Learning to Document in Kindergarten

Something that we wanted to focus on this year that we did not do last year was to teach the kids about documenting their work and observations.

We started by using manipulatives. First we tried having students work together but they were more interested in creating their own things so we made small baggies with manipulatives for students to create with and then document their creation.

 Once we had worked independently with documentation, students started documenting their work in centers. This is still a work in progress but I see many of them using accurate drawings to show what they worked on during their center time.

 We also worked on using our 5 senses to observe. One of the items we looked closely at was sea shells. Students used magnifying glasses to look closely and draw. Then they traced with a black marker and used the correct colors to mimic their shell.

 So far we are pleased with the documentation we are seeing. We can't wait to see what they will do in the future.