Not Just for Baking!
Organizing Groups and Classroom Activities using Cookie Sheets (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyAges:
4-7
Grade Range:
PreK K 1stFood Groups:
Primary: Classroom Tips
Transcript
We all know how important it is to establish a collaborative environment where students learn from each other, where social relationships are fostered and communication skills. But I find often, to get students into those groups, because it's such a big chore that sometimes you don't even want to do the work. Using something like this cookie sheet here to organize your students into groups makes it really quick and really simple for the students to get into groups independently, and it allows them to get onto task very quickly as well. So a lot of the skill development is taking place. Students can tell which group they're in because their group is in a horizontal line. So this would be a group here. Here's another group. Each picture has a little magnet on the back so it makes it very quick and simple to formulate new groups. I also utilize the cookie sheet when were conducting reading and writing conferences. So there might be a lot of students on a particular day who like to sit down with me and read. So I'll basically put their picture in order of who I'm going to see first, second, third. I utilize these trays to manage the materials so that when a group requires materials for a certain lesson, all they have to do is go and get a tray which already has their materials on it. Every cookie sheet is numbered so that students know which cookie sheet is theirs and so that I also know which cookie sheet is theirs. This is really helpful when, for example, assessing, so that I get a really quick snapshot of what that group has produced. It's also really helpful when a group is presenting or celebrating their work because I will call on the group by number in either ascending or descending order. Simply put a magnet on the back of a number and they stick right on. I find these really helpful when we have an activity that is going to take more than one day. We leave out work on the cookie sheet and we put it aside and then the next day we take it back out again. These are really inexpensive and you can buy them at any dollar store.
Activity Objective
The goal of Not Just for Baking!: Organizing Groups and Classroom Activities using Cookie Sheets (Virtual Tour) is to promote classroom organization and routines.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Cookie sheets are an inexpensive organization tool. - Encourage students to become independent learners by providing them with appropriate tools for organization.
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