Apple Pickin' Resource

Musings of Me is one of my ALL time favorite bloggers. Her resources for Kindergarten are amazing. Since it's September...APPLE season in KinderLand, I thought I would share with you Apple Pickin' from MOM (Musings of Me). It's only $5.00 and 119 pages. It includes 12 Language Arts activities, 10 Math centers and science and crafty arts. If you haven't checked out her blog yet, click here or click on the picture to send you directly to some Apple Pickin' fun.

Kindergarten Common Core

It's time to get serious with Common Core and the Kindergarten Common Core Book is an amazing resource to have. It has over 600 pages packed with ready-made activities and centers. The graphics are adorable (most of which are from ScrappinDoodles - love them). The book is divided into Math and English Language Arts and each activity has the Common Core standards on them (so when someone comes into your room asking what you're doing...you can tell them exactly what Common Core Standard you're addressing). I have the Common Core State Standards for First Grade Book and I love it! It's teacher-friendly and gets straight to the point (no theory and love winded-conversation over nothing), this book is all about how to help students meet the Common Core Standards. It's $40.00 and well worth every penny.

Kinder Writing Tool

 

I blogged about this before, but I thought I would review one of my favorite writing tools: THE SPACEBOY/GIRL! Why spend money on Spacers, when you can make them for $0.99! WHAT?!?! That's right, I bought a bag of clothes pin from the 99 Cent store and the students had fun decorating their Spacers. Since they made their own, they love to use it to create spaces between words and as reading pointers.

Here is how I introduced the Spacers:
1. I chose one student's name and use magnets to demonstrate that letters are only letters, until they are 'pushed' together to create a meaningful word.

2. Then I would create a simple sentence with the student's name: I see Johhny. While I am writing the sentence, I use Mr. Spaceman (my giant spacer - made from a paint stir stick - FREE), to separate the words.

3. We count the words in the sentence (there's 3) and read the sentence with Mr. Spaceman pointing to each word.

4. I would then rewrite the sentence, but this time, I smushed all the letters together: IseeJohnny. We compare which sentence is easier to read and the students would come up with the reasons (i.e. the words are too close, can't tell where a word begins, hard to read etc). Sometimes, I would purposely put two students' names together and someone would always raise their hand and state that "That's not how I write their name." Then Mr. Spaceman comes to the rescue!

Target Giveaway for 1 year Blogiversary!

It's my ONE Year Blogiversary and I reached 100 followers too! So to celebrate I thought I would raffle 2 $10 gifts cards to my favorite place...TARGET! I appreciate all the nice comments and collaboration that the blogging community offers. To enter, use the Rafflecopter below! Raffle ends next Sunday. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Behavior Cards

One of my colleagues asked me to create behavior cards for her class. It's a great way to keep track of homework or behavior when students need immediate feedback. Click on the picture to download. 

IEP at a Glance

If you ever had to read an IEP (Individual Education Plan), you know it can be hard to keep track of services or important information. I was (okay AM) having a hard time keeping track of my students IEP services, so in order to clear my head and for anyone else coming into my classroom (i.e. substitute teacher), I created an IEP at a Glance. It basically outlines the immediate information that I or a substitute teacher needs to know. Click on the picture to download. I hope you find it useful, if you have any suggestions, I would appreciate it. Happy teachings!

Drive-In Movie Experience

Remember the good old times, when people drove their cars to watch a movie out in a large lot? To celebrate the end of the year with the Kindergartens (along with other students who completed the Math Challenges), the students were invited to a Drive-In Movie Experience. They decorated their own boxes and some were pretty darn cool, some cool cars had working headlights, car seats, seat belts, and car doors; it was a great way to bring families together for a student project. The students loved watching the movie (Phantom Tollbooth - which also had a boxcar and deals with math and words) and enjoyed popcorn and juice.  The best part was that each student had their own space and the popcorn was contain inside their cars.

 I highly recommend you have your own drive-in experience!