Saturday, October 12, 2013

The Flipped Classroom

I know if you are a parent you are thinking huh?  But this is for the parents.  There is a new wave of methods for teaching children in the classroom.  This week we are discussing the flipped classroom.  Mostly when I have read about the concept it has been talked about mostly in the upper grade classrooms.  I am going to continue researching the idea and hopefully implement it this spring with our geometry unit.  The idea of a flipped classroom is that the majority of the lesson is completed at home most often using the internet via website lessons, webquests, videos, blogs or social media.  The students will then come to school for the following class and discuss the lessons and work with the teacher in any area where they may have struggled.
My plan for kindergarten is a family approach.  The lessons for the week will come home the Friday before and the family can work through them together.  Since many of my students do not have regular access to the internet, the majority of the lessons will be paper with additional support added with use from the internet. The lessons will not be difficult but conceptual such as this is a square, let's find examples of squares around our house.  The following day in class we may use squares to build a picture.  Maybe use brown, green, red, yellow, and blue squares to make a picture.  The concept will be taught at home and reinforced in the classroom.
This is a blog about the flipped classroom that I hope you will take time to read.
So tell me what do you think about a flipped classroom in kindergarten?