The first time you gather children together as a group each day is an excellent time to incorporate activities that support oral language development.






Older students can use a form of Pair-Share for Morning News. In pairs, students take turns telling each other a sentence related to the news activity. Students listen carefully as they are responsible to share the news of their partner. When using Pair-Share, you will need a form for recording whose turn it is each day as all partners cannot share every time.




A good Categories activity for older students is "Tell me everything you know about _______." Provide a concept such as families, reading, and sand in addition to more concrete objects. In pairs, partners take turns telling each other one thing they know about the object or concept until they cannot think of any other ideas. Pairs take turns reporting back to the class one of the things they know. This group sharing could be recorded on an experience chart.

"Our children are motivated by any food experience. It is one focus that never fails to capture their interest and spark their full involvement."
- a Saskatchewan teacher

Class Meeting/Group Time Activities

• Objects related to a new theme or center
• Containers for "surprise objects"
• Name tags
• Chart paper and markers.

In addition to routines already established for your morning or afternoon group time, such as those incorporated in Shared Language (for example, Exploring Sound Patterns, p. 85), you may wish to incorporate some of the following short activities.

1. Morning News. Vary your format for Morning News every week or two to keep it interesting and enjoyable. Have only a few children give news each day and use an attendance or Helpers chart to show whose turn it is each day. Model a simple format for children to use when sharing news such as Who, What, When, Where. Demonstrate this format yourself a few times before asking children to use it. Do not press reluctant or delayed language users to conform to the format exactly. Appreciate all efforts. Encourage peers to help each other to use the format but do not allow them to take over one child's turn.

   Two Examples Child says, "I went to my grandma's yesterday." (Teacher or another child prompts "Where does she live?") "She just lives a few blocks away." Teacher writes on a chart, Who - I, What - went to my grandma's, When - yesterday, Where - a few blocks away. She invites the child to read it with her while others observe and listen. Child says, "I played hockey." (Teacher says, "Do you want to add anything else? Do you remember our pattern?" while pointing to the Who, What, When, Where chart). Child says, "Oh yah, I played hockey last night." Teacher thanks child but does not press for any further details.

2. Categories. The teacher provides the category such as "Books" and each child names a book they liked/disliked and tells one reason why they liked/disliked it. Another category might be "Colours". Each child would name a colour and tell one thing they know that is that colour (perhaps using a simple sentence pattern that has been modeled).
3. Pair-Share. A simple activity that young children can do in pairs is "Tell your partner everything you know about a ________". Children would be paired with another child--each child would sit facing the other. You would provide the object for them to talk about, show a concrete example or a picture of it, and have children take turns telling each other what they know about the selected object. Good choices for this activity include an apple, a banana, an orange, and other foods. (It is important to check for food allergies before bringing any foods to the classroom.) Follow up students' discussion by:
   • inviting pairs to share some of their discussion.
   • providing a sensory experience where children are provided with a piece of the apple, banana, or orange and invited to describe how it looks, feels, tastes, and smells. You might include this as part of your Group Time or introduce it as an activity you will be using later in the day.
4. Learning New Vocabulary. The teacher selects an interesting noun related to a new book, song, or topic; puts it on a card; and reads and shows the card to the group (for example, turnip, accordian). S/he asks "Who thinks they know what this word is? Who would like to predict what this might be?" The teacher might provide a language pattern to use such as "I think ____ is a ____" or model a set of questions that children can ask in order to find out. For example: "Can you eat it? Can you wear it? Is it useful for work? Can you play with it? Is it bigger than a chair? Is it smaller than my hand?"
5. Surprise Object. Place an object related to a theme or concept you are teaching into a box, sock, pillowcase, or painted jar with holes punched in the lid. Invite children to take turns guessing what the object is through asking you questions such as the ones described above. Alternatively, they may shake the box, sniff the jar, or feel the object through the sock or lid. When a child guesses correctly, show the group the object and ask "What are your ideas about where we might use this in our room? Where should it go? How might we share this?"