Building Numbers 3 - 5

We have spent quite a bit of time working with numbers - composing and decomposing the numbers 3 - 5.  My Kinders have really enjoyed using a variety of manipulative to create number bonds.  Our corporation adopted Math in Focus - a Singapore approach to teaching math.  I really like the hands-on nature of this method of teaching math.  And, I think the Kinders like it, too!

Here are the anchor charts I made for the numbers 3 - 5.  They aren't very fancy, but they do the trick!

 

I know this is weird - the kids being backwards and all - but here is a glimpse of an activity we did to learn about the number 4.  Hula hoops were used to make life sized number bonds.  The kids stood inside the hoops to show part - part - whole.

These cupcake puppets are included in my number bond kit on Teachers pay Teachers.

Turkey Day is Coming!

 Now that it is November, I thought that we should get going on our Thanksgiving themed projects.  This is an extra short month this year - it will be time to deck the halls before you know it!  Here are a few things we did today.

Tom the Turkey Word Family Bird.  I made this turkey to help my Kinders to practice making short i word families.  The turkey isn't fully attached to the black paper so the feathers can easily slip in and out of the "pocket."  To make -it words, the kids can select a feather and clip it on the brown shape above Tom's head with a clothespin.  The -it shape is attached with masking tape, so it will be easy to change word families. 

At Hats.  We brainstormed a list of -at words - the kiddos were amazed that they could easily spell and read -at words.  They wrote the words we spelled onto the hat band.

Crafts & a Cute Gift

Here are two of our current craft displays - one on a bulletin board and one on the wall just outside the classroom.

Meow!  My Kinders really enjoyed making these cute black cats.  I enjoyed making the funny kitty on my Cricut!

M is for Mouse!

A close up of one of the cute M mice.

A student's mom made this for me.  It is the perfect place to *hide* my powder compact, lip gloss & chapstick on my desk! 

Station for this Week

We finished last week's stations yesterday, and began a new round of stations today.  The lovely four day weekend we just had has thrown us off our usual Monday - Friday schedule.  It took a while, but last year we realized that it is nice to begin our stations on any day but Monday.  The reason being that we don't have to stay as long on Friday setting things up for the following week.  I usually don't leave school on weekdays until 4:30ish, so I don't mind staying a little longer (on any day but Friday...).

Word Work Station.  I found these word sliders at Make Take Teach blog.  There are more word families available, but I only printed up the families with short a.

I created this record sheet so the kids can write the words they read.  I always like to include some sort of record sheet in my stations.  They not only give the kids practice, but allow me to monitor their independent work, and lets parents see what their children are doing in class.

 

Writing Station.  As I have mentioned before, we often include letter practice, and fine motor activities in our writing stations.  This letter sorting activity is from a 2010 issue of The Mailbox.

Once they are finished sorting their letters, they can do this page from an older issue of Teacher's Helper.

Mrs. S. will be listening to the Kinders read these decodable and leveled books.

My station.  (Math Literacy)  We will be working with numbers to 5 using this Pumpkin Patch Number Bonds activity, my very first Teachers pay Teachers offering.

This record sheet is included in the activity set.

Learning Stations

My Kinders have been doing such a great job working in our Learning Stations!  I really think that the time spent "building stamina" was worth it!  This wonderful practice of giving students time to practice proper behavior came from The Daily Five.  We (my teaching partners & I) don't really do a full-fledged version of The Daily Five, but more of a mix.. Our Learning Stations combine a weekly four and one math station.  (Yep, we sneak a little math into our Literacy Block - there is, after all, literacy included in all content areas.)  The four skills we focus on are: Listen to reading (Listening Station - usually not pictured), Writing (we often include some sort of fine motor activity such as cutting or tracing at the beginning of the year), Word Work/Literacy Skills, Reading Skills (including working on skills that lead to becoming a good reader), and finally Math Literacy.  Mrs. S. usually heads up the Reading Station, and I do the Math Station.  I am fortunate to have volunteers on most days - an eighth grader comes in on Tuesday & Thursday, an some moms come in on Wednesday and Friday.  These volunteers help out as needed in the remaining three stations.

Here are some recent Learning Stations:

Sort picture cards by the first sound.  Draw pictures on the record sheet that begin with the letter sounds. 

Sorting Sandwiches.  Sort out "sandwiches" onto letter or number "napkins.  I have found that color-coding materials by simply drawing a line around the cards helps Kinders to keep materials organized.  Each student in this station had his/her own sack lunch to sort out.  Each bag had color-coded pieces, which happily ended up put away in the correct bag.  A modified worksheet from Teacher's Helper (not pictured) was used for a record sheet.

 Playdough letters.  I didn't have time to laminate the cards - so I popped them (two - back to back) into page protectors. 

Shape ID & graphing.  The blue tub is a mushroom container.  We eat lots of mushrooms at my house, and I save the containers.  They make perfect tubs for handing out manipulatives and little pieces for craft projects.  I also give them to my kids when cutting out pieces that need to be glued onto a page (such as the one below).  They can place the pieces into their tubs as they cut.  This really helps to prevent pieces from becoming lost or mixed up with a neighbor's pieces!

After sorting and graphing the shapes, students sorted and glued shapes.  This page from Teacher's Helper also gave them the opportunity to read and spell the names of the shapes.

Word Sort.  The sight words were sorted by the number of letters, and then written onto the record sheet.

Two part station: Cut out and sort pictures by initial sound, and then trace and write letters and words.

Write the room.  Oh my, how the Kinders love to do this!  There is nothing cooler than wearing groovy star glasses (I popped the tinted lenses out) and writing with a sparkly pencil.  In this installment, the kiddos searched for words beginning with P & S. 

Read, Spell, Write!  I wrote sight words and -ap & -am word family words onto laminated fall leaves (use a Sharpie - wipe off with rubbing alcohol).  The kids read, spelled, and wrote the words.

Making 10.  In this Math Station, the Kinders used two colored counters to give the ladybugs various combinations of ten spots.  They then practiced writing number sentences.

BOO!

 I've been BOOED - that's a good thing - by:

You've probably all played the popular game BOO at school where you leave a ghost on someone's desk or mailbox along with a treat. Let's do the same by sharing some love from our stores...

Here's how to play. Choose a fellow blogger that has MORE followers, another that has about the SAME number of followers, and last, someone that has LESS followers.

Highlight their blogs with links to encourage others to check them out. Don't forget to let your fellow bloggers know that you shared about them.
Lastly, leave them some love by offering them a goody from your store as their "treat." 

Here are the blogs I am sending a friendly BOO! to.  I don't have a TPT store *yet* but I do have lots of freebies available on my blog.  I hope they can find something they can use.  Happy  Haunting!

http://acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

http://acupcakefortheteacher.blogspot.com/
 

 

http://whoooloveskindergarten.blogspot.com/

 

Autumn Leaves Syllable Sort

Fall is in the air!  It's hard to believe how quickly the leaves have changed.  It doesn't look as if this summer's drought will affect the fall colors too much.  (I hope.)  Thinking fallish thoughts, I created a little syllable sorting activity for my Kinders.  They enjoyed naming their leaf pictures and clapping out the beats.

My students liked sticking their leaves onto the appropriate tree. 

Our current focus wall clotheslines.  I like to write the sight words we are learning on cute shaped notepads.  I have gourds, apples, and pumpkins ready to go for our next unit.

Here is a freebie for a syllable sorting activity.