Color Words-FREEBIE

Ok... Sorry... One last thing!  I needed color words for my classroom word wall.  I had some, but they were not EXACTLY what I wanted, so I made some.  Here you go!

Click on the image to grab from Google Docs

I included both "gray" and "grey"~ Yo! Yo! Yo! Canada!

There!  I promise not to post again tonight!

Hope you can use them!

Fire Safety and Community Helpers-FREEBIE

Hi friends!  I have been looking ahead on the calendar and Fire Safety Week is just around the corner.  I will be taking advantage of this time to talk about community helpers over the next few weeks.  Here is what I have been working on.

Fire and Rescue Math Workstations!!!

Click on the image to go to my Tpt Store

 Firehouse Frogs ABC Roll, Say, Keep

Click on the image to go to my Tpt Store

 And... your FREEBIE

Click on the image to go to my Google Docs

Hope you enjoy... Leave me some love if you download the FREEBIE... Please!

So... How are my stations going? Apples Theme

This week we are ALL about Apples!

My puzzles and games station we had Barnyard Friends Roll, Say, Keep, Farm Babies ABC Diaper Game, and Apple ABC Worm Game.

 We also have an Apple ABC Matching (FREE) and Read, Stamp, Trace, Write (FREE)

 Domino Math

 Here is Katie Mense's from Little Warriors adorable Apple Math Centers.

 Apples Math Work Stations

Do you need a copy of my Peek at my Week?

Oh... and I promise to work on the D'Nealian Path of Motion Cards soon...
How are your stations going?

Path of Motion ABC Parent Card and D'Nealian-FREE

I promised I would work on this during the weekend so HERE IT IS!

I think I will add these to my student's Bee Binders (their take home folders).  Then the parents can reference them.  I think they will  be especially helpful once we start doing Rocket Letters.

Did you miss the posters?  Click here

Do you need the posters in D'Nealian?   Click here

I hope you enjoy it!

Peek at My Week-Apples! Apples! Apples!

Hello friends!  This upcoming week's theme is apples.  I have found some wonderful ideas.  Here is an awesome resource from Kim Adsit.  She just loaded it onto TpT and it is super cute!

Click on the image to go to her store.

I plan on doing these activities that are included in her pack:

Our Apple Pie Graph
Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Apple Pattern Cookbook
Apple Bubble Map with Paper Plate Apples
All About Apples

We are also planning on making apple sauce... Yum!

Click on any image to grab this planning sheet from Google Docs

Do you have apple activities planned for next week?  Would you share your ideas or blog link in my comments?  I love hearing from you!

ABC Apple-ious! FREEBIE

Howdy!!!  I'm on my way out the door to the Harvest Home Festival at Wenwood Farm Wineries... Yay!  But before I leave I wanted give you a little fall gift.

Grab it for FREE at my TpT store.

Hey,  do me a favor.  If you grab it and like it, please let me know.  I love getting feedback!!!

Path of Motion ABC cards-FREE

I decided to make these for my classroom.  My students are in the deep-end of the pool right now as they learn to form their letters.  I wanted them to have a resource they could refer to easily as they start to build their muscle memory.     

You could use these in different ways~

1. Post them as mini-posters 

2.  Laminate them so students can trace over them with a white board marker 

3.  Use them as flash cards.

click on the image to grab these

I would LOVE to hear your ideas?

Farm Fun!

We have been having a great time learning more about farms and their animals.

For our morning work we have been reconstructing these predictable sentences.

Click on the image to go to my TpT product.

 The Rademacher Dairy Farm brought out these beauties.  The Rademachers are 5th generation dairy farmers~Amazing!!!  I TOTALLY wanted to take the little honey home!  She does not have a name yet, but we named her Daisy!

 We used Deanna Jump's Fun on the Farm Math and Literacy Unit to guide our non-fiction learning about farm animals.

Click on the image to go to this TpT product.

 AND... We made our first glyph! So cute!  This also came from Deanna Jump's fun unit.

Click on the image to go to this TpT product.

Ok...Seriously....On a scale of 1 to 10... How adorable is Daisy?

