100th Day!

Hooray, hooray!  It's 100th Day!  Today we had our much anticipated 100th Day of Kindergarten!  My Kinders and I were so excited to come to school today.  Our day was filled with all things 100 - everything from counting to crafts.  I took lots of pictures, of course.  I wish I had permission to show the kiddos' faces because the look of excitement and delight as they worked *quietly* in the six different 100-themed stations.  Yes, they worked quietly!  There was happy chatter around the room, but no crazy noise.  I was tired at the end of the day, but very happy - this has got to be my best 100th Day ever!

We made our crowns yesterday - the Kinders wanted to wear them all day

 today!

We ate the number 100 for a quick morning snack!

 

 

 

 The 100 Club.  "Members" join by counting to 100 for me.  Once they count to me, they get to write their name on their "membership card" with a Sharpie (more fun than a regular marker...)

100 piece snack - the kids counted out 10 pieces each of 10 different treats with the help of a volunteer dad.  (I was so lucky to have seven parents come it to help with our activities!)

Kinder Bakery - working in small groups, the kids counted out 100 sprinkles to create one of a kind cupcakes with the help of a mom.  They filled out a "recipe" card (see below).

Cupcakes!

I got the idea for these counting mats from Pinterest. They are laminated so that I can keep them from year to year.  (I made a class set because I thought they would be helpful when we study numbers to 100.)  The kids brought 100 small items from home, and with the help of a mom, they counted them by tens.

After placing a Fruit Loop onto each space of a 100s chart, they created colorful necklaces.  They placed a pony bead after each 10 "Loops."  
I didn't take a close-up, but the little slips of paper seen in many photos are the kids' schedules.  When they visited a station, they got a sticker.  Click *here* for a copy.

 100 Stamp Books.  Using 10 ten frames and 10 different rubber stamps, they kids had fun creating a unique book to practice counting by tens to 100.

 Secret code.  This is an older resource shared by one of my fabulous teaching partners, so I don't have a link.  Kinders filled in numbers on a 100s chart to reveal a hidden picture. 
 

As an optional activity, students & parents were invited to send me a photo of a collection of 100 items that were too big to fit into a zipper bag.  Several students did so, and we enjoyed a fun slide show as we ate our 100 item snack.  One little girl's collection was so creative, I asked her mom for permission to share it on my blog.  Happily, she has allowed me to share this fun collection. 

Hooray for 100th Day!  What did your class do?

Heifer International Read to Feed

Our students (second - fifth) participate in the Reading Counts to encourage reading.  PTO provides incentive to reward those who get a certain number of points.  This year PTO decided to tie this reading program with Heifer International's Read to Feed program.  The goal was to get all students, kindergarten to fifth, involved in a reading program.  The goal was to read 5,000 books by the end of the year.  Having secured sponsors, each book read would be worth $1.00 to purchase an animal for Heifer International.  Kinders & Firsties earn dollars through read alouds and other grade-level reading activities. 

In order to extend the giving to our middle & high school students, the PTO put together a wonderful video starring students & teachers.  Click on the link below to view it on You Tube. 

Morgan Township Day of Giving video

PS  Since this video was made our students not only reached the year-end goal of 5,000 books read, but surpassed it by about 1,800 books!  (We are readers at our school!)  That being said, our year-end goal has been revised:  Can we read 10,000 books before June?  I think we can.  :-)  My own class has read enough books to purchase:  a trio of rabbits for $60, a flock of chicks for $20, a goat for $150, and have about $50 left to go towards our $250 water buffalo!  

Heifer International

 

 

Daily Five - A Little Help, Please

This semester the primary teachers at my school are doing a book study of The Daily Five.  I read it two summers ago, and am looking forward to reading it again - and discussing it with my collegues.  As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I do an I-Chart to help my Kinders while working in Stations, Skill Tubs, and other partner activites.  I love it!  They know just how to behave and what is expected of them as they work.  We (my Kinder partners) do a variation of listen to reading, word work, and writing in our weekly Literacy Stations. 

Here's the part where I would like some help:  If you have any tips, ideas, thoughts, or links about implementing The Daily Five in kindergarten, I would love to hear them!  Please leave a comment, a link to your blog, etc. below.  I am very excited to hear from my fellow Kinder Teachers.  Thank You!

Freebie Friday at Teaching Blog Addict

I am linking up with Teaching Blog Addict for this Freebie Friday.






http://www.teachingblogaddict.com/2013/01/the-last-freebie-friday-of-january.html

Learning Stations, Solid Shapes & Initial Letter Cookies

Whew!  What a week we had...  On Tuesday we had a 2 hour delay because of the bitter cold, and then on Thursday we had another two hour delay because of snow!  On Tuesday I went in at the regular time and got lots of work done.  It was so nice and quiet.  I organized my Skill Tubs and straightened up the counter behind my teaching table.  I had hoped to take care of my "Bin of Shame" (you know the one - the little tub that sits on the floor behind my desk into which I toss things that "I'll take care of soon").  Well, I didn't even touch it.  Yesterday I went in at the two hour delay time because our country road wasn't cleaned early enough to go in any sooner.

