Show & Tell

Do you do "Show & Tell" in your classroom or some version of it?

When I first started teaching kindergarten, I had my students do Show & Tell because that is what the other kindergarten teacher did so I thought I should do it too.  She was a veteran teacher and a wonderful teacher.

That year I had my students do Show & Tell.  I had boys bring in a show and tell on Tuesdays and the girls brought in one on Wednesdays.  Each student took a turn to come up and share about what they brought.

The following year that I taught kindergarten I was teaching with a different teacher and we thought it would be a great idea to have Show & Tell on Fridays.  All the students could bring in a Show & Tell on Friday.  One student at a time would come up and share.  I have to admit it was sometimes quite painful.  (Mainly because it took so long and the students were not engaged in what was happening)

Last year I decided to add another component into Show & Tell.  Students were told to tell 3 things about their item and then they could call on two students to ask a question.  The student doing Show & Tell would then answer those two questions.

Two weeks ago, I went to a cooperative learning workshop all on cooperative projects.  The presenter was discussing how to present a project in different ways.  It was a total ah-ha moment for me!

We do a lot of cooperative learning in my classroom and I decided that is how we would do our Show & Tell time from now on.  My students are loving it!

Now my students present their information to their team (table) and then two friends from the team can ask questions.  I walk around the room and monitor what is happening, help teams get back on task if need be, and help with questions.

One group (pictured above) was so interested in this penguin stuffed animal.  They just kept asking the little girl questions about her toy.  I LOVED listening and watching my students engage in these conversations.  Oral language is so important in the early years and Show & Tell is a great way to foster that!

Five reasons I LOVE our new Show & Tell:
1.  More students are bringing in a Show & Tell item.
2.  Students are not as shy to share with only presenting to their team.
3.  Students are having meaningful discussions about the Show & Tell items.
4.  Students are asking more thoughtful questions because they are more engaged.
5.  Show and Tell takes less than HALF the time as it did before.

Friday afternoons were rough because I did not always have time to get a math lesson in with how long show & tell took.  Now I can easily fit in show & tell and my math lesson.  I call that a win-win!

Do you do Show & Tell?  How do you handle it in your classroom?  I would love to hear!