Easy Peasy February Activities!

I thought I would do a quick post to share some of the activities I am planning (or have done) this month! All be these activities can be done with little or no prep! 

First, here is a the Valentine bag we are making! You can do these in no time!!! I did not use special paper.  This is just regular copy paper with red hearts from a craft punch.  The bag is a giant size lunch bag from Walmart to fit more goodies! I made the students do their own cutting and gluing. I used rounded templates to give them ease with cutting. (The picture shows my sample, but the students did a good job using scissors!)

Valentine Bag Head and Body 

and you will also need these....

Valentine Bag Bear Paws

 We are studying word families and we wanted to have a headband for Valentine's Day, so this is what I came up with!

Get it here: "ip" word family.

Save this one for next year.  I was not planning to share this. It just went so well for me, I wanted to add it.  I did this on the fly!! Hey, I forgot all about Groundhog's Day with it being on a weekend!! I just used regular copy paper again. Students did the coloring and cutting.  Luckily, I have paper plates and craft sticks handy. I quickly folded and cut out the hole in the bottom of the paper plates.  I also assisted with the glue on the sticks.

I got the idea for this creation from here, but I did not see any templates for it, so I made my own to use. Maybe, you will want to try this yourself.

Groundhog Day Project

Punctuation Sort (free) K.L.2b

I created this punctuation sort to get students thinking about end marks and get them to become more aware of each type.  My hope is that this will transfer into their writing and they will be thinking about what is needed when they create sentences. Many students are not remembering to add any end punctuation.  

Punctuation Sort

Directions:  Students cut on the broken line and glue the top strip on the top of an envelope.  Then they cut the individual pieces out to sort.  When they are done sorting, they can store the individual pieces inside the envelope.

********If this is the first time you have used envelopes like this in class, you will need to tell your students not to lick them shut!!!*****

Here is a small booklet to reinforce punctuation.

Punctuation Booklet

This is a link to my video that matches this booklet.

Punctuation Song

Five for Friday (100th Day of School!)

1

Today is our hundredth day of school and Pajama day!

This year we made a Zero the Hero puppet on our 100th day of school.  I am selling these for $1.00 on TPT or TN.
The headband template and the badges they are wearing are free here.

2

I have recently returned from the California Common Core Conference.  The keynote speaker was Donna Whyte (left). I was lucky enough to get to attend one of her sessions involving common core games. I had a very informative session with author Pat Pavelka (below). I learned so much from all my presenters!

3

We have been working in the classroom with winter activities. I made more imitation snow for students to touch and describe on a bubble map.

We also made a mouse project to accompany the Mice on Ice book.

4

This video was very good for introducing snow and I wanted to share it with you.  I did replay and explain the key parts of the video to increase student understanding.

Link to the video.

5
Are you planning President's Day activities?

                                                           

Grab this freebie from TPT to review addition with Lincoln and his hats.

Comparing Numbers in Kinder (K.CC.C 6 & 7)

Free for you. Link is below.

We have been working on comparing numbers for some time now.  We began simply by counting two different sets and verbally talking about which one was more and which one was less.

We used the following sentence starters to make choral responses:

"_____is greater than____."

"_____is less than______."

"______is equal to______."

We did this many times before I introduced the greater than, less than, and equal sign. I introduced them to these using the idea of the monster eating the greater number, but I know that a few prefer to teach this using the dots. I have never encountered a problem using the "monster" or "alligator" method.

This link takes you to TpT where you can get this work mat free by Floating through First.

We have spent a lot of time using the symbols with the concrete objects and pictures.  

The freebie book is to help transition from comparing pictures and items to comparing numbers. Click the image to download.

This is the matching SlideShare book.  I have already used this in my class to introduce comparing numbers. All I did was project it from my IPad to the whiteboard, we have read, reread and I had students write the corresponding numbers on the whiteboard underneath the pictures. They also wrote the symbols on the whiteboard for the last page where there are only numbers.

