I just made a new ABC Word Wall, and I wanted to share what it looks like with my bloggy friends! Here is a Scribd version if you would like to download it: ABC Word Wall Headings 2
I use a song by Barbara Milne called "Letter Sounds (apple, apple)" which matches the pictures on my word wall. The song is available from her web site, and also on iTunes. I really like this alphabet song when the children are using the pointer to follow along with the ABC's. It's a slower song and gives the children plenty of time to find and point to each letter. Here's a really cool YouTube video for it:
I place mini word walls in the children's chair pockets, with sight words on them. That way, they don't have to get up and go over to the ABC wall. They can simply grab it from their chair pocket. You could also leave them in a bucket on the table. I'm selling a variety of these on Teacher's Notebook and TPT.
Here's a picture of my writing center:
Writing Center
I struggled with writing center in the past, and what has really helped me is placing the theme words in a pocket chart. That way, the kids can take them out, use them, and put them back themselves. Plus, they can see all of the words from the theme at one time. I downloaded the vocabulary cards from Eduplace. The lapboard supply center, tracing letters, and magic boards are all from Lakeshore.
The final picture for today is of my library center:
Library Center
It's not quite done. I'm going in to school tomorrow to finish before the kids show up on Monday. I did add a basket of Beanie Babies so the kids can read books to them. I also found some Viewmasters online that I think will be a beautiful addition to this center. The children will be able to tell the story as they're viewing illustrations. This toy was really popular when I was little.
I'd love to hear what all of you are doing for your literacy centers.
If you're anything like me, you're spending money like crazy, trying to buy last-minute resources for the classroom. The problem is that I keep finding more things I want to buy! As I checked my basement, I realized that I already had these cans made that I can re-use in kindergarten:
You can browse through the file below and simply print out any of the labels that you like. You can also change them because I left them in PowerPoint. Take an empty can from your kitchen, whatever size you prefer, and take off its original wrapper. Print and cut the label you want/make, laminate it if desired (it lasts for years if you do), wrap it tightly around the can, and secure it with clear packing tape.
For the word family cans, I write the words onto popsicle sticks to match the cans. Then the students look at the pictures on the cans and try to put the popsicle sticks into the correct cans. "Hey, Diddle Diddle" is a nursery rhyme that I love doing with my students, so I made pictures that can be taped onto popsicle sticks to retell the story, and stored them in a matching can.
I just wanted to let you know that I put up a new product in my stores that I think is really cool for the beginning of kindergarten: "Things I Can Read" Writing Folder.
Please let me know what you think. I love hearing from all of you!
Alright, my secret is out! I LOVE superheroes! Many of the students in my class speak Spanish as their primary language. The most fabulous thing that I discovered is if I start to talk to my students about superheroes, suddenly they're speaking complete sentences in English. Now, I'm not saying it's perfectly grammatically correct English, but the point is that we're having a conversation. And isn't that what we want for our pre-k and kindergarten-age students?
SuperHero ABC by Bob McLeod is a really cool book. Each page has a beautifully illustrated superhero who has a phonetic connection to what the superhero's power is. For example, "Danger Man does daring deeds every day." When I read this book to my class, the kids were SO excited! It sparked a great deal of conversation about which superhero they wanted to be, and what powers they would have. At the time, I did not have a followup activity for this book - it was just read for fun. But now that I'm going back to kindergarten, I'm going to have the students illustrate and write about their favorite superhero on a T-shirt.
This year, I really discovered the joy of playing ABC Bingo games as a way to reinforce connections between letters and sounds. I commissioned an up-and-coming graphic designer who I know (he loves comic books, too) to make me an entire set of superhero clip art, carefully designed to motivate young children. I wanted to have a Superhero Bingo Game that would be gentle and appropriate for my new kindergarten classroom. I really don't like a lot of the violence (guns, swords, claws, axes, etc.) that are used in today's animated characters.
Hence this new product, Superhero ABC Bingo (view it on TPT or TN). I also made a Superhero ABC Mini Poster (view it on TPT or TN) to send home with my kids so that every night their parents can help them learn a new letter of the alphabet. Finally, I just finished a Superhero Sight Word Wall Folder (view it on TPT or TN) so the children can learn kindergarten and first-grade words that correspond to each letter of the alphabet. I will give one of these to every child in my classroom so that they can independently spell the sight words and have a feeling of growing confidence instead of always asking me to spell sight words for them.
