Show and Tell in the Kindergarten Classroom

Show and Tell is one of those old school teaching ideas that has been around forever! It sticks around though because it is so much fun! Kids LOVE bringing their stuff from home to school AND telling you ALL about it! This post is all about how I use Show and Tell to teach phonics in my Kindergarten classroom.

 Every Friday is Show and Tell Day! Show and Tell is based on what letter we are learning that week. Last week we studied the letter L, so my students could bring something that started with the letter L. I communicate about Show and Tell in my weekly newsletter.

I also send home a reminder note on Thursday. Then Friday is show time! Each child comes to the front of the room and shares their item with us. This is a great opportunity to hit some of those listening and speaking TEKS too! It’s also really fun because the kids can be creative! One of my students brought in a picture of when they were little because little starts with L!  We create a class list on my favorite paper of all the items that were brought.

Sometimes I will even take a picture of each child holding their item to create a class book. After they have shared, their item goes back in their backpack so it is safe and doesn’t get them into trouble! ; ) Here are some of the items that were brought for Show and Tell Letter L this week…

• lip gloss
• ladybug stuffed animal
• lollipop
• lalaoopsy doll
• leaves
• legos

If you are looking for a full list of Show and Tell Ideas for each letter. Check out this post!

Using Show and Tell for Writing

After everyone has shared their item, we have a really nice list of L words going and we are ready to write. Students have to tell me three words that start with the letter L and draw three pictures to match. We use the pages from my Show and Tell Journals. These journals are ready to print and use!

This writing is really meaningful because they are writing about real items they have just experienced. When kids are struggling to think of words I can also say things like, “Do you remember what Bob brought? What about Helen?” rather than “What starts with the letter L?” Concrete experiences are really important!

At the beginning of Kindergarten, some student will only be able to write the beginning letter L for the object and that’s totally developmentally appropriate! As the year progresses, instead of writing three words with three pictures, we will start writing simple sentences like: L is for ______.  These printable pages are also available in my Show and Tell Journals. Primary lines are also available.

Using Show and Tell to Make a Class Book

After Show and Tell is over sometimes, I use the pictures to create a class book based on the letter we were studying. This is a great way to review the letter the following week and remind students of the experience. This week I chose to make to the book using I like _______ sentences. I chose to use “I like…” sentences because I and like are the sight words words that we have been working on. Here is what a page in the book looks like:

At the top of every page, I put the child’s name. We have still been working on name recognition so this is just another way to tie in that skill too! Then the sentence says I like (whatever they brought).

We will reread this book this week and discuss L words one more time and then the book will join the classroom library. The kids LOVE reading any book that features them!!! I use PowerPoint to make the books and it’s really easy to duplicate the slide and just change the picture and words. It takes me about 15 minutes to create a book. The time is well worth it! Check out this post on how to make meaningful class books.

Using Show and Tell for Each Letter

Next, we will learn the letter 0 and focus on popcorn words: see and the. So our book may sound look this next week…

• I see the octopus.
• I see the olive.
• I see the orange.

I also want to start taking a picture of the chart we create for each letter and including it in the book as well. That way my wall space is spared, but they still have access to an anchor chart we created TOGETHER for each letter!  Using show and tell to teach phonics has really made for some meaningful lessons in my classroom!