Engaging Kindergarten Cooperative Learning Game: I Have Who Has

One of my favorite classroom cooperative learning games is the game "I Have, Who Has."  It is a great way to reinforce or review skills being taught and once you teach students how to play the game, you can use it for almost anything content by just switching out what students are learning.  not only reinforces skills but also keeps students excited and engaged throughout. Let's dive into how this game works and its myriad benefits for your classroom.

How to Play

Playing "I Have, Who Has" is simple and effective. Each student is given a card, ensuring everyone's participation. In cases where students outnumber cards, buddy systems can be set up, while students can handle multiple cards if there are extras.

The game begins with the "I have start" card holder, initiating a sequence where students take turns following the card order until reaching the end card. To try this game out, you can grab a free Alphabet version of this game at the end of this post.

Benefits and Variations:

This cooperative learning game isn't just about fun; it cultivates active listening skills while solidifying content knowledge. Whether played as a whole group during morning meetings or in smaller groups for focused learning, "I Have, Who Has" can be easily adapted for your needs. 

For added excitement, consider "racing the clock" with a timer, motivating students to beat their previous time records. 

Be sure to check out the "I Have, Who Has Bundle," which is ideal for quick reviews or engaging time fillers year-round. "I have, Who Has Bundle" 

What is included?

Included are the math skills of identifying numbers 1-25, numbers on ten frames 1-20 and both 3d and 2d shapes. 

As well as phonics skills including beginning sounds, CVC words, rhyming, nonsense words, and CVCe words.  

They are easy to print to have handy for whenever you have a few extra minutes in your classroom.  

Or you can try out this free I Has Who Has Alphabet Freebie

I hope that you and your students enjoy playing this game!

10 YouTube Alphabet Videos and Learning at Home

I love using YouTube to engage my students.    There are so many great YouTube alphabet videos out there and I am going to share a few of my favorites.

This Sesame Street video is such a great alphabet video! I am pretty positive that it is my absolute favorite!  It is Usher singing the alphabet and I love how is shows the letter and keeps the students moving and great for reinforcing letter names. 

Have fun Teaching is an amazing resource.  They have a song with the whole alphabet that really reinforces letter sounds. 

What kindergarten teacher doesn't love Jack Hartmann.  This great videos focuses on letter names and letter sounds and keeps students moving!

Another great video that provides visuals and keep students moving with an animal focus. 

This video from The Learning Station is also a great song that repeats each sound over several time and also has pictures to go with each word.  Great for visual learners.

For a calm song with a lot of visuals, I really like this video from Barbara Milne

Alphablocks had great videos for teaching children to read CVC but I also has a great video for reviewing letter names

 and Alphablocks lettter sounds 

This PreschoolPrep video is very visually appealing, it reviews the different phonograms for each letter.

If you having checked out StoryBots yet, your students will love them!!  Each letter has a different very catchy video. 

I love using these YouTube videos in my classroom.  My students were so in love with HaveFun Teaching and StoryBots, that I created QR Code alphabet books for them that they could use at home to extend their learning.  Knowing that so many families have smart phone or tablets and since I teach ELL's, it was a great resource for me to send home with students since many of their parents may not know the letter names and sounds in English.  I also made these books available in our classroom as a center activity and for students who needed more support.  
I copied the front cover on cardstock and created colorful books to send home with the students.

Each letter has the video on one side and handwriting and beginning sound identification on the other. 

Students love using the QR code readers and it was a great way to reinforce the alphabet. 

They can also easily be copied back to back and sent home without making a book as a review after each letter is taught. 
You can check out this product in my TPT store by clicking on the image below. 

Classroom Handprint Alphabet

I think it is so important for students to take ownership of their learning environment.  I want the students to feel at home in our classroom and feel like it is their room.  This year, I had the students create our alphabet chart so it was THEIR alphabet chart using their handprints.  

 Students were so excited about this activity.  Each student was able to create a letter so it became their letter.  I added the little details that were finishing touches to each of the letters.

 

It was such a fun project to complete! The students were so happy to see their handprints hung on the wall and it made them so excited about our alphabet chart since it was created by them.  

They enjoyed it so much, thay I also created a class handprint alphabet book for our classroom library.  Is is such a great way to get students interested in learning the letters of the alphabet.  

This can also be made into students handprint alphabet books.
 
You can check out this product in my TPT store by clicking on the image below.  Included are directions and examples to make each of the letters, the letter and the word for each letter as well as a template for an alphabet book. For the posters, all consonants are in blue and vowels in red to help students learn to identify vowels. It is an editable product so if you have a different picture that you wish to use for one of the pictures, you will be able to!

I also made little flashcards to match the handprint pictures.  They can be used to help students learn letter names and letter sounds and also learn the vocabulary of the pictures.   You can download the flashcards for free by clicking on the image below.