Phonological Awareness FREEBIE

Although, we are nearing the 100th day of school, I still have a few students who are developing their phonological awareness.

During RTI, we work closely to hone these skills.  I love using this but have found that I need more items to support their learning.

I created this Phonological Awareness Bingo game because I noticed that my students struggled to put 3 sounds together.  As we use it, students must be able to put the sounds that I say into words.  Then, they must match the picture.  This requires careful listening as there are similar pictures.

We have been playing for several weeks and I have noticed a great improvement in their ability to blend sounds into words with and without pictures.

I thought that you might enjoy this game for your students, too. Click the image to get your copy.

If you do download this freebie, I'd appreciate a comment to this question.
What do you do to help develop your students phonological skills?

Happy Teaching,

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It's All Good!

Wow!  It's hard to believe that we are entering our third week of school.  We have 10 days under our belt.  My class is doing great; all 23 of them.  This is one of the largest class sizes that I've had in over a decade.

I thought I'd pop in to share a few photos and a little freebie to use now or tuck away for next year.

While setting up my classroom, I decided to dedicate an entire white board space to math.  I am not a huge calendar fan but do use our calendar time to teach many math routines.  This trimester we are focusing on substizing  numbers from 0-6,  counting orally to 20, decomposing teen numbers, and showing multiple ways to make 5.

The monthly headers and papers above the calendar will serve as a timeline of our kindergarten year.  It was inspired by A Place Called Kindergarten.

I am in love with these Melonheadz Learning Objective Headers from Learning in Wonderland.  Although not required, during my summer course, I read about the importance of students knowing what they are learning.  These objectives will help me be more purposeful in what I am teaching and sharing that with my students.   

No beginning of the school year would be complete with Pete the Cat! We used I Love My White Shoes to review our colors. Each day, we would create a color anchor chart and share an item from home with that color.  This bulletin board display will hold my students' writing; their first opinion piece.  We also played this Pete the Cat Roll and Color game which my students loved.  

Well, as you can see, we've been busy.  But, it's all good!

Happy Teaching!

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Earth Day Mobiles - Freebie

We've had such a wonderful time learning about our environment in preparation for Earth Day.  I was able to use two wonderful resources to help me teach.  If you have not done so, go purchase Earth Day Activities and Crafts by A Year of Many Firsts and Fran Kramer's Friends of the Earth unit.  You will not be disappointed.

As a culmination of our learning, we created these Earth Day mobiles using washable markers and a coffee filter.  After our Earths dried, I used contact paper to preserve them for their memory box later. 

The next day, we brainstormed ways how we could take better care of our Earth and wrote our Earth Day Promise.  The kids did such a wonderful job applying their new learning into their promise.  I thought you might like to try this with your class too.  Click here for your freebie.  Enjoy!

Happy Teaching!

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Dental Health - A Collection of Resources and a Freebie

Are you looking for some resources to teach dental health to your little ones as well as address the Common Core Standards?  I have created a collection of resources that you can use anytime of the year. 

Reading:

These books will be sure to get your little ones excited about talking about the dentist, their teeth, and the tooth fairy.

Show Me Your Smile
Moose's Loose Tooth
Why Do I Brush My Teeth?
Dr. De Soto
The Tooth Book
Never Take a Shark to the Dentist
Just Going to the Dentist
Brush, Brush, Brush
I Know Why I Brush My Teeth
What If You Had Animal Teeth?
The Night Before the Tooth Fairy
The Berenstain Bears Visit the Dentist

Math:
As an early primary teacher, wiggly teeth are a fact of life.  I like using this song to introduce subtraction. (I've had it so long, I can't remember the source.)

Here are few math activities to use in your classroom.
1. Help the Tooth Fairy Count Her Teeth by Can Do Kinders
2. Shark Teeth Addition by HeidiSongs
3. Subtraction Smiles by Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten
4. Exploring Teeth with Dr. Seuss
5. Monster Teeth Subraction by HeidiSongs
6. Brushing Up on Teen Numbers Using QR Codes by me

The QR Code freebie works on decomposing teen numbers. I am using this as a progress monitoring assessment with my students.

Here is a sample page.

Hope you enjoy it.  

Happy Teaching!

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Vowels: The Long and Short of It

The Common Core states that in kindergarten, we:

K.RF.3   Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.

K.RF.3b Associate the long and short sounds with the common spellings (graphemes) for the five major vowels.

Teaching long vowels can be tricky for some learners; especially those who are developing phonemic awareness.  Fortunately, there are some wonderful resources that help support student learning. 

