The Winner is....

The winner of my rafflecopter giveaway is Mariann B.!  Congratulations Mariann!  I sent you an email with your prize.

Today is Sunday and I am busy working on plans for next week.  I hope it doesn't rain because tomorrow I plan on taking my class on the school's nature trail on a little nature scavenger hunt.  We are going to gather leaves some signs of fall.  I have some activities in mind for the leaves but you will have to find out later this week what that is.  I'm experimenting with a few ideas and I want to see how they turn out before I share.  It could be a total disaster.

This week we will be learning about the letter N and we will make a letter N hat from my Phonics Alphabet Hats pack.  You can get them here or here.  We will continue to use some of my math and literacy centers from my Firefighter Math and Literacy Pack.

We didn't get to use all of the literacy centers last week so we will be using all of them this week.  Students will practice beginning sounds, rhymes, and ABC order while practicing their letter formation.

In math, I will put the Clip It! Ten Frames back out along with the Trace, Build, Write.  I will show students how to do the Count and Graph and my aide will help students with patterns.  I plan to add the Build It! Ten Frames to the Clip It! Ten Frames center.  Click on one of the pictures above to see where you can get this pack.

This week in math we are going to talk about symmetry, patterns, and make a number book.  Well that's all I have.  I better get started on finishing up my plans.  My late afternoon nap put me behind. :)

Center Saturday

I have slept a lot today.  This past week has worn me out!  My giveaway is ending soon so if you haven't entered you better do it quick!  Just go here and enter the rafflecopter.

Here is a look back at some of our centers this week.  As always, I have a listening center going during our guided reading time.  Students usually have 3 book options to choose from.  This week I will be adding in a response sheet for this station because I want students to work on their writing more.  You can get a copy of my listening center response sheet here.  Just scroll down and click the picture of the listening log.

 We continue to practice and review the alphabet and it's order.  Students love using magnetic letters on the cookie sheets.  Next week I will switch the cards to have the middle letter missing.  This allows students to practice putting the alphabet in order with a familiar activity.

 The I Spy Fire Safety was a freebie from A Differentiated Kindergarten.  You can check out the blog here and tell her you found her through Lesson Plans and Lollipops and thanks for the freebie!  My students loved using the magnifying glasses to find the letters in the picture!

 I'll just let you browse the rest of the pictures.

 You can get the number puzzles below from my freebies page!  

There are some changes that will be happening at my blog soon.  Don't forget that my giveaway ends at midnight!

Centers

 

I think the apple tress that we made with our fingerprints turned out really great and they look good on our cabinets.  Sorry about the poor quality in my photos.  I started taking more pics with my phone.  I so need to find my digital camera.  I have an older one that I usually keep at school, but I haven't been the best organized person at home lately.  I wanted to show you some of the centers we are working on this week.  This week is our fire safety week so my math and literacy centers fit the theme.

This is our Clip It! Tens Frames with fire trucks.  Once students clip the clothespin on the answer, all they have to do is flip it over to check.

This is our Trace, Build, Write activity.  Each student has a work mat. They select a letter card and place it on the mat.  Next, they trace the letter on the card.  Then they use pipe cleaners, links, Wikki sticks, or play dough to build the letter.  Finally, they write the letter on the line.  This week we are using pipe cleaners.  I think it's important to switch it up from time to time.

 

Here is the same activity but with numbers.  Students select a number card.  Then build the number and finally they write the number.

 

 

This is our Clip It! Alphabet Cards.  Students select a card and they clip a clothes pin on the beginning sound.  Once they are finished, they flip the card over and look for the dot that I marked on the back to see if they have the correct answer.

 

 

This is Clip It! Rhyming words.  The students look at the picture and clip yes or no.  Then they flip the card over and look for the self-correcting dot.  These cards can also be used with the whole class to play quiz-quiz trade.  We love playing quiz-quiz trade!

 

Here is the center that didn't get cut out this week, but I plan on using it next week.  This is Clip It! Beginning Sounds.  The students decide if the pictures begin with the same sound and clip yes or no with a clothespin.  They will flip the card over to look for the self-correcting dot on the back that I write with a Sharpie.  This also can be played as a whole class quiz-quiz trade.

 

If you like the centers that you have seen, they can be purchased in my TPT or TN store.  They are from my Firefighter Math and Literacy Center Fun pack.

