I recently had the opportunity to have an in-situ experience doing literacy stations at a local elementary school in a Grade 2 class. The two activities that I had prepared were a crossword and fill-in-the-blank activities that were associated with the concept kindness. I heard that they were reviewing concepts about kindness in their class and wanted to do activities that connected with what they were currently learning. 

Crossword!

For each station there were about three to four students, which gave me more of an opportunity to get to know the students and help them if needed. Students were asked to try to do both activities on their own, but to ask a friend if they needed help. The students were so helpful when their classmates needed guidance (which was refreshing to see since they were learning about kindness). This activity would connect to British Columbia’s Curriculum under:

  • Big Idea: Language and story can be a source of creativity and joy. Students typically enjoy and have fun doing crosswords because it can challenge them, but they also get excited when they find a word. 
  • Comprehend and Connect: Students are also using their prior knowledge about kindness to further their learning. For example, I asked the students what they do to show kindness to others or themselves and one student said “brush their teeth.” I thought this was a great example of how to show kindness to yourself, by taking care of yourself. 

Fill in the Blank!

The fill-in-the-blank activity also connected to their learning about kindness. This activity was particularly interesting because I was able to get a sense of where the students were in their reading development. Most students were able to read the sentence and correctly fill in the blank independently. For some students, I needed to provide a bit more guidance, such as reminding them to read the whole sentence first and then try adding the words provided at the bottom of the page to see if they sounded correct. This activity was also an effective way to assess where the Grade 2 students were in terms of reading comprehension in a fun way and they did very well. Most students said they enjoyed the activity and felt that it was easy. This activity would connect to British Columbia’s Curriculum under:

  • Comprehend and Connect: Students are using developmentally appropriate reading, listening and viewing strategies to make meaning. Students are reading the sentence, listening to hear if it matches appropriately with their sentence and writing it down. 

Reflection: 

Overall, this was an amazing and fun experience. I was happy to hear that the students enjoyed the activities and were engaged. What I learned from this experience and in my classes in this program is the importance of stations and hands-on learning. In some of my classmates’ stations, I noticed students were using dice, working in groups to solve word problems and were sorting. Doing different math and literacy stations where students try different activities with different outcomes and learning intentions enriches their learning. 

Connections to Classroom Readings:

Image retrieved from: Powerful Thinking

The fill-in-the-blank activity supported the concept of Brain Reading. Students were required to make connections by using their prior knowledge about kindness, paying attention to their thinking by ensuring the answers made sense to the sentence written and engaged in meaningful discussion about kindness to transform their thinking.

The crossword activity was more directed towards Book Reading. Students decode words using letters and sounds to help them remember what word they are looking for. Students must look carefully for letter patterns, blends and chunks to identify words.

Resources:

Gear, A. (2024). Powerful thinking: Engaging Readers, Building knowledge, and Nudging Learning in Elementary Classrooms. Pembroke Publishers.

https://curriculum.gov.bc.ca/curriculum/english-language-arts/2/core