Please let me know your opinions about using superheroes in the classroom, and if there are other products you would like to see these characters appear in. I really enjoy hearing from all of you!
When I could still see a few years ago, I thought the pictures in Over in the Ocean by Jack Hartmann were simply gorgeous. It's very much like the book Over in the Meadow by Ezra Jack Keats. I think it's a wonderful book because it can be used it to teach habitats, one-to-one correspondence up to ten, new vocabulary, sequencing, and numeral recognition. Another nice thing about this book is that it changes which family member is talking to the sea creatures each time. On one page it might be a mommy, on another page a daddy, on other pages an auntie, stepmom, etc. It covers 10 different family relationships in all. Jack Hartmann has also written a beautiful song called "Over in the Ocean" that matches the book perfectly and encourages your students to perform different motions such as paddle, dive, slither, hunt, and more. I believe that this really helps them to stay focused on the book.
Here is a guided reading book (approximately DRA level 1) that you could use with your kiddos: What Lives in the Ocean
If you're not aware that National Geographic has a great link for kids, please check this out:
From this site you can show your children great videos, play real animal sounds, view maps that show where each animal lives in the world, and print out fact cards for animals from any habitats that you're studying. I even used this site with pre-k, and my children were so excited by the videos, especially the one showing baby scorpions climbing all over their mother! I was sort of glad I couldn't see it - it was creeping me out just hearing about it!
This is a unique graphic organizer your kids can use to place things below and above the water. The first page is a model that they can color in, and the following pages provide opportunities to cut and paste. Ocean Above and Below
Coloring by numbers was one of my favorite activities when I was five years old. It just seemed so magical to me - I don't know why. Here are two color-by-number papers that are ocean-related: Color by Number Fish
Finally, if you're looking for a great way to save money, I made a few free table nameplates that are on TPT, including dolphins and happy faces:
One of the best things that I have learned, for any grade level, is that preparation is critical to having a happy, organized, fun-loving classroom. So, with that said, I have been working diligently on making centers that will be interesting and effective for my kinders. The center ideas and activities that I'm going to show you are for the beginning of the kindergarten school year.
Color Pizza
The first idea is a color-matching word game that can be placed in a center or in a station. Students match colored pieces of "pizza" to the corresponding color word on the circular "pie". I picked up some unused pizza boxes that I thought would be a great way to store these pieces.
Shape Placemat
The second game is a shape-matching activity where children place the correct parts of a table setting on a laminated place mat. This game really helps develop visual matching and shape identification and can be used for cutting and gluing if you don't wish to laminate the pieces. Here is the download: Shape Placemat Long Free
Fantasy Folder
Finally, I have found that my students at the beginning of kindergarten do not wish to go to writing center as much as math, ABC, or science centers. Therefore I really accommodate their interests by making mini word walls that they can use to label their own drawings. I truly believe that the beginning of kindergarten should be all about instilling in the children a real love for reading and writing. Later months can be used more for expanding labels into phrases and full sentence writing. I know philosophies about this may vary, but I also know that kids who aren't excited about reading and writing can only be taught so much.
I just put up a collection of 10 mini word walls on sale at Teacher's Notebook for a really great price. I also have some free products that you may be interested in on TN as well.
I'm writing this post because I often had trouble explaining United States symbols to my kinders. I couldn't find many age-appropriate materials related to this topic. After much research I did find some wonderful resources, but I had to dig. I really hope that these books, songs and materials help you in your units about United States symbols.
F is for Flag is a fantastic book for kindergarten because it describes what our flag looks like now and what it looked like long ago. It discusses nicknames for our flag, the holidays related to the flag, and what the flag means to people who live in America. I found some wonderful songs that really get to the heart of the United States symbols lessons: "America", "Yankee Doodle" and "You're A Grand Old Flag" sung by Cedarmont Kids. These songs all bring tears to my eyes. It's easy to forget how powerful music can be when we're singing about our country.
L is for Liberty is an excellent book to read during any unit on symbols of America, because it really focuses on definitions of liberty and freedom, explaining it in a kid-friendly manner. This book has about 22 pages and just a few sentences on each page, making it very appropriate for any K or 1st grade classroom.