For the past several years, I have used this resource from HeidiSongs with much success. Each day, we practice by saying the letter combinations, sound and motion.  After a few times, students begin to memorize them.  

Within the kit, is a reference sheet which I copy for each student.  Students keep them in their book box where they review the sounds during Independent Reading.  They also use them during guided reading, writing, and other times during the day.

Another favorite is this song. 

Click image for your copy of Two Vowels Together

I love to have my students act it out.  I pair them up and give them letter crowns to wear. We review who will do the talking and who will do the walking.  Then, we march around the classroom; some talking and some walking.  It is always fun.  We conclude the fun by watching this.  


My goal is to help my students develop an understanding about long vowels.  In kindergarten, I introduce the concept through reading and writing but over time (in first and second grades), they will have more opportunities to work with them.


Other related Common Core Standards:
1.RF.1a  Distinguish long from short vowel sounds in spoken single-syllable words.
1.RF.3    Know and apply grade-level phonics and word analysis skills in decoding words.
1.RF.3c  Know final -e and common vowel team conventions for representing long vowel sounds.
2.RF.2b  Know spelling-sound correspondences for additional common vowel teams.

On another note:
Have you heard that Google Reader is "disappearing" July 1st?  Here are some options to keep in touch with me.  You can subscribe by email or follow on Facebook.  If you read lots of blogs, like I do, I recommend Feedly. It work on your PC or mobile device.


Happy Teaching!

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Working the Teen Numbers

Booklet from Kindergarten Works. 

My class loves composing and decomposing numbers.  They feel like math rock stars!  I am so proud of their hard work and thinking about number.  The Common Core asks children to think more about the quantities rather than just memorize how to count and write numbers.  Visualizing quantities is important for mathematical understanding.

We began this work early in the year during calendar as we talked about the date and its value.  Next, we moved to learning our teen numbers using a Number Train.  We are now composing and decomposing our teens.

I must admit, it has been much easier to teach because of the many fabulous teacher created resources from bloggers like you.   You have made teaching this skill easier and time saving.

Here are some of my favorite resources to teach Teen Numbers.
Leslie from Kindergarten Works has many resources (similar to the one above) that help teach teen numbers.
I like this, this and this from Maria at Kinder - Craze. She has really inexpensive resources that I use all the time in my room.

Lastly, I purchased this from Kroger's Kindergarten.  Although, we do not do Morning Work, I plan to use it as homework.  I am so excited about this because it is so difficult to find Common Core aligned assignments.   I've also put her Valentine's Day Math Books on my Wish List; they are great for building numbers to 5 and 10.

Finally, here is a quick Ten Plus Some More Exit Slip  that I plan to use with my students.  There are three different sheets so that I can distribute them at random as a quick progress monitoring assessment.

Learning the teen numbers can be fun!

Happy Teaching!

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Teaching Empathy to Young Learners

Teaching young children to be aware of the emotions of others can be tricky but important to creating a caring classroom environment.  

When, I read The Potato Chip Champ, I knew that I wanted to use it to teach my students about empathy.  

First of all, I felt that it was important for my students to understand what empathy meant.  This video did a good job of portraying what empathy looks and feels like.  

(For a longer video with more examples, download it as a  podcast via iTunes.)

Next, I read the book to my class.  We paused along the way to see which pictures showed empathy; an understanding of how others feel.   Then, we discussed how we could show empathy.  We used this sentence frame to help our discussion.

Click to download.

Students said that they could show empathy by asking, "Are you okay?" or saying "I'm sorry."  I think this book did an excellent job of showing how our actions and reactions have a lasting effect on the relationships we have with others.  I will use this in the coming weeks as I teach about the life and times of Martin Luther King, Jr. and other civil rights leaders.  

I am delighted that Maria Dismondy has generously offered an autographed book for one of you. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

To learn more about the book, watch the book trailer video.

Be sure to visit Maria's blog and/or Facebook page where she provides an upbeat view on many topics that you'll not want to miss.  

Happy Teaching and Learning!

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Counting and Cardinality Winter Edition

In my last post, I talked about how I pace the Common Core into "chunks" of comprehensible teaching and learning.  I provided this example of what the strand looks like over the course of the school year.

Math time usually consists of: calendar and math routines, whole group math lesson/workbook, and math work stations.

Today, I am going to share some math routines that I will use to teach this standard.  To begin with, students will practice writing their numbers daily using a dry erase board and marker; a nice transition after recess.  I like to use music whenever possible.  So, I plan to use this oldie but goodie as well as this hip-hop diddy to teach numbers to 20 during calendar.  Afterwards, we will continue to work on subitizing numbers using dot cards from this fabulous blog.  I will also introduce I Have. Who Has?  I love this book and used it a lot in when I taught first grade. Unfortunately, it is a little too difficult for my kindergarten students.


