Playing with Shapes

As any early childhood educator knows kids learn best through play. This was proven recently by my class as we were learning about shapes. In addition to our "regular" lessons on shapes my Kinders had lots of hands-on experiences with shapes. The materials were introduced during whole group lessons, but then were placed in our "math baskets" for lots of exploritory play.

Super cheap coffee stirrers are perfect for making shapes with sides & corners. I cut some in half so the kids could make rectangles & various sizes of squares during this whole group lesson.

In another whole group lesson we added some Wikki Stix to create shapes with curves, shapes with straight lines, and shapes with curves & straight lines. 

Once this little guy discovered that the Wikki Stix fit into the ends of the coffee stirrers we had all sorts of interesting shapes. After we were done with this lesson I put everything into a basket & the kids had fun playing with them during our free play times.

We started learning the names & properties of solid shapes as a whole group. But, the fun began once I put the shapes into a math basket. That's when the kids really learned which shapes can roll or can be stacked. They also compared & matched faces while building some pretty interesting structures.

The cool outcome of all this play is that when I tested my kiddos everyone was able to name the flat shapes & nearly everyone was able to name the solid shapes! Even those who couldn't remember the names of the solid shapes could tell me why some could roll & others couldn't & the names of the faces. CCSS standard: CCSS.MATH.CONTENT.K.G.B.4 Analyze and compare two- and three-dimensional shapes ~ check!

Math ~ Daily 3

I'm sure that you are very familiar with The Daily 5 for teaching literacy.  Last year I began using the framework in my literacy block and was very happy with the results.  I used a blended version of the Daily 5 and my traditional literacy stations.  (Read about it HERE.)  This year my literacy block consists of mini lessons and 1 - 3 rounds of D5.  We have four out of five choices up and running (Read to Someone is currently on the back burner.)  My little cuties are pretty good at staying on task and working quietly.  I try to meet with at least one group of 2 - 4 students to work on a specific skill each day.  Additionally, I meet with individual students for quick checks or individual practice.  The Daily 5 is a very good way to give students many opportunities to practice literacy skills.

This past summer I read the second edition of The Daily 5.  In addition to updated thoughts on D5 as a literacy tool, it included a chapter on Math Daily 3.  The Math Daily 3 are ~ Math on my Own, Math with a Partner, and Math Writing.  I was so excited to read this chapter!  It gives great ideas on how to incorporate the framework of Literacy D5 into your math block.  Our corporation uses a Singapore approach to teaching math, and my Kinder teammates and I use many of the lessons and materials from the Guiding Kinders math sets by Deanna Jump & Deedee Wills.  The Singapore approach to teaching math includes lots of hands-on practice with manipulatives before doing worksheets.  Mrs. Jump & Mrs. Wills did a great job creating activities that follow the logical sequence of "I do, We do, You do."  My Kinders are really progressing in their understanding of math skills, and are eager for something more.  In comes Math Daily 3!


To create a place for math materials, I gathered my baskets from the free teacher store, dish tubs from Target, and a rainbow drawer unit from Aldi along with an assortment of shelves.  It may not be pretty, but it does the job.  (I do need to cover that messy refrigerator back ~ I wasn't happy when someone scribbled on it last year...)  The Math Baskets are for Math on My Own.  The Math Drawers contain worksheets (sometimes materials to use with the worksheets) for Math Writing, and the Math Tubs contain games and other manipulatives for Math with a Partner.  We just call them Math Drawers, Baskets, and Tubs.

I guess I didn't take as many pictures of this as I had thought.  (And the picture in the upper left corner is actually a Math Basket.)  But, you can see from these few pictures that Math Drawers contain pages for the kiddos to practice writing numbers, etc.

 Math Baskets contain a variety of materials for practicing skills independently.

 Math Tubs contain activities that are meant to be done with a partner.  Because there is partner work going on, Math Daily 3 isn't as quiet as Literacy Daily 5.

My Kinders really enjoy using the materials in our Math Daily 3 center.  I have found that I don't really need to change out the materials that often ~ I trade out things every 3 weeks or so.  Sometimes I simply add more to a tub or basket, leaving older things in a little while longer.  (It really depends upon student interest & need.)

