Don't you just love when you find the perfect resource for your class?!
Here are some useful resources that I feel all TK Teachers need:
"Too Noisy" App:
- This is a free app that I found to help students self-regulate their noise levels during independent work time. It shows a picture of a kitten. When the noise levels are low, an arrow points toward green. When this occurs, the cat has a happy face and it's a beautiful, sunny day. When the noise level increases, the arrow points toward red. When this occurs, it begins to rain on the cat who now has a sad face. My students responded so well to this app, and it really helped them monitor their own noise levels, with a visual cue.
Daily 5:
- If you are looking for a way to differentiate instruction in a small group setting, Daily 5 is the perfect resource! Daily 5 has ...you guessed it... 5 aspects of language arts. They include: Read to Self, Read to Someone, Listen to Reading, Word Work, and Work on Writing. While students are engaged in these hands-on stations, it allows the teacher to work with a small group, or individual student. I loved that using Daily 5 allowed me to work with all of my students at their level.
Clothesline Math:
- Clothesline Math primarily focuses on number sense, value, and number order. It can be used in a variety of ways, with tiered levels of student challenges. To set it up, all you need is a piece of string, and number cards that fold over the line. I begin by having numbers 0-10 on the line. Then I would take away a few numbers, and see if students could identify the missing numbers and put them back in the correct place. After demonstrating mastery of this, I would up the level of difficulty. I would then take away all of the numbers, and have students pick a random number and place it on the number line. You can even incorporate counting on, by starting the number line with a number other than 0 or 1. This way of teaching mathematical concepts can be used for every grade, and adapted to any concept you are currently focusing on.
Best of luck in your search for the perfect resource : )