I Made It Through!

I made it through my week of teaching kindergarten and got some great family time this weekend as a reward. Now I'm back to the daily grind with some pics on how our first couple of days have gone.

Daily 5: Read to Self

We have started Read to Self as a part of the Daily 5 and so far, so good. The kiddos look like reading experts focusing on their books. When I read stories now, the kids ask if I am going to read the pictures or the words.

Look at all of these readers. I love those little green chairs in my library. Just too cute! The cubbie in the background is what I am using for my book boxes this year. The kiddos just have to put them back by color when they put them away. I also love that they are tucked away and out of sight.

 

Writing Unit: my Pictures Tell a Story

I have been using Deanna Jump's and Deedee Wills's Writing Unit 1: My Pictures Tell a Story this week and let me tell you that I love it! You should most definitely check it out.

Here is what my first demo writing looked like.

I'm sure Miley would be appalled that I didn't spell her name correctly but we need to go with phonetic spelling to get these kiddos started. I really thought that I might lose some of my kids when I went into the details of the picture but they loved it. They wanted to know more about Miley and even had suggestions for what I should add to the picture. Ha!

Before I sent them to do their own writing, I had them do a check in with me to tell me what they were going to write about. I showed the card on the left to spring some ideas. Most kids choose to write about pets or the first day of school. I used the picture on the right to show what good listeners do when someone is sharing. Both these charts are in the first Writing Unit. I can't recommend it enough. I've really enjoyed using it so far.

 

Sharing

 After they had writing time, I picked 3 to share out their writing! They were very sweet and detailed when describing their pictures and writing. 

 

I used just blank paper to start but starting this week we are using an actual writing page with a box for the picture and space for writing.

 

Exploring Math

I put out assorted math manipluatives and told the kiddos to explore. I do this every year because the kids are going to play with them the first time you give them to them regardless. It makes more sense to just give them the time at the beginning of the year and then talk about what a mathematician does with these tools later. I also think it is amazing to talk with the kids during this time. It helps you discover what they already know in math.

 

Pattern Blocks: Lots of kiddos were sorting, making patterns, and stacking the shapes as high as they could.

 

Unifix Cubes: Kids love seeing how long they can make a unifix cube tower. These cubes are also unique because kiddos can connect and build on all sides.

Dominoes: I had a bunch of kiddos make fences and stairs.

3D Shapes: I left out the spheres on purpose! Ha! The kids had a blast building towers.

Throwback Thursday

I'm Linking up with Cara from The First Grade Parade for Throwback Thursday. It is fun to look at old posts and remember all of the fun things we did this last year.

Here a Throwback from this last fall. I love the ocean and wish that I could dive all of the time. I have been to lucky to have gone on 2 different dive trips and every time I come back, I do a huge ocean unit with my kiddos. The kids love it! Living in a landlocked state only peeks their curiosity for the ocean and they love learning about all the different types of ocean animals. Be sure to check out the two writing freebies at the bottom.
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I have been so blessed to have had the opportunity to go on another dive trip. We did our first dive trip 3 years ago and this last November, we went on a week long adventure to the island of Roatan just off of Honduras. Here a picture of me next to Mr. Bud; one of the wreck dives by our resort. :)

When I came back, I of course had to dive into Thanksgiving but after all of the pilgrim fun, I was able to take some time to bring the ocean to my landlocked classroom. We spent the week writing and reading about the ocean animals and at the end of the week were able to pick our favorite animals to create published writing and pieces of art. We put all of our ocean life together to make a coral reef that I would be all for diving!

Isn't it cute! The kids got to pick their favorite animal they wrote and learned about for the week, make a final draft of their writing, and then create an animal out of construction paper. Of course...you will notice all the sharks at the top. Kids are just fascinated with them. I could spend a whole week just on sharks. Here are some close ups of my kiddos work.

 




When we do our writing, I split the kids into differentiated writing groups that are working on specific targets/standards. As a group, we do an example writing together and discuss the writing target and previous worked on targets as we create a descriptive writing piece. Then the kids go and work independently on a piece of their own. Since we are describing something, we use a web to brainstorm out descriptive words before writing about the animal or object. The below picture shows the group work together on the left. The student then gets to pick out an animal of his or her own to write about. I like to give the kids something tangible to take back to their tables for independent work so for this unit, I used cut out pictures of ocean critters from my dive magazines.

