My students need activities they can do while I work with individuals and small groups. "Hot Dots" activities give immediate feedback so they can work independently.
Imagine a group of 5 year old students who all want your full attention at the same time! That's a typical day in my at-risk kindergarten class, so I'm always looking for ways to keep them actively engaged while I work with individuals and small groups.
My students were selected at the beginning of the year based on their scores on the kindergarten entry testing.
They don't have any known learning disabilities, but for some reason they scored significantly lower than others in their class. They attend regular kindergarten for half the day and then come to me for the rest of the day. Most of the work we do focuses on literacy - phonemic awareness, oral language, phonics, reading, and writing. These students need lots of attention, repetition, and reinforcement. Giving individualized attention to each student can be an overwhelming task, so I'm constantly looking for ways for them to receive the immediate feedback they need while they are working independently.
My Project
I pair up my students and have them rotate through a series of "stations" while I work with individual and small groups of students. The activities in the stations need to be things the students can do independently, but they also need to help them practice skills.
We have a few iPads that were donated earlier in the year for the students to use. I also have a listening center, and some "Tag Readers" so students can follow along as they listen to the stories being read. They also have a handwriting station and station of games I've made. Last month a "Hot Dots" pen and a set of flashcards were donated to my class which we use for the sixth station. Unfortunately, because there is only one pen they have to take turns and this sometimes creates conflicts which require my attention and cause a distraction in the classroom.
Having more "Hot Dots" pens and flashcards will allow more students to work independently and give them immediate feedback.
They will also be able to work at their own pace. A variety of flashcards will help differentiate the station so students can work on their own level. And if students are able to work independently, I will be able to give individual and small groups of students the direct attention and instruction they need.
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