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.