It's Summer!

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I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and the (finally) warm and HOT weather!!

So, I have a little update - I am changing school districts - which explains the blog update/change.  All the resources will still be here, but I will be posting from a new standpoint, even though I am still teaching K!

Feel free to continue to contact me, as I am so happy to continue to teach K and so proud of my four years of K's that I will surely miss!

Thanks!!

It's finally Spring!! That means it is time to learn about clouds and Spring weather!

Last week, we made cloud finders (get your own here) to help us learn about stratus, cirrus, cumulus, and cumulonimbus clouds!

Then, we took a little journey outside and searched for these clouds! It was a pretty clear day, but we did find some great examples. 

After the activity, the kids drew and wrote about the the clouds that we saw.  Some other activities included the Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs story, The Little Cloud by Eric Carle and cotton ball project, and the story of Cloudette. 

Have fun learning about clouds!

In like out a lion and out like a lamb...

So this winter has been rough. Real rough. And we have finally made it to March...now we're looking forward to Spring on Thursday...but the weather still hasn't changed much.  Let's hope it does because last week we talked about the old adage, "March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb."

This saying can be difficult for kindergarteners to grasp so we take about two week exploring it through writing.

  

This year, we made it into more of a shared research project (to align to the Common Core Standards).

   

We watched video, read books, and looked up facts.  Two of my little guys even did some safe computer research on their own and wrote me a few sentences!

Not only have we explored lions and lambs, but now we know about similes as well! Yahoo! Now if spring would actually come!!

Dental Health

During the last week of February, we celebrated Dental Health Month! We were also learning about number bonds, so we incorporated that into some tooth math.

First, we all got a cup of marshmallows (teeth). We got to pick how many teeth we wanted to have in our mouth.  

Next,  we put some on the right, and some on the left (or like this lil dude, some on the top and soem on the bottom.)

Then it was time to create our math problems. We took the numbers we had and chose one of three things. 1. Make a number bond

2. Make a number sentence

3. Make a ten frame sentence

Some of us chose all three!

And some of us we not ready, so we just counted the numbers and wrote them down. 

All of our class did a fabulous job, at his or her own ability level! Whahoo! :o)

I know I am a little late to the party on this one, but I wanted to post about our President's Day celebrations (just in time for Casimir Pulaski day - oops!).

One of the things I am trying to work on more is the "research" aspect of the Common Core Standards. Students are supposed to be gathering information, organizing it and discussing it. We took the opportunity to do so when we discussed Abraham Lincoln and George Washington for President's Day.

Here are the steps we took:

1. Read 3 books each about Lincoln and Washington.

2. Used post-it notes to mark facts (discussed fact/opinion).

3. Organized information in a Venn diagram as a group.

4. Wrote about it ourselves.

 5. ...and then we of course added some color to make it exciting! The kids did a really great job, even if they were just copying from the list, everyone helped to organize.  Some even expanded on their ideas and write their own.!

SO proud of my little ones for not only researching, but organizing the information and expanding! Not to mention all the "chopping" they had to do to sound out unfamiliar words.

We are going to try to do this with a number of other subjects... so stay tuned! :o)

We need some iPads!

One of the great parts of learning is exploring. We can explore literacy and math concepts so easily through technology.  Many times, if a student is having difficulty, the use of technology helps to positively impact their learning.

We are so grateful to have four computer in our classroom to use during centers. However, incorporating iPads, with apps for each child to use would be such a positive addition to our classroom.

I have set up a Donors Choose account for our classroom to try and raise enough money to purchase two iPads for our classroom!

Below is the link if there is anyone you know interested in participating in such fundraising.  Thank you so much for your support!


OH! And this is the best part! For the next few days, funds will be matched up to $100!! Yes!!

Donors Choose iPad Project

Sight Word Superheros!

We are really rockin' on our sight words and many of us are able to use sight words strung together in sentences to read fluently.  We have 67 words to know by the end of the year so multiple ways of practicing them is important!



I have (with the help of a very, very wonderful colleague) developed sight words kits to work with at home and in school. When playing sight word games there are a few important things to remember:

1. Make it quick! 10-15 minutes per day - it should be exciting, not a chore.
2. Practice everyday, try something new each day to keep it exciting.
3. Always start with a flash card review. Have your child sort his/her words into "Ones I know" and "Ones I do not know."


Alrighty...let's get started....

Easy peasy sentence strips. Just match the clothespin words to the sentence strip words and read! 

 Get a little silly! Put one of your child's flash cards in the front pocket of this crown.  If you wear it, your child has to say the word five times (use stickers to keep track) before the word is changed.  OR - if your child wears the crown, you can give him, or her clues to what the word is, until it is guess - its hours of effortless fun! ;o)

 Roll playdoh into a snake shape and then divide it up to form into the letters of a sight word. You can also use this to make word family words!

 Who doesn't LOVE playing with toy cars? 

Attach a sight word to the top of your car, and park that word in its parking space.  This is a fun way to match words! If your child cannot say the word after he/she park it, it goes back into the bag to try again!

So I definitely can't take credit for all these activities - Mrs. Borst from first grade uses these sight words kits with her kiddos, and I was so impressed I thought that they would work for us too!

I am going to send sight words kits home with some of the kids this week. Each kit is a little different and we will take turns bringing them home.  Have fun with these activities! Remember to make them quick and if your child is getting bored, move on!

Have fun!

Gingerbread Man

Happy New Year Everyone!

Over break, I have been working on preparing for our Mitten Unit with centers and activities. But I wanted to post this update from before break about the Gingerbread Man Unit!

As part of our unit, we got together with our 4th grade reading buddies to complete this science experiment and answer the question - "What will happen when a gingerbread man is submerged in water?"

The 4th graders helped us write our our predictions and observations as the kindergarteners dictated to them.  

...and here is what happened!

     

After the gingerbread man cookie was submerged in water it sunk, expanded, broke, floated back to the top and lost its coloring! Try it at home and see if you get the same results!