-20 minutes.  We have lots of equipment and a program to follow, so it works out well.

If you are a new teacher and are just getting started trying to pull groups, you can feel free to email me personally with any questions!  I know how hard it is to get started, and how confusing it can be.  But it is really worth the trouble getting the kids into groups!  During the first few days of group rotations, I try to keep my instructional expectations quite low; my objective instead is that they learn what group they are in, what I expect of them, and how to rotate from one table to another.  When I am done with one group, I ring a bell, and that means that everyone should start cleaning up and stand behind their chairs when they are done.  I play some Sing and Spell song or Musical Math songs while the kids are cleaning up.  As they are done cleaning they spot, they stand up and sing with me, staying behind their chair.  Once everyone is finished cleaning up and is singing along, I play one more song, and then tell them to rotate to their next spot.  There always seems to be one or two kids that are perpetually “lost,” with no idea where they are going next.  I assign that child a “buddy” in his or her same group, and give the buddy the job of taking the lost little “lamb” with him when he goes to the next table.  It works for me!

Teaching Writing to Kindergartners

I always start in September teaching them some of my Sing and Spell the Sight Words songs.  We start with the color words, and once they have a handle on those songs, I add in "the," "is," and "see." The songs have movements to them, so they are engaging for the children.  I always hold the word card in my hand as we sing, and when we finish a song, I always ask, "What's that word?" and sometimes also ask them to spell the word to me.  This helps them focus on the letters that they see rather than just recognize it as a whole unit or visual symbol.  I always have some really low ones that start to recognize whole words by sight before they even know all of their letters!  It doesn't make sense, but it always happens.  Once I introduce a few words, we sing the songs during transition times, mostly, as well as when the kids are tired of sitting and need a movement break.  Around the beginning of October, I start having the children write the words as the song plays, using a class set of Magna doodles that I have. 

White boards will also work, of course.  This helps them to understand that the song that they are singing is actually spelling a real word that is on our word wall.  I write the word as the song plays also, and let the children copy it that need to do so.  Then, when the song ends, I have them point to their letters and spell the word aloud, and then say the whole word.  We try to do this about once a week.

Around the end of October, I start modeling how to write a simple sentence with the words.  The words are on my word wall, and I always put only the words on the wall that we have learned, so that there are not so many that it is too overwhelming.  I tell the kids that I am going to write a sentence such as, "The dog is red," for example.  I have them repeat the sentence, and then tell me what my first word should be.  Then I choose someone to find that word on the word wall using a pointer.  The class sings the song for the word acappella as we watch the child find that word.  Then, he or she points to the word, telling me the letters as I copy them.  Then I talk about how I need a space, and then we start over, figuring out what the second word should be, and having someone find it on the word wall.  We sing the song as the child finds it, and then copy it.  Then we re-read our sentence so far.  This continues, etc., until we reach our last word.  Since at that time we are studying farm animals, I put some farm animal words with pictures on the word wall.  A child would find the word, "dog," and then point to the words as I copy them.  After I have modeled the whole process, and then we have re-read the sentence and discuss what the picture should look like, and why.

I do this same thing with the same type of "The --- is ---" sentence for at least three weeks, once a week.  It is also on the homework, and I send home flash cards for the kids to make their own word wall.  I describe this process to parents at Back to School Night so that they will know how to help their children with writing assignments, rather than just have them copy a sentence.  Every three weeks or so, I introduce a new type of sentence structure, so that by the end of the year, they know how to write a whole variety of sentences.  When the kids start asking to write words that are not on the word wall, I show them how to spell it like it sounds.  Around March, I introduce writing journals, and try to get the kids to write independently, anything that they want to write about.  I model how to write other types of things, and again how to write a new word by sounding it out.  Sometimes, some of my higher kids want to know how to write sounds other than short vowels and consonants.  I introduce other sounds as needed.

When the kids finish their journal writing, I try to find time to let them read it to me as often as possible.  Sometimes, I have them write before playtime, and then during playtime, ask them to read to me individually.  At the end of the year, they are given a writing test to see what they can do on their own.  My kids always do very well on this test!  My low ones will always try to stick with the easiest sentences, like "I see ---," and "I like ---," but other than that, the other ones usually just take off!  It is a really fun process to watch unfold.
If you check my website, you can download the words and a written description of the motions for all of the songs.  Lots of them are written to familiar tunes, so if you know a lot of children's songs, you may even be able to get started without buying anything.

Good luck!
Heidi