Red, White, and Blue: The Story of the American Flag concentrates on the story of Betsy Ross, how the flag has developed and changed over the years, and some of the meaning behind the design of the flag. It also talks about the poem that Francis Scott Key wrote, and how it became the song "The Star-Spangled Banner". I purchased a version of this song by Cedarmont Kids to teach my children after reading this book. It was very surprising to me, but none of my students had ever heard "The Star-Spangled Banner".
America Is... has colorful, full-page illustrations that include a wide diversity of people. I especially like the line "America is... teachers and their students in schools in every state, and miners and factory workers, artists and musicians, bakers and bankers. And millions of other people who work at many different kinds of jobs at every hour of the day and night." This book also covers United States symbols and various land forms in the country, as well as holidays and why we have them. It's just right to read in a kindergarten classroom.
Of course, the book America the Beautiful is based on the song of the same name, and it has gorgeous illustrations. Ray Charles sings a version of this song that is very popular on iTunes. Blake Shelton also sings a country version of it, and Barbra Streisand does a lovely rendition as well. It just depends on what your own taste and style of music will lead you to. There are many versions!
A fabulous toy that I purchased for my classroom is an age-appropriate Talking USA Puzzle. When you correctly place a state where it belongs, the puzzle speaks the name of the state, its nickname, and its capital city. My children were enchanted with this toy, and it's such a wonderful way to teach map skills and geography - there are not many toys that do this! It costs about $25, and to me it's well worth the investment.
The Time for Kids web site has lots of useful resources and downloads such as a USA Landmarks activity and maps of the United States that are simple enough for kindergartners and first-graders to understand. I've also made a couple of resources of my own that might help you. Feel free to download these: USA Symbols Graphic Organizer
"The Letters Are Lost" and "A Gardener's Alphabet"
Two books that I feel are "must-haves" for an ABC shelf are The Letters Are Lost by Lisa Campbell Ernst and A Gardener's Alphabet by Mary Azarian. Both books are really appealing to young children and feature letters prominently on full-page spreads in their own unique ways.
The Letters Are Lost has a little bit of a plot to it. In the beginning, all the letters are together. Then, one by one, they disappear to have different adventures. I like the way the author connects the letter to where it is or what it's doing. For example, "B tumbled into the bath" and "K hitched a ride in a kangaroo pouch." I'm planning to put letter "P" in a bowl of popcorn, just like it's presented in the book. I'm going to ask the children what letter they think is in the popcorn and why they think it's that letter. I'm also going to have a treasure hunt outside, where I will hide plastic letters around the playground and have each child find one and see if they can tell me the letter's name or something that starts with that letter.
A Gardener's Alphabet introduces really neat, new vocabulary words for young children, words like "compost", "Japanese garden", "fountain" and "harvest". I believe that children can soak up so many words when being read and shown a book. The pictures in this book are also bold, featuring bright colors and high contrast. There is just one word on each page, which makes this book a quick read, but there are so many wonderful ways you can integrate science as you read this book. You can talk to the children about conservation, habitats, living things, parts of plants, and more.
I made these letters for two purposes. One is to laminate and place in the ABC center for permanent use, and the other is to use at the beginning of the school year for the kids to glue the matching letters on the paper as an alphabet assessment.
Hands Up For Letter Sounds" by Jack Hartmann and "Who Let The Letters Out?" by Dr. Jean are really great songs to use with these activities.because they say the letters in order, they say the letter sounds, and allow the children opportunities for movement.
I made a really cool set of ABC books for guided reading that are on sale now at my TPT store. The product is called Grocery Alphabet Books. Click the link and take a look if you're interested!
I'm really interested in finding out what your favorite letter books are. Please tell me about them in a comment below.
As I was reading and thinking about the Common Core Standards, I decided that I wanted to change some of my materials to focus more on numbers 10 to 20. I have found that it's difficult to find quality books that concentrate on the teen numbers. One great book that does is Bears at the Beach by Niki Yektai. I like this book because the watercolor illustrations are colorful and fun. I'm going to place this book in my math center after reading it so that children can count the objects over and over again.
