#noworksheetwednesday

I'm sure you've all heard of "No Worksheet Wednesday". A lot of teachers are trying not to use any worksheets one day a week. I think that's a great thing and that more teachers should try it out and try to do more than just one day a week!! In years past, I used to go through sooo much paper, photocopying endless amounts of worksheets and packets and whatnot. I'm sure we've all been there. Ever since my district adopted a new kindergarten curriculum, Tools of the Mind, that was the end of that! NOT ONE WORKSHEET PEOPLE!! It was scary! How will the kids learn?! Won't the parents be wondering what we do all day?! I have to admit I do miss some of the cutesy worksheets but boy do I NOT miss the never ending piles and piles of paper in folders in the "all done box". It's a great feeling I have to admit! The whole curriculum is based on the Vygotskian approach and learning through games with partners. You learn better through others. Everything is with partners! We do lots of "I Have, Who Has?" games, dramatizing The Magic Tree House stories, *a lot* of work on self-regulation. The second half of the year we introduce "learning records" which are very simple papers that each child completes after each game/center. Not really a worksheet, they never fill anything in they just record their learning. For example, say one center was "I Have, Who Has?" letters, they would play the game with their group and when they're done they write down four letters that they had in the game and draw a picture of something that begins with that letter. Real simple, super quick. They finish that and point and read it to their "study buddy" (partner) and move on to their second center. This is my second year implementing this curriculum and I have to admit at first I was super hesitant but it really is amazing. Last year was the first year I had ALL of my students at or above (way above) benchmark! That's with ELL students who knew minimal English in September, they were reading ON GRADE LEVEL at the end of the year!


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