One smart kindergarten teacher uses simple signs in her classroom that teach her kids some crucial things that can’t necessarily be mastered in one lesson. She posts signs that say “yes” and “no” on opposite sides of the room. She often has her kids point to a response and look at the sign when voting (thus reinforcing the site word).
She also puts up signs for the cardinal directions (north, south, east and west) and asks students to point to a certain direction to get their attention. She says things like “if you can hear me, point to the north. If you can hear me, point to the east.” Great way to do a tiny bit of map reading skills!
She says by the end of school kids are pretty good with both yes/no and cardinal directions. Not bad for a few seconds a day, huh!?
It’s always helpful to get to know your students at the beginning of the year. Here’s one bulletin board idea that will help each student express themselves and be a part of the classroom. First, have the students make their bus (using the directions in this post and printed on the page below the bus).
Squarehead Teachers 