Minnesota Twins & MLK

This week a couple of the Minnesota Twins stopped by! It was a great opportunity to see Bert Blyleven, Anthony Zwarzach, Trevor Plouffe, Terry Steinbach, and TC.

It was also Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday on Monday.  We have been discussing his message with students.  We talked about how although we might look different on our skin, we all have hearts, brains, and feelings.  We used eggs to show this.  The eggs may be different colors on the outside, but inside they are the same.

Addition Practice and Rainbow Fish

Wow!  For a short week, we sure have been busy!  The kids have not been outside for recess in forever due to the extreme cold weather.  Today was the first day in a long time. 

In Math, we rolled two dice and added them together.  Then we recorded our answer.

Do you want to play this at home?  Click here.  You will have to create an account to access the sheet.

We also worked on a writing project this week.  We were learning about animal body parts, specifically the fish as we read a story called The Rainbow Fish.  You can listen to this story, here.

After we read the story, we labeled the parts of the fish.  Then we used a graphic organizer to organize what we were going to write about.  Our last step was to put our work on fancy paper.  They turned out wonderful! It is nice to have a bit of color during this cold January!

Keep practicing those popcorn words!

Happy New Year!

Christmas break is over and it is time to get back into the swing of things. Because this week is only two days, I thought I would share some of the activities we did during our Christmas party.  We were very lucky to have some extra helpers with our Christmas centers. At this center, students had to use dice to "Roll-A-Christmas Tree".  You can find a copy here to play at home.

At this center, students made a snowman ornament.

We also got to decorate a gingerbread cookie.  This was a highlight. Yum!

Keep practicing your popcorn words!!!!

Flashcards can be found here to print and practice.

Letter Sounds & Sweets

This week we are learning a lot about letter sounds.  Some of the activities that we have completed include using blue boards (plastic plates purchased at The Dollar Tree) and dry erase markers to sound out words and use them to begin to write sentences.

We also used m&ms to find a letter or a sound.  You could use any edible treat like marshmallows, gum drops, and goldfish crackers.  You can find this ABC chart here.

Then we used a treat to find where they hear a particular sound either at the beginning, middle or end of a word.  For example, this smartie found the Xx sound at the end of the word.  

I used Deanna Jump's Stretchy the Snake from this packet.

Stay warm!  We have been inside with no recess for the past week!  

Writing & Math

Well we are back in school after a great Thanksgiving break.  I thought maybe the kids would be tired from eating all that turkey and shopping.  I was wrong!  The kids came back ready to learn.  Students are beginning to use their popcorn words in their writing.  Sometimes students will free write and sometimes after reading a book, they will write about it. Students are realizing  that print has meaning.

In math today, we played card games.  They learned how to put their cards in order from least to greatest.  Then they played a game where one child steals a card and the other child has to figure out what card is missing.

A Short Week of Fun!

Learning about letters and sounds at the reading table!

Students are making flashcards of the popcorn words they have learned.  The will be coming home soon where they can continue to practice at home.

In math, we were used linking cubes to measure items found in our classroom.  At home, students could use paper clips, pasta, or marshmallows to measure.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Tricky Teen Numbers

I have been gone for the past couple of days due to eye surgery.  Today was my first day back after 5 days without seeing the kiddos, literally!  It was great to be back, but I must admit, the mountain of work waiting for me was a bit CrAzY!!!!  I think I felt all of these emotions at some point today!

I was wondering if my new eyes were deceiving me!  Alas, back to school I go!

We have been learning about teen numbers!  They are very tricky for kindergarten students!  Some of the things we have been working on is building towers made of linking cubes. This shows the concept of adding one more.  At home, you could use Lego's or blocks.

Here are a couple of video's from YouTube.  The first one helps explain place value and how each teen number has a group of ten.  The last video stresses that all teen numbers begin with one.  The tunes are catchy and the kids really enjoy them!

This is another activity we did with teen numbers!  You can get a copy at Amy Crockett's TPT store.