Math Monday....Acorn Math

 

Math Monday

Acorn Math

 

What a great "free" and natural manipulative to use for math......

acorns.  This time of year, fall, is that right time to collect and do acorn math.  Not only are they good for math but for other areas of your day in learning. 

 

Have your students bring in acorns and take them for a nature walk around your school to collect them too. 

 

Sorting

Sorting is a good math activity for students, plus it can help you to stay organized at the same time.  Have various containers or a number of the same type of container (baggies, or plastic bins).  I would do three containers and label them

Small        Medium      Large

 

Measurement:

Have the students sort their acorns that they collected or brought from home into one of the three containers. 

 

Counting:

You will need to prepare some number cards for these.  They can be on index cards if you would like.  On each index card write a number between 1-10 (you can include zero if you would wish).  Make sure to write the number and the word (number).  You will also need to write one of the three words....small, medium or large on the card.  You will want to go over these words (small starts with the letter s etc).  If you think this would be to much for some of your students you could omit the words and just use one bin of acorns and just use the numbers for them to count.

 

Another idea for counting:

I found this on Pinterest

 

 

How cute is this?  Each squirrel has a number on it.  The students have to give the squirrel that many of acorns in his cup. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Crafting Friday.....Pumpkin Patch

 

 

October "Add" On Bulletin Board

 

This week on crafting Friday, we are going to be getting ready for our October bulletin board.  There are so many fun craft ideas and activities for the month of October....so we need to start just a few days before October is here.  I apologize for the picture above being blurred.  For some reason the program I used to make the picture saved like this. 

 

So, to get ready for your board, you will need to decide what background papers you want to use.  Usually for Fall I would put up a base color of brown to use for both October and November (to save paper).  For the tree, you can either free hand it with paint (especially if you will be using it for November too).  If you do not want to paint, you can always use construction paper (but that is a lot of paper to use).  I went ahead and drew my fence with paint as well since I will be using it for November too.  The fence would be an optional prop for this board if you choose.  I like the dimension it gives.  For the letters I would die-cut or print out the phrase.  Now that you have the base.....it is time for the 'add' on.

 

The add on will be each day or each week the students would add another project onto the board.  You can have them add together how many projects they have included onto the board individually and then as a whole group. 

 

Students part:

The leaves for the tree are just a simple diamond shape.  You can choose any shape or even just go ahead and have them draw or color a leaf pattern.  Want to use less paper......have them go on a walk and pick up colorful leaves and then staple them onto the tree instead.

 

The pumpkins (not jack o lanterns) can be done several different ways.  You may be limited to space depending on the number of students you have.  1.  Each student gets a piece of orange construction paper and cuts out a pumpkin shape.  2.  Coffee filters....let the students paint coffee filters orange for their pumpkins.  3.  If you have a lot of foam.....have them cut out a pumpkin shape on foam and use lots of different bright colors for their pumpkins (non traditional).  4.  Maybe you have a lot of brown paper lunch bags (we did).  Show the students how to cut one side to open it up to make one big piece of paper (cut on one side of seam and across the bottom).  Paint the paper orange and then let dry.  Have students cut out pumpkin shape after the bag has dried. 

 

For the vine.....I just rolled up green bulletin board paper and attached through pumpkins. 

 

Next week I will show you how to "add" more to it.



Letterland Thursday.....Dippy Duck

 

Letterland Thursday

 

Let's meet one of the many of my favorites.....

Dippy Duck

 

Click on the link below to watch a short intro on Dippy Duck's movie....Detective Dippy Duck. 

 

http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Letterland+Dippy+Duck&qpvt=Letterland+Dippy+Duck&FORM=VDRE#view=detail&mid=9276E856FEE902BCA5109276E856FEE902BCA510

 

 

Dippy Duck's handwriting songs is one of my all time favorites.  It is hard for me to remember all of them without looking them up....but this one I got down.

 

Draw Dippy Duck's back

go around her tum

go up to her and head

and down you come.

 

I am singing it as I type. 



Wacky Wednesday...Calendar

 

 

 

Wacky Wednesday

 

I was looking on Bing.com for a cute image to fit this title and found this fun image......LOVE IT.

