Week two with dinosaurs

Since I teach full day, alternate day Kindergarten, my students either see me 2 or 3 times a week.  That really isn't enough time to get through everything there is to explore and discover with a theme or topic, so we usually do our themes for at least 2 weeks.  It was quite fitting learning about dinosaurs this past week since while we thought Spring was on its way, we felt like we were in the ice age!  We had a very bad ice storm.  The trees were frozen stiff and when the wind would blow it sounded like a bowl of Rice Krispies (Snap! Crackle! Pop!) only MUCH louder!  Well, it might have been blistering outside, but we were having fun learning inside.  Here are some more dinosaur activities we did this week.

This is our dinosaur pocket chart activity.  We practised writing our color words and reading with intonation (voice inflection goes up for a question and reads with excitement for an exclamation).

We graphed our favourite dinosaur and then wrote facts about them in our journals.

My favourite dinosaur is a Stegosaurus.  It has spikes on its back.

My favourite dinosaur is a Triceratops.  It has 3 horns.

My favourite dinosaur is a T-Rex.  It has Sharp teeth.

Here are our literacy centers for the week:

Making words.  We found little words within the big word 'Dinosaur' and recorded our findings.

Writing our CVC words.

Working with the blends br-, tr-, st-.

We reviewed our vowel sounds and found the middle vowel sound in the word.  I always sing this little song with the kids (it's from my daughter's Leapfrog Making Words DVD)

A-E-I-O-U

They're the vowels

They're the glue

They stick the words together

Stick the words together!

As a class we brainstormed Dinosaurs can, have, are...

and then the students used these words to personalize their own dinosaur with our finger-paint activity.

All the activities above are from my Dinosaurs Math and Literacy Activities.

We wrote our dinosaur words around our classroom.  This activity from my teaching partner, Alessia Albanese.

We had a special day when we were Paleontologists.  We had our own special hats and of course, we needed tools.  The kids had a blast 'digging' out bones (okay, they were chocolate chips) out of the ground (okay, it was out of a cookie).  Our tool was a popsicle stick (you could also use a toothpick).  They counted how many bones (chocolates) they found and recorded their answers.  Our Reading Buddies in Grade 3 helped us out with this activity.  Then we got to eat our cookies!  Mmmmm!

We stamped our dinosaur thematic words.  This activity is from my Dinosaurs Trace, Stamp, Color, Cut and Paste it.

I wish I could show pictures of what a great time the kids had, but our School Board does not allow that...so we we are (the teachers) having a great time!  Pictured below:  Mrs. Albanese, me (I'm not really that short...I'm squatting so you can see the cute paleontologist on the door!), and Ms. Bucci (student teacher).

Have a great week!

And the winner is...

Thanks everyone for participating in this flash giveaway.  The winner is...

#5:  Lori!!!  Check your inbox (or junk filter if it's set to exclusive!) for the file.

Check back everyone for more freebies, giveaways and classroom ideas!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Having a 'Rawr'ing good time with Dinosaurs and a Giveaway

Dinosaurs has to be one of the most fun units to teach!  The kids (and myself!!!) just love it!  It is so interesting to learn facts about these mysterious creatures that lived so very long ago.  I like to begin units by showing the kids thematic pictures, seeing if they can identify what the picture is and talk a little bit about it.  I then put these pictures (with the words beneath) at the writing center with thematic paper for them to use for creative writing.  I made these thematic vocabulary cards years ago with a simple dinosaur template and thematic words.

  
I've uploaded it as a FREEBIE to TPT, with newer, cuter clipart.  Click the picture below to grab your free copy!

 
We then looked at vocabulary cards from my Dinosaur unit and matched the definitions to the cards.  Their little mouths did a really good job pronouncing some really BIG words - om-ni-vore, pal-e-on-tol-o-gist, car-ni-vore!  

These were our math activities for the week:

We reviewed all different kinds of patterns and the kiddos chose their own stegosaurus plate pattern.  Look at the detail on this one!  This kiddo was loving this activity!  This idea is from the internet.  If it is your original idea, please let me know so I can give you credit!

The rest of the ideas are from my Dinosaur's Math and Literacy Activities.

We have mastered numbers 1 to 10, so we are now working on numbers 11 to 20.  We pointed out places in our classroom where students could look if they needed a visual to help them order the numbers (calendar, number chart, number line).  They did a great job with this!

