Friday, December 28, 2012

2013 Freebie-licious!!

Friends, I gotta tell you a secret that I am soooo excited about - I can hardly stand it!! I think I might bust at the seams! Soooo, here goes: Tammy from Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten is a genius and asked me and a few other A-MAZ-ING  bloggers to join her in a new venture.

We would love to introduce our new blog to you....FREEBIELICIOUS! Don't you love the name?! It will contain ALL FREEBIES for YOU! Wait...wait for it....you haven't heard the best part yet....it's only for PK-1st!! So, no more sorting through materials that aren't quite right for our young'uns! :-)

Here is our new blog! Please go follow us. NOW! You won't want to miss any FREEBIES!
Freebielicious
Here are the SWEET authors that will be contributing!
Kreative in Kinder
Mrs. Miner's kindergarten monkey business
Little Miss Kindergarten



Kindergarten Lifestyle


Kindergarten Smiles

First Grade Blue Skies

Sharing Kindergarten 



We are super excited about this. We will be adding new authors in the next few days! Make sure you visit us often.

Now, for your first FREEBIE!! Head on over to FREEBIELICIOUS to grab your FREE "The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid Of Anything-Number Sense" It includes:number cards, ten frames, and tally marks! Tammy from Live, Love, Laugh Everyday in Kindergarten made it!!




Fill the Rainbow :0) 2013


I gotta tell you I have the most amazing group of kids this year! They are perhaps the sweetest and most well-behaved kiddos I've ever had....I adore them....However, I must also admit that I have many who really struggle.....Even after lots of intense letter instruction, fun games, engaging songs and dances - kinesthetic everything.......I had some kiddos that just didn't get it.....It's like they don't understand (which they probably don't) how important letters are or their utility. I asked myself, "How can I convince them to be interested in learning those letters?"

So, I decided to come up with a way to motivate the kiddos to learn those letters. That is how I came up with my "Fill the Rainbow" incentive chart.


So, in order to keep myself from going off the deep-end (I gotta say I contemplated trying to hang myself by the fishing line clips hanging from my ceiling if I couldn't figure out a way to get those kids WANTING to learn their letters. :0) It drove me CU-RAZY!

 Instead of hanging myself :0), I decided to take the bull by the horns and use 5 year old enthusiasm to my advantage!

I began by making sure I had the most up-to-date data on them. I tested the kiddos' letter knowledge (upper and lowercase), sounds, and word wall knowledge. I highlighted each letter/sound they knew. That way when I retest, I can use the same sheets and continue highlighting as they learn more letters/sounds. Can anyone say terrific ongoing progress monitoring?

This is a super easy sheet I use to test letters. I use a set of super large letters to test. The letters I have have the uppercase letter on one side and the lowercase letter on the other side. I use them as flashcards. If a child gets the letter correct I place it in a pile in front of me to one side and if it is incorrect I carefully put it in another pile to the other side. I didn't want the kids to get too focused on whether they got it right or not. I just wanted them to try their best. For kiddos who knew very few letters - I simply slowly flashed the cards and told them to tell me if they saw a letter they knew. That way they felt successful for being able to tell me they knew a letter instead of constantly saying, "I don't know", "I don't know", I don't know".


This is where the fun began!!! I introduced the "Fill the Rainbow" incentive chart as something so cool and special. I promised them they would get to take it to show it off to the principal when it was full and they get to take it home to brag to mom and dad too.:0) THEY FELL HEAD OVER HEELS FOR IT!!!!

I used the black and white versions of the rainbow so my kids could color it (you know - take ownership of their rainbow). However, I also provide the beautiful colored versions too! :0)

Then, I showed them their rainbow  -- the good, the bad, and yes they ugly :0) I didn't call anyone out for not knowing letters of course, but I did let them see where they were. I gave them colored dot stickers to place on each letter that was highlighted (a letter they knew)..... Now, in the pack, I included printed letter coins, but I just loved them using stickers - EASY PEASY LEMON SQUEEZY!!

Next, we hung the rainbows on the same ceiling clips I thought about hanging myself from a couple weeks ago. :0) Each child knows exactly where their rainbow is and can always see the letters they still need to work on. So, it's kind of always in their face.....They love looking at the rainbows - love talking about the letters that they know......but get this......WAIT FOR IT.......They love noticing the letters they don't know! I even notice how attentive they are when we are singing letter songs or studying letters -- they have a FIRE lit under them now. They can't wait to come tell when they've learned a new letter. When I am satisfied they they know that letter - they can add a sticker to the rainbow for that letter. They are asking friends, "What's that letter again?" or "I saw that letter in the poem. I learned it!" They are proud of themselves and taking ownership of their own letter learning....Who could ask for anything more??!!!

