Weather, Apples, and Freebies

Hello from the world of Kindergarten! We have been studying weather, and I just had share this adorable FREEBIE with you from the fantastic Laura Martin : ) This can be used with many grade levels depending on what you would like them to learn (and write) about each weather word! Some of my kinders' writing is really coming along, and they thought of each definition by themselves.  They were so proud!

 

Who doesn't love Cara Carroll? She is so talented and friendly, and oh so cute! I LOVED her Write the Room activities! My kids enjoyed finding the words around the room as something fun to do!  It really motivates some of my friends that don't love writing yet : )

Deanna Jump, an inspiration, a star! She has the best products, you have to agree! Her Halloween Math and Literacy Unit is just as fabulous as all of her others... I know she is so successful because each holiday or themed unit is just as creative and great as the next.  Thank you Deanna for making Kindergarten so wonderful for me and my children this year!

  

Check out my TPT STORE for my updated products and newly listed ones.. there are a few great Kinder freebies too! : ) 

And just a little side note, my coworkers and I got a Keurig, and these Half-Caff's are PERFECT for me.... yay! : ) Hope everyone is enjoying their October!

Here's my little baby Lily.. she's getting so big! I love her so much and I am so blessed to have her : )

Community Helpers and ABCs

In Kindergarten we just finished  our Community Helpers unit.  I LOVED Simply Kinder's Community Helper Interactive Journals... my students had so much fun with them and felt VERY accomplished after finishing : ] They were so proud!

 

I wanted to take so many pictures of the cherished kinder work, but I forgot and they all took them home :[ Lucky for me, one student didn't check his mail box so I got some shots ;]

We have been using Scholastic's ABC Books and my kids love them.  I have been using them daily because my kiddos have caught on very quickly with the alphabet, and most of them already recognized most if not all letters.  I love these books because it is easy to differentiate with each child - Each booklet allows the students to write/draw what they learned about that letter.  My kinders write down words and pictures, words, or just pictures for the letter.  I praise them no matter what level they are on!  And as you can see below, I will occasionally give a treat or do something special for a letter :]

 

 I just introduced Word Work into our Daily 5 routine... the students are VERY excited.. they love the magnet letters (with the cookie sheet), foam letters for making words (and as you can see below, they can give themselves a star or other picture to show they completed a word!) and using dry erase is always a big hit as well :] I LOVE teaching Kindergarten because I love to give them so much praise and show them that they can do anything... many of them are just learning to read and this world of Kinder is so new to me, but exciting and EXTREMELY rewarding!

Today was National Bosses Day and my kiddos and I decorated this piece of wood for the director of our school.  We finished it with their names and a kind message, but I wanted to show you the basis for our creation - finger paint! I drew out the outline for the grass, but the kiddos just went crazy with paint on their little fingers and made these adorable flowers :] easy and fun, and can be used for a gift for just about anyone :]

 

I have created a few more Kindergarten products for Halloween.. Hope you can check them out! One of them being a freebie!

Craftivities and Fire Prevention Week

Hi all! I haven't blogged in so long.. how is everything going? I am very busy! Besides entertaining my kindergarteners and tutoring and teaching a little bit of piano, I have my beautiful baby Lily- she's almost 13 weeks now : ) getting so big and still oh so smart!

 

A Common Core concept for Kindergarten is visualizing - I created this off the top of my head while reading a book about friends on a playground.. the students listened to me read the story 2 times, and they visualized what they heard from the story, and draw/wrote about it : ) Where the smiley faces are eventually were pictures of their cute, smiling faces.  They loved it!

 Who doesn't love Zero the Hero? : ) My kinders love announcing wherever he "is"... we often see him in calendar when we are counting by 10's on our 100 chart... but he can show up at any time! This is a wonderful freebie from Foxwell Forest : ) Definitely show her some love if you download!

 Fire Prevention Week was this week... we had a firefighter visit our school and I made sure to do fun activities with my kids.  They each wrote a fire safety tip to add to their portfolio.  A lot of them said that fire is only for grown ups.. but they were pretty creative (see below: Don't mess with fire hydrants!)  This adorable freebie can be found here from Jane Loretz!

 Another great freebie that my students enjoyed was from Sara Connell: Stop, drop, and roll crowns! My kids have been wearing them proudly all week!  Also, there were these cute printouts that the nursery teacher showed me with gluing spots on a dalmation from 1-4.  I decided with my kindergarteners since they were doing great with numbers, we would count 11-14 spots using q tips and black paint! They loved it and it was a challenge for them to keep track of counting and place the black spots on nicely. 

 So excited for this activity from All Students Can Shine! Her craftivities are some of the cutest I have ever seen.  You HAVE to check them out : )

For now, I must go to bed.. I have been working hard all day and I need some energy for my kinders tomorrow! Thank you so much for being a follower and sticking with me.. I will hopefully have more time to post soon :) I am hoping to have a HUGE birthday giveaway in November so be on the look out for that ;) 

Here are a few new products I just updated onto TPT:

I would love for you to become a follower on TPT... my goal is to get to 1,000 followers! I am about 100 away, but hopefully it will happen within the rest of 2013 :) :)