 

Wacky Wednesday always reminds me of doing calendar at school.  I loved doing calendar with my kinders.  It was so much fun to get them excited about the day.  One of the teachers that I worked with had this cute way of helping our students remember the names of the days of the week....

Marvelous Monday

Terrific Tuesday

Wacky Wednesday

Thirsty Thursday

and

Freaky Friday

 

The portion of the calendar of time when we are asking....."Today is___________, yesterday was ______________, and tomorrow will be _______________....this tool came in handy for helping and reassuring the students how to answer.  If they got stuck we would say....."Wacky"....and then they would usually always associate that to Wednesday.  Later on in the year we would only have to say "Wa......" before they would get it...and then they would finally not have to have us say anything.  Word association is a fun and great way to help your students (children) learn.



Math Monday Numbers

Mondays are going to be all about math.

 

Numbers

 

Did you know there is a small difference between natural numbers and whole numbers.  It might sound if it is a trick question, but there is a slight difference.  In starting to teach my girls Algebra 1 I have discovered this.  A natural number is when you count starting with the number 1 and so on and so on, where as, a whole number is when you count using the number 0.  I did not know this until recently....I always like to learn something new....so I hope for some of you this is your "something new learned today".

 

There are so many fun and interesting ways to teach numbers to little ones.  In the school where I taught, they used Monster Math.  Monster Math is a fun creative way in using poems and cute little monsters to help recognize and write the numbers 1-10.  Maybe in future years there will be a Monster Number 0. 

 

One of my pet peeves is when someone refers to the number zero (0) as o (like the letter).  This should really be taught in early years of education to help students distinguish between the two.  When I was young and growing up, this was not taught and so we didn't know the difference....but there is a difference.  So, please teach your children and your students the difference.  When using numbers and they are referring to zero, they should be required to say zero and not o.  

Crafting Friday....Transporation

Crafting Friday

 

Transportation

 

These are some crafts that you can use to help with your Transportation thematic unit.

 

Bus:

Each student will need:

an empty tissue box (or other rectangular box)

an empty small soap box (or other square box)

2 toilet tube holders

Yellow Tissue or Wrapping Paper

Scrap white paper

crayons

Black construction paper

Glue

Scissors

 

Have each student bring in the empty tissue box, soap box and toilet tubes.  If you are pressed for time you can have a parent volunteer go ahead and cover the tissue and soap boxes with the tissue or wrapping paper.  You also could just paint them if you would rather.  Use the picture above for reference on how to put the boxes together.  The tissue box should be on it's side (open side where tissues came out should be on side facing back).  The small soap box is glued onto the front of the "bus" for the nose.  The toilet tubes are then glued onto the bottom for the axles.  Give students a number of how many passengers you would like for the bus to hold.  The example above holds 5 including the bus driver.  Have students draw their bus driver and passengers onto the white scrap paper.  The scrap paper should be cut out into small square pieces.  This would be a good time for let them practice cutting.  After they draw their passengers they need to glue them to the side of the bus. Next, they need to cut out circles from the black construction paper for the wheels.  These are glued onto the ends of the toilet tube holders on each side.  Again, use the above picture as reference.  They can lightly decorate the bus and even add their bus number to it (or a school bus number if they are a car rider). 

This activity incorporates your theme, math and fine motor skills.  Talk about the different shapes.  Count the shapes.  Count the passengers.  Graph the passengers.  There are lots of possibilities  with this craft.  Display in your school library or cafeteria for a fun touch. 

 

Hot Air Balloon:

Follow the link below for a very cute and easy craft for a hot air balloon.

http://www.craftjr.com/recycled-craft-hot-air-balloon/



Letterland Thursday Clever Cat

 

 

Letterland Thursday

 

 

Introducing....

 

 

Clever Cat

 

 

Today on Letterland Thursday we are going to meet the cutest cat you ever saw.....Clever Cat.  Clever Cat is the letter c who loves to cuddle.  The thing about Clever Cat is that she makes two sounds.  One of her sounds, which she makes more often is (ka).  We will have to wait for her other sound.

 

Visit this link to hear Clever Cat's song and some other free Letterland Songs, including the Letterland intro song.http://www.letterland.com/freesongs

 

The first "blue radio thing" will have Clever Cat's song.....it is the 2nd song on that first radio thing.

