Special Days - May

Click on the picture to get a bigger version you can save and print.

The Upside-Down Watch - The Child Out of the Room

You've sent a child out of the room for a reason -- to the nurse, to run an errand, or for disciplinary action. You turn your attention back to the rest of your class...and the chances are good you might forget about that child. 

I've managed to avoid that problem with a simple solution. I have a watch with an expandable band. If I send a child out, I turn the watch upside-down. And because I often glance at my watch to help keep me on schedule, the upside-down watch reminds me the child hasn't returned.

(My neighbor teacher uses a bright red rubber band as her reminder.)

Paper Plate Easter Bunny - And a Freebie!

 Our quick and easy Easter bunny! Or you can call them spring bunnies.

We used the small 6" paper plates. Simply fold in half.
Color the nose with a pink crayon (or marker). Add black whiskers and a googly eye.
Here's the link for the ears. Color the inset pink on one ear. The other ear "faces outward", so there is no insert. Cut out and glue the ears on the inside of the plate.
Final touch is a cotton ball tail!

My Math Stations for the Weeks of 4/21 and 4/28, With a Freebie!

Station #1 - Calendar Math
Working on the month of April.

Station #2 - Putting Together a Giant Floor Puzzle...of Bob the Builder

Station #3 - 3-D Bounce
I took this freebie and adapted it. The students draw one of the cards, then put their colored chip on the corresponding picture on the placard. As they go through the cards, they're allowed to "bump" anyone on a shape they need. When all the cards have been played, the person with the most colored chips left on the placard wins!

Station #4 - Easter Bunny Roll-a-Puzzle
I took this Easter freebie an turned it into a roll-a-puzzle. They roll the number word die, then find a corresponding piece with that number die on the piece. (Note: One piece is blank. I just added six dots to it.) First person to roll all the pieces they need to complete the puzzle wins!

Station #5 - Tens and Ones
It's simple. They children roll 2 dice. Ex: If they roll a 1 and  4, they can either cover up a 14 or a 41 with their particular marker, depending on what's "open". If they roll a combination, and both possibilities are already covered, they lose that turn. This game can be played until all numbers are covered, or until the teacher calls time. Person who covered the most numbers wins!

You can click the play card below to get a full-sized jpg you can save and print.

My Language Arts Stations for the Weeks of 4/21 and 4/28

Station #1 - Guided Reading and Sight Word Flash Cards

Station #2 - Highlight-a-Letter
These next two weeks, we'll be working on U and V.

Station #3 - Computers and Listening Center
Our book and CD these next two weeks is:

 

Station #4 - Find 10 Words in "Easter Bunny"
I put the letters to the words EASTER BUNNY on index cards, so the children could manipulate them to make words.

Station #5 - Ping Pong Ball Alphabet Fishing
I put the alphabet inside empty egg cartons. Then I wrote the alphabet on ping pong balls. The children take turns "fishing out" the balls in alphabetical order, and they can't touch the balls or they lose their turn. It's a lot more difficult than it looks, but the kids love it!

Happy Easter!

Today is Good Friday, and a school holiday, but I wanted to share our egg hunt from Thursday.

And, of course, since this is south Texas, there were a few cascarones to smash over everyone's heads!

Sight Word Hunt

My school gets newspapers for educational purposes, and I was looking for some different and fun ways to review and enforce sight words that didn't involve worksheets.

I'm also big on recycling, and I have a pile of colored sheets that used to be announcements/lunch menus/newsletters for home. Taking some of those sheets, I wrote three sight words at the top, and gave a sheet to each table. I also gave each table two sheets of newspaper.

First table to find 5 of each word and glue them to their paper won!

Note! If you don't have newspaper, catalogs work well, too!

3-D Shapes Hunt

This was a quick and easy, and FUN way to review our three-dimensional shapes. For each table, I drew a cube, a pyramid, and a sphere (don't make fun of my artwork, lol!) on a sheet of construction paper. Each table had to find 5 real life pictures of those shapes in catalogs, cut them out, and glue them to the paper. First table to finish won!

My Kindergarten Dictionary - April, 2014

   wobot

   eddimentree school

   nonchos



     

My Math Stations for the Weeks of 4/7 and 4/14 - With a Freebie!

Station #1 - Pom Pom Count and Color
Fill up the trays with the correct number and color of pom poms using the tweezers.

Station #2 - Match It Mathematics

Got this game with my school funds.

Station #3 - Bunny Grid Game
We're using the number word die, and using some cute springtime erasers to cover what we roll.
You can get the freebie game here.

Station #4 - Tangram Puzzles
I found this oldie but goodie in the math coordinator's closet. The kids love matching the shapes.

Station #5 - How Much Is Your Name?

Using some old scrabble tiles, the students lay their names down and add up the "points" to see who has the most. We also did our surnames.

You can get this freebie worksheet here!

My Language Arts Stations for the Weeks of 4/7 and 4/14

Station #1 - Guided Reading and Sight Word Drilling

Station #2 - Computer Labs and Listening Center
These two weeks we'll be listening to

Station #3 - Highlight-a-Letter
These next two weeks we'll be focusing on S and T.

Station #4 - Find a Word 

Find all ten words in a bottle of beans.

Station #5 - Sight Word Die Dinosaur
I made this game using a sight word die I bought at the dollar store (they came in a package of 3). I then used a coloring page to make the game board.

Basically, they roll the die and place one of their markers on the board. Once all the words are covered, the person with the most words covered wins.

I'll be posting a "How To" on making your own game boards using coloring pages at a later date.

Equal/Unequal

We're studying Equal and Unequal this week, along with Equal Parts (aka Halves) in math. I came up with this quick little study that the kids enjoyed.

Each table was given a tub of manipulatives. We did a practice run using the number 3. Each child got 3 pieces and placed them on the table in front of them. Then, using the old familiar "one for me and one for you" trick, they set out dividing up the props. Once they learned that if both sides got the same amount, it was EQUAL, but if there was one left over, the amount was UNEQUAL, I then put a set of numbers up on the board. On scratch paper, they wrote down the numbers, got their manipulatives, and tried to determine if each number was EQUAL or UNEQUAL. 

In the end, we compared our answers. To "spice things up", we rotated our tub of items between tables, to give everyone a chance to use different props.

Taking Advantage of the Spring Weather

It's getting warmer, and we're finally able to go outside without needing our coats. Just to take advantage of this spring weather, I took the class outside to do some journal work. I had my portable, lap-size whiteboard. We spent a good 25 minutes doing our journaling, and the time felt like it flew by. The experiment was such a success, we'll be doing it again.