Weekend Get-Away and Ron Clark

Hey Folks!  I enjoyed a quick get-away with my husband last weekend to Newport, RI!  My husband is attending the Naval Warfare College, so I hopped on a flight to join him.

It was beautiful!  

The flight there allowed me the opportunity to finish this wonderful book!

I gotta say, when I was done reading it, I was EXHAUSTED!  This man is a powerhouse of energy and vision.  

Here are just a few of the things that stuck out in my mind:

#8:  Be selfless with your contributions to the team

I like to think of myself as a team player, but once I heard the levels his staff goes, I realize I sway more towards slacker.  Within the walls of my classroom, I am 100%  in, but outside of my walls... I'm not so sure.  I need to be more selfless with my contributions outside of my classroom... it is not all about instruction.

#9:  Make it happen.  Don't give excuses; find solutions!

I loved this!  Ron (like he is my BFF) says, "We all need to have that type of dedication and will to 'make it happen' when it comes to the education.  There is a way for every child to understand every concept.  There is a way to teach children to perform at the highest levels and there is a way to teach children to be good individuals who care about others.."

#40 Dress the Part

This is a hot topic in my school... Our dress policy does not permit jeans (only on a few days per year).  We LOVE our jeans.  However, reading Ron's perspective on dressing the part, I can see his point...ERRR!  Ron (again my BFF) states that when the staff dresses their best, student behaviors improve, parent's tend to trust the teachers as leaders in the classroom, the teachers have a collective pride and pep in their step.

If you are wanting to laugh and cry simultaneously, this is a book for you.  He is hilarious. It is hard to not to be caught up in his infectious passion.

Peek at My Week-Stations

Another great week with my kiddos!  Our Math and Literacy Stations are zooming along.  I started our small groups (reading) on Wednesday and things went really well (I just knocked on wood).

As I was blog stalking I found this WON.DER.FUL post from Erin Eberhart.

I love her blog because she has a great eye for creating kid-friend activities AND she knows her stuff.  If you are not already following her, I highly recommend it!

Anyhow, she posted about calendar journals... so I thought... I could make that a station!!  When I saw Debbie Diller in August present, she mentioned a calendar station.
This could be a year long station... hmmm?  Maybe???

So I asked her if she would add tally marks to her recording sheet.  Because she is majorly awesome, she did!  Here it is!

Click on the image to get this paper.

So,  we started using this on Thursday.  We are using this as part of our whole group, but starting next week, I will make it a station. Now, I know my students will not be independent with this, so I will make this station "teacher directed"~sort-of a stations with the teacher.

Onward...!
Click on any image below to get this document from Google Docs

NOTE:  The images for Kim Adsit's activities were taken directly from her TpT product (so they were not done be me... I WISH!!!)

Have a wonderful week and I'll check back with you all later!

Writer's Workshop~Using Labels in our Published Writing

Yesterday we "published" our first piece of writing in Kindergarten.  Boy Howdy!   It is a process in kindergarten.  But I know if I walk them through the process the first few times, the rest of the year will go much smoother.

Like many of you, we have been looking at labels.  This is my ALL TIME favorite book to use when teaching labels.

We have read and re-read this mentor text over the last few weeks.  Then we put it to work.

The writing that I decided I did not want to publish (we are talking 19 days of school worth... a bunch) was handed out to the students to take home.  

They LOVE taking my writing.  

So what does it look like when my kiddos publish?  First, they go to their writing folder that holds all of their rough drafts.  They select one piece that they want to publish.  They bring me the rest (these will be added to their year-long writing portfolio~more on that next week).  Then they sit down to re-write their piece.

 Many decided to add labels.  Did they all?  Nope!  Some just made their picture more clear.  I always make my focus, "Make your writing/message clearer to your reader."  I then suggest using some of the techniques we have been studying (like labels).

In 3-4 weeks we will publish again.  The pieces that are hanging on the wall will be replaced with new published pieces. These "old" ones will be added to their year-long writing portfolio!

So... How are my stations going? A little controlled choice

Debbie Diller talks about offering controlled choice within stations.  I added some choice in my Listening Station and Puzzles and Games.  Here are a few pictures of my stations this week.