 

 



Labeled Classroom

Labeled Classroom

 

Have you heard of write the room?  Many teachers are doing this now as a literacy center......which is awesome to help with writing skills.  Words are printed with the picture beside of it and put up around the room.  Most of the time these are theme related.  They are put up on the first day of the theme and then taken down at the end of the unit. 

 

I believe to have a well rounded literacy classroom there should be labels up for a large portion of the classroom to help students identify objects of everyday use.  Many classrooms do this for supplies, but not for objects such as doors, windows, desks etc.

 

These objects are just as important to learning as themed unit literacy. 

 

Maybe start off small and then add onto your labels.  Talk to your administrators about labeling the school to build a literacy based environment.

 

 

September Writing

 

September Writing

 

Writing is one of my favorite subjects to teach kinders.  Showing them hand over hand how to write a letter, how to write a word and then having them do it......priceless.  Watching them master this task that you have been showing them.  Having them look up at you with their little faces and smiling saying...."I did it".  There is nothing better than that. 

 

For the most part most students in kindergarten are still learning the concept of print during the early weeks of kindergarten.  They are learning how to form the letters correctly. 

 

Pictures are a big part of writing for kinders.....for anyone.  This is a good time to get across "details" in the pictures.  They may draw a stick person and say they are finished.  Explain details to them.  Hair color, eye color, ears....clothes.  Are they inside or outside?  Is it hot or cold?  Details are important factors and a good tool for writing.  They may not be able to write out their story yet, but they can tell you about their story and draw their story. 

 

Ideas for writing topics for September

My name is_________.

I ride to school in a __________.

My favorite apple is__________.

I have ____ letters in my name.

I ate ________ for dinner last night.

I have _______ people who live in my house.

I have _______ pets.

My favorite color is _________.

 

If you have other September writing ideas leave them in the comments to share with others. 



Letterland Thursday 9-12-13

 

It's Letterland Thursday

 

 

Today we are going to meet

Bouncy Ben

 

 

 



Bouncy Ben is the character for the letter b.  He is a bouncy bunny who lives in a burrow in Letterland.  Can you guess what his favorite color is?  Your right....blue.  He really loves to bounce a blue ball too.  

Outdoor Classroom

The Outdoor Classroom

 

Face it, kids these days lack Vitamin D.  Typical classroom setting is indoors and then when they go home they are indoors doing homework. Outdoor time is limited to children these days. 

 

Take advantage of the outdoors to utilize in an extended classroom setting for your students.  Kids love being outside!!  Just a walk around the school can be a lesson.  If your school does not have an outdoor classroom yet, use what you have to modify one.  One thing I know for sure.....teachers are creative.

 

Here are a few pictures of outdoor classrooms to get you thinking

During writing take your students out (with all of the supplies they will need) and have them write or draw what they see.  Even better, what they see, hear, and smell.

 This would be a great spot for reading, either whole group on independent reading times

The picture above and below have to be my favorite spaces.  An extended space from the main building.  The picture below is an example of what the space could look like.  LOVE IT!!  This would make a great science lab area.

 

 

Above shows another great area for water tables.



This structure is a great private classroom setting.  Think of doing a social studies unit on communities out here. 

 

 

Whatever your lesson, get creative and take it outdoors.  Take advantage of the vitamin D!!

Always Let Them Try

It is hard to watch little ones struggle.  As parents, it's hard to watch our children struggle....no matter what age.  We want to protect them and help them.  It is somewhat easier just to do it for them.  If we do it for them though, how are they going to learn to do it for themselves.

 

 

Kindergarten is all about learning and trying new things.  We assume because of their size they cannot do as many things as most.  Lunch time is the biggest area where I see so many adults "doing" for students (and not just the little ones). 

 

First, model the task at hand.....show them how you do it.  Next, help them by putting their hands in place to do the task (example, opening a milk carton).  Guide their hands with yours to complete the task.  Then next time, have them try first without your help.  Continue to help them until they have mastered the task.  ALWAYS, let them try first!!  



Apple Theme

Apple Theme for Kindergarten

 

It's apple season....especially in kindergarten.  Of course teachers choose their themes differently, but for most September is usually when we talk all about apples.

 

This one activity carries on for writing, science and math.

