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!

100th Day of School

Last week we celebrated our 100th day of school! 

Instead of our normal morning work, we did a Color by Picture page with 100 objects. This is available for free on The Kinder Polka Dot Patch blog.

We made 100 Days Smarter Hats attached to sentence strips.

We played Roll the Dice to 100 with a partner. This game is really simple and gets them familiar with the 100 chart. They take turns rolling the dice and crossing out that number of squares. Make sure to model starting at the top and moving left to right.

We made pictures of When We're 100 Years Old. I had to post a bunch of examples because I think they all came out so hilarious and unique!

I created templates for the head, neck, and blue background. Each child also had an 1/8th sheet of red and a 1/2 sheet of white to use for a mouth and hair.

We made 100 Day Necklaces with Fruit Loops. I've always used Cheerios in the past, and will have to switch back to that next year. There weren't enough Fruit Loops in the box for each child to have 100!

Finally, I made a 100 Day Cake. :)

Active Learner Sign

I've seen lots of signs like this one on Pinterest lately, and decided I needed one as a welcome sign for my classroom!

I wanted the wording on mine to be a little different, so I made my own. I googled a chalkboard background, and downloaded some free chalkboard fonts. It ended up looking like this:

Click on the photo to get it in it's original printable size.

Next, I painted a canvas black, and threw on a layer of Mod Podge.

 

I threw on the printed paper and put another layer of Mod Podge over the top.

 I did an awful job of getting the paper to lay flat, so it's wrinkly, but I don't think anyone's noticed! I still love it!

You could just as easily just stick it in an 8X10 frame and not deal with the Mod Podge! I just happened to have a larger canvas and frame laying around that I wanted to reuse.

6 Great Ways to Teach Addition

This is a difficult unit to plan for, because I still have a good handful of kiddos who are struggling with numbers and counting. I want them to be able to fully participate without needing help every step of the way.

What I've found works best to start out are art projects. We can play around with the pieces before we glue them down, and the strugglers don't have to struggle! Bonus: they are working on fine motor and following directions at the same time. :)

Here are the projects I used this year:

WATERMELON ADDITION from Mrs. Cate's Kindergarten

 

We used real sunflower seeds for this one! After they cut/glued their watermelon together, I gave each child between 3-6 seeds. Since this was their first addition project, they had a hard time understanding that they had to put the seeds into 2 groups, even after some modeling. Next time maybe I'll draw a line down the middle of the watermelon template.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished products! This one is from Mrs. Cate's Kindergarten blog.

I used the template provided on All Kids Network.

LADYBUG ADDITION from The Measured Mom

 

Again, I forgot to take pictures! But this is what my sample looked like. The template has the head and body pre-drawn for them, but then I had them create the antennae, 6 legs, and spots on their own. They could decide how many spots they wanted to use.

M&M COOKIE ADDITION

 

This one was really fun! I didn't use a template here. I just gave each child a sheet of brown paper and had them draw their own circles. It was such a challenge for them to make the cookies the right size (big enough)! For some reason they like to draw really small!

I honestly can't remember where I found this idea. If anyone knows, please send me a message so I can give credit where it is due! It's a keeper though!

MARSHMALLOW ADDITION from the Wood Kinder Class

 

For this craft, kids cut out 2 coffee mugs (from a template) and glued them onto another sheet of paper.



I gave each child 5 marshmallows and we played around with different combinations of 5 before gluing them down.

SNOWMAN ADDITION from The First Grade Parade

 

 

I had lots of construction paper squares out for the kiddos to use- I asked that they use only 2 colors and make a pattern. Next, I had them add up how many they used of each color.

DOMINO ADD IT UP is a freebie from TeachersPayTeachers

 

I wasn't sure how they'd do with this one, but I was impressed.

You wouldn't think this would be enough practice with the actual math for them to really start to understand it, but you'd be amazed! I think the key is that they ENJOY it. And they can see how they could use math in real life with real objects.

In the past, my addition unit mainly utilized 2-sided counters and whiteboards. We'd model story problems and write number sentences. This was really frustrating for them and they got bored of it quickly. Next week I'll introduce some addition math centers and partner games so they can really hone their skills.