Gosh, I wished I had thought of this years ago. Now, my kiddos are all on their way to knowing all the letters of the alphabet.....and I notice they take much more interest in reading and learning sight words now too...They have taken the first steps to taking ownership of their learning -- HOORAY!!


If you'd like to use the Letter ID/Sound testing sheet - you can GRAB it here!


You can check out the rest of my "Fill the Rainbow" Incentive Chart HERE!!



It also has programmable name BRAG TAGS included as a fun way to celebrate with parents! 

2013 Spidery Letter Sorting

I want to share this fun and simple letter font sorting activity I made and I am giving to you :0)

It's called ......

Each letter is on a large spider web. I chose 3 letters to focus on and placed those webs inside of Halloween trick -or-treat baskets. Then I filled a spider bowl with matching letters in all sorts of fonts. This activity then went in the ABC center. Next week we will focus on 3 different letters.



It's so important for kiddos to not only know a letter, they have to know that letter no matter how it's written....In today's world children see thousands of fonts. My kiddos had a ball with this sort!

I hope your kiddos enjoy it too!!
If you like this freebie please let me know :0)

Monday, December 17, 2012

2012 Behavior Log

One piece of documentation I HATE keeping track of as a teacher is student behavior. It's a time-consuming daily routine that I'd personally rather not deal with. I mean....I got kids to teach. I know parents like knowing how their child behaved at school and I totally appreciate that...and I want my parents to know. (Of course it seems like the parents that actually check the behavior log nightly are the same ones whose children behave and the other ones have never even seen a behavior log (rolling my eyes).....SketchBook Mobile Apk

I use a pretty standard clip chart that I first learned about from Clutterfree Classrooms HERE a couple years ago. 
I LOVE it -- it really motivates those kiddos that are constantly doing the right thing just as much as those that don't. 

Basically, kids start each day on green "Ready to Learn" and if they end the day there - Great!! But, wait for the magical part..... Kids can clip up or "climb the colors" as I call it by going above and beyond what is expected. If a child cleans up extra well or is following directions when others aren't, or any other reason -- just having a great day - - you can have him/her "climb the colors"! :0) It is super simple and that is the beauty with the system! It's easy for the kids to understand, easy to use, and self-motivating!

Like I said - I've used it for a couple years now - and I'm sold -- LOVE IT!
-------------------------------------------------------------------
So, right before school began I was searching for a simple, yet cute behavior sheet (yes it's the kinder teacher in me that craves cute-ness). My friend Michelle from Apples and ABC's was just the sweetest and gave me her A-Dor-Able behavior sheet. It is a weekly behavior sheet that I tweaked just to fit my own classroom better. I threw in some cute alligators and added a parent explanation on back. Thanks Michelle!!




Here is my behavior sheet that is working perfectly for me this year....it's a combination of what Michelle shared with me and my own twist. :0) 

                                                CLICK HERE TO GRAB!
I love this behavior sheet because my students actually do their own behavior sheet (with lots of modeling and supervision near the beginning:0) The only time I have to do anything with the behavior sheet is when a child falls below green. Then I accompany it with a note to mom and dad. I love how it helps teach responsibility of completing the sheet AND helps children take ownership for their behavior. They feel so good when they "climb the colors"!


QUESTION: What kind of behavior log do you send home to parents?

Sunday, December 16, 2012

2012 5 Little Speckled Frogs Composing/Decomposing Number Lesson

Hi friends! Have you noticed that I'm going longer in between posts lately? Sorry.....but I am swamped this year and October is such a busy month! Is anyone else already looking forward to Christmas break?  

I did want to give you a peek into a FAB lesson I did that my kids loved - SCORE!!

So, we were working on composing the number 5...
I found this adorable video for the song 5 Little Speckled Frogs on youtube:



How stinkin' adorable is that??? Well, not only is it a super fun song to sing and act out - it's totally FABULOUS for teaching composing number 5. Don't cha just love it when you can teach with a song? I know I do!

So, of course I introduced this song the day before we started our lesson. I wanted to make the kiddos knew the song well so we could sing it but still concentrate on our learning. I even came up with hand motions to go along with the song and that really "hooked" the kids.