If you are interested in using Math Daily 3 activities, you may be interested in my new Candy Corn Measuring (not just for Halloween) set.  Click HERE to purchase.  I used the measuring activity with the whole class & put the cards into a Math Drawer for extra practice.

New Product & a Call Out for a Giveaway

One of the items on my summer bucket list is to make some more products for Teachers pay Teachers.  Here is my first offering of the summer!  I decided to make something that will be fun to use towards the beginning of the year, so I made this cute cupcake counting & number recognition set (graphics made by little ole me!).  Check it out in my TpT store.

 Another item on my summer bucket list is to have another giveaway.  I thought it would be fun to include items from other teachers in this giveaway.  If you are interested in participating, please send me an email and/or leave a comment below.  In return for your participation I will send you a copy of all the items that I am including in the giveaway, and I will follow all of your links.  I hope to have this going by next weekend, so if you are interested, please comment and/or email me at kindergartendoodles@yahoo.com as soon as possible.  Thanks!

Linky Party Saturday

I love the potential of a good linky party!  Not only will my little blog get some visitors that may not have found their way to my little piece of the blogosphere, I get a chance to visit some very interesting blogs!  There are some very amazing teachers out there, and I am so happy that I can get a chance to go on some virtual visits their classrooms!  In this post I am linking up with  Doodles Bugs and Flying into First Grade for these two Linky Parties. 

Linky #1

 

OK,  here's my first linky entry:

1.Number Flowers from Miss Kindergarten.  We had fun working with numbers to create these cute flowers.  

 

 2.  We read a lot of animal books this week, two of which were Is your Mama a Llama? and Are You my Mother?  After some lively didiscussions about our mothers, the Kinders wrote about them in their journals.  They LOVE to read their writing on the white board! 

 3.  Name your sorting rule!  We spent lots of time sorting all sorts of things - ourselves, manipulatives, etc.  In this activity students sorted animal pictures and stated their sorting rule.

 Here's the link to get this activity.

4.  More sorting.  The kids had fun sorting their shoes!  What made this activity really fun was the fact that they got to TAKE OFF THEIR SHOES!  I love Kinders - the simplest things make them happy.  This was a tricky activity because they had to agree on their sorting rules.  (Not always easy for 4 - 5 kids to do...)

 We had fun with a room full of sorting bins.  I took out a variety of sortable objects, set them around the room, and gave partners three minutes to sort.  They were given free reign on how to sort, but were required to tell me their sorting rules. When the timer went off, they picked up and moved to the next bin.  Here are some of the sorting rules they came up with.  What smarties I have!  <3

5.  The view from my back porch Thursday evening.  (Looking over my neighbor's hay field - the clouds look like water...)  Full moon + the day before a 3 day weekend + almost the end of the school year... enough said  :-)

 

Linky  #2

Flying into First Grade is hosting another fun linky where we get to introduce our bloggy friends.  I actually only know three bloggers - my beautiful daughters!  Sarah has a kindergarten blog, Emily has an author blog, and Gabrielle has a fashion/lifestyle blog.  I would love to get to know some other bloggers.  If anyone is interested in contacting me, I would love to hear from you!

Here are links to my girls' blogs.

Kinder Cakes

   http://kindergartencakes.blogspot.com/

 Emily Goodwin's Author page

 

 the twenties girl

                

Hello Again!

It has been a while since I've last posted anything!  Sorry!  As I'm sure you all are, I've been super busy with the holiday preparations - and trying to keep my Kinders on track.  Christmas - and other December holidays - really add a whole other dimension to a Kindergarten classroom!  Really, they have been pretty good.  

Here are some pictures of a few activities we've recently done.

 How many will fit?  My Kinders enjoyed this lesson on volume:  Testing how many items will fit into a small plastic cup "with the lid shut" (a hand placed over the top).  Using a white board & clothes pin to fashion clipboards, they recorded their findings on this record sheet.

 Each table group had the same six *mushroom* tubs of objects.  The little pompons were the most challenging to count.

