Recognizing numbers FREEBIES!

Hi friends!

I just wanted to share with you a few little stations that my kids have been working on this week. We are working hard to really get down one to one correspondence, recognizing our numbers, and building sets! We are working on decomposing and shapes in whole group and small group, but I wanted to reinforce those skills that we can still need a little practice on in stations.

Every year I feel like we beat 1-5 into the ground{am I the only one who feels this way?!} ..but they need a solid foundation with 1-5 to be able to build upon!

This one is SO simple...just stack linking cube towers with the correct amount on top of the number!

My kids LOVE anything with play-doh...and they do such a good job counting and breaking apart the play-doh to build the correct sets. {hmm...we might have skipped 2 on this one! ;)}

To snag up these two little gems, click HERE! I hope you enjoy!

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APPLES! Interactive notebooking

The next month of Kindergarten just happens to be my favorite part of the year!! {FALL!!!} Starting this week we will do 2 weeks of apples and then 2 weeks of pumpkins back to back. Lots of comparing, science, cooking, and just all around fall fun!

I've been working on an apple pack to incorporate into our apple learning. I'm pretty excited about all of the interactive notebook pages that I added to the unit- our notebooks just get bigger and bigger every year!

 To begin, we usually read an Expository book about apples. We are close reading Apples for Everyone this week. It ties in perfectly to all the basic topics about apples! I love for my students to make connections and pick out the facts that they find interesting. At this point in the year, we are just drawing and labeling what we can!

Then we talk about the seasons of an apple tree (tied in to the life cycle)

Then we go on to the life cycle....

 

We can't leave Math out! We have been working on decomposing to 5 and this fun little interactive page ties in perfectly!

 

Next week, after studying heating and cooling in science, we will cook and taste homemade applesauce! It always surprises me how many kids actually do NOT like it! {how dare them!!} ;) We tie this into our social studies standards this six weeks of sequencing.

If you'd like to purchase these interactive pages plus a TON of reading and math stations, click on over to check out the packet! 

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A little about my schedule...

I have received several questions about my schedule the last few weeks so I thought I would share it with you guys. I want some feedback....what do you have questions about specifically? What can I tell you more about?! I will be posting detailed answers to your questions this week!

Leave me a comment or visit my Facebook page to leave a question!

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Getting started: Guided Reading

Happy Sunday, friends!

We are 3 weeks into school and I just started guided reading last week! The first 2 weeks there are so many procedures to instill and practice that we never have time for small group! We practice a LOT of independence and reading to ourselves during reading time and I was so glad this week when I started stations....they were totally capable!

So I wanted to give you guys a little run-down on how I run guided reading in my classroom. I don't really do "literacy centers" and I don't really do "Daily 5" {while I would love to...we have intervention pull out during this time and I don't want anyone to miss any of the mini-lessons so I do a 40-ish minute whole group lesson instead before stations} but I do a combination of both!

This is what my rotation chart looks like:

My stations last about 15 minutes each while I meet with a small group for guided reading. I see EVERY single student every day. I have another rotation after recess {a 5th rotation} for my intervention group- so those students in high need will receive 30 minutes of ELA pull out every single day.

A little about each station:

My FAVORITE part of the day is guided reading and it always ends up being my students' favorite part, too. If we have to miss a day because of a half day, assemblies, or such my kids moan and groan about it! seriously! I worked really hard on a packet this summer that encompasses a lot of the phonics skills that we teach over the course of Kindergarten. Click on the pictures below to take a closer look!

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Build an Apple: Behavior Management

Hi friends!!
We are going start an apple unit next week and so I'm pre-prepping all the fun stuff I have planned. When we do themes, I really like to stretch it across the entire curriculum. We will be doing everything apples...except maybe Social Studies! ha!

Last year, my blogging buddy Hadar from Miss Kindergarten came up with the cutest way to track table points! I don't usually start table point right off the bat, but it will be the 4th week of school when we begin apples so I figure it's a great time to really focus on team work!

All you will need to do this is some scraps of felt. I happened to have plenty in my craft closet but I ended up using 2 red sheets, about a quarter of white, black, and green each.

 

I just eyeballed all the shapes when I was cutting. I have 4 tables, so I cut an apple, a leaf, 2 eye balls, 2 black parts of the eye, and a smile for each table. I ended up with these little cutie patooties!

 

I plan on hanging these up on my white board just like Hadar did and when I see my students working well together, completing directions quickly and quietly, being kind to each other, etc. they will get to add a piece onto their apple! When each table's apple is complete, they will get to choose a coupon out of the prize bucket!

I have used something similar to this in the past (using a rainbow) for a child that needed a little extra motivation to complete work in a timely manner. You could use this in many ways for individuals OR groups! I love the visual that it provides and gives each child a chance to work together and earn a reward!

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Week 1 Writing

Now that we've got the first week of school behind us, we're starting to get some serious learning in! I still have another week until I start my small groups and guided reading so we have a lot of time to teach explicit expectations!

This week in writing is one of my very favorite! On the first day of school I always have my students draw a self portrait...just to see where we are! I got a lot of illustrations like this (I love these...adorable!!) This shows me exactly where my students are developmentally and where I need to go with them. I. adore. this. stage!

This week in writing we are doing a LOT of guided writing! I'm teaching clear expectations about what I want from my students in their writing...with LOTS of modeling! Click HERE to get the printable plan for writing this week.

This morning we talked about nouns {read this post about how I teach nouns and snag up the interactive freebie page}and explicitly about people that are nouns. We brainstormed ideas and added our ideas to our anchor chart.

After talking about people, I reminded them how we drew a picture of ourselves last week. I told them that they all did a fabulous job, but we are going to learn to be great writers this year and great writers need great illustrations! So we all got our pencils, a piece of paper, and clip boards and moved down to the carpet. I like my students to all be sitting on the carpet when we do guided writing so I can see exactly what we're all doing and help where I need to.

I found this step by step guide a few years ago and have been using it since! I draw mine under the document camera while my students follow along. I made this anchor chart to tack up by the writing station because...well, they seem to forget sometimes! ;)

The results were some AWESOME little people like this: {I love how much thought they put in the details!} I specifically said to not draw or color outside of the person. We will be using this paper all week to add to!  {this little guy has a brace on his leg. Do you see it?! LOVE!!}

{look at the details in her necklace! LOVE!}

I know it sounds tedious...but if you spend this time at the beginning of the year then your results by the end will be well worth it! Happy writing!!

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