Thursday, October 11, 2012

I've been BOO-ed!


Thank you Chrissy from First Grade Found Me for BOO-ing me! 
 (I am super envious of her blog design by the way. . . if you haven't seen it yet check it out!   Jealous!)
My favorite October Activities are:
1.  The Story of Jack.
click pic to get this pack FREE from my TPT store!

2.  The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything
I love reading this story!  It is perfect for story retell and it's just fun to read!  This year I created a mini unit for it.
Click the picture to see on TPT for only $3.00

3.  Pumpkin Science and Math
We take a pumpkin and do either a math or science lesson on it each day.  For the last lesson we cut it open and count the seeds we find inside.  This is normally $1.00 on my TPT store but it's listed for FREE for the next 5 days (October 11-15)!  Click on the picture to get your free copy.

I was also very honored to be featured on Bulletin Board Ideas for October!   Here's the board that was featured:
Click on the pic to visit the site.  So many great bulletin board ideas!

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

A Few Fun Pics

Here are a few "fun" moments I caught last week.  I love when I see student's engaged, learning, and having fun all at the same time!  

Lit Centers:  

Working in their Read the Room Books:

Writing and building our friends' names:

Math Centers:

Sorting

 Working on number shape and patterning (loved this!)


Letter Naming Fluency:

Our Power Point Program (Shout it out and graph it)  
Love how engaged they are when we do this activity!
 If you want to try this there's a FREE file on my TPT click HERE.


Don't forget to check back in 3 days for my:



Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Lanier's Lions Giveaway


Head on over to Lanier's Lions Blog (love, love, love her blog!)  
She is having a fabulous 300 followers giveaway with AMAZING prizes!  (click on her tag to head there right now!)


Sunday, October 7, 2012

A Fun Freebie....For a Fun Reason!

My one year Blogiversary is coming up (next week actually!)  I have a fun giveaway planned with donations from over 25 FABULOUS bloggers and TPT sellers.  I can't wait to get it started! 

BUT. . . since it's not officially one year yet I thought I'd start celebrating a little early by offering a FREEBIE. . . a gift from me to you!  

My kids had a lot of fun with this little project this week.  I started by reading them a predictable story about cereal:


After several days of reading the story, which the kids caught onto very quickly, we made our own pages:

I took pictures of the kids with their chosen cereal:

Then we added their pictures to their page.  Once the book is done (I had a few kids missing Friday. . . don't want to bind it until they're all done)  we'll read it together and the kids will complete this tally mark page:


The kids LOVED it!

If you'd like to try this with your class click:
Too subtle??????  Didn't want you to miss where to click!

Don't forget to check back later this week!  The giveaway starts SOON!



Saturday, October 6, 2012

Columbus Day

I'll admit to being a little SUPER excited to have Monday off! 

Tuesday we'll talk about Christopher Columbus.  
We'll read a story:

We'll also learn a song about Christopher Columbus, discuss and color our story retell sheet and then take them home to share the story with our families:

Then, Wednesday we'll retell the story using our pocket chart pieces:

And we'll also complete our writing activity:

If you're interested in using any of these activities  click HERE.  Packet is on TPT for $3.00

For a Freebie Song about Columbus click HERE.

I hope you are enjoying an extra day off also!


Thursday, October 4, 2012

Subitizing? (Nope, it's not a post about Sub Plans!)

So my colleagues and I have been doing a fun domino activity for a few years now.  We flash the kids domino dots and they have to say the number as quickly as they can:
It's basically flashcards for counting.   
Speed is what we're trying for.  

I encourage speed by saying things like  "How fast can your math brain tell you the number!?"

Once they're good at the "simple" set of cards we move on to the "harder" cards:

Again, speed is the goal and VIOLA the kids are adding and they don't even know it!  Woo Hoo!  Plus, they are FAST!

Now, what we DIDN'T know (and one of my colleagues, Jill stumbled upon on YouTube) is that we are Subitizing!
Huh?  I mean. . . oh yeah, we knew that (ha- right!)

Subitizing (pronounced Soo-bitizing) is literally "instantly seeing how many." 

