So what does all that serious jargon look like in the kindergarten classroom?
Freeze Dance! Every day we have been dancing to the freeze dance. I hold up a pose that the children must replicate at the freeze. Recently I have given the freeze dance another step. The poses are posted on a color. Instead of holding up a pose, I hold up a color.
Working memory helps us stay involved in something longer and keep more things in mind while approaching a task. In this case, they're keeping the pose in mind while also keeping what each color means. The children use their working memory to keep the goal (the pose) in mind, resist distractions and inhibit impulsive.
We also talk aloud a lot to help plan our learning. Ever try to remember a grocery list or a phone number by repeating it aloud? That is a strategy to assist your working memory. As we learn the formation for letters and numbers, the children say them aloud. Here are the formations for 5-9.
Before the children write, they say their idea to a buddy. During the writing process, they have multiple opportunities to say their message aloud while writing. This helps them to remember what they were intending to write.
We also play a game called Look and Remember. I show a picture (related to The Magic Tree House we're reading) and the children talk to a buddy about all that they see.
Then I flip over the picture and ask questions like, "What letter is on the flag? How many palm trees are there?" The children answer my questions to their buddy. Then I flip over and we go through the questions together. This is explicit practice to help their visual and auditory memory skills!
