readilearn: Interactive whiteboard resources for kindergarten

“I’ve got an interactive whiteboard in my room but I don’t know how to use it.”

“What readilearn resources can I use with my kindergarten children?’

“Schools have said they want our children to come to school able to listen and follow instructions. What resources can we use?”

These are some of the statements and questions that teachers of children in their kindergarten year, the year before they start formal schooling, have put to me.

The main focus of my preparation of readilearn teaching resources is on the first three years of school. I hadn’t considered their application with children aged four to five. However, teachers have assured me that some of the readilearn interactive whiteboard lessons are very suitable for children in kindergarten as one part of a rich play-based learning-focused environment.

Using readilearn lessons on the interactive whiteboard in kindergarten

• provides variety,
• introduces children to the use of technology and some of the skills involved such as drag and drop, and click to select items,
• provides opportunities for children to take turns, work cooperatively, listen actively to the teacher and other children,
• encourages vocabulary development – the lessons are intended to be teacher-led and involve discussion with the children.

readilearn lessons support kindergarten teachers with

• lessons ready to teach – login in the morning, keep one tab open – stay logged in for the day,
• opportunities for children to make the connection between print and spoken language,
• providing children who are ready to read opportunities of doing so.

readilearn interactive resources and lessons suitable for use in kindergarten:

Dragona’s Lost Egg – A sorting activity embedded in a story. Children help Artie find Dragona’s lost egg in his Lost and Found store by sorting eggs according to characteristics including size, shape, pattern, colour. The resource encourages the development of logical thinking and problem solving.

On the farm Who am I? – A fun activity to use when children are learning about farm animals. Teachers read and discuss the clues, including visual clues, with the children. Children choose the correct animals.

Who’s Hiding at Christmas? – A fun story for Christmas time. Children tap the baubles to reveal clues. Teachers read and discuss the clues, including visual clues, with the children. Children choose the correct Christmas character.

I Spy a counting game — A fun “I spy” game for learning to count by rote and with one-to-one correspondence the numbers from one to ten. Children find and count the number of items that owl sees on each page.

Shape it up — Exploring 2D shapes — This interactive resource could be used when introducing or revising the names and features of the four most common 2D shapes: circles, squares, triangles and rectangles. Discuss each shape on the interactive whiteboard then encourage children to find the shapes in their environment and in books.

Teddy Bear Sorting — An open-ended activity that asks children to sort bears by their features, a simple yes or no sort such as “bears with hats” and “bears without hats”.

Ten Tiny Turtles — While designed for teaching and revising written addition stories to ten, the resource can be used in kindergarten for counting to ten and for discussing oral addition stories; for example, “Four turtles in the water and one on the sand. That’s five turtles all together.”

What’s my shape? Matching shapes to shadows — In this simple matching game, children match shadows of common objects, people and shapes to their shadows — a visual perception activity.

Find My Rhyme – Children select the rhyming picture from the distractors. The resource can be used to discuss other rhyming words. With fifteen rhyming word pairs, the resource can be referenced in successive sittings.

Digital stories

Some estories (digital stories) are also suitable for use in kindergarten. While not having an interactive element, they can be shared on the interactive whiteboard with groups of children.

One Lonely Ladybird – A counting story from one to ten.

The Accident — Humpty Dumpty’s Fall — This original story provides one explanation for Humpty Dumpty’s fall. The story can be used as a stimulus for discussing children’s ideas and suggestions and is also suitable when setting up doctor and hospital play ideas.

The Ice Cream Shop — Dad and the two children go to the shop for an ice cream, but will each be able to have their favourite ice cream? This story is great for reading and discussing when children have set up a shopping activity.

Note: These are but a selection of readilearn’s interactive resources. You may find, depending on the abilities and interests of your children, that sections of other resources can be adapted for your use. I always love to receive feedback. If there are adjustments that could be made to these resources to make them more suited to your needs, please let me know and I’ll see what I can do.

A readilearn subscription makes a special gift to let early childhood teachers know their work is appreciated. Contact me for details.

readilearn: teaching resources for the first three years of school

Resources beyond worksheets – lessons for teachers made by teachers.

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