Growing Patterns

Here's a quick and fun freebie for growing patterns. I got the idea from one of my favorite blogs, A Place Called Kindergarten. We worked on her ice cream scoop idea for growing patterns and then then I had students design their own growing pattern in their math journals. Here's some of my students' work:

And here's the quick simple ice cream sheet, modeled after A Place Called Kindergarten:

Enjoy! And now I'm off to eat a scoop...or 2, or 3, or.....of ice cream!

Book Shopping Organization for Kindergartners

I have decided to change the way I run Reading Workshop this year. I'm going to have my students do book shopping RIGHT when they get to school from now on. In the past, I have had students book shop DURING Reading Workshop. This ends up taking a lot of my teaching time, to manage and organize them. Now, students will check this chart and book shop on the appropriate day. That way, when Reading Workshop begins, I can focus on conferences and pulling strategy groups.

I decided, at the suggestion of my awesome teammate, to plan my Writing Workshop conferences at the same time as book shopping. So students know on the same day they will get to book shop, and I will be sure to spend a few minutes during Writing Workshop with them. This helps me be sure to visit with everyone during Writing Workshop each week.

I hope you find this little freebie as helpful as me! Click on the image above for a free PDF. I am lucky to have access to a large color poster printer at school, so I printed this big, laminated it, and hung it on a bulletin board. I can easily erase and adjust the schedule if I will be absent or we have a school event. You can easily use this small version as well.

We love our emergent readers & a FREEBIE!

Do your students love getting books? How about books they can keep? Mine do! Kindergarten students love that moment when you hand them a new book to read but they love it more when it is one they can bring home, read to their parents, and keep. No, I don't mean a real paperback book. (Who has extra money for that?!?!) I mean a printable book to read and take home.

Throughout the Kindergarten year, students learn many new sight words. A struggle I have is that the order I introduce sight words isn't always the same as the curriculum book does. This causes a bit of a problem when I am giving the students books to read. Therefore, I started making my own emergent readers.

These emergent readers are awesome because the student has to fill in the sight word rather than just reading it. I have found that by doing this, not only are my students practicing writing the sight word several times, but they also are giving themselves ownership of their book. After writing the word, many get excited to read it to their partner and show what was written.

 

The emergent readers I make are easy to prepare. Just cut in half and staple on the side.

Click below to get 2 free emergent readers:

1. Animals Can Go - focuses on word "can"

2. We Like School - focuses on word "like"

 

Enjoy!

We are artists BEFORE we are writers!

As any good kindergarten teacher knows, kiddos start scribbling doodling drawing long before they are really ready to write any letters. All those good drawings are so important! They convey meaning to the artist and to the audience.

When those kiddos (artists!) get to our kindergarten classrooms, we need to embrace their love of drawing. Most of them think they are pretty good artists and they definitely think their teacher is an amazing one. Now, I am NOT a good artist, but with a little feigned confidence my kinders are convinced I am the next Rembrandt.

I typically start Writing Workshop out with a unit about making STUFF. We make notes, lists, cards, recipes, postcards, posters, signs, books, and more. This has been a great way to start Writing Workshop--it makes it an easy transition into my more stringent requirements of bookmaking later in the year. However, over the summer I read about Mrs. Bell's drawing unit, over at A Place Called Kindergarten and decided (with my fabulous teammate!) to give it a try.

It is going great so far! The kids are LOVING our writing time. They are trying out all kinds of new drawing techniques, as you can see from the anchor chart I created with them. A bonus, especially for the beginning of the year, is that they stay occupied for MUCH longer drawing than writing at this point. This mini-unit helps fill our ELA time.

Here's the mini-breakdown of this 10 day unit:
Day 1: We Are Artists! Read No David, talk about how David Shannon is an artist AND a writer, just like us! Off you go to draw.
Day 2: We can draw straight lines and squiggles. We can turn them into things.
Day 3: We can draw faces. Model by drawing a student's portrait! Have the kiddos point out all the features you need to add.
Day 4: We can use shapes to make our drawings more realistic.
Day 5: We can draw people's bodies moving. This is tough!
Day 6: We can add lots of color to our work.
Day 7: We can add labels to help others understand our art.
Day 8: We can add itty-bitty-tiny details such as dog collars and wedding rings.
Day 9: Review!
Day 10: Celebration/Publish Day: Draw a BIG self-portrait on 12x18 paper with all those elements! Hang them in your classroom!

So go ahead! Give drawing a chance! Check out Mrs. Bell's awesome book recommendations and let your students put meaning on paper in this most authentic way--by drawing.

Classroom Decor & a 1st day FREEBIE for you!

      Well, it's that time again. Time for a new school year. Time for a new class of eager students. Time to prepare for it all! If you teach at a school similar to mine, then you walk into a completely empty room at the end of summer vacation. My school requires all furniture be moved out to wax during the summer. This is both of time of love and loathing. I LOATHE the fact that I have to take everything down and move it all out (YES this includes things on the wall too). However, I LOVE that this gives me the opportunity every year to change my room arrangement!
      I am lucky to have a fairly large classroom with an entire wall of cabinets and cubbies. This helps organize (hide) and clutter. :) In my classroom/life, I live by the concept "less is more". Therefore, my room seems boring to some, organized to some, and simplistic to others. I prefer to think of my classroom in the same manner as a book "a good fit".

                                     My class view from door. To the left is a wall of cabinets. 
FYI, that banner over the window was $0.97 from Walmart. I used 4. Best $4 I've spent.

                  My reading tub. YES this is a very real and very heavy bathtub. :) The kids love it.

       My FREEBIE for today is a 1st day of page. If you take pictures of your students on the 1st day & need a cute way to send it home to parents, than this is for you!

 Click here for 1st day freebie. 
      I usually print, tape picture on, than laminate it so a parent can cherish it forever. The sign is editable for your name and to change the year. Fonts used: Jumpin Jack & Gridie Miss Tiina. All of her fonts are awesome and FREE! She also has a great tutorial on how to download and install the font. I promise you won't regret downloading her free fonts!

Phonemic Awareness

Tonight I made a quick flipchart (for ActivBoard) to go with a great phonemic awareness activity from Mrs. Will's Kindergarten blog post from the other day. I took her idea and made it for my interactive white board (IWB) since my room has very limited space with 24 little darlings this year and no room for a pocket chart. :(

We will use it with our "Name of the Day" Reading Workshop unit in the first few weeks of school. I'll write in their name and draw in a quick picture and then the student can move the environmental print picture over. Easy-peasy! Pick up your flipchart for free here!

Thanks for reading!

Here we are!

Karen and I have decided to begin a new adventure together--writing this blog! We are 2 years apart and growing up, couldn't have been more different. Now, however, we seem to be more and more similar. We ended up graduating from the same college, we both ended up with degrees in education even though neither of us planned on that at first. Fast forward a few years and we're both happily married and teaching kindergarten!

Ours teaching experiences couldn't be more different, however. Between the two of us, we have taught kindergarten in 4 states and in 4 very different public schools: the ultimate suburbia school, a semi-rural traditional community, inner-city at its best, and an extreme high-income neighborhood school.

So here we are, ready to share our ideas and experiences with all of you! Thanks for joining us on this adventure!