Megan Reynolds

I am a teacher & designer. Connecting with students & seeing them enjoy learning is my favorite feeling on earth! I hope you enjoy this article!

Kindergarden Vocabulary Choice Board Tutorial for Teachers

Build your own Vocabulary Choice Board for Kindergarden in minutes! Keep kids engaged & learning using these tactics & templates

Common Core Standards: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.2.A, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RF.K.3.C, CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.K.6

To use a choice board in your Kindergarden Classroom during Vocabulary you will need to create the Vocabularychoices (there are lots of examples), organize the classroom, and have a goal;

Time-saving, differentiation, and dynamic classroom management are my favorite reasons to use a choice board!

Integrating choices every day you will need to hone in on the best way to apply Kindergarden Vocabulary choice boards to your classroom style!

Here are a few ideas and instructions on choices, classroom management and getting buy-in from yourKindergardenrs

Ideas & Examples of Great Kindergarden Vocabulary Choices

Animal Picture Match-Up

Match animals to pictures! Look at the cards with animal names and find the matching animal picture. If you see “cat,” find the cat picture and pair them up!

Colorful Word Bingo

Colorful Word Bingo: A fun game where you match bright colors with easy words on a card. When you find a word, cover it with a chip. Five in a row wins!

Silly Sentence Creation

Make a fun sentence with words! Pick a person, a place, and a thing. Mix them up to make a silly story. Like “A cat dances at the moon with a spoon!” Try it!

Rhyme Time Memory Game

Rhyme Time is a fun card game! Match pictures that sound alike, like ‘cat’ and ‘hat.’ Flip two cards, if they rhyme, they’re a pair! Keep going until all cards are matched. Have fun!

Storybook Dress-Up Day

Dress like a book character. Pick your favorite from a story we read. Wear a costume that looks like them. Have fun pretending and sharing stories!

Whispering Word Wall

The Whispering Word Wall is a place where you can see lots of words with pictures. You can quietly say the words and practice them. It’s fun and helps you learn!

Sound It Out Hopscotch

Jump on squares with letters, and make the sounds. Put sounds together to say the word. Like a fun game of hopscotch, but with learning words too!

Emotion Charades Game

Make faces and act like you’re happy, sad, scared, or mad. Friends guess the feeling. No talking, only acting! It’s a fun game to play with others.

Alphabet Garden Planting

Alphabet Garden: Plant tiny seeds in the shape of your ABCs. Water them, give them sun, and watch your letter plants grow! It’s fun to see A to Z in your garden.

Using a Choice Board to Differentiate Vocabulary in a Kindergarden Classroom

Keep It Simple

Everyone “teacher & student” should know exactly what they are doing. If you don’t make it even easier!

Differential Instruction vs Saving time?

There is nothing more irritating than “Saving Time” with a Choice Board & ending up with “More work!”. Are you using this to hit standards or save time or both?

"Self Guided" or "instruction-based"?

If you giving out work, should they do it on their own or are these more instructions for each choice?

General rule, if the grade is > 3 there is more work per choice.

FREE Blank Fillable & Custom Choice Board

All ages, all grades where you need 9 grid choice board. Start loving learning again!

How To Manage Your Kindergarden Classroom During Vocabulary (With a Choice Board)

I find its easiest to use a big board at the front of the classroom where all students can see the choices then decide what they want to do.

This often will be coming in from a break or transition between subjects.

If you can get all students to know whats expected during a choice activity it becomes one-hundred times easier to manage the class & have everyone know what choices they have!

There are three core steps you have to hit when using a Choice Board;

1) The Set Up
2) The Instruction
3) The Q+A

1) The Set Up

Select your choices, decide on how you are going to use this time in your classroom. Build the choice board

1) The Instruction

Tell the students what they are going to be doing (this becomes easier over time) Simply start with 3 options & move from there.

1) The Q & A

Does anyone have questions? This will help you or the next time. Remember the goal is to make this easier each time!

Why Use A Choice Board?

So, let’s chat about choiceboards and why they’re like the coolest thing ever in your classroom.

Picture this: kiddos bouncing into the room, eyes lighting up because they get to pick their own adventure in learning new words.

It’s like a mini vocab party, and everyone’s invited!

We all have our own jam, right? Some of us are little artists, others are born performers, and some love to get lost in stories. Choice boards are like a buffet of fun learning snacks, so every munchkin finds something tasty that helps the vocab stick!

And here’s the kicker – when the little ones get to steer the ship, they turn into these mini captains of learning. They’re making the calls, and with every choice, they puff up a bit more with confidence. It’s a win-win – they’re learning and feeling like the boss at the same time.

Plus, for us teachers, it’s like having a secret helper in the room. We get to sprinkle in all sorts of activities that match our students’ levels and what makes their hearts tick. It’s like custom-making a learning playlist that gets every kid grooving to the vocab beat. How cool is that?