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!

New Teachers pay Teachers Products

Here are two new items in my Tpt store.  I hope you like them!

 Students can build word family words on this cute cupcake work mat using the large cupcakes.  Small cupcakes featuring words can be used to sort by word family with this fun Word Family Cupcake Literacy Center

Cut the cards apart to make a matching game to practice numbers to 20.  Large ten frame cards and snowflake counters are included in my Snowman Ten Frames set.

First Week in 2013

I can't decide if this first week back after Christmas break flew by or dragged on.  The kids were great on Monday & Tuesday, but yesterday was kind of crazy - we had THREE!! drills:  Lock down, fire, and tornado.  Of course, we had to practice the lock down and tornado drills, and talk about the fire drill before they happened, so really we did each drill several times.  Today was spent trying to convince everyone that we really do need to work.  One more day until the weekend!

Additionally, we Kinder teachers are in the middle of Quarterly Testing.  Report cards come out soon, so we need to test our kiddos to see how much they know.  (So far, so good!!)  Once the quarterlies are done, we have to buckle down and get mClass testing done.  At times like this, cloning seems like a good idea!  :-)

We (Mrs. S. & I) are testing in our Stations, so we only have Listening, Word Work, and Writing activities this week.  Here are some pictures of those and some other stuff.

A new book!  Rocket, who learned to read in his first book, now writes a story.  I was so excited when I saw this in Barns & Noble yesterday.  We read it the first thing in the morning.  After morning work, announcements, and attendance the first thing we do each day is read a book.  I think it sets a great tone for the entire day, and the kids really look forward to listening to our Opening Story.

Word Work Station.  This mini book about color words is from Teacher's Helper.

Writing Station.  This page is from an older
Teacher's Helper.  On Monday we read The Snowy Day to prepare for this writing prompt.  

We have been working on making numbers to twenty.  We used this cute penguin ten frame and playing cards to make numbers.  The Kinders worked in pairs, turning over a card (Ace - 10) and placing that many foam counters on the blank ten frame.  We also played "Around the World" with the playing cards.  Players tried to be the first tell how many ten and X more are in order to travel around the world.

Bean Sticks (shown in a post from last year)  I got smart this year and made T-charts on paper plates to use as work mats.  Not as many loose beans fell to the floor!

I just got this set out, but haven't formally used it.  When I'm testing a child in my station, the others have simply enjoyed playing with the animals.  I was able to get three sets, so I have enough work mats and animals for all eighteen of my Kinders.

Idea Snowman.  I made this smiling (armless as one child pointed out) snowman to hold sticky notes with ideas and words to use in our winter writing.  The kids have had fun brainstorming ideas, so the sticky notes keep adding up!  If it gets them excited about writing, I'm happy!

Freebie Linky

I've linked up with Teaching Blog Addict for this Freebie Linky.

Book Giveaway

Here is my first Giveaway!  I will give a signed copy of my daughter Emily's book Reaper to one lucky follower using Rafflecopter (I hope I did it correctly!).

Reaper is Emily's second book in her Guardian Legacies Series.

REAPER: Book two in The Guardian Legacies

After discovering her destiny as a witch, Anora is on a mission to find out everything she can about the magical world. Unbeknownst to her, the creatures of that world are trying to find out everything they can about her…and the people closest to her.

With Ethan and Hunter to protect her, Anora feels safe and happy with her new life. That is, until she begins to be plagued with terrifying visions that only she can see, leaving her full of fear and doubt. What if the hallucinations are real? What if there is something dark out there that can attack her from within?

If Anora can’t even trust herself, who can she turn to?

www.facebook.com/theguardianlegacies

a Rafflecopter giveaway