Cupcake Freebies and More

Book Cover of "If You Give a Cat a Cupcake"

I don't know about you, but I think books by Laura Numeroff really work for teaching cause and effect.  I found some great ideas for the book If You Give a Cat a Cupcake on the Mouse Cookie Books web site.  There's a really nice activity kit that includes a dot-to-dot paper, and matching pictures to words, fun games for the kids to play, and more.  I've been watching "Cupcake Wars" on TV lately, and it's really affected my choices of things to make for my class.  When I realized this, I thought "Why not blog about it?"

So, I'm going to start off tomorrow by giving my children this warm-up where they have to color each cupcake based on the color word:

Coloring Cupcakes by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

During morning message, I will ask the students to do a turn-and-talk and describe their favorite cupcake: what it looks like, smells like, and tastes like.  I will also sing "Do You Know the Cupcake Man?", sung to the tune of "Do You Know the Muffin Man?".  ;-)  And instead of saying "Mulberry Street" at the end, you can say the street that your school is on.

I'm going to use this guided reading book when I pull the kids, to teach more sight words.  I wish that I could have them decorate the cupcake like I've done in years past, but we're not allowed to use food in the classroom this year.  :-(  I will have them also make-and-break the word "will" with magnet letters (that's our new sight word this week) on magnetic white boards.

My Cupcake Face Book by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

When they work at their tables, I'm going to have them do this follow-up sight word coloring paper:

Sight Word Coloring Cupcakes by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

If you like this sight word paper, I sell a package of these on TPT that you might want to check out.

In math, we're doing addition right now.  To really grab my students' attention I'm going to use plastic cupcakes that I bought in a bakery set to model what I want them to do, and then I will give them this cupcake addition paper to check for understanding:

Addition With Cupcakes by Sharon A Blachowicz Dudley

Lastly, I'm going to put a cupcake tin with some Play Doh, along with some plastic candles, in math center so that they can practice counting by ones and skip counting by twos.  So if they're skip counting by twos, they would put two candles in each cupcake.

I hope you enjoy these cupcake freebies, let me know what you think.  I love hearing from all of you!

Autumn Activities

I can't believe it's October 1st!  Fall is my favorite season, and I think it's really important to celebrate the change of the seasons with my students.  So I read all of the books in the carousel above, plus Fall, Leaves, Fall which is a great large-size book, but Amazon did not have a picture of it.  I want to share what I did for Leaf Man, because some of my children who normally don't like to do seat work were really motivated by this activity.  We read Leaf Man, of course.  Then I had little pieces of paper cut out in red, yellow, orange, green and brown so that the students could make their own leaf man pictures.  I hung the originals in the hallway, but I also wanted to make a class book so that students could practice reading the sentence frame "My leaf man is a ______," and so that they could see their own writing.  If you're interested, take a peek:
Our Leaf Man Book

I've been working a lot on math plans lately, to match the Common Core standards.  I came up with this idea to have the children count leaves, identify numerals, and then color the squares on the ten frames.  Since Common Core wants us to recognize up to 20, I made twenty different Velcro spots for leaves, and 20 different numeral cards.  There are also two ten-frames on the tree so that children can color the appropriate amount of squares up to 20.

This week, we started working on number lines, so I designed a leaf number line paper to keep with the theme:

Number Fill in the Gap Leaves

I feel that my posts are never complete unless I share some of the songs that I've been using.  There's a fabulous song by Jack Hartmann called "Follow Me to the Apple Tree," which has the kids actively hopping, paddling, skipping, walking, etc. to an apple tree and then picking the apples.  After they pick the apples, they hurry back through the same motions, sort of like the song "Goin' on a Bear Hunt."  I also really like the song "Seasons" by Dr. Jean, because the kids can easily picture different activities for each of the four seasons.  Both of these songs go really nicely if you're discussing and making connections between the books and the real world.

I also recently put up Four Seasons Writing Folders on TPT, and I think they could be really useful in any writing center throughout the year, especially when you're focusing on seasons.

Perfect Position Books

As my children would say, these books are all "awesome"!  They completely match common core standard K.G.1: Describe objects in the environment using names and shapes, and describe the relative positions of these objects using terms such as above, below, beside, in front of, behind, and next to.  They're also loads of fun!  My children never get tired of them, and especially in the beginning of the school year, when they don't have the stamina to sit for a long time, these books really keep their attention.  I also have them show the position words; it keeps the read very exciting.  They also know that when the story is done, we will most likely do a song that matches the book.  The songs I have found to match these books are:

"Cool Bear Hunt" by Dr. Jean
"Going on a Picnic" by Dr. Jean
"Lion Hunt" by Melinda Caroll
"Goin' on a Treasure Hunt" by Jack Hartmann
"Going on a Turkey Hunt" by Mister Q

I recently found a very cool web site called TLSBOOKS.com that does a great job of asking the children to identify position words.  In fact, there are lots more than just papers for position words.  There are games, printables, and worksheets for a wide variety of subjects including alphabet, math, science, nursery rhymes, geography, hand writing, and more!