 

 

It's 99 pages of fun!  It has 5 literacy and 5 math centers.  Just click on one of the pictures to take you to my store.  The first pick with take you to Teachers Pay Teachers and the last two will take you to Teachers Notebook.

 

Come back tomorrow for a freebie!

 

 

Tuesday Centers and an Alphabet Hat

 

This week we made out letter A hat.  This is in my new Phonics Alphabet Hats pack (TN).  They kids loved this!  They wanted to wear them all day and they received lots of complements too.  I had them practice writing the letter on the sentence strip with a crayon first.  Then they colored and cut out the pieces.  There were a few distractor pictures so they had to think which pictures begin with the /a/ sound to glue onto the strip.  This is new in my store and is 50% off today and tomorrow!  I made them while I was off last week.

During guided reading, my class rotates between for stations.  One of the stations this week is to fill in the missing letter.  I gave them both upper and lowercase letter magnets and a cookie sheet.  The students get a card and place it on the cookie sheet and then determine if they need a capital or lowercase letter to fill in the missing letter.  I also made this activity with the middle letter missing and the first letter missing.  Students can use an alphabet strip if they feel they need one.  Later in the year, I will switch this activity up by giving them cards with different letters missing.  I have also made these for my TPT and TN store.  You can see them here or here.  It's a simple activity that doesn't require a lot of ink.  144 different cards in all!  Only 24 pages.

Today, I brought out my little pointers for the kids to use during guided reading while they were pointing to the words.  They love using little pointers.  I have more than just the fingers.  My favorite are the monkeys.  I'll have to post those sometime soon.  This was the first time I brought the pointers out this year.  I wanted to set my behavior expectations first before giving them a potential play thing.

 Here is a look at another independent center this week.  I have been recording my own stories on CDs.  I just record my voice on my laptop and I ring a bell as an indicator to turn the page.  The best thing about making my own CDs is that they automatically play and they are finished when the book is finished.  Next week, I plan on introducing a response sheet for after they listen to a story, but for now, I am just having them listen.  I think it is important that they have plenty of time to get use to the equipment and the CD players are much easier to use than cassette player, but we use those too.  I previously posted that I bought a wonderful headphone jack so up to 5 students can listen at the same time.  I bought the cheapo headphones from the Dollar Tree.  Maybe one day I will buy more expensive durable ones, but for now these will do.  I was trying not to spend too much.  I only have 4 students at this station so two share a book and CD so I don't have to worry about having multiple book copies.  This week, they are listening to Green Wilma, The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash, and Miss Nelson is Missing.  Since stories are not all the same length, there is always an extra in the basket.

 

My aide has been working with students on letters recognition and beginning sounds.  These are the kid cards that come with our Saxon Phonics program.  The activities at this table change depending on the group, just like my guided reading group activity.  Previously, she has played rhyming bingo, matching, ABC Bingo, and has helped them work on writing their names.  It all depends on the needs of the group.  Currently, we have 4 students in each group and on Fridays, one group has 5 kids because I have a student that spends the afternoons with us and all days on Fridays.  The mornings he goes to preschool and next year he will be in my class full time.  I also have a student that comes to my class from first grade for reading in the morning.  He may be coming back over to kindergarten all day, but the final decision won't be made until next week.  Either way, I love having both of them.  The shocker of the days is that another kindergarten class just got a new student today.  We have been in school for 7 weeks now and it was his FIRST day!!!  Um, what were his parents thinking?

 

Thanks for stopping by!  Come back later to learn how I run my reading block.

Daily Deal Today!

I have a Daily Deal today on Teachers Notebook.  You can get my Fall Math and Literacy Center Fun pack at 40% off.  So today you can get it at $5.40.  This packet contains 6 literacy activities, 7 math activities and a bonus graphic organizer.
Here is what is inside:
*24 Clip It! Syllable Cards
*24 Clip It! Rhyming Cards
*26 Clip it! Alphabet Cards
*78 Alphabet Puzzle Pieces
*A letter/not letter sorting activity
*Trace, Build, Write Letters Mat and 26 alphabet tracing cards (scarecrow)
*Number Puzzles 1-10 (pumpkins)
*Build it! Ten Frames 1-10 (scarecrow)
*Match it! Ten Frames 0-20 (scarecrow)
*Link it! Number Order 1-25
*What Comes Next? Numbers
*Count and Graph Fall
*Trace, Build, Write Numbers with sorting mat and number cards 1-30 (scarecrow)
*Bonus Beginning, Middle, End graphic organizer (stars)

 

This packet has 111 pages.  I have a few new things that I am hoping to finish and upload tonight.  Be on the watch for them.  I will discount them for the first 3 days! 

