Georgy Porgy and Some Suess Excitement!

Yesterday as I was preparing for today, I had a very cute craftivity planned to do for George Washington...BUT this morning as I was driving to work I had a flashback from last week when we did a craft and well, let's just say that I changed my mind! :) So at 7:42 this morning (3 minutes before students enter my class!) I frantically searched pinterest for a new idea (Love that pinterest is no longer blocked at school!!!). I found this activity by Kindergarten Planet and it was FREE!! Woo hoo!!

I might be the only teacher who has never done a "directed drawing" before, but today I was a "directed drawing first timer"! I didn't really know what to expect, but it was fantastic for so many reasons. 

1. The students felt like artists!

2. It was simple, easy and fun!

3. It was an informal way for me to assess each student's spatial awareness.

4. The pictures turned out just like us- the same but different!

Here are some pictures-- I had to include the writing too!

 "When I stole a cookie."

  "When I lost Daddies flashlight." *I love how he spelled Daddy's- Dad Z*

  "I lost my sisters ring and I tell the truth."

  "When I spied on my auntie, I told the truth." **Hmmmm??

   "When I lost the remote I told the truth."

  "When my mom said do he have homework." * :) *

So next week my class will be starting lots of Dr. Seuss fun! Each day has a theme, a book, a craft and a edible treat! I thought I better be EXTRA prepared because it sounds like exhaustion to me! I prepared my center activities this afternoon. Here are some that the students will be completing during literacy centers.

Real/Nonsense Word Sort

 Read & Write the Room Activity

 Pocket Chart Activity

 Short Vowel Game

And here are some math centers too!

"Decomposing Numbers"

 "Place Value"

 "Ordering Numbers"

 "Making 10"

Find all these centers plus more in...

Find all the centers here!

Thanks for stopping by! Check back tomorrow I will be posting about science journals!!

Starting to Think About Seuss!

I have so enjoyed the past few days off to relax and reenergize! Some days we just need those kind of days, right?!?! Having a day to work in my classroom was so amazing too! It was so nice to have time to plan and get those little things done that I usually don't have time for. I wish we had a work day once a month. :)

I came home this afternoon and I still had energy to do a little work! Yay! I was able to finish up some ELA and math centers that I will be using starting next week to Celebrate Reading with the very special cat! 

Find the 8 ELA centers and 5 math centers here!

Check back tomorrow for better pictures of these centers! 

All the best! Smile because tomorrow is already Wednesday! Whoop whoop! :)

Five for Friday

So if I thought the 100th day was exciting and EXHAUSTING I was also not prepared for this past week...or more specifically Thursday!! I am joining Doodle Bugs Teaching to give you my Five for Friday Saturday!

1. Valentine's Day was so busy. From the time the kids got to class wow-eee...I think they may have eaten some of their candy BEFORE they got to school! I'm sure they were just excited for the Kindergarten Valentine's Day Show (all 8 Kindergarten Classes at once)!! I planned the day to be as normal as I could but we had to do some fun activities right?!?!? I love to use conversation heart for math...

Lovin' All the Candy Heart Fun! {A Mini-Math Book for conversation hearts!}

2. By the time I let the kids pass out their Valentines I needed a "miracle" to get them to calm down! This was the "miracle"...

Who knew popcorn and m&m's had that kind of magic!!

3. When I got home on Valentine's Day, my love showered me with gifts- this perfume is probably my favorite! Poor guy...I wasn't a very good Valentine, I think I fell asleep by 8:00!!!

4. Friday my class was supposed to have a field trip to the zoo, but it was a rainy day! :( So we spent the afternoon having Dental Health fun and yum! 

(Pinterest inspired snack! I'm not very good with a knife...notice the crooked lips?!?!)

Sparkly & Shiny- Having Healthy Teeth

5. Friday afternoon I felt SO prepared (doing a happy dance!) to put out my U.S. Symbols ELA centers. My kids will be so patriotic in celebrating Presidents' Day once they come back from a long 4 day weekend!

U.S. Symbol Word Match

U.S. Sentence Scramble

U.S. Symbol and Pledge Pocket Chart Activities

 

U.S. Symbol Read the Room

Hip-Hooray for the USA! U.S. Symbols Literacy Activities

If I was allowed a #6 it would be that I am ready for a 3 day weekend followed by a Teacher Work Day on Tuesday! Whoop whoop! I look forward to spending the weekend relaxing and watching some All-Star Basketball! Go EAST!!

Make sure you link up and share your Five for Friday! Happy Weekend!!

Edible Lessons

On the 100th Day of School my class made a 100th Day Snack. Afterwards we had so many ingredients left over. Of course the kids love having leftovers because that means earning a skittle here or there! Today as I was getting out my manipulatives for practicing sorting skills, I saw all of our extra snacks and thought...what a perfect way to keep the kids engaged AND teach at the same time! :) I don't know which part was more exciting to me, the actual lesson OR that as my kids were placing the treats on their mats I heard major "math talk" happening. Kids were saying "I took 3 goldfish and added 5 m&m's. Now I have 8." They were giving each other math problems to figure out! Tooo cute! So after they got their goodies we started sorting by shape, color and kind. At the end the kids even had time to quiz their table with "Which one doesn't belong?" and "Can you sort by...?" Then the kids enjoyed their edible lesson and wrote about their learning in their math journal!

After our lesson the kids moved into math centers. These are some of their Valentine Day favorites...

Click here to find these centers.

I just have one more story to share with you...
So we have been practicing our digraphs (sh, th, ch, wh). We use these mini-anchor charts to help us remind us of the sounds of each during reading and writing.

Click here to find these posters.

Today during writing one of my hardest working "strugglers" got up, went to look at the pictures, wrote something and then when back to her seat. So when I went to conference with her I noticed this in her writing (notice the "sh")! Love it! Obviously a very big deal was made!!

"I can write pictures."

I am off...I still have to run to the store for my Valentine's Day gifts and treats! Oops!!
Happy Hump Day folks!

QR Codes in Kindergarten?!?! And more!

So it is Sunday night and I should have my week all planned out...but I have been glued to E! and the Grammy's Red Carpet! :)

Just wanted to share somethings that I am looking forward to for this week...

This week my students are going to continue learning their high frequency words by using QR codes! Have you tried using QR codes yet in your classroom? Well if not you gotta give it a try! If you kids are anything like mine, than anything with technology gets and keeps their attention. So when I introduced them to this center activity they were all so excited. For this center activity the students scan the QR code and then find the matching high frequency word. Then they also scan the QR codes again on the recording sheet. To scan the QR codes all you need are old smart phones, ipod touches with a camera or ipads then find a free QR reader app.

Find QR code fun here!

We will be continuing to learn how to have healthy teeth. The students I am sure will have a blast practicing brushing their teeth by painting this fun certificate with a toothbrush!

Dental Health Mini-Unit here

To get us in the Valentine's Day spirit we of course will be doing all kinds of fun Valentine math and ELA centers. Here are some math centers that we will be doing! Make sure to go here to get your FREE copy!

I am prepared for a busy week...we have a Valentine's show and a field trip to the zoo! Oooooo fun! But I am looking forward to an extra long weekend. Is it bad that I am already thinking about the weekend?!?! 

Have a great week!