My last two weeks at school have definitely presented some challenges, but one simple activity that I tried worked remarkably well.  I placed a tape square on the floor and gave a child a Beanie Baby bear.  I told the child to stand inside the square and outside the square, then had them do it in different ways (slower, faster, crawling, standing, etc.).  Every child wanted to do it, and they waited patiently for each other to take turns; I couldn't believe it!  I also had 23 kids that day (2 were absent).  So, I guess it goes to show that sometimes simple is best.

I also used my Superhero Bingo game that I talked about in an earlier post, and it really is helping my kids to identify more letters.  On Friday, they asked me to make an Animal Bingo game, so of course I did and it's now available on TPT and TN.

I found myself eating chocolate a lot last week.  I'm just wondering, do any of you have tips for lessening the stress of these first weeks of school?

Literacy Centers and Freebies

ABC Word Wall

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.

Fun with the Five Senses

Since I talk so much about being a "five senses" teacher, I thought it fitting that I write a post specifically about books, songs, and projects related to the five senses and people who are differently abled.

There's a wonderful book, Lucy's Picture, about a little girl whose class is given an assignment to create a picture.  Lucy decides to make a tactile collage for her grandfather, who is blind.  You don't know that her grandfather is blind until the end of the book, and this is a story that is fun and keeps the attention of any pre-k or kindergarten class.  I like how the teacher encourages Lucy to explore in her own way instead of stifling her creativity.  I think that creating collages (using different types of materials) is an excellent way to teach new vocabulary, textures, colors and shapes.  When my students finish their collages, I ask them to describe their pictures to me using a variety of adjectives.  This is a great way to assess how your children's language has grown over time.  I also keep the finished collages in their portfolios, with the children's own descriptions of their work attached.  I have gotten into the habit of collecting scraps of material (denim, silk, corduroy, aluminum foil, sandpaper, and scrapbooking paper, to name a few) and cutting them into many different shapes over the summer, because one of our first units is about the five senses.  And I LOVE having the students make these collages!

Textured Collage Shapes from Lakeshore

Lakeshore sells an assortment of Textured Collage Shapes that makes this a thousand times easier if you don't want to sit and cut out the fabrics.  They're on sale right now!

Some fabulous songs for a five senses unit are:

Five Senses by Dr. Jean
5 Senses by Jack Hartmann
Listen to the Sounds by Jack Hartmann
Five Senses by Mar Harmon

I found that these songs are all very easy for the kids to sing after just listening to them one time.

The Listening Walk, from the carousel at the top of the post, is a marvelous book for focusing on hearing.  I collected many sound effects (by searching for and downloading them in iTunes) to match the sounds in the book, so that I could enhance the story telling by playing the sounds in my classroom.  One album that was especially helpful was "Greatest Sound Effects" by Audio Environments & Co.  The kids truly enjoyed guessing what sounds were on the CD.

Students exploring scent bottles in science center

I also created scent bottles for my science center by adding store-bought extracts and cotton balls (to help prevent the liquids from leaking out) to clear bottles, gluing the pull-out caps on, and letting children try to match bottles to picture cards.  My students loved playing with these in science center, and it was a safe way for them to explore their sense of smell.

Dog Bones Tactile Set from Learning Resources

I am always looking for new toys to put into my science center.  Last Christmas, a friend bought me this oh-so-cute Dog Bone Tactile Set from Learning Resources that fits into an adorable dog house for easy storage.  Again, this is a great way to have your students use their sense of touch while learning new vocabulary and comparing and contrasting textures.

Mystery Box from Lakeshore

This Mystery Box from Lakeshore is much larger than the dog house and can be used for years because it's wood and very sturdy.  Inside mine I have placed tactile pillows, letters, numerals, and a wide variety of objects found around the house for the children to guess based on feeling the items.  This center is always exciting for the kids, especially if you frequently change what's inside the box.  You can also specialize the activity for phonemic awareness, for example, by filling the box with items that start with one particular letter.

If you're interested in some really fabulous Graphic Organizers about the five senses, I've made a nice set on TPT that's easy to use with your children.

Please feel free to ask me any questions about the books or projects in this post.  I especially enjoy talking to people about this topic.  ;-)

Over in the Ocean

"Over In The Ocean" Book Cover

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:

Animals on National Geographic for Kids

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:

Dolphin and Happy Face Nameplates

If you prefer a free butterfly nameplate that also has numbers 1 to 20 and the alphabet, pick it up from Teacher's Notebook here:

Butterfly Nameplates

As always, I LOVE hearing from all of you.  Please feel free to leave a comment, critique, or question below.

Common Core Freebies and Numbers to 20

"Bears at the Beach" by Niki Yektai

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.

Number Fill in the Gaps 1-20 Bears Dashed
Number Fill in the Gaps 1-20 Shirts Dashed

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:

Number Shape Books

I also just opened a new shop on Teacher's Notebook called "Sharon's Shop" that has a set of the cut-and-paste sheets from 1 to 20.

Thanks for stopping by!  If you know of other great number books, please tell me about them in a comment below.

Amazing Area

"Bigger, Better, Best" by Stuart Murphy

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!

Eric Carle

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.