Alligator, Alligator, What Do You See? By KinderBlossoms from stinablossom

I also have song videos I created on YouTube if interested. 

Yes, I am crazy like that!!

Equal Sign Song

Greater, Less than Song

Finally, I have this for sale on TN or TpT for $1.40 if interested.

TpT

TN

Our Christmas Activities (5 for Fri.)

This year I made a chart that allowed us as a class to analyze each main character in selected books and determine whether they would be placed on Santa's naughty or nice list. This was a really fun way to teach about character and students had to learn to justify their decisions with evidence from the text. My class did so well! I am really excited about what they came up with!

I thought we had finished when it was decided that the gingerbread man was going on the naughty list!  Why? All that taunting he did as he was running away!!

A close-up picture for a bit more detail.

Note:  This the "Ready Freddy" book was not actually the one we read.  I could not get a picture of the actual story.  

Also, Pete is on the chart in two places because of his two different stories: The Wheels on the Bus is the story on the left. Why is he on the naughty list?  I was told by a student that he stood on top of the bus and that was not being safe .

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 Gingerbread Fun!

We started our week off with these fun activities. Here is a copy of the gingerbread pattern for the graph. Just click the image.

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Sorry, still on the headband kick!! Hey, just get on board and grab yours here!!!

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Each year a teacher friend of mine and I get together with our Scholastic Book orders.  We accumulate points and order a book for each student in our classes for the holiday.  This year my pick was Mice on Ice.  It is a very cute rhyming book and it was perfect for a younger group of students.  I am very excited to give each child this book!

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Enjoy this video with your gingerbread activities!

 

Christmas Crafts for my Kindergarteners

Last year I made a Santa and it had way too many pieces to cut out and put together.  This year I made my own simpler Santa.  I have mentioned before that I have younger students and things just have to be easier!!  The list he is holding just includes sight words because I knew my class would be successful writing those. 

My "Santa Craft" is free on my TpT store.

Santa Craft

I simplified this reindeer headband also! I have nearly 30 students, so I have to make things faster, as well as, easier!

Most versions of this involve breaking your back, cutting out each student's individual hands between each finger. This is, of course, after you complete the tedious task of tracing the child's hands on the paper. By using dark brown paint and creating a hand print on light brown construction paper, I was able to cut around the hand quickly and still have the detail of the fingers.  The nose was done using a craft punch and red paper.  Craft punches are huge time savers! The eyes I cut out by hand.  The strip of paper for the headband had to be pretty thick-about 5 inches to fit all the pieces on it.

Maybe you would like to do this with your class...

Reindeer Eyes

I recommend a craft punch for the nose, but if you just can't get one...

Reindeer Nose

Have fun crafting with your kids!!

Christmas Emergent Reader Freebie

This reader was inspired by the students in my class. A few weeks ago, we were in the library browsing books, when a few children started to quarrel over a flip flap book! Everyone wanted it! It was then I set my mind to creating flip flap book for my class!  

I also have discovered how nice it is to have emergent readers on slideshare, since it eliminates my need to write up the text on sentence strips for the pocket chart.  All I do is pull up this presentation and project it from the IPad.  You are welcome to use this as well.

Presents From Santa: An Emergent Reader by KinderBlossoms from stinablossom

Get your copy here:

Presents From Santa Emergent Reader

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We made our Mayflower Ships again this year.  I changed the pilgrims inside.  These ships were filled with snack donations from parents and placed in a clear gallon baggie.  Each student was given one to take home after our class performance and refreshment period.

Last year I only had the picture posted.  This year I will give you more assistance.  It is a little late to do now, but save it for next year! 

The idea and templates are from the dollar tree website.

Link to Dollar Tree Mayflower

But I added these to my projects....

Mayflower Tags

Pilgrims 

(Print on card stock, color, bend, and tape in.)

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Our performance pictures...

These were taken the day before the performance during the dress rehearsal.  Students looked much better in the plain, white, gray, black, or brown shirts they wore as recommended. 

Our performance was simple.  We recited some Thanksgiving poems and sang songs.