Holiday CRAZY'S!!!!

Well, this week wound up be CRAZY with all of the Valentines activities. In addition to this, my principal has made some new schedule changes thus changing my daily schedule and small group times. While I did not get to introduce the sight words the way I had intended to this week, four sight words a week, I did get to review all thirty one with the students in my class in whole group settings. Some of the strategies I used in reviewing these words were sight word hunts, sight word games, and sight word writing. I have also begun a new routine where my students help me to write our morning message every morning. With this, they not only have to dictate the text for me to write but they also have to spell out the words for me to write. My routine that I have had for the year in my morning message is filled with our sight words and, as anticipated, my students kept up this routine all on their own. This routine has allowed me to review the sight words with the students and their spelling in an easy manner. I plan on kicking my planned research methods into gear this week as my students and I settle into our new schedule.  

Anchor Charts

I love to use the charts in the classroom as they are great reminders for the students who can not seem to remember what they are supposed to be doing. Mrs. Meacham has tons of resources on Anchor Charts that  are correlated to use in all subject areas including math and science. 

PBS Kids

Pbskids.org is a GREAT website to find various games on phonics and math. The students love playing the games as a whole group or independently on student computer.

Letter P

For the letter P my students and I Painted Paper Plate Pepperoni Pizza's!

We took a paper plate and colored the edges brown for the crust. Next I put a dot of red paint in the middle of each child's plate for them to spread out with a Paintbrush. Once they spread out their Paint, the students cut yellow strings into little Pieces to represent the cheese and then added their Pepperonis. 

We did not have to use glue because the Paint held all the Pieces together as it dried!

Our Pepperoni's had Pictures of things that began with the letter P. 

This is extremely easy to make as I used word clip art and drew circles around each Picture before running copies. To add higher order thinking, you can add Pictures that do not begin with P so the students have to differentiate between what begins with P and what does not. 

Core Standards

The school district that I teach in has made the decision to begin the switch from state standards to core standards. To find out more about Core Standards you can visit CoreStandards.org

Red Ribbon Week

We are celebrating Red Ribbon Week at school so I thought that I would share some of the cute door ideas some of our teachers made to show how our students "Say No to Drugs". 

Don't Fall Into the Wrong Patch 

(students drew pictures of friends helping one another)

Who Gives A Hoot About Drugs 

(students made paper bag owls and decorated pumpkins)

You Can Count on Us to Say No To Drugs

 (students made the Count from Sesame Street using paper plates)

Our Futures Are Too Bright to do Drugs

(students took pictures wearing sunglasses while holding signs of what they want to be when they grow up)

We Would Rather Eat Bugs Than Do Drugs 

(students made giant spiders)

LEGO'S

Lego's are a GREAT resource to have in every classroom as they open up a students imagination and lead to higher order thinking. I am very fortunate to work in a school who believes in the research linked to Lego's and in return they have been kind enough to provide a Lego table for every Kindergarten classroom. 

There are many uses for Lego's in the classroom. Some of these include:

1. Create an image to illustrate a part of a text or poem.
2. Create an image and write a sentence or story to match.
3. Illustrate the various emotions to show how you are feeling.
4. Use math words such as who can build the tallest or who can build the shortest.
5. Create a LEGO book for students to look at the pictures and create the images on their own. 

For more research and information on LEGO's in the classroom please visit the following sites:

• Serious Play Lego
• Lego Education
• Educational Benefits of Lego's
• The Learning Power of Lego's