In kindergarten, we are all about motivating our students to achieve kindergarten goals such as mastering uppercase letters, lowercase letters, sounds, counting to 100, and high frequency words. But with that many goals to achieve in one school year, this seems like a LOT for a first time learner.
By creating displays to show achievement, it is easier for students to fully understand their goals and their current benchmarks with those goals. It also creates motivation for mastery!
Examples of data displays:
Letterland (Candyland Inspired Board) - There are 78 colored squares for the student's to move their game marker. For each uppercase letter, lowercase letter, and sound (78 in all) that the student shows mastery of, they get to move their marker one space.
100's Club - Students who count to 100 by 1's get to be in the 100 Club on the board in the hallway. When in the club, a student will have a $100 bill with their face on it. This display is up all year long so that students can be added as soon as they reach mastery.
Gumball Sight Words - Every student starts out with a blank gumball machine in the hallway. Once a student masters one of the 44 sight words required for kindergarten, they can add a "gumball" (a colored sticker dot with the word written on it) into the gumball machine in the hallway. -Differentiation: Students who are unable to read sight words independently in kindergarten can have a different goal of adding gumballs with uppercase or lowercase letters instead. This way all students can successfully show progress.
We can end the session with brainstorming or sharing other ideas that teachers have had success with. We can also practice adapting these displays to fit the goals of other grades.