I happened to have the Frogs on a Log Counting Kit from Lakeshore Learning, so we were ready to work with some numbers! :0)

Frogs on a Log Counting Kit

Each child got 5 frogs (we counted several times to make sure that it was 5 no matter how many times we counted -- 5 is 5 is 5)....

Then, we started singing the song.....
5 little speckled frogs, sitting on a speckled log - eating the most delicious bugs -- YUM, YUM! 1 jumped in the pool where it was nice and cool! Now there are 4 speckled frogs -- Glub, Glub!


As we sang the song, the kids would act out the song -- by helping the frogs "jump" into the pool. When each frog jumped in we would stop and say, " 4 frogs on the log and 1 in the pool makes 5, 3 frogs on the log and 2 in the pool makes 5"........ as we continued on they really started noticing that no matter how we separated the frog, there would still be 5........

The kids love doing this and asked me repeatedly, "Can we do the speckled frog song?" So, of course, we sang the song dozens of times this week :0) I love when a song really hooks the kids!

Now, this activity is in our math tubs, but it would also work really well in a retelling center too!

A few other books/songs that are great at teaching young children how to compose/decompose numbers is:



In fact, any 5 Little Monkeys books work great and I also love using Halloween-ish poems like 5 Little Pumpkins, Bats, etc........sooooo fun!!

Question: Do you have any books that you just LOVE using for composing/decomposing books??? Tell us about it below :0)

Oh, and on a sadder note: We were informed that our district (which had been a long time proponent of "traditional home and blocks centers" ) is no longer allowing them in the classroom :0( So, here is a picture of my sad little home center in the hallway.......Rest in Peace.......Why do we feel a need to push children out of childhood????? Anyways......makes me sad :0(

Saturday, December 15, 2012

treats for our sweets 2012



Treat or Treat
Smell my feet
Give me something good and sweet


Happy Halloween Friends,

I'm so glad you stopped by my "house". Are you ready for a super sweet treat? Mmmmmm...... Let's see if this yummy is sweet enough for you.... Click HERE to grab yours!


It's called "With a Cherry on Top" and it's a sweet word wall game you can play with your little uns during small group time all year long or eventually move it into a literacy center.

I hope you and your little uns enjoy this sweet treat!

So, you've still got lots of trick-or-treating to do..... Make sure you hop over to Mel D's at Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations:

I can't to see what she's giving away! :0)

2012 Where's My Mummy?? - Kindergarten Faith

Hi everyone! :0)  I am Faith Rucker from Kindergarten Faith, and I am super excited to be guest blogging with Kindergarten Lifestyle!  Jeannie has so many exciting ideas, and I am glad I get to share some of mine with you too.  

Kindergarten Faith
Here is the HTML for the post. Today we read the book, Where's My Mummy.  This is such a cute story!  Baby Mummy searches everywhere for his Mommy Mummy.  :)
I had a room full of excited little boys and girls when I told them that we were going to turn some of them into mummies.  Wow!  All you need is a little roll of toilet paper, and you can change the world into one exciting place.

After we cleaned up the room.....lol.....we had to do a little work.  I created these fun little Where's My Mummy counting worksheets to accompany the book and our fantastic activity.  One page works on numbers 1-10, and one page works on numbers 11-20.  The kids have to count and match Baby Mummy with his Mommy Mummy.
I like this activity because I can challenge my kids that are ready with numbers 11-20, and my other students who still need practice on 1-10 don't feel like they are doing anything different.  :)  Click here to download this great little freebie, Where's My Mummy Counting, from TPT.

2013 Turkey Time freebie!

November is one of my favorite times of the year. I love Thanksgiving and the season of togetherness and thankfulness..... This is both important, yet difficult right now especially when so many of our fellow Americans are dealing with the aftermath of horrible Hurricane Sandy. My heart truly goes out to them! Even.....and especially during this difficult time it's so important to remember what we have in our lives to be thankful for.

Even those who have lost so much over the last week have things to be thankful for.....isn't it strange that when you have lost so much -- that is when you can more clearly see what you have to be thankful for?

God Bless our fellow Americans!!

Now on to a nice little Thanksgiving freebie!


It's a double book (print a set and it makes 2 student books)......it's a cute booklet that has kiddos think about what they are thankful for .....:0)


I hope you enjoy!!

Click HERE to grab yours! If you like the freebie - I'd love for you to follow me ------->