 

Writing:

My favorite apple is____________.

This activity has two parts, one for science and one for writing.  You will want to do the science part first.

Write this on enough pages for each student at the bottom of each page.   Have students write what kind of apple they like best after tasting.  Have the words written somewhere that the students can see and find easily to copy.   The students will then draw and color the apple on the top portion of the page.  Remember names.

When students finish.....collect and write their names and the year on the back.  Turn into a book! Which apple do you like? would make a cute title.

 

Science:

For a fun science experiment have parents donate different types of apples for a taste testing.  Three or four different types would be suitable for this age.  You can customize to fit your need.  I would use Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Fuji and Golden Delicious.  This way you get a variety of color, textures, size and tastes.

Talk about each apple and the components mentioned above.  Cut a slice of each apple for each student.  After you talk about each apple pass around that apple slice.  It is a good idea to have a paper to pass out for each student to identify these apples by.  Easy way of doing this......take a piece of paper and draw a vertical line down the center of the paper.  Write the word yes on one side and no on the other side.  Use numbers to represent the apples.  If they like apple one then they write a one on the yes side...if they did not like apple one then they write the number one on the no side and so on and so on until they have tried all the apples.  Remember four should be the most they try.  If you are using the writing activity above....have the students to keep trying the ones that are in there yes side until they have picked a favorite. 

 

 

 Feel free to use this worksheet



 

 

Math:

Of course the most fun way to incorporate math is graphing.  At this early stage of kindergarten this is a great activity for the those first few weeks of school.  It also goes right along with our apple theme.  You can also use this when you are working on your science lesson.....math and science all there together.  If you have a SmartBoard this would be a fun way for the students to be involved as well.  You will need to make a board with the types of apples listed at the top that is going along with your science lesson.  Provide an apple in the same color that matches (make sure it can duplicate).  Have the students graph which apple was their favorite.  Count how many there are in total (should equal number of students).  Which had the most? Which had the least?

 

 

 

Sign language is considered a foreign language.  If you have time in the day for this, this makes a great lesson.

 

Craft:

There are countless ideas for crafts that you can do.  Pinterest has many apple themed crafts.  Comment below on your favorite craft using apples.

 

 

 





Letterland Thursday 9-5-13

 

 

It's Letterland Thursday!!

 

Today we start meeting the characters (letters).

 

Many schools learn the characters (letters) in different patterns.  They may learn them in alphabetical order or in a different order.  The school in which I worked, we taught in the order of how the letters were used in reading....the use.  I somewhat remember that order, but for the sake of getting something mixed up....I am going to stick to alphabetical order.

 

 

 

Annie Apple

 

Meet Annie Apple!!  Our leader of the Letterland Alphabet Parade.

 

It is obvious that Annie Apple is indeed an apple.  She is red with a green stem.  She lives in an apple tree.  Annie Apple makes the short a sound.

 

The mark above the a is called a breve, which represents the short a sound.

A few CVC words with the short a sound:

bat, cat, flat, sat, mat

 

One way that teachers like to introduce Annie Apple is by having them picture code.  Picture coding is the first introduction of all the letters.  It helps the students to identify the character and letter).

The student then draws or colors Annie Apple exactly to how she looks in Letterland.

 

 In our classroom we would choose several students pictures to place on our "apple tree" on our Letterland bulletin board. 

(Letterland Bulletin Board is a whole other post in itself....I feel inspired for a new post).

 

The Letterland Curriculum has many different tools you can use to go along with your lesson.  There are songs, books, and SmartBoard programs to help in your lesson. To learn more about this program and where you can purchase the materials visit the link below. 

 http://www.letterland.com/

 

For helpful tips to others please leave them in the comments below. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Take Home Folders

 

 

Each classroom is different when it comes to how they handle daily/weekly folders.  They may be called different things as well.  Your child's teacher should explain this to you during the first few days of school. 

 

Some teachers send home folders daily, while some just send home weekly things.  Or, you may have days where homework is sent home daily and then on Friday's all the papers collected for the week are sent home.  Rather school work or school and community related papers. 

