I walk around the room and hum. \u201cWe\/are\/ ga\/ther\/ing.\u201d The children stop and listen. They march and follow the Pied Piper leading his young wards to the meeting area in a corner by the room. I sing, \u201cWe are ga-ther-ing, we are ga-ther-ing, we are ga-ther-ing..\u2026\u201d The children join the chant, from soft to slow then loud to fast we sing BINGO. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I begin my mini-lesson. \u201cLast week, we learned the beginning sounds of our names. Today, we play Beginning Sound Bingo!\u201d My first graders clap and give each other high-fives. Play! <\/em>I explain the game; they squirm on their seats. \u201cQuestions?\u201d They run to their work tables and find the deck of cards Teacher Steph had arranged in neat rows of threes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I show my wonder pouch and pull out a plastic toy. \u201cC-c-c-car,\u201d I say, exaggerating its first letter. \u201cGo and find the picture card with the same sound of c-c-car.\u201d Everyone grabbed a colored chip to hide the picture that matched the beginning sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I take out another toy. And another. Again and again and again. Livie had only one more picture to hide. Gabby too. Then, someone yells, \u201cBINGO!!!\u201d Everyone claps. Laughter erupts. A loud, long cheer follows. The girls hug, the boys jump. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Happens all the time in my class when we play games where everyone wins \u2026 and LEARNS. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I walk around the room and hum. \u201cWe\/are\/ ga\/ther\/ing.\u201d The children stop and listen. They march and follow the Pied Piper leading his young wards to the meeting area in a corner by the room. I sing, \u201cWe are ga-ther-ing, we are ga-ther-ing, we are ga-ther-ing..\u2026\u201d The children join the chant, from soft to slow …<\/p>\n