Addition is a new skill.  We have worked with making and breaking sets, but this was one of the first introductions to the addition (plus) and equals symbols.  I was so impressed with my littles, and loved hearing their self-talk.  "I know! Six plus six equals 12!"

This was a fun little activity where students had to 'deliver' the bones to the museum.  Isn't this time of year wonderful in Kindergarten!  The kids have grown so much and show such patience and maturity.  This is the time when we get asked if we'd like to teach Kindergarten again next year and we all say "YES! YES! YES!" while the go to bed at 7:00 p.m. days of September are all but a flicker of memory!  All joking aside, teaching kindergarten really is the best job in the world!  With this activity, I was so proud of how all the kids took turns so well!

When there are no bulletin boards left, I use the walls, windows and curtain shades for displays of student work and for thematic posters.

 These are four (out of eight) dinosaur posters from my Dinosaur unit.

We are having a 'rawr'ing good time with all of our Dinosaur activities, and I'd like to share these activities with you.  I will be giving away my Dinosaurs Math and Literacy Activities Pack to one lucky winner through Random.org.  If you would like a chance to win, simply leave a comment below.  

The winner will be announced Sunday, April 7th at 8 a.m.

Good luck!

Spring Cleaning Sale

Spring has sprung!  Finally!!!!  It is finally starting to feel like spring.  The days are getting longer, it's starting to feel warmer and the snow - it's nearly gone!  To celebrate, I am having a sale in my TPT store this Saturday, March 30th and Sunday, March 31st.  Everything in my store will be 20% off!  Click the image below to go directly to my store.

Thanks to Krista Wallden from the Creative Chalkboard for creating the cute graphics above.  Check out her blog to see who else is having a sale.

Now that Spring is here I'll have to start the Spring cleaning in my house...that won't be as fun as the shopping!

Happy Weekend and Happy Shopping!

Palm Sunday, Easter and a Freebie

This weekend is Palm Sunday.  We read the most touching book about this special day called The Donkey That No One Could Ride by Anthony DeStefano.  This book was a lovely gift from my lunch supervisor.

  It is about a donkey who is born weak and frail who discovers that he is destined to do great things despite his physical limitations.  He is chosen by Jesus to carry him into Jerusalem.  Through Jesus, he is given strength to make the journey and is proud that he has been chosen for this special role.  This book reminds us that our faith gives us strength even in the most difficult times, and to always believe that God is with us through our lives.

"My help is enough;

It's all that you need.

It's all you require in life to succeed.

The weaker you are,

The more strength I give.

I'll be there to help you

As long as you live.

I know you feel tired and frightened and broken,

But do you believe

These words that I've spoken?

Do you believe-I ask you again.

Do you have faith

I can heal you, my friend?"

Beautiful!!!

We made our own palms by attaching green strips of construction paper to manilla tag in a 'V' formation.

"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"

Hosanna!

Our volunteer in Kindergarten, Ms. Josie, made these wooly lambs with paper plates and about 1000 cotton balls with all the Senior Kindergarten students. 

Our prayer for new life:

Thank you for the new life around us and especially for giving us JESUS.  

The decorative design on the cross is made with a marble.  We placed the brown construction paper cross in a plastic bin.  We added a marble that was covered in paint and rolled the marble around to create the decorative paint effect.  This was done with 3 different colors.  

We are super 'egg'cited for our egg hunt and are all ready with our baskets!  These baskets are eco-friendly and were made with empty 2L pop bottles.  The bottles were cut so as to just leave the bottom of the bottle.  An extra strip of plastic was cut to form the handle, and stapled in place.  We used equal parts glue/water to stick various colors of tissue paper onto the basket.  It looks so pretty when the light shines on it!  We added podge for a glossy finish!  I originally got this idea when I did Co-operative Education in a grade 2 class when I was still in high school!  

Here is our Easter card.  This idea is from my teaching partner, Alessia Albanese.

"This little chick is hatching to say

Happy Easter to you today."

I wanted to leave you with a little Easter FREEBIE, so here are some Easter stamping pages.  Your students can stamp to make words or to make and complete sentences, allowing you to differentiate instruction based on the needs of your students.  It does not contain any religious reference so it is appropriate for Catholic or Public Schools.  I hope some of you will be able to use it this week!  Click the picture below to get your free copy.