 

We, as parents sometimes forget or get busy and do not have a chance to check folders daily.  It is the students responsibility to always share this with the parents.  However, being a kindergartener, this responsibility is still in learning stage.  It is a good habit to check your child's folder nightly for any papers or homework that may be sent home.  It is also a good habit to clean out your child's folder and return any paperwork as soon as you can. 

 

Teachers, here is a cute label to label those folders to help parents with knowing what stays at home and what goes back to school. 

 

another example

 

The last picture I just think is just really cute......

 

Please share any folder suggestions in the comments below.

 

 

 



Fine Motor Skills

 What is Fine Motor Skills?

 

Think of it as strength building for your hands.  Normal development demands that children are able to accurately and effectively use the intrinsic muscles of their hands.  These muscles will be used for the rest of their lives and are for everyday essential and functional activities.  So much this strength building is overlooked in thinking that this is a normal process and does not need to be exercised. 

 

Fine Motor Skills help in holding and using writing tools like pencils and crayons.  Holding and cutting with scissors.  Tying shoes, fastening buttons and zipping zippers. 

 

Many time when a child starts kindergarten, this skill is overlooked.  Kindergarten is so fast paced now a days that students are required to have these skills mastered.  Teachers may have a hard time finding time in the day to focus on these skills.  Incorporating these skills into centers (rather fun or work) can be essential in helping students. 

 

Activities for Fine Motor Skills

 

 

Beading/Stringing

Start with larger beads and work down to smaller beads.  Use any stringing material you may have such as yarn, twine or thread for the child to bead with.  Yarn works better for little hands since it is larger to hold.  *Tip* put a piece of tape on the ends of the yarn to help with fraying and for the bead to get on easier.  Themed activity: you can use for unit of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom or during learning the alphabet.  You will need alphabet beads (buy, have donated or make).  Have the students string their name on the yarn (either to keep as a necklace or not). 

I will post another blog on making the alphabet beads so make sure you are subscribed to my blog or check back from time to time.

 

  Lacing or Threading

 

Lacing cards are a great activity for work or play centers.  You can incorporate them into your theme.  Rather they have to complete one or five cards this activity  really builds those muscles. 

The top picture shows a lid to an old Parmesan cheese bottle.  If you do not have the shapes you want for the lacing cards you can make them very simple. All you need are some foam pieces, a die cut machine, a hole puncher and some yarn.  Die cut the foam into the shape you want and then hole punch around it.  Turn your foam into alphabet foam pieces for letter recognition as well as a fine motor skill activity.

 

 

Cutting with Scissors

 

This is probably one of the hardest for small hands to learn.  It is also one of the activities that are becoming obsolete.  We have so much technology that cutting is just one of those things that we put aside.  It is a very important skill though to have.  Taking the time to teach a child/student how to hold and use a pair of scissors is an important lesson.  Just like anything else, this requires practice.  Just cutting strips of paper can be a center.  Many projects require small pieces of tissue paper, so just if they are cutting tissue paper this can be used for future craft projects.  Check out the worksheet below that you can copy to help your student or child practice cutting lines.

 

 

Writing

 

The most valuable tool that any one person can have.  This task is a essential for everyday use and one that will be used your entire life.  Holding the pencil or crayon correctly is another important lesson in itself to master.  Determining if the child is left or right handed will be helpful in this process.  If you are not left handed or right handed, having a person who knows that hand skill will be a good idea to come and show your student.  Coloring skills is another lesson to be taught.  There were many students who I had in the past who did not know how to color.  Taking that time means a lot.  In early stages of writing and coloring any marks are great.  This is a strength builder working up to writing. 

 

 

	
	I hope you have enjoyed this blog of ideas for fine motor skills.  I would love to hear your ideas as well.  You can share in the comments section.  Thanks!

 

Labor Day

What is Labor Day?

 

 

The first week of school goes by and then all of a sudden you are out the next Monday for a holiday called Labor Day.  For most Labor Day is a holiday where you are out of school, off of work and you "close out" summer.   Check out this link for the history of Labor Day. 

http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/us/labor-day

 

 

How do you celebrate?

 

We all celebrate differently, but for many on Labor Day cook outs with family and friends are pretty traditional.  You may go to the beach one last time of the summer.  Your last swim in the pool or that last visit to your favorite water park may be in store. 

 

 

What every you choose to do to enjoy this holiday, be safe and have fun!