IDEAS FOR USING FACTS CHECK WITH KINDERGARTNERS AND NON-READERS

Teachers have asked about how to use the Facts Check process with kids who can't read.  Listed below are some ideas we brainstormed.  Feel free to use one, some or none.

• Use alternative response methods.  Kindergartners can't write their responses.  Pull a trick from Madeline Humter days.  Do the Fact Check questions one at a time and have each student tell his answer to another student.  When the teacher says the answer, ask students to hold up their hands if they heard the correct answer from their partner.  Count the hands and graph the number of correct responses.

• Start whole group and progress to individuals.  First have the whole class decide on a correct answer.  Once kids learn the facts, move to having small groups agree on answers, and eventually move to having each student answer all the facts.  Graph the group's results from the start, but don't create graphs for individual students until students are ready.

• Start out with fewer facts.  Give students only one or two facts at first.  Then add a few at a time until students have been introduced to the whole list. Don't include a fact in the Facts Check until it has been introduced.

• Do facts checks more frequently at first.  A week between checks may be too long for kindergartners to benefit, but doing it every day or every other day will help them remember the facts more quickly.