Leprechauns and Bunnies

What a week ... A week full of Leprechauns and Bunnies!  Friday started our Spring Break and we do not come back until after Easter. SO... we had to fit it all in.

   We made Leprechaun traps to catch those green little rascals but they were too smart for our traps and got away. They made a mess of the classroom and left us a clue to where we could find some gold. This is the first time we searched for clues to find treasures. It is an idea my co worker shared with me that she has done for years, and it was so much fun. Our first clue was at the end of our read aloud, Too Many Leprechauns. Then we searched for clues throughout the school, leading us back to the classroom where a pot of (Rolos) gold was discovered.   For centers we did a fun, free cvc write the room activity .

  

We couldn't catch those leprechauns even with our clever traps.

We watched Duck or Rabbit ...

I had the students write their opinion on whether or not they thought it was a duck or a rabbit. This fabulous idea came from First Grade Fairytales.

If you haven't checked out her blog, you should, she is amazing.

 

Only one little friend thought it was a duck.  

We did this very cool cvc center  by Maureen Prezioso I'm not going to lie. It took some time to cut the letters out. My little friends could not wait to open the eggs and figure out the words. 

Students pick an egg.

They open the egg and arrange the letters to match the picture in the egg. This picture you can actually see that I wrote the number on the egg top. My fabulous co worker, Miss Jessica, suggested I put the number on the back of each  little orange piece of paper in the egg , in case one egg open in the bucket, I know where the letters go.  She is a genius. It made this center rock. The kids loved it and I had no worries about missing pieces.

As the student wrote the cvc word on the answer key, we had them write the number of the egg by the word. 

 For math, we practiced skip counting by 10s with this cute little chick activity. I made it with the help of some talented clip art from Educlips.   I love it.. LOL.

We used it in an independent center. 

I made this center for my classroom, with everything I want in my class.  It has the learning goal right on the paper, so the students know why they are learning this. I created it with easier and harder levels for differentiation. To make it more rigorous, I included a writing piece, so students have to provide evidence of their understanding. My favorite part is the check for understanding at the bottom.  I used the Face It font from West Winds fonts. 

We counted cube trains to match the number the chick is holding.

  I used it with my little friends in a small, teacher led group. I think this is important because my challenge was to incorporate more hands on.

Then we found the matching cube train card.

Once the students were able to do this I sent them to this independent center.

Then the next day we used it as a write the room center.

We also tied in science with a cool egg experiment. 

Students kept records of their observations. You can get the sheet we used for free by clicking here.

It was a great week for learning.  But now it's time for SPRING BREAK! Enjoy.

It All Started with the Dinosaurs

 I am starting this blog to challenge myself to create more hands on learning opportunities for my students. I am a nerd at heart. I love learning. I want my students to love learning. Learning should be fun especially for five year olds. 
   I am not new to this blogging thing. In 2011, I started a blog about my son's medical journey with HCM. But shortly after his open heart surgery, I stopped blogging. It is a bit different. So, be patient with me ,dear reader, as I figure all this out.  

 What I do know is teaching and as I say this, I have no disillusions of being Deanna Jump , Greg Smedley-Warren, or Melissa from The Printable Princess. If you haven't checked out their pages, you need to. They are AMAZING! I am just your average, kindergarten teacher at a Title 1 school. This is my twelfth year teaching. Most of my time has been in kindergarten but I have taught 1st, 2nd and as an intervention teacher.  Reading is my passion, but this year I have made it a challenge to get better at teaching math. 

We love Math. This week my little friends worked on identifying greater than and less than in numbers to 20. Like I said Hands On. So, I created some centers. I feel like even in centers students need something to turn or they get off task. I totally made these worksheets for me, this is what I want on my students papers. I included the learning goal right on the paper. Let's face it, it is best practices for students to know why they are doing what you ask. Also, if you are required to follow Marzano, it is providing a clear learning goal.  I created the worksheets to have a writing component to add rigor and to show evidence of learning. My favorite part is the check for understanding at the bottom of the page. It gets students thinking about where they are in the learning process.  

 Dinosaur Greater than Less Than  

 We did this activity as a mini lesson for my little friends who needed a little extra help. I differentiated this even more with my struggling students by having them put beans on the black dots in the tens frames as they counted. This activity was put in a center for my friends to practice the next day.

 Getting these little ones to talk in the beginning of the year is like pulling teeth. We practice a lot of accountable talking. As we finish up centers, we do a quick check for understanding. Students tell a partner how they know which card has more.

 

We like to keep our hands busy. So to practice our sight words, we write them in shaving cream. The school I am at uses IRLA.   Our high frequency words are referred to as power words. I play a power word video from you tube and deliberately stop the video on the words we need to focus on. The students read and write the power word.

My little friends LOVE to play Jenga.  On one side of the each block,  a sight word is written. On the other side I wrote either a letter or a number.  When a student pulls a block, they read the sight word to the other players. If they do not know the sight word, they can  choose another option on the block, either ( depending on their skill level) say the letter and sound it makes, say a word that begins with the letter or count to the number on the block.

   Reading is my absolute favorite. I want my little friends to LOVE reading as much as I do.  During independent reading time, I pull out a small tent, a tunnel  and some comfy pillows for the students to enjoy while reading quietly.  My students LOVE to read in the fun spaces.

These are put away super quick as students put their book boxes away.  It makes reading fun for my little ones.

On nice days we also do buddy reading outside.

I am hoping to have weekly updates with fun "Hann's On" activities to make learning fun. If you have a favorite blog that you like to read or a fun hands on activity, please share in the comments below.  I am always looking for ideas for the classroom. I promise to give credit where credit is due.  I know as teachers we spend way too much time planning.  With this blog, I am hoping to help share ideas and hold myself accountable with my challenge to create more hands on activities to make learning fun.