Anonymous wrote:Games are not the same as a worksheet.

First you play the games so the kids get a lot of practice with the concepts.

Then when you introduce the same activities in paper and pencil format the kids already understand the concepts and they can do the work well using paper and pencil.

Or, if the child has a disability that makes holding or using a crayon or pencil difficult, you assess mastery of the concept using the online game or using manipulatives if the child has that accommodation in his or her IEP.

Anonymous wrote:Games are not the same as a worksheet.

Can you point to the place where the Common Core states that Kindergarten work needs to be demonstrated on a worksheet?

Kindergarten lesson on common core math standards involving 10 frames:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/kindergarten-counting-cardinality-lesson

Games are not the same as a worksheet.

Anonymous wrote:p.s. I taught K kids who didn't even know their colors. Seriously. You have no clue.

P.S. so have I. You don't have to be able to identify colors to choose one that matches.

Having said that, if you're looking for me to say that there will be some kids in your class who don't exhibit 100% mastery of every standard in every strand, then yes, I will agree with you on that. It was true under the old standards, and it's true under the new standards. Sometimes kids enter a class, whether it's K or 7th grade, missing skills from earlier grades. Sometimes it takes them more than a year to catch up. Sometimes kids have disabilities that impact the rate at which they progress, and even with stellar teaching they may never catch up. That has always been true with standards, and unless you change the Kindergarten standards to things like "will breathe" it will continue to be true.

Having said that, the standards are supposed to be a goal post, something to work towards, something to strive to, something to guide what you teach and what you assess. Most kids are ready for this work in kindergarten. A subset of kids will be ready to engage in the work, but will need extra support to be successful, and a smaller subset will benefit from the activity, but will not show mastery within their Kindergarten year. They might participate in the fruit salad or the m&m activity, and make progress in their color identification, or their counting skills as they work through the problem with support, but still end up not knowing how to solve the problem independently. That doesn't make it a bad standard, or a bad activity. It just means that those particular kids got what they could get from it. If you have age appropriate standards, then these kids will be marked as "behind", which means that we can get them the help they deserve, and that we can be honest when we talk to their parents about what they can do, and how it compares to the other kids.

Pretending that no kindergartener can draw a picture of 10 m and m's using 2 colors, because there are a few who aren't ready, doesn't help anyone.

Can I ask you a question again, because I'm wondering if maybe you've missed it the past 3 or 4 or 10 times I asked it. When you taught K for all those years, in the school where kids didn't know their colors and never had asthma, and special educators never ever led the entire class, what were the learning standards that you used? Also, have you ever tried to teach using the Common Core Standards?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why not?

Because it is abstract to a K kid. It looks so obvious to us, but it is not to them. Believe me.

Have them play these games online. K kids LOVE this stuff.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3565

Most 4 year olds in PreK could play these games.

Anonymous wrote:

But it isn't very difficult for the vast majority.

Yes, it is.

You have no clue.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Why not?

Because it is abstract to a K kid. It looks so obvious to us, but it is not to them. Believe me.

Have them play these games online. K kids LOVE this stuff.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3565

Have the kids start with 1. How Many. Once mastered work on 2. Build. When they can do those two tasks reliably, demonstrate 3. Fill. This is the EXACT skill required to show how many more are needed to make 10, yet it doesn't use numerals. This type of activity helps make the concept concrete to the children, yet can be done individually.

But it isn't very difficult for the vast majority.

Yes, it is.

Anonymous wrote:

Why not?

Because it is abstract to a K kid. It looks so obvious to us, but it is not to them. Believe me.

Have them play these games online. K kids LOVE this stuff.

http://illuminations.nctm.org/Activity.aspx?id=3565

Anonymous wrote:Even with objects, it is very difficult for some in K.

But it isn't very difficult for the vast majority.

Anonymous wrote:p.s. I taught K kids who didn't even know their colors. Seriously. You have no clue.

You have no clue. They can just use two different colors. Or Xs and circles for pete's sake. They don't even need to know the names.

And if you are planning a standard to meet the needs of the lowest performing children (kids in K who don't even know their colors... not even two) then you have very low expectations.

Even with objects, it is very difficult for some in K.

They can put blocks together to add all day long, but when it comes to filling in the blank, it becomes very difficult. With objects, not so hard, but once you put pencil to paper it is a different story.

Why not?

Because it is abstract to a K kid. It looks so obvious to us, but it is not to them. Believe me.