1. Sibel Briggs
Ed. 330
First Grade

2. Instructional Strategies
KWLs
 KWL is an effective strategy for making
basic steps of inquiry visible for students.
 What does KWL stand for?

K-What do you know? W-What do you want
to know? L- What did you learn?
 This
works great for any topic and is a
fantastic way to start kids out with thinking!

3. Instructional Strategies cont…
Think Alouds
 Great for demonstrating a new skill.
 Example: “I can see that the author used
shapes to make the house, like a triangle,
and a square”. “ I wonder what other
shapes the author can use?”
 This helps students think about what could
come next in the text. 

4. Instructional Strategies cont…
Three-Minute Pause
 10-15 minutes=stop class!
 Ask students three questions:
1. What did you experience?
2. Identify an interesting aspect of what
you experienced.
3. Identify confusion and try to clear it
up.
 This
is a great strategy because it helps kids
think all the time and keeps the information
fresh!

5. Classroom Management
Strategies

Music stops, Task is done!
Fun way to get students to do a task

First, turn on music.

Students clean up area, or task, as fast as possible.

Music stops, task of cleaning has to be done!


If the task is not done, students get marked down for minute of
missed recess. Each time they don’t get a task done, a minute
is added for recess time!
Great incentive for students to get their cleaning tasks done 

6. Classroom Management
Strategies cont…
Bell rings, sit in desk and work on opener:
 Teacher
lays worksheet on all the students
desks.
 Bell rings, students come in and sit down and
get to work on their task.
 When finished, raise hand and then read
quietly.

Works great to get students in a routine and have
them know exactly what to expect in the morning. 

7. Team building “Getting to
know” your students strategy
Two Truths and a Lie:




Students write down three statements
about themselves, two truth, one lie.
Students go around in a circle guessing
what is true and what is a lie.
Fun ice-breaker!
Fun activity to help students get to know
each other!

8. References


Becky Finnels First grade classroom*
http://www.oswego.org/files/5/20is.pdf
*I learned a lot of these strategies from student
teaching.