A little Vowel Sound Sorting

Today I brought out the Flower Power Vowel Sort again for some extra practice.  My kids are really good at telling me ALL the sounds in a word, but when it come to isolating a specific sound, this is not so easy for them - so I thought a little practice on hearing the middle sound would be great!!  I used this in my small groups this week and it has worked out great!  Since we have done this before, they were familiar with how to play.

Here are the leaf pieces - I printed them on the back of some scrapbook paper/cardstock so they would have a cute design on the back.  :)

I literally opened the bag, laid out the materials and they took off.  This left me with some time so do some much needed conferencing!! :) I conferenced with one or two students and when I returned to the group to check on them they were ready for the response piece for this activity.  We did not complete the response sheet the first time I introduced this activity, so this was new for them.

Sorry for the bad picture... :)  I had my main lights off and just had lamp light in the room - I do this alot... it's a wonder my eyes aren't worse then they already are!! :)

I did this response sheet a few different ways to differentiate for my groups.  For my highest group, I told them that I wanted 4 words in each box and that they could use 1 of my pictures they sorted - the rest they had to come up with on their own - and then I had them pick a word from each box and use it in a sentence.  For my middle group, I gave them basically the same directions except they could use 2 of my words and they had to come up with 2 of their own (no sentences).  And for my lowest group - I only required 2 PICTURES in each box - one could be mine but 1 had to be their own - this was a little difficult for some, but others surprised me!! :)

I sometimes forget to go back and revisit some of the activities we have done in the past.  When I do bring something old back out, it is amazing to see how excited they get.  It is also fun to see their confidence go up and to see them be successful!!

CRCT Helpers

I don't know about your school, but this time of year is always a little stressful and crazy at our school.  It is that dreaded time of year... time for Standardized Testing!!

As a kindergarten teacher, I don't feel quite the stress that my colleagues do, but you can't help to get wound up in the craziness when you are around it!!  A few years ago we started something at our school to help include our youngest learners in this important time of year.

Each kindergarten class adopts a grade level during the test.  Each morning during the duration of the test, our kindergarteners deliver a special message to their adopted grade level about what good test takers do.  The older kids love seeing our smiling faces each day and hearing that last piece of advice before taking the test can't hurt either.  :)

This year we have a western theme throughout our school, so our darlings are deputies!!   Here is my posse I had with me today - The lead deputy is behind the camera :)

Here is an example of the messages we bring every morning.  The teachers post these in their classrooms or outside on their doors and they serve as a visual reminder for their students.

My kids always have such a good time helping their older friends in the school....and it can't hurt to start hearing and talking about good test taking habits right now - hopefully it will help them when they are ready to take the test next year... :)

 

It's about time!

YAY!!!!!!!!!!  My site is finally back to normal!!!!  Photobucket was conducting "maintenance" on my account where I hold ALL my images for this site!!!  

Thank you all soo much for your patience during this time!  

Teaching Blog Addict

It has been a very long week!!!!!!!!  Yes, it was Spring Break but do you know how hard it is to be home all week with NO internet access????  Yep, NONE!!  Ugh!  It is horrible!  I am having a love hate relationship with AT&T at this moment...leaning more towards hate at this moment!!!  I still don't have internet and I am currently hijacking my neighbors internet! SHHHHH.... don't tell them!! :)   I just couldn't stand it any longer.  Gosh... what did we do before we had the internet??????????  :)  

Anyway, while I have been disconnected, a wonderful new blog has popped up that I am so excited to be a part of!!!!!

This is a wonderful resource right at our fingertips!  I have already gotten "lost" a few time today!! :)  Happy reading!!!

Ladybugs Ladybugs!!

This time of year I always like to do the Butterfly life cycle with my kinders - where we get to see the whole thing in real life!!

I decided to change it up a little this year, so I was so excited when this little surprise was delivered to my room on Friday!!

I sent off for our new friends and they should be here a week after we get back from Spring Break!!  That will give us plenty of time to finish up our Dinosaur Unit and get ready for LADYBUGS!!!  In preparation for this fun unit, I made a new game for my TpT store.  This time of year I also like to teach addition and finding the pairs of 10.  This game will help you little ones practice finding those numbers that add up to 10!

Click HERE to get your copy!

More Ladybug Fun to come!!

Triceratops

My kids are having such a good time learning about Dinosaurs - especially the Triceratops!  Here are the cutest Triceratops' you have seen in a long time! Thanks Deanna Jump!!

I attached the writing they did about Triceratops under these cuties!! We did a rough draft first and then did the final copy on the Triceratops writing paper I posted last week.

Most of my children were able to complete this writing task independently but I do have a group that needed a little more support.  For them, I prepared sentences for them to cut and past, and then copy.

Up next....T. REX!  (After Spring Break!!)

Fun Friday

What does this look like to you???

A big mess...??? Yes (you can't see the floor) but NOPE!

If you said creativity in action... YES!! My kiddo's don't get near enough time to just be creative!  I try and keep any big scraps of paper that may be able to be used for something else - so, on Friday I pulled it down and set out scissors and glue and let them go to town.

I was so impressed with what they came up with I had to find a bulletin board to display them.  They were so proud of their creations.  The only thing I required of them to be able to display their creation was they had to write about it!  I never saw pencils move so fast!!! :)

"The earrings are so cute."

"My ant is looking for food."

I can't read this one but she is one of my better writers so I know it is cute.  :)

I will have to do this more often with them.  You can really see that they used some of the techniques I have taught them during our guided art lessons.  :)