I am here to tell you people:  It works!!  
My kids are better adders and they actually SEE numbers in their head.  It's amazing!

Check out this YouTube vid my colleague found:



And this video which explains even more:



We used to use domino cards like these:
Super simple to make:  Cut out cardstock rectangles and use colored circle stickers.

Of course being kindergarten teachers we wanted it to be cuter (It's a sickness. . . we know!) If you want to see the "cuter" version click HERE.

You have to admit:  the dots are precious!
Thanks to Teaching 4 Real for the fun clipart freebie!


Do you Subitize?


Tuesday, October 2, 2012

Letter Naming Fluency



I tried a new activity last week (or was it the week before that. . . the weeks are blurring together).

A n y w a y s. . . . I made a Power Point presentation.  The pages are on a timer so for the first part there is a "Shout It Out" section where the kids shout at the letters as they show up on the screen.  The 2nd part of the presentation slows down and the kids graph the letters as they appear on the screen:



M, S, R and T were obviously the focus letters for this presentation.   The kids liked it so much I made another one for letters A, C, N & P.

I also saved the images as .jpg so that they can be used on a photo frame.   I might move this activity into a center with the photo frame and use this recording sheet:

I like this one for centers better because it's more "open."
(There aren't a limited number of boxes to fill like on the bar graph.)


To try it out for free click HERE.

I'm also slowly adding more files as I finish them.    ACNP is on now.  Click HERE to see that one.



Saturday, September 29, 2012

Handwriting/Writing Center Idea


One of my consistent centers is my Handwriting Bucket.  In the bucket are 26 envelopes (one for every letter of the alphabet!)  The kids write each of the words from the envelope into their dictionaries during center time.  
Their goal is to practice and perfect their handwriting but also to expand their vocabulary (hopefully!)


I've been using this as as Handwriting Center for YEARS and decided it needs an update for next year!

I kept the "easy" pages with the lines like you see in the pictures:



But I also added a little bit more challenging version where the kids have to use the 3 handwriting lines:


AND and even more challenging page with a writing component (kids pick one of the words from the envelope and write a sentence/draw a picture about it):

I also added some fun picture cards (8 for each letter of the alphabet):

And there are also labels for the envelopes to keep the cards in:

Normally $6.00 on sale through September for $4.00!

Once this center is set up it will last the whole year!  Love simplicity!








Thursday, September 27, 2012

Show and Tell


Show and Tell is a love/hate relationship for me.  The kids love it and I hate dread it.  

I try and make the kids stick to the focus letters of the week.  This week's focus letters were N and P.  Most of the time the kids DO bring things that start with N and P.  

But it never fails that someone will bring something totally unrelated.  
This week I had a key chain in the shape of a cat.  I tried really hard to think of a way for it to fit into our show and tell.  
I don't want to tell the kids they "can't" show something they are proud of!
So. . . we decided it was  "P" show and tell because cats PURR. 
 It's the best I could come up with. . . 

I feel like I do get a few standards covered with Show and Tell:

Reading:
Phonological awareness
2b Count, pronounce, blend, and segment syllables in spoken words.

For each S & T we clap the syllables.

Speaking and Listening:
Participate in collaborative conversations with 
diverse partners about kindergarten topics and 
texts with peers and adults in small and larger 
groups.

a. Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., 
listening to others and taking turns speaking 
about the topics and texts under discussion).

b. Continue a conversation through multiple 
exchanges.
4. Describe familiar people, places, things, and events and, with prompting and support, provide additional detail.  Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and 
ideas clearly
The kids "Tell" us about their S & T and then they have a chance to ask questions about the S & T.




Math:
Counting and Cardinality K.CC
2. Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1).
We tally  mark and skip count.
3. Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects).
Count to tell the number of objects. 
4. Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality.
a. When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object. 
b. Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted.
c. Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger.
5. Count to answer “how many?” questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1–20, count out that many objects.
Compare numbers.
6. Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., byusing matching and counting strategies.
7. Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals.
We count and write the number in each letter group.  Talk about which group has more/less, etc.


So, when I think of the standards being covered it makes me dread it a little less.
Plus, like I said, the kids LOVE it.
And really. . . school is about them not me!

S week Show and Tell.