Another game that I'm going to place in my math center, in a pocket chart, is this matching activity where students count the number of objects and then have to choose the correct numeral to place next to it. This corresponds with this Common Core Standard:
K.CC.4: Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20, count out that many objects. Number Matching 1 to 20
For the students' independent seat work after we read Bears at the Beach, I'll have them do these cut-and-paste activities where they cut numbers from the bottom of the paper, trace the numbers, color the pictures, and glue them into the missing boxes.
Some really great songs that count up from 1 to 20 are "Counting 1 to 20" by Jack Hartmann, "Country Countdown" by Dr. Jean, and "The Number Rock" by Greg & Steve. My kindergartners have often enjoyed wearing number necklaces and bouncing a ball the number of times that is on their necklace when I call out their number.
If you are interested in number books from 1 to 20 where students color and draw shapes, as well as write the sentences on each page, I do have a beautiful set on Teachers Pay Teachers for $2.00:
The book Bigger, Better, Best by Stuart Murphy is an absolute treasure for K and up. It's a great way to integrate math, reading and social studies. The book is about siblings who bicker over everything. When they move into a new house, they debate about whose room is bigger. Their parents provide them with papers so they can measure for themselves the windows and floors. This book is an excellent springboard for talking about area. The book is also funny and, to be quite honest, portrays children in a realistic manner. I read a review on Amazon that criticized the story because the children do not get along. Ok, let's be honest. Anyone out there who has siblings close in age can tell you that you love each other, but you don't get along perfectly. I also like this book for that reason. You can talk about how Jenny and Jeff are driving their younger sister, Jill, crazy.
We measured the windows in our classroom, as well as our blackboard, with paper squares. My kindergarten students were really excited about measuring everything in the classroom. I designed this sheet to use with Starburst candies so I could assess how the children were doing with this concept. I love using manipulatives. Also, because the Starbursts were wrapped, it was very hygienic and I let each child keep a few to eat after they did their problem-solving activities. You can also have the children estimate before they actually put the Starbursts down. I did have to remind my kindergarten students that it doesn't matter if their estimation is correct. I think sometimes they just have this innate desire to be right. Area With Starbursts
I have searched for songs on this topic. The two that I found are "Boogie Woogie Measurement" and "Perimeter, Area, Volume" by Learning Math By Song. "Boogie Woogie Measurement" is very jazzy and is probably suited for 1st and 2nd grade more than K. "Perimeter, Area, Volume" is a clapping song and can be used for kindergarten but again is a little bit higher - maybe 1st or 2nd grade would be more appropriate.
If any of you have great ideas for area, I would absolutely love to hear about them!
Yesterday was my last day of school. It was challenging to teach a morning and an afternoon pre-k class AND pack up the room at the same time! One thing that made it very pleasurable for me was revisiting my favorite Eric Carle books. The carousel above shows some of my favorites that I've used in both kindergarten and pre-k.
I have found that the entire "Very..." series of books is so marvelous because every single book has something special about it that the kids adore. From the cricket sound in The Very Quiet Cricket to the flashing fireflies in The Very Lonely Firefly, these books really capture the imaginations of young readers. The Grouchy Ladybug is a great book for introducing and teaching time. I really wanted my students to have an opportunity to manipulate clocks as we read the story aloud to them, so I made these ladybug clocks with movable hands:
Grouchy Ladybug Clock
My kids really enjoyed retelling The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so I downloaded Hungry Caterpillar Sequencing cards, laminated them, and put magnets on the back. They really enjoyed using the book in combination with the cards to retell the story.
As you all know, I love using music in my classroom. I have found two songs, based on Eric Carle books, that are really neat to use for sequencing: "Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?" by Greg & Steve, and "Polar Polar, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?" by John Archambault and David Plummer. For the "Brown Bear" song I made rectangular cards that the kids held and sequenced by standing in a line. When it was their turn, they stood up to display their card, so they had to be listening to the song. One year, we performed this song for the parents and passed a microphone down the line. The children got to sing their own part.
For "Polar Bear, Polar Bear", I made 2 of each of these necklaces for the students. The students stood up when it was their turn and made the animal sound. The "Polar Bear" book in the carousel at the top of this post also plays sounds for each animal.
I found an excellent resource for Eric Carle information and materials: The Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art. Their web site sells a lot of fabulous games, fabric, furniture, puzzles, and more. I especially like their Hungry Caterpillar puzzle (my kids really love it!) and the Very Books Block Puzzle. Check the site out if you get a chance.
