Saint Patrick's Day

This is the first year we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the classroom. I found a great idea on Kindergarten Lifestyle that I thought would make some great memories for the kids, so I decided to run with it!

Here is what we found in my classroom Monday morning.

This note was waiting for us on my teacher chair at the circle area.

We found our calendar upside down..

And a big mess in the block center!

There was green glitter and shamrocks strewn across the tables.

And even the fish tank was decorated.

The glitter led right up to a tiny door on our wall...

Counting to 100 with Leprechaun Gold

 

After recess, we found this note.

Of course we needed to find this gold and count it to be sure we had 100 pieces! 

 

Subtraction Bracelets

We needed to make sure everyone was wearing some green, so next we made subtraction bracelets, with green beads strung onto pipe cleaner. We used these to tell story problems and write number sentences.

  

 

Happy St. Patrick's Day! 

I Love My Shoes Class Book

Pete the Cat books are some of our favorites.  The text is repetitive and sing-song, and the kids memorize them quickly.

In the past, I've used the Writer's Workshop model for writing, but it hasn't always worked for all students. Some kids are ready for it, but others (specifically those who aren't huge fans of drawing) can't stay focused or on task very long.

So lately I've been integrating writing more with other subjects. We still do journal writing about 2 days a week, but the rest of the week we are making class books and doing art/writing that goes along with our current theme. Last week we made a Pete the Cat book.

First, I took a picture of everyone's shoes.

Including my own :)

I printed them out, and had the kids write "I love my ____ shoes!" 

Everyone was motivated and worked hard.  When we were done, I bound the pages and we read the book together.

So far, the book has been a popular choice during independent reading times.  We happen to be working on color words at the moment, so this is perfect for practicing those!