Despite the shortened days, we did get a lot done this past week.  Here are some pictures of our Literacy and Math Centers, a writing prompt, plus a fun Cookie letter sound activity.

Word Work Station.  The kids sorted CVC words by initial letter, and then wrote some (those beginning with our most recently studied consonants) onto a record sheet.

Math Station.  For our math center activity this week, we are using my Snowman Ten Frame activity.

My Snowman Ten Frame pack includes ten frames and counters for practice making numbers to 20.

After completing the ten frame activities above, students did this page from Deanna Jump's Sneezy pack.  They loved using colored pencils!

Mrs. S.'s Station. This week the kids are working on rhyming words with this Learning Mat from The Mailbox.

I love how learning center activities from The Mailbox include a worksheet for extra practice.  These pages also let parents know what their kiddo does at school!

Flat or Solid Shapes?  This is something I whipped up on the fly.  The Kinders sorted solid shapes and flat shapes (left over Saxon calendar pieces) into two groups. They enjoyed identifying solid shapes in common objects such as a block and a pencil.  This tub is now in one of our Skill Spots for independent practice.

Literacy Small Group activity.  This week some of my small literacy groups practiced sight words using this spinner activity from The Mailbox.  I changed the provided words to some that we are currently studying.

Two Kinders writing words with colored pencils.

Baker, Baker!  My kids flipped for this activity - using a spatula, they lifted a "cookie" from the cookie sheet, read the letter, named the sound, and then placed the cookie on a pocket chart.  I purchased this cookie bulletin board kit (it has a big cookie jar cut out) a few years ago at Target, and never used it until this week.  It is laminated, so the letters I wrote in Sharpie will wipe right off with rubbing alchohol.

 The baker places the cookie on the pocket chart behind the matching initial sound picture cards.  (This pocket chart is part of a Skill Spot - the kids can rearrange the the mixed up sentence strips shown above.  Below you can see some poems in write on/wipe off protectors hanging on the side of the pocket chart stand.  The kids love to look for sight words an letters, circling them with dry erase markers - which are also hanging on the stand.)

This baker means business!  :-) Kinders love to pose for my camera!

This book is a favorite of mine, and my Kinders.  I had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Laminack several times - he visited our school, and I attended two of his workshops at our local university.  I have an autographed copy of this book!

After reading Snow Day! by Lester Laminack, we wrote about what we would do if we had a snow day.  The kids used lots of strategies to do their writing - sounding out words, and writing the letters they heard, looking around the room for words, using our Idea Snowman, and asking a friend for help.  Here are a few examples.  I think they did a good job!  Get the writing page here.

Report Cards are Done! Sale on TpT

Report cards are done!  Yay!  I had just a few grades to put in, and happily my Harmony flash drive worked, so I am finished.  I also finished working on some new snowman packs for Teachers pay Teachers!  Whew!  Now, if I only could get caught up with my laundry.  :-) 

To help celebrate the fact that I got a lot accomplished this weekend, I'm throwing a sale!  My three snowman packs will be on sale Sunday, 1/20/13 - 1/23/13!  Check them out now, then snap them up in time for your winter learning.  Enjoy!

Students can practice reading CVC words with the activities in this set.

My Jolly Snowmen Building Number Sense Pack has loads of fun activities!

 

Students can practice numbers to 20 with the Snowman Ten Frame set.

 

 

Let it Snow!

Well...maybe not.  We have had very little snow this winter - really nothing more than a dusting (and I'm not too upset about it - snow pants, boots, etc. UGH!).  But, it's only January!  This week we have read several snow themed books, and have done a number of "snowy" crafts.  Here are some pictures of the snow storm inside our Kinder classroom.

Snow globes!  The kids designed their own snowmen.  I think they turned out really cute.

Our hallway bulletin board.  I left the Christmas lights on for added sparkle.  We made the snowflakes today - it really did look as if a snow storm had hit our room!  I set the timer for five minutes and told them to start shoveling!  I did not want our custodian to walk in and find that mess.  (The room looked pretty good when we left!)

A snowman should not...  We read Sneezy the Snowman and then did this fun project from Deanna Jump's cute TpT activity set.

These cute snowmen are also from Deanna Jump's cute TpT activity set.

In this activity, students spin to complete a graph.  Whichever hat gets the most spins "wins," and a sun or snowflake determines whether or not Sneezy is frosty or melted.  I projected the spinner onto my white board and used a magnetic spinner for a whole class activity.  My daughter, also a kindergarten teacher, had her Kinders work in small groups - which resulted in some melty & some frosty snowmen.  Either way, the kids loved this activity!