Kari+Derr

__**Five Frame - Math lesson **__

A couple of weeks ago I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to observe Paige Richards teach a math lesson in a 4K classroom. After observing this lesson I immediately began thinking about how I was going to teach this lesson to my class. During Paige's lesson she used an overhead projector to play a game of Five Frame. The lesson worked fairly well, however the students had a hard time seeing around the overhead projector and participating by pointing and counting because the Five Fame was too high on the screen. I then began to think about how this game could be created in notebook. I was able to create this lesson by making a variety of Five Frames for the students to copy. I then put a screen on each page to ensure the students would not see the five frames ahead of time. By creating this lesson in notebook the students are now able to sit on the floor with their own Five Frame boards and actively participate in counting. The students are also able to take turns making their own Five Frames on the SMARTboard for their classmates to copy.

**__Decoding__**
An important skill for kindergarten students to learn is the ability to sound out letters in words and decode. In the past I have practice this with my students using three stacks of cards (CVC) and then flipped the cards to make new words. After decoding each word we also identified the word as either a real word and defined it or as a nonsense word. When searching in the gallery I came across constant and vowel dice. I thought I could use these dice to create the same decoding activity using the SMARTboard. This activity has been a success and the students are more excited to participate in this activity because it is now interactive with the students getting to roll each of the three dice to create the word.

__**Letter Names and Sounds Review **__

In my 4K class I teach a letter a week based on our handwriting program. I thought one way to review the letters we have learned and reinforce the letter sounds would be by create a matching game in notebook where the students could either draw lines connecting each letter to a word that starts with that sounds or actually move the picture to the appropriate letter. As we continue to learn new letters this notebook can then be modified to add and delete letters based on the students needs. 

__**Letter Formation **__ An important component in 4K is working on letter names, sounds, and letter formation. We typically practice letter formation by completeing letter formation worksheets. I recently created sheets in notebook that allow the students to practice their letter formations on the SMARTboard. This notebook activity has a letter model on each sheet and then room for the students to practice making their own. This is also good practice as it has the students writing on a vertical surface. This notebook activity has made letter practice fun for the students as they can use the magic pen, colors of their choice, and/or designs like stars. 