 

I almost forgot!  Here is a picture of one of the math centers being used in my classroom.

 

Freebie Friday!!! and a Giveaway!





Happy Friday!   I thought I would give everyone a sneak peak at what I have been working on and post a freebie from my sports theme packet.  I haven't finished this packet yet, but when I do it will be on sale for the first 3 days that it is posted!  I am giving away a copy of my Halloween Math and Literacy Center Fun packet.  You can check it out here.  Don't forget to enter below and grab your freebie!

My students have really been working on numbers and counting the past few weeks.  Last week, we practiced writing numbers on individual whiteboards.  My class is really coming along with their number writing.  We have also been practicing counting objects to 10 and we are working our way up to 20.  This is probably the first class I have had in a while that has difficulty with counting to 10.  I have several students that need work on this.

I have some new items on sale in my stores this week.  I recently released Firefighter Math and Literacy Center Fun!  It's 50% off this weekend!  You will also find that I have release Friendship Theme Literacy Pack.  It is also 50% off this weekend!  Additionally, my Fall Math and Literacy Center Fun! pack is 40% off!  My fall packet is great to use for the entire season.  I used scarecrows and pumpkins.

Here is a sneak peak and free center from my sports themed center packet that I am working on.  I can't wait to finish it.  This packet will be great to use all year!  To get you freebie, click a picture below.

All-Star Number Puzzles

Number Puzzle

Here is what you can win with my little giveaway.  It's 156 pages of Halloween fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

My DonorsChoose Project and a Sale

My DonorChoose.org project was fully funded and I finally received my requested item.  What did I request?  A whiteboard teaching easel.  SmartBoards are fun and all, but try teaching handwriting on the thing.  My letters never seem to fit the line quite right.  And forget about making a chart.  Have ever written something and printed it out from the SmartBoard?  It doesn't exactly come out the way you would like it to.  So to save myself the headache, I requested this from DonorsChoose.org and I love it!!!

I have plans for this easel.  I plan to use it for shared reading and writing.  I hope to use it during center time with magnetic letters.  I can finally use chart paper and make all of the cute charts that I keep pinning on Pinterest. 
I would love to hear all the ways everyone else uses their teaching easel.  Leave me a comment telling me how it is used in your classroom.  I'm always on the lookout for new ideas.

On another note, I posted new items in my shops and they are on sale this weekend only.  50% off so check them out!  I just uploaded my Firefighter Math and Literacy Center Fun! pack which will be great to use during Fire Safety Week in October.   This packet is perfect for prek-1.  Here is a peek:

 

I also recently released a Friendship Themed Literacy and Math Centers pack.  This packet is geared more for 1-3 grade.

 

Look at What We Have Been up to

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We have been working on patterns.  I gave everyone some bear counters and they used them to create color patterns.  Here is a look at some of those patterns:

 

We read The Button Box by Margarette S. Reid and sorted buttons with our sorting trays.

 

I started a new listening center.  That is one cool little headphone jack!  It can connect up to 5 headphones.  I love that the CD player is portable and I can have my listening center anywhere in my room.  I have been working on recording my own CDs to go with books that I have in my classroom.  I record the books using my lap top and a bell so students know when to turn the page.  Then it is easy to burn a CD.  You can use the recording device on your IPhone too and download it into ITunes to burn a CD.



We worked on writing and building numbers this week.  I just uploaded this center activity to my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook stores.  It is part of my Fall Math and Literacy Center Fun! packet.

 

This is one of the games that came with our Math program, Everyday Math.  I used it as a station/center this week.

We looked for shapes in magazines and created shape collages.  Here is a picture of the triangle collage.  We added to the collage during our math stations.

 

 

We stamped shapes this week during math stations too!

 

 

A few weeks ago, we made Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees with our names.  I thought I should take a picture before I sent them home. :)

 

 

I purchased a few new toys for my room! ;)  Notice the megaphone.  Lol, it comes in handy on the playground.  They can't ignore me any longer when I have to remind them that we go one at a time down the slide.

 

Here is my new fall packet!  Check it out!