At the end of the week, the kids go back and review all of their writing and pick their very favorite writing. Once they have picked it, we go through and edit the work together. That is the orange pen marks you see on the picture on the right. Then, they write up their final draft. Isn't this clownfish the cutest!  

 

Here is a freebie of the writing page, if you want your kiddos make an ocean writing of their own.  Here is also another freebie for a seashell writing page that we did after our ocean unit to tie into our life science unit.

 

Enjoy!

 

Priscilla

Five for Friday

The sun is shinning and my friend's pool is open. Let me tell you that I cannot be happier. I am linking up again with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Don't mind that it is Sunday. :)

1. New Stuff

The end of the year is fast approaching and I do what I do every year...hoard my classroom budget until the end. I am always afraid that something earth shattering will come up and I will have to use all of my budget on it. Next year, I will try to be better. Anyway...

I got this new tabletop easel that I am so excited about using for reading groups. I also like that it is magnetic. Now I am just waiting on my magnetic letters. :)

The reading program at my previous school had a song that went with the weekly phonics skill. The kids could sing the songs and find the weekly phonics skill in the words. They loved to circle the words, frame the words with wickie sticks, and my personal favorite, tickle the word with a feather. My new program however does not have phonics songs. I found myself really missing the songs so I found these gems on Scholastic. Can't wait to add them in!

2. Eric Carle Inspired Plant Art.

I absolutely love Eric Carle's artwork. I try to do something Eric Carle inspired every year and this year it is plants. We have been learning a lot about plants so the students had the job of either describing a plant or telling how a plant grows.

We are still missing a few but I love how the board looks already.

I love the roots on this tomato plant. So creative!



3. Living Things

Our butterflies are in their chrysalises and I can't wait for them to come out. Our silkworms and mealworms just arrived as well.

We make these seed packs every year and I think they are the coolest. It is amazing what a lima bean, a wet paper towel and plastic bag can produce.

4. Non-fiction Literature

I picked up these books from scholastic as well. First let me start by saying I love anything about the ocean but I was so impressed with the pictures and information in these books. They would a great little series for introducing non-fiction literature. I also love that they use headings and have an index in the back on each book.

The sea turtle book also gives a fun fact about how sea turtles can be as long a small child. Guess what we will be making out of butcher paper for next year's ocean unit?

 

5. Art for Adults

 

Our fabulous art teacher put together an Art of Adults course for the teachers on Friday after school. It was just like one of those Art and Cocktails classes, minus the cocktails. When we got to her room,  she had all of the canvases up on easels and we each received our own paint palette and new brushes. I instantly felt like Bob Ross. I just wanted to paint "happy little trees" everywhere. She walked us through how to paint a beach scene. It was too much fun. When I retrieve my canvas back from the art room, I'll take a pic and post it. I'm hoping we do this again.

 



 Priscilla

Writing Holders

With our writing program, my kids are always generating new final drafts. I love them all but let's be fair, I can't put them all in the hall. I would be changing the hallway weekly. Nobody has time for that! So with that said. I came up with a way to display their work in my classroom that was quick to put together and is easy for me to update student work.

For each kiddo, I used a clear paper sleeve, some cute ribbon for along the side and the bow, and a little fish for each kiddo to represent their name.

When I want to add in the new writing, I just slide it on top of the old. The holders also help me keep their writing in the order that it was created.

Happy Writing!

Priscilla

Snowman Writing and Craft

We wrapped up our week of snowy fun, minus the snow, by writing about our favorite snowman. The kids had to write about their snowman first and then make a snowman that matched their writing. They are just too stinky cute!

This one has icicle hair. I just about died. Kids are so creative!

For the snowman, all the kiddos had to do was trace a large paper plate, a small paper plate, and a little plastic cup onto a large piece of white construction paper. Then, I set out colored construction paper scrapes, black beans, buttons, and sequins. The kids were so creative and did an amazing job.

If you are wondering, why yes those are earmuffs.

Here is a copy of the writing page if you want to make a snowman of you very own.

My Snowman

 

Thanks!
Priscilla