 Sorting  by capital and lower case letters.

Click on the picture to go to the activity

Brown Bear ABC Game and Apple Worm! ABC Game

Click on the picture to go to the activity

 

Kindergarten Works Playdough Station

Click on picture to go to the activity

 Deanna Jump's and Mrs. Lee's  School is Fun 

Click on picture to go to the activity

Ok... so why don't I have more photos of my math stations... I have NO idea!  I thought I had taken more pictures of the math stations... but they are going GREAT!!!!

Did you need a copy of my Peek at my Week stations lesson plans?

I have regrouped my students this week so they are homogeneously paired.  I may need to refine the pairs in the next few weeks, but I think I have them matched pretty well.

I started small group reading lessons today.  I am pleased that my students were able to work independently and did not interrupt me too many times.  This will be a work in progress!!

I think I will need a few more weeks with Math Stations before I can start small groups there~but I am encouraged!!!

How are your stations going?  I would love to hear from you!!!

Stations Management

I am really sorry... I had a little Monday night movie planned for you. I had gotten quite a few emails asking me questions about my stations, so I decided to make a movie.  Once I got home, I realized I had gotten students' full names in the shot and I could not figure out how to edit them.  Onto Plan B!

 Here it goes!

This may give you a headache... but I promise it is super simple and it takes me 30 seconds... TOPS!

1.  Move 4,10 down one pocket.

2.  Move the rest of the numbers on the right down one pocket.

3.  Move 11, 5 over to the top of the right hand side.

4. Move the rest of the numbers on the left down one pocket.

5.  Bring 4,10 over to the top pocket on the left.

This pocket chart has two sides (math on one, literacy on the other).

Students go to 2 literacy stations and 2 math stations a day.  I just refer to them as, "your blue station, your yellow station."  They stay in each station for 15 minutes. 

15 + 15 = 30 minutes for literacy stations and 15 + 15 = 30 minutes for math stations

Once students start meeting with me, I just slide a "Meet with Teacher" card in front of their scheduled station.  I don't try to have them make up the station... that would be a management nightmare.  I would prefer to spend my energy planning quality small group lessons... That is where the powerful learning comes from.

Do you need station cards?  Click here for some FREE ones.

Are you still with me?

 We use this rubric to judge quality work.

Rocket Letters and Numbers are a FREEBIE that I posted to TpT last spring.  I will be starting these in October.

This reward system adds incentive for my kiddos.  At first they were distraught because their papers were not in their station box... hmmm???  Did they throw it in their desk?  Did they leave at the station?  This has helped them be thoughtful about where they put their papers.

I also require all papers to have their name on it.  If their name is missing, I tell them to add their name and put it back in the stations box and I will look at it next time.  I set the expectation that their names will be on their papers... Their 1st grade teachers will thank you!!!

I use these stampers.  They are easy to use.  I have tried using a stamp pad and stickers.  I am really uncoordinated and it just TAKES TOO LONG!!!!  These make the job SUPER FAST!  It takes me 5 minutes to check everyone's station work, stamp their reward chart and paper, and then hand out rewards.

What else?   Ok... My students are still homogeneously grouped.  I will move them to heterogeneously grouped in the next few weeks.  I try to pair a boy with a girl.  I find it helps with behavior.

Choice:  I will give students a choice within the station, but I do not let them select their station.  I will offer "Open Station" towards the 3rd Qtr.  This will allow them to select a station that is not occupied.

What else?  What else?  Did I forget to answer any questions?  Please let me know if you have any more!  

Daily Math Journals

We are having a great time with our daily math journals!

Click on the image for August and September prompts.

It is fun to see how different students choose to show their prompt in different ways.

I just loaded my journal prompts for October.

Click to go to my store.

Peek at My Week-Stations

Here are my planned stations for next week.

Click on any part of the table to download the document... complete with hyperlinks!

Click on the image to download the document

This week I am focusing on Friends and Families.  I am super excited about Kim Adsit's new TpT product.

Click on the image to jump to her store.

I'll check back with you all with a stations update!