Practice Position Words In OneNote

One of our early learning goals in kindergarten is to develop an understanding of position words, and OneNote is helping us do just that!

1. Type the position words you would like to use in to OneNote.
2. Locate free or purchased clip art to use as your fixed object (I chose a bus) add it to OneNote and set the picture to background.
3. Choose a moveable object/objects (I chose shoes) and add to OneNote.

We are also learning color words, so I add colored shoes. As we moved the shoes students helped generated descriptive sentences and I recorded their thoughts.

PowerPoint in Early Elementary!!

Practice color words and sight words, by creating a group PowerPoint.

Ideas adapted from Google Apps For Littles By Christine Pinto and Alice Keeler 

In the following activity, small groups of students will collaborate on the same presentation.  Each student will be assigned a slide color…this will be the color of the slide they are to work on (alternatively you could label slides with numbers, letters, symbols, etc.). For consistency the color or number you assign could also be used for future assignments.

Students are to fill in the blank with a color word and add a photo.

Option 1: Follow steps 1-4 if you would like to create your own presentation.

Option 2: If you would like to use my presentation download and save the PowerPoint I’ve shared, choose the slides you would like to use, copy and paste them into a new PowerPoint (past using “keep source formatting"). Follow steps 3-4.

1.      To create your own slides open PowerPoint and create slide templates in the desired colors, add text as needed. Save slides as images.

2.      Open a new Power Point presentation, and add the saved images as background fill .

3.      Share the presentation (with editing rights) with the students who will be working together and assign them a slide to work on.

4.      Duplicate this presentation for other groups, share the presentation with them, and assign them a slide to work on.

5.      Depending on the number of devices and the way you access Microsoft Tools students can find a link to this PowerPoint assignment in their OneNote Class Notebook, LMS, or access the assignment directly from PowerPoint.

Once completed the presentation can be added to OneNote for in class and at home review of sight words and color words!

Download and save the PowerPoint bellow for use with your students.

Create and Share Literature Based Activities Using Microsoft Tools!

The following activities can be used for group or independent work in the early elementary classroom, but with changes could be elevated to higher grades.

These Gingerbread activities were created using PowerPoint, OneNote, and Flipgrid. The Activities are shared with the class using OneNote.

In the first activity you will start with a shared reading of The Gingerbread Boy and then complete the character/story sequence map. 

This Character/Sequencing map was created in OneNote, I then used Print Screen to save it as an image that could be added to OneNote. (This is helpful for me because sometime my littles have difficulty if there are too many moving pieces.) Images added to OneNote can be locked to background...right click, select picture, set picture as background. The next step will be adding images  of characters into the page, students will be able to drag images into the desired circle.

Character/Sequencing Map Download to add to OneNote

As students place the images in the correct space they can use audio record (found under the insert tab in OneNote) to record a quote from the character, or simply state the sequence and name of the character (i.e. First the little old woman and the little old man ran after the gingerbread man.)

After reading a collection of Gingerbread Stories discuss how they are similar and different (could share ideas on Flipgrid). Next create a class graph by collecting data and showing which story is the favorite.

This Gingerbread house can be used to create a custom graph.  Create a table in OneNote, add photos from the desired books, and collect data!

Gingerbread House Download to to OneNote

Repetition and pattern can be helpful for pre/beginning readers. In this activity the students are provided with a story pattern, students just add a character to the end of the sentence. In this case a closing sentence was  also created by the students. 

This activity can be extended by having students extend the sentences in their journals adding illustrations, and perhaps even making a class book (digital journals, OneNote, paper pencil...whatever works best for your students). 

Depending on ability level and access to technology this could be a whole group, small group, or independent activity. If done in a group setting students might enjoy rereading the passage independently. Immersive Reader could be used for assistance in mastering the passage, and audio record could be used  to show fluency.

Continue the conversation using Flipgrid!

Flipgrid is a website that allows educators to create grids and topics for engaging conversation and collaboration!

If you haven't already set up a Flipgrid account you'll need to start there, next step create a grid, finally add a topic to your grid. You can add the Flipgrid topic that I created to your grid, or create your own. (Follow this link Save Your Ginger Breadfriends to add the topic to your own grid.)

Haven't used Flipgrid and want to experiment? Feel free to respond to this grid. (Password: Storybook)