Blessings!

3-D Shapes

My goodness, I haven't blogged in a little while!  It was our March (Spring) break and I was just loving spending time at home with my kiddos, but now it's back to work!  We are currently working on 3-D shapes.  While my students were introduced to these shapes that 'pop' out in Junior Kindergarten (Pre-K), I find that they need more experiences with the vocabulary associated with 3-D shapes.  They can remember the descriptions of certain shapes (student talk:  "that looks like a ball!"), but have some difficulty remembering their names.  Here is my Math Wall.  It has a definition explaining what 3-D shapes are, as well as posters depicting each shape.  I have 2 kinds of posters.  One type of poster has a visual picture of the various 3-D shapes, but since the paper is flat, it doesn't do justice to what the shape actually looks like.  So, I also have examples of real world objects that look like each 3-D shape that I like to put in plastic baggies and attach to the Math Wall.  For example, I will put an actual toilet paper roll on the cylinder page, dice on the cube page, etc. (these posters are not pictured because I have to re-laminate the pages since they peeled after laminating! Eeek!  I hate it when that happens!)  These posters are from my Math Posters set. 

Here are our math activities for the week.

We worked on identifying the various 3-D shapes (sorry I didn't get a photo of this activity).

We sorted real world objects by the 3-D shape that they resembled. Then we filled out our recording sheet.

We build tall towers, that could stand and those that would not stand.  Here we talked about flat sides and counted how many flat sides each three dimensional shape had.

This tower stands.

This tower does not stand.

We built a small ramp and made predictions as to whether the shape would roll, slide or do both.  We pushed the solid shapes down the ramp, then discussed and recorded our findings.

Happy Teaching!

Child of the Day

I wanted to tell you about an affirmation program we do which honors the uniqueness of each child while engaging the students in various aspects of language development - it's called Child of the Day.  We do it every Friday and the kids just LOVE it!  I have to remind them to be patient, and that they will all eventually get a turn to be the Child of the Day because they all want a chance!  I originally got this idea from a now Grade one teacher at our school, Mrs. Commisso, who used to do this activity when she taught Kindies at her previous school board, and have shared it with my Kindergarten division.  It has been modified over the years, but the idea - we are all unique and special, is the same.  I have been doing Child of the Day since I started in Kindergarten and would like to share it with you!

Child of the Day encompasses these parts:

1.  Name Work

All students begin by standing.  Each letter of the Child of the Day’s name is cut up and turned over (blank side showing) on a pocket chart.  Turn one letter over at a time.  If the children standing have that letter in their name, they remain standing, if not, they sit down.  Once sitting they cannot stand again.  Uncover one letter at a time until the last child remains standing (The Child of the Day!). 

On the pocket chart The Child of the Day then has to:

Make it- put their name in order

Say it-tell the class their name

Count it- count how many letters and tell the class

Clap it- clap how many syllables

Cheer it- ask the class for the letters in his/her name

“Give me a G” – Class responds “G!” (repeat for all letters of his/her name).  At the end the Child of the Day says “What does that spell?” and the class responds with his/her name.

The Child of the Day gets a special badge to wear and keep.  The badge is shown below.  A  piece of horizontal chart paper is folded inside the black construction paper cover.

2.   Asking and responding to questions

The class asks the Child of the Day questions to get to know him/her.  The Child of the Day answers in complete sentences.  Write his/her responses on chart paper (each in a different color).

3.   Writing Sentences

Each student in the class chooses one sentence to write about the Child of the Day in their own booklet.  They also draw a corresponding picture.  I use a simple scrapbook cut in half for the student workbooks.  I draw lines on each page.  You could also easily use a simple work book that already has the lines on the page.

At the end of the year each child in the class has a memory book with one special fact about all of their classmates.  I like to glue the Child of the Day’s cut up name to the front of the chart paper cover and send it home with the child to share with his/her family.

I have uploaded this activity to TPT if you would like to try it out with your class.  Click the picture below to take you to the download.  You will find all these instructions in the download, as well as students badges, title page cover, word work cards (say it, clap it, etc.) and more.  

I love to hear from you.  If you download, please leave a comment!