Process/Product Centers: Classroom Organization for Teachers and Students

Process/Product Centers are the key to organization, success and sanity. Independent workstations or centers are essential when teachers need to pull small groups for instruction. These centers provide an opportunity for young learners to engage in independent exploration while developing essential skills through a structured process that changes the product on a weekly basis.

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Presidents’ Day in Kindergarten…Sharing the Fun of the Oval Office

Presidents' Day is coming soon, so I decided to update this post.  Our kindergarten curriculum starts introducing the role of our president in the fall. As we teach the students the Pledge of Allegiance, we also introduce our president. Students…

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Onset and Rime: Teaching Encoding and Decoding with Word Patterns is Powerful

Onset and Rime is the cornerstone to word building for early students. Exploring word patterns is important centers. I love onset and rime...even if we used to call them word families. They’re so much fun to teach and so valuable…

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Homework ~ Making the Best Choices for Practice, Review, and Independence

Occupying 7 hours of days with 5- and 6-year-olds can take a lot more planning than anyone would expect (except a teacher).  It certainly isn't for the weak.  On top of all that planning, teachers need to spend more time…

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