When they compared their results, they were amazed to find out that their numbers were very similar.
                                        
 Math Art!  I have really enjoyed incorporating art projects into our Math curriculum.  In this activity students sorted large and small triangles, circles, and stars.  After sorting they created these cute Christmas trees for our classroom bulletin board.

We recently read Yoko - a tale of a girl who is teased for her lunch of sushi.  (As it happened on the day I read this - before I read it - a little boy told me that he had sushi in his lunchbox!)  Using manilla file folders (which are on our school supply list) I had my eighth grade helper cut out these lunch boxes, which the kids decorated.  Inside they wrote a menu of what they would like to have for lunch, and then drew the food.

                                  

This little boy has such nice handwriting! 

Star Ice Cubes and a Freebie

I spent a fun day with my amazing two year old granddaughter.  Everything everyone says about grandchildren is true!  We have so much fun together.  "Baby Cakes" and I spend every Friday together:  We go to the park (she is a champion swing rider), visit my mother, and come back to Mimi & Papa's house for lunch and an afternoon of crafts and play.  It stormed this afternoon so we didn't get to go out to the barn.  She loves to visit the horses and ferrets who live out there. 

Anyway, now for the "Educational" part of this posting:

I recently found these at the Dollar Spot in Target.  Most "normal" people would see these and say, "Wow! I can make star shaped ice cubes."  But, I bet most of you teachers said, "Wow!  I can make star shaped ten frames."  Well, that's exactly what I did...

I cut up another star necklace for the counters.

Not a real great picture, but you can get the freebie here.

Dollar Deals at Target & Walmart

Even though I am on Summer Vacation, I can't help browsing the Dollar Spot at Target and checking out the deals at Walmart for things I can use at school.  I found some nifty items this week to make some number sense activities.  (Hurry to your local store - these things may be in stock there, too!)


Before:

I was walking past the picnic stuff in Walmart and these little plates caught my eye.  (Most people would think of them as a way to keep the beans from soaking their hot dog bun.  But, I instantly thought number bonds! when I saw them.)  The patriotic necklaces were a few aisles over.    


After: 

I made some number cards, cut apart the necklaces and I have a Math Center!

Before:

I found these items in the dollar spot at Target, not knowing exactly what I wanted to do with them.  Below is a photo of an activity made from the coasters, sticky notes, and burger baskets.
After: 

I wrote numbers on the sticky notes and glued them onto cardstock to make cards.  Using the coasters as counters, students can practice a variety of number sense skills as outlined in this  Lemonade Stand Freebie.

Picnic Number Bond Freebie

I made this activity to keep my Kinders interested on these last few days.  They really enjoyed making numbers with ants!  We used the number cards from our old Saxon materials, but some number cards are included in the freebie.

 Picnic Number Bonds Freebie

Final Stations for the Year

We are in the home stretch, and needed something sort of simple for our Literacy Stations.  We each selected quick to set up activities for our Stations.  Yesterday at PLC our principal asked us to reflect on our year.  Each team shared some success stories.  One of ours was our Literacy Stations.  By working in small groups our students were able to practice five different skills each week through fun and engaging activities.  These small groups also allowed us to differentiate lessons for our various learners.  Each week at our Team Planning Meeting, we discussed what skills were coming up, and which skills needed to be retaught.  Using this information, we worked together to create and share some wonderful activities.  I want to say THANK YOU! to my wonderful team.  It has been a great year!

Reading Station.  This is a Plural Noun game from a Mailbox book (I don't remember the title, but it had ten different game boards and ten different games.) 

The students did this page after playing the game.

Literacy Station.  I absolutley love The Mailbox!  There are so many wonderful ready to use activites in each issue.  This sorting activity is a great follow up to the past few weeks' color and number word activites.

Writing Station.  This sentence writing activity was pulled out of a Mailbox magazine and laminated. 

Once the Kinders worked together to put the sentences in order, they wrote them onto lined paper.

Math Literacy.  This is one of the nifty Lakeshore activities we have.  Students used realistic looking ladybugs to act out simple addition story problems.

After completing the activity above, the kids did this addition page from Teacher's Helper.

Listening Station.  For a change, the Kinders listened to a phonemic awareness CD from Lakeshore.  See the box below.