Happy New Year: Penguin Promises

Here is a penguin promise writing prompt.  I am adding a penguin head, wings, and feet to it to make it into a craftivity.  Click on the image below to get the writing prompt freebie.  :)

Elf Ten Frames and TpT Sale!!

I'm gearing up to go back to school on Cyber Monday.  I was waiting to get into number combinations for 10 until after Thanksgiving break for a few reasons.  1)  I wanted 90% of my Kindergarten class counting past 50.  2)  I wanted 90% of my class to have one-to-one correspondence when counting to 20.  3)  I wanted to introduce counting on.  Well, I have 100% of my class counting to twenty with one-to-one correspondence and 90% can count past 50.  Over 70% can count to 100!!!  That being said, it's time to step it up a notch and build some more number sense!!  And now it's time for me to divulge a little dirty secret...  I have a love/hate relationship with ten frames.  On the one hand, they are a fantastic tool for teaching number sense.  On the other hand, they are so mundane with those ten blank boxes staring up at the poor children's faces...  I just can't STAND them by themselves.  SO, I usually have something FUN to fill them with (e.g. seasonally themed erasers).  This weekend, I did something even better, I created my own seasonal ten frames powerpoint.  :)

I have it set up to use like flashcards where the ten frame comes onto the screen with dots filled in and then when you click, the numeral the ten frame represents flashes onto the screen.  I am going to first use it instructionally with "My Turn/ Your Turn."  Later, I will have the students try to "beat the computer" and call out the number before I click to put it on the screen.  Eventually, I will mix up the numbers and play "beat the computer" with these virtual flashcards.

Additionally, I have some word problem slides with number sentences that have missing addends and a slide with a blank ten frame to print off and use with ten frame games.

You can find the powerpoint for sale by clicking the image below.  :)

Recipe Writing for Thanksgiving!

Want a quick, fun writing activity for Thanksgiving?  My friend helped me devise this one.  I thought it would easily be tweaked for up to third grade.  You can have students choose their favorite Thanksgiving food and have them write the recipe they think will result in their favorite food.  Be sure to explain the ingredients are the things that make the food taste good.  Then, explain some of the words they should include in the directions, such as mix, stir, cook, and/or bake.  Second and third graders can be made to include measurements of their foods and asked to create recipes for foods froom the first Thanksgiving feast from 400 years ago.  At that time, they likely would have eaten deer, wild turkeys, or geese.  

I'm having my kindergarteners also illustrate their food on a separate piece of paper and glue the two side-by-side onto a giant piece of construction paper.  We're laminating them for placemats the family can enjoy discussing at Thanksgiving time!  :)  Click the image below to download from TPT.

Conference Season!

I live in a city whose motto is "The City of Five Seasons."  I think the fifth season is conferences!!  Either that or assessment.  ;)  I definitely have been busy trying to gather all of the necessary data for the new Iowa Core math assessment in addition to trying to prep for conferences.  Well, my team's decision to use lotuses has helped immensely with conference preparation.  I have almost all the data necessary to complete these two lotuses.  The first is math and the second is reading.  I have saved these as downloadable google docs so if anyone wants to try the lotus out for conferences or data sharing with parents, they can tweak to their liking.  :)

Counting to 100!!

Well, here we are...  Almost October!  My Kindergarten team really tries to zone in on one or two Student Learning Expectations (aka SLEs) to focus our instruction and help ALL kids learn.  We are very much into RTI...  The beginning of Kindergarten is spent really focusing on learning our sounds, a handful of sight words, and counting to 100, well, technically our end-of-October goal is 100, but a girl can be optimistic when kids are gaining about twenty numbers per week!

In order to do this, a person (namely me) needs to get creative.  I LOVE the Harry Kindergarten videos on You Tube!!  The kids do, too, so we have begun using these to count.  Thus far, I have only introduced the "I Can Count to 100" video found below.

I've also just created a fun pack of secret hundred's chart pictures.  These pictures help kids work on number recognition.  At the beginning of the year, I call the numbers and colors out to the students so they can find them.  We just switched our math instruction to a small group math instruction model (kind of like guided reading, but guided math, instead) and this is such a good activity for kids to do within that small group instruction as you see they are becoming more familiar with numbers.  Later in the year, they are able to track the tiny numbers and color words written at the bottom themselves.  It's fun to see how they become more independent with this activity as time goes by.  :)  There are two links.  The first picture will take you to the freebie which has a September and October picture.  The second will take you to my TPT store for the full year version which is for sale.

Being Scientific is Being Terrific!

I just went to a science kit training on a science unit from FOSS that my students will be doing in the near future.  I am really excited that we will be studying paper and wood, but wanted to provide a definite focus for our science exploration discussions, so I will begin each science lesson with the posters below:

As I teach in a school with an English Language Learner program, I need to be sure to have a lot of visuals associated with my expectations.  I have found that talking about what to talk about ahead of time with visuals to explain improves their processing immensely!  Click on the graphic for a free download from my TpT store.  :)

Homework?

Just as differentiating instruction within the classroom is important, it is also important to me to differentiate my communication with the families in my classroom.  This is why on Parent Information Night I shared that I don't send official homework home, but I may send work that is incomplete or needs further practice home.  This work is always sent with a note.  Since I do have a classroom website, I thought I would add in some home practice opportunities via my newsletter link.  The first thing I'm posting for parents is a printable worksheet of color words-- in color!  Since reproducing the page in color at school is too costly, offering it to parents via the website seems a cost-efficient way to provide meaningful word practice at home.  I hope this new delivery method will reap its learning rewards with my students!!  :)
Here is the page if you would like it for using/sending home with select students, and here is the link (https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7BUC0wPpmuMVHpiOUVjWnZDdjg) if you have a classroom website and would like to link to it.  :)