I would love to hear about your favorite Eric Carle art projects, games, or activities!
Yesterday was my birthday and I started thinking about all the things I've done in past years to teach pre-k and kindergarten students about when their birthdays are and how people in America and various other cultures celebrate their birthdays. This is the first of a series of posts that I will be writing about birthdays.
The Secret Birthday Message by Eric Carle is really special because it has that treasure-hunt-type feel to it. Students have to look at shape clues to predict where the boy will go in the story to find his birthday surprise. This book covers concepts such as shape identification, direction words and sequencing, and you could extend it to talk about map skills. I really enjoy having my children guess what each shape represents in the real world. Since we're always being told to include higher-level thinking for our pre-k and kindergarten kids, I think this is an excellent way to do it.
Throughout the year in pre-k I use the song "Happy Birthday Letters" by Dr. Jean. I use the following book with the song, and my kids really focus on every single page.
Another thing I do to work on one-to-one correspondence and number identification is to put straight candles and numeral candles in Play Doh Center so that children can put them in sculpted cakes. It's easy, fun, and the students are learning how to match quantities with numerals.
In kindergarten, I use these birthday cakes with candles to teach months of the year, spelling, fine motor skills, and name writing. Students write their names somewhere on the cake, cut out the appropriate number of candles, and glue them onto the cake. You can use chalk, markers, crayons, paint, etc. to decorate these cakes. I've also used sequins, foam shapes, and little paper flowers. I always make a pre-made list to tell me whose birthdays are in which month.
After we finish the cakes, there's a great song by Jack Hartmann called "Birthdays" where the children stand up and sit down when they hear their birthday month. I've noticed that this song really helps children with focusing problems, because they have to listen to stand up for their birthday month.
For many years, I celebrated my birthday with the children and taught them traditions from around the world. Here's one of my favorites:
Canada: At birthday parties they serve homemade birthday
cakes decorated with colored sugar sprinkles. Between the layers of the cake a wrapped coin might be found. Whomever
finds it is the first to get a turn at all the party games. At the parties
children receive colorful party favors called crackers. These are tubes wrapped in crepe paper. They pop
when you pull a paper strip. Inside there is a small prize, your fortune or a
hat.
I would really love to hear special birthday traditions or celebration ideas from you. Please leave me a comment!
As the end of the year approaches, my students are a little wound up. I have found that I really have to pull out all of my best tricks at the end of the year to keep their attention and their focus, and still keep teaching concepts. Hold onto your seat belts as I race through a few of my best car ideas!
The book Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom by Stuart Murphy will really rev up your kids' engines! It's all about patterns, but it's also a really cool story that allows your kids to make sound effects as you read it to them. A little girl plays with her brother's toy cars and has to arrange them in the same pattern so she doesn't get in trouble when he returns. Everyone in the family makes a different pattern with the toy cars, so it's a great tool to teach multiple kinds of patterns. It's really perfect for pre-k and k. I used construction paper cars (solid red, yellow and blue) to match the cars in the book. The kids came up to the front and held the cars as they told me which car should go next. I've also heard of teachers cutting out steering wheels of the same colors and have the children actually be the drivers. If you place toy cars in your math center, your children can also further explore these concepts independently. Here is a pattern assessment (for legal size paper, 8.5"x14") to check for understanding: Pattern Car Long
I just went to a Dr. Jean workshop, and she mentioned a web site called Making Learning Fun. It has the best highway mats that you run the toy car around so that students can actually feel how shapes, numbers and letters are made. I made the shape set first, and laminated them, to see how my students would respond to this idea. They absolutely loved it! They kept saying things like "This is so awesome! You're the best teacher!" I figured the boys would enjoy it, but the reaction from the girls was also overwhelmingly positive as well.
Kids playing with shape highways
So that night, I made the highway numbers, adding traffic lights so the students would know where to start and stop for each one. These are such a treasure for me, because my students tend to make numbers backwards. Being blind, I wanted something that they could play with independently in centers that would be motivating and that would help them learn the correct way to form numbers. Here is what I used: Highway Numbers
I think it's important to introduce the mats in large group or in small group, show the children how to play with the mats, and then place them in the math center. My students did a really great job in centers for the last two days, using the cars and mats appropriately.
