Play in K

I am so excited!

WE CAN PLAY!

At an end of the year quick meeting the K teachers were told we can bring back a little time of play in our classrooms.

*cue huge grin*

Whether you are allowed to have the old-school center time or not, we all know the benefits of play.

• Social- kids need time to interact, practice sharing, using manners, and time to talk and interact with their peers on their terms.
• Behavior- we've all seen a rise in what's expected in kindergarten and a rise in behavior problems...that is not a coincidence.
• Literacy/Math- when students play they are using and learning vocabulary, building math skills, and sometimes writing while playing.

I will have a 15-20 minute chunk to have a free centers time this coming school year.  I am still trying to figure out how I want to do it.  I will have the students choose what they do but will probably have to put parameters on how many students in the different areas.  

For the rest of the summer I would like to share things I have found or ideas I have about play in kindergarten.  Once a week I will post an idea.

Here is my new Market Place!  I have play money, ordered some play food, I am making some felt food, and just need some chalk.

Today I'd love to share with you some cards that I made as a forever *FREEBIE*.  These world structure cards are a great addition to your classroom blocks.  You can print and laminate the cards and have students try to build the structures.  Each card has the sentence: Can you build ____ ? (with the structure name where the blank is).  Also, each card is labeled with the location.  I saw this idea on a blog but hers were a bit different and she didn't have a digital version unfortunately.  I loved this idea and so I used photographs I bought from TPT and created these cards!  Go check out Can You Build It? World Structures.  Click on the name or underneath on the picture.

 

I can't wait to see what they build!