I Have...Who Has?

My class loves games! We play all sorts of different games. One of my classes favorite games to play is "I Have...Who Has?" My class has mastered the short vowels but I still like to reinforce the skill. One way I do that is by playing "I have...who has". I decided to create this game for all 5 short vowels as well as a mixed short vowel game. My kindergartners have been loving it and the good news is that each game has 24 cards so each students can enjoy at least 1 turn!

CLICK HERE to get this 6 game mega pack!!!

Have fun playing!

Grandfriends' (Grandparents') Day

So how many of y'all have a Grandparents' or Grandfriends' Day at your school? My school in St. Louis did not have that, so when I moved to Dallas and learned my new school would have one, I'm not going to lie--I was a leetle bit nervous my first year.
Since then, I've come to enjoy this special morning for my kindergartners. So, if you want a stress-free Grandfriends' Day, here's my method:

1-Write letters to grandparents about a month before, inviting them to the special day. I have a form letter with space for the students to draw a picture of their grandma or grandpa (or other special friend!). Then students address the letter, writing "Dear _____" and sign it with their name. I already have our school address and a little message typed about when the date is and that we hope the grandfriend will write a letter back to us at school AND include a drawing of himself or herself! Then I send these letters home with my students, along with a note to mom and dad that they are responsible for mailing the letters to the grandfriends.

2-Wait eagerly by your school's mailbox! Seriously. We LOVE getting mail! Check out a few of the cute letters we have received so far this year.

3-Celebrate Grandfriends' Day! I do this in the MOST laid-back way possible. I tell the students that THEY are in charge! THEY need to show their grandfriend around the classroom. THEY need to get out their book pockets and read to the grandfriend. THEY need to get out their writing folders and read their writing to their grandfriend. THEY need to get out their math journals and show off their awesome thinking!

4-Now, because some students will whip through all of that in 2.5 minutes, I do have a backup activity. Students can make a great little book with their grandfriend. Check out a couple pictures below and then head to our TPT store to snag your own copy!

 

5-Put your feet up and relax when you make it home after a busy, busy Grandfriends Day!!

Olympic Writing

The Winter Olympic games are about to begin and my class is ready to root for the USA! This year my class is overrun with boys and I knew these boys would LOVE to learn about the winter game sports.

 

My class first learned about the Olympic games by browsing this website:http://www.olympic.org/sports

It lists all the winter sports and when you click on one, it shows an awesome picture. I researched ahead of time enough to explain a little better about each sport and what kinds of equipment needed for a particular sport.

Visit our TPT store for the Olympic Sport writing freebie! :)

 

After learning about the sports, each had to write/draw about their favorite Olympic sport and justify their response.

 

The second part of our Olympic learning was about the Olympic flag. We learned about the significance of the rings and colors in the flag. See this link if you want to read about it:http://www.olympics.mu/meaning-olympic-rings.html

 

We made the Olympic symbol using toliet paper rolls dipped in paint. 

 

Visit our TPT store for this freebie!

Snowflake Art

My Kindergarten students love art. They love everything from glitter to paint to crayons! Therefore when my sister shared this awesome art post from Mrs. T's Class, I knew it would be perfect for my Kindergartners.

My class first read The Snowy Day. They loved the story and I was thrilled when a student commented on the pretty colors in the book. Most of the story has very warm colors as the boy walks along the street but on a few pages, cool colors are used. We learned all about warm/cool colors and how they can depict emotion.

Finally, I shared with them the snowflake art using warm/cool paint colors. Each student picked either warm or cool colors. Each student also held the wood snowflakes on their own and used sponges to paint around the wood snowflake. (Yes, Kindergarteners are capable of doing this independently!!) After covering the page with paint, they lifted the wood snowflakes off. Voila! Beautiful snowflake art!

Snowflake art supplies needed:
- warm paints: red, yellow, orange
- cool paints: blue, green, purple
- sponges
- 1/4" wood snowflakes (I actually used wood flowers from Walmart.....75 cents!)
- White construction paper
 

3D Shapes Galore

One of my favorite things to teach in math is 3-dimensional shapes. Please tell me I'm not alone! :)

We do all sorts of things with 3D shapes but below are a few of my favorite things:
1. Build & Learn Geometry Kit - It's only $20 but my kids love it. I let them build different 3D shapes in small groups. This is also great for differentiation because if you have students who aren't quite ready for 3D shapes, they can build 2D shapes instead!
2. For our snack math day - we build 3D shapes out of pretzel sticks & marshmallows.
3. Rock out to Harry Kindergarten 3D shapes song.
4. 3D shape search with post it's! 

Number 4 on that list is my absolute favorite. It is simple with no prep work and the kids love taking control of their own learning. Here's how it goes:
I typically set a timer for about 2 minutes and have the students wander the room checking all around for 3D shapes. After 2 minutes, they grab a post it and a pencil. They have an additional 2-3 minutes to draw/write their object. Once the timer goes off, students gather on the carpet to share. The smart board already has the file up and ready for sticky notes! Each student goes to the front, shares what they found, states what 3D shape it is, and sticks the note under the correct 3D shape picture.

Click here for the smart board freebie file.

I find this is a great exercise for not just learning 3D shapes, but also public speaking (a common core bonus)!

Simple Machines

One of our kindergarten science units is about force and motion--learning about pushes, pulls, and how things move. I have found the best way for students to keep track of their learning on this topic is through mini-science journal. I like mini-science journals because students can take them home at the end of the unit and have the chance to explain to their parents the things they have learned.

This Science Journal goes slowly through the aspects of simple machines. We do many hands on activities and take about 2 weeks to complete the whole journal. Here's a picture of my favorite page--the students use a magnet and move if around under the table to try to move a paperclip that is located on TOP of the table. Then they place the paperclip on top of a book and try the same thing.

 I hope you find this freebie useful (click image below for the book)!

Thanks for reading,

Gingerbread Stories

Since "Christmas" isn't a universally celebrated holiday with my kindergartners, I like to spend December talking about the many varieties of Gingerbread stories. It is a fun topic that students never tire of and it is an easy way to fit in many learning objectives! Here is one of my favorites.

After reading many Gingerbread Stories, students survey their peers to find out each child's favorite story. Then we ANALYZE our data. Click the image below to download a copy for yourself.

Thanks for reading, more coming soon!

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!