"Vroom Chugga Vroom Vroom" by Anne Miranda and David Murphy
Vroom Chugga Vroom Vroom by Anne Miranda and David Murphy is another great book, which focuses more on numbers. I have found many books that go up to 10, but not as many that go up to 20, like this one does. I'm thinking to put stickers with numbers on the cars so the children could line them up before they race them. I'm still going to only have 4 children in the center at a time, but each child could be in charge of 5 cars.
Here is a Level 2 guided reading book for those children who are working on their color identification skills: I See The Cars
I would love to hear what all of you do with toy cars!
Finally, Miss Nelson is having an "All-Time Favorite Read-Alouds" Linky Party. My favorite read-alouds change so often, but Beep Beep, Vroom Vroom is my favorite book for the end of the year because it holds their attention and it really solidifies the concept of patterns.
When I was little, most nights my mom sang the song "Puff the Magic Dragon" to me before going to bed (my mother loved Peter, Paul and Mary). I was so thrilled when I found out there was a beautifully illustrated storybook, Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton, that matches the classic song. When I was little, I always cried at the end, because of the message that we all grow up and leave things behind. Well, this new book doesn't change the original song, but it adds a part to the end that shows a little girl approaching the dragon so that children will feel that Puff will not be alone for the rest of his life. I personally really like this addition. This is a splendid book with which to do a picture walk and have your students tell the story before you read it to them. I played the song for my students as we turned the pages in the book. My students especially liked the pirate ship page.
My pre-k students are really into fantasy books right now, so they asked me if I could make a dragon book that they could read by themselves. I loved this idea, since my kiddos are really beginning to spell words. Since color words are so important for the beginning of kindergarten, I thought I could prepare my students by making them this book: Color Dragons
This book reminded me of a whole series of books that I made for my kindergarten students that moved them along from reading at DRA level 6 to level 18 in some cases. The whole fantasy genre is so fascinating to young children, both boys and girls alike. I decided to put up on TPT an entire Fantasy Guided Reading Unit that is ideal for advanced kindergarten students but also useful for first grade.
I hope your students enjoy taking a pretend visit to Honalee!
A dear friend of mine introduced me to the book The Paper Bag Princess, by Robert Munsch, several years ago. I don't know how I could have forgotten about it. It is absolutely fantastic! The story is about a princess who has to go and rescue a prince from a vicious dragon. All of her fine clothes get burned up, so she has to go tromping through the countryside in a paper bag. Nothing stops this princess! She's smart, she's brave, she's a problem-solver! She outsmarts the dragon and rescues the prince. The twist comes when the prince treats her very unfairly. He insults the princess, telling her that she's a mess, and dirty, and that she smells bad, after she's been through so much to save him. She cancels the wedding and calls him a bum at the end of the story. I really think this book promotes empowerment of girls, independent thinking, breaking stereotypes, and looking beyond the physical into the heart of a person.
Here is a book that I created for guided reading that follows a simple and easy-to-read pattern. My kids loved this book and begged me to let them take it home. I had six copies, and ended up having to make a copy for everyone in my class because they wanted it so badly. Up In The Tree
My students have been asking me over and over to make them a Fantasy Bingo game. I can't refuse my little darlings anything! Here is a picture of us playing the game. I used a fantasy picture for every letter of the alphabet. So, although my kids think they're just having loads of fun, I'm really teaching them letter identification, and letter sound connections. This Fantasy ABC Bingo game is up on TPT, along with a new product that I just put up today: Kindergarten Word Family Posters
Cover of the book "How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight"
Cover of the book "How Do Dinosaurs Say I Love You?"
It's great to use stories that the kids can act out as you read. The illustrations are so colorful and the topic is very stimulating for the children. My pre-k students were spellbound! I think both of these stories would also work wonderfully for kindergarten or first grade. Here are two writing prompts that you can use after you read the book.
The song "Dinosaur Boogie" by Dr. Jean is fabulous for getting your students up and moving and teaching them dinosaur facts at the same time. "5 Big Dinosaurs" by Jack Hartmann counts backwards from 5 and has a really rockin' beat that you can use as a fingerplay or as a subtraction song where 5 children ("dinosaurs") stand up in the front of the room and you take away 1 "dinosaur" each time the song tells you to. "Dinosaur Hunt" by Aaron Glassman is pretty similar to "Going On A Bear Hunt" or "Going On A Lion Hunt." It reviews position words and fits in perfectly with any dinosaur theme.