I created this I Have. Who Has? winter Edition card game to play with my students.

Graphics From the Pond and fonts from Kindergarten Works

I think my students will absolutely adore this.  I also like that I can control which cards I give students based on their strengths and weaknesses.  Most of my students can count to 10 and beyond but I have a few who need additional practice as well as some who need help with "oneteen" also known as eleven.  Get your copy here.

Looking for more freebies?  Even though, I don't go back until the 7th but I am starting my planning.  Are you?  Click below for more wonderful, teacher created freebies.


Happy Teaching and Planning!    

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QR Codes Tutorial

Many of you wondered, how to create QR codes.  Today, I am going to share how I create them.  This post shares how I use them in my classroom.  

To follow along this tutorial, you will need a mobile device such as a smartphone or iPad with a QR app installed to scan the QR codes within the tutorial to "see" the difference.  If you are interested in creating QR codes, I use this website.

As you can see in Box 1, Data Type, QR codes can be embedded from many sources.

Scan to see what it looks like.

The above QR code was created by simply typing in Box 2, Content.   If you like, choose a color (Box 3).  Finally, click Download QR Code.  This is effective and easy to do.

Since, I am creating these for Word Work, I wanted to create a "fancier" image.  To do so, I created my document in Power Point.  Then, saved the file as a .jpg file which I uploaded it to Google docs.  I add the website address in Box 2, Content, and selected the URL shortener to create a "less busy" QR code.

Scan image.

Did you "see" the difference?  

I am going to use this next week during our Word Study.   I am sure the kids will love it.  You can grab a copy for free.  Yes, free!  I hope that you'll love it.  

Click image for your copy.

I hope this tutorial inspires you to give QR Codes a try.  If you do, let me know.  I think my next QR post will be on Tips and Tricks.  Anyone interested?  

Happy Teaching!

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Thanksgiving Retell

Click here for your copy. 

My students did such a great job learning about the first Thanksgiving.  They were able to retell the story to their families using their retell necklaces.  I was so proud of them.  To help, I made a simple text version of the Thanksgiving story.  I printed it out and glued onto colored scrapbook paper to match their retell bead.  The visual helped my students tremendously.

We also watched the classic Charlie Brown, The Mayflower Voyage.  You can find it on this DVD or access via YouTube here (Part 1) and here (Part 2).

My little one and me

As Thanksgiving approaches, I am reminded that I have so much to be thankful for this year; my health, loved ones, school family and for the collaboration and learning I have found via blogging.

From my classroom to yours, Happy Thanksgiving!

P.S. I hope to share more about QR codes this week.

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Pumpkin Life Cycle

Our class has had a wonderful time learning about pumpkins!  I love how the bulletin board display came altogether.  I could have easily spent another week on this topic.  Here are a few ideas that I used last year.

This year, we focused on the Pumpkin Life Cycle.  I created two projects which my class completed that I am sharing with you.  First, we made a Pumpkin Life wheel similar to the one seen on our bulletin board display.  For the student version, they had an orange cover which when all put together looked like a pumpkin.

I also made an emergent reader for my students to read independently during Daily 5.    

Here are a few books that we've read so far.

Grab your Pumpkin Life Cycle goodies here.  If you like them, leave a comment, follow my blog or Facebook page.

Happy Teaching!

3

The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Of all the books that relate to the Fall season and/or Halloween, this is my absolute favorite.  Why?  I love how children naturally begin to participate and read with me.  You can not help to get involved with the story.

Listen to my class from a few years ago reading the story.  :)



Last year, I shared how I love to use this book to teach prediction.

Towards, the end of the story, the Little Old Lady hears a knock at the door.  The narrator asks, "Should she answer it?  What do you think she saw?"  At this point, I stop and have the students make their predictions.

Click here for your copy.

The students draw their prediction using this template that I created.  Afterwards, we see if our predictions matched what actually happened in the text.  Many times, students will draw a few parts of the story but not the entire scarecrow.  The conversation is always lively.

This is a

Happy Reading!

3

Fall Is Here

Fall is my favorite time of year.  Inspired by this, we painted the trees using wine corks instead of q-tips as our medium.  The kids did great! Better yet, not one child went home wearing paint.


Today, we made sight word trees.

Each year, I begin the unit singing Leaves are Falling; a remake of a popular song.

Click here for your copy.

Later, we make a class book.

Each child will write their name and draw a picture of themselves.  


Happy Fall!

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