I also used large plastic dinosaurs and snap cubes to teach the concept of height and length. We estimated how many blocks we thought the dinosaur would be, and then measured the actual height or length. If you're working on patterning and have dinosaur manipulatives, here are a couple of fab pattern worksheets.
If you're interested, I have a new Dinosaur Unit on TPT that contains guided reading books on multiple levels as well as worksheets that cover a variety of kindergarten-level and pre-k-level skills.
Instead of a contest, I'd like to give away a new product that's tasty, cute, and academic at the same time! I will send my Shortcake Sequencing package to anyone who completes the following steps by Saturday, April 14 at 5:00pm:
1. Follow my blog
2. Follow my TPT store
3. Post about this giveaway on your blog
Make sure to leave a comment on this post saying that you completed the 3 steps, and also type your email address so I can send the file to you. I hope you like this step-by-step blueberry and strawberry shortcake activity!
Doreen Cronin is hysterical! If you have not read any of these books with your children, you are missing a fabulous, fun-filled story time. My kids crack up, whether they're pre-k or kindergarten. The book that started the whole series is Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. This book is such a great springboard for having your children write letters to Farmer Brown, to each other, or to you about what they would like in their classroom that they don't already have. Duck For President provides a really timely social studies link about the electoral process.
For guided reading, I've used the following two books as a science/reading integrated experience. We read the books and then use them as models for making their graphic organizer (also available for download below). I have used these books and this graphic organizer for their independent writing time and as a science center activity. My children really feel independent when they can look back in the books and find the answers for themselves. If you like this type of thing, I just put up a brand new Farm Animal Unit on TPT that's packed with 141 pages of terrific guided reading books, graphic organizers, games, and writing experiences.
My post would not be complete if I didn't share with you some really fun farm songs that'll have your kids dancing and "moo"-ing all over the room! "What Word Makes Sense" by Jack Hartmann is really cool because the children have to fill in a line of the song with a rhyming word. Here's an example: "There's a cow whose name is Sue. She eats some grass and then says ____ (moo)." "Down On The Farm" by Greg & Steve is just a kid-pleasing song. They really get into saying the different sounds that the animals make. Finally, Dr. Jean, my favorite artist, does a song called "Color Farm" where the children spell the color words of the animals in the song. If you've never heard this song, it's so wonderful for teaching color words in an upbeat, active manner!
Spring is a time of growth for lots of living things, and there are so many wonderful stories and factual books about this subject. I love comparing and contrasting books with my children. I use simple Venn diagrams to record my students' responses on 8.5"x11" paper, then turn that into a large poster board with the students' names and what they said. You can use these responses to show comprehension growth over the school year. The students also love seeing these Venn diagrams in Science Center and reading what they and their classmates said.
"There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick" by Lucille Colandro
I also use books such as There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Chick by Lucille Colandro to teach sequencing and to compare this story to other versions in the "Old Lady Who..." series that we've read. My students love announcing to me "Didn't you know, Mrs. Dudley? This book is like that clover book!" And inevitably, someone else says "Or it's like that lady who swallowed some snow and stuff!" Then they all start talking and telling me how it's like about eight other "Old Lady Who..." books. You see, I collect all of them and I love when the children make text-to-text connections. So, I just let them talk about it with a partner until the excitement dies down, and then I pull out the real objects from the story and see if they can tell me which object she swallowed first. I use real objects because it's the best way for young children to learn new vocabulary words. It's also so much more meaningful when you can use your five senses to touch, see, smell, and even taste things that you're learning about. After the children experience the real objects, you can place these pictures in a center, with velcro or magnets on the back, and have your students sequence them. You can also have them cut them out and sequence them on sentence strips.
Two really cool songs about chickens that I found are both available on iTunes: "Little Baby Chick Chick" by DB Harriss and Melissa Hooker and "Chicken Dance" by Kids Sing. They're both loads of fun.
If you need life cycle sequencing cards for frogs, chickens, ducks, plants, or butterflies, check out my Life Cycle Package on TPT!