Brown Bear Cards

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.

Polar Bear Polar Bear Necklaces

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!

Simple and Sweet Birthday Ideas

"The Secret Birthday Message" by Eric Carle

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.

Happy Birthday Letters

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.

Birthday Cakes and Candles 2

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!

The Caterpillar and the Polliwog

"The Caterpillar and the Polliwog" by Jack Kent

The Caterpillar and the Polliwog by Jack Kent is perfect for spring time.  I read the story several times using background music ("Waterfall Sounds - The Soothing Sounds of Ponds and Waterfalls" by Nature Sounds & Backgrounds).  The sounds really help the children to imagine that they are actually at a pond.  On the track you can hear insects, frogs, birds, water splashing, etc.  I use the props (see below) to retell the story and to give every child in my class a part to play.  I made multiples of some animals (such as fish and birds) so that I could bring the total up to 20.  Of course, you could always print extra props as needed.  Beside the sound effects, I place a large, blue tablecloth (as a "pond") on the rug and the children sit around it in a circle.  I fill a spray bottle with water and occasionally spray the children to heighten the experience of being at a pond.

The video for this (from "Owl Moon and Other Stories" by Children's Circle) is so adorable!  My children really loved watching the polliwog turn into a frog as he was waiting to see what would emerge from the chrysalis.  The thing I like the most about this video and book is that the characters have real personalities.  The polliwog is so curious, and the caterpillar is sort of prideful, and a little braggy.  The snail is indifferent, while the fish is very wise and confident.  When my children acted out the story, they really captured these traits.

Story Props Caterpillar and Polliwog

This guided reading book, which I just found in my files, matches really well with this lesson.  Enjoy, and let me know what you think!

Frog Life Cycle Book

As I was shopping at Michael's Art & Craft a few days ago, I found some really neat punchers to make butterfly and flower shapes from construction paper.  They worked great as manipulatives to make patterns, and then the students glued them onto sentence strips.  Next, I made this butterfly strip as a way to quickly assess whether my children understand how to make a pattern.
Pattern Butterfly Long

This post would not be complete if I didn't mention a few songs to go along with the butterfly and frog activities.  "Butterfly Addition" and "Butterfly Subtraction" by Miss Jenny work really well with these butterfly headbands that I found at Target for just a dollar each.  Can you believe that my kids were mad today if they didn't get a chance to be the butterfly?  I told them that they would definitely get a turn on Monday.

Butterfly Song Activity

Dynamic Dinosaurs

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.

Dinosaur Writing Prompts

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.

Pattern Dinosaur

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.

Beautiful Butterflies

This post is filled with butterfly books, songs and activities!

The books "Waiting For Wings" and "Where Butterflies Grow"

The first two books that I would like to tell you about are Waiting For Wings by Lois Ehlert and Where Butterflies Grow by Joanne Ryder.  They both have beautiful pictures, and in my opinion are appropriate to read to pre-k, k, or 1st-graders.  Both books discuss the life cycle of the butterfly and introduce vocabulary that our students will find really interesting.

The books "From Caterpillar To Butterfly" and "A Monarch Butterfly's Life"

The second two books, From Caterpillar To Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman and A Monarch Butterfly's Life by John Himmelman, are a little higher than pre-k - more appropriate for K, 1 and 2.  They still talk about the life cycle, but in a more factual, scientific manner.  I've used From Caterpillar To Butterfly when I've actually had the caterpillars in a jar in my room.  When I first started teaching, I was scared to get the Painted Lady Butterfly kit, but I assure you that it's really easy to use, and the kids love watching the process.

My pre-k kids still have problems with identifying numerals, so I used the song "Five Butterflies" by Tiana to have the children look at the number and go to drink from the "daffodil" when it was their turn, as well as showing the other students in the room the number on their butterfly.  The "daffodil" was made from a yellow tablecloth bought at a Party Store.  Here is the video if you'd like to see us doing the song:



Over the years, I've searched the internet for great songs about butterflies that my students could act out or move to in some way.  My favorite songs are:

"Butterfly Addition" by Miss Jenny (she also sings "Butterfly Subtraction")
"The Butterfly" by Dr. Jean (a really pretty fingerplay with nice movements)
"Beautiful Butterfly" by Jack Hartmann (a mellow butterfly song that's very factual - best for K and 1)
"Caterpillar" by Sharon Macdonald (a really cute story song - you can have the children use their index finger, starting at their shoe, and have the "caterpillar" crawl up to different parts of the body)
"Caterpillar's Story" by Dr. Jean (an adorable song that the kids can act out, sung to the tune of "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around")

Finally, here is an activity where the students match lowercase letters to uppercase letters.  The kids really liked this because the letters are on butterflies.  Because I had to fit so many letters and pictures on the page, this is done on legal size paper (8.5" x 14").
Alphabet Butterfly Matching

I want to make my posts as beneficial as possible.  I would appreciate it so much if you could tell me what your favorite things to see in posts are.  Do you like song lists?  Activities?  Book ideas?  Please let me know, because then I can try to include those things more often in my posts.  Thank you!

Songs and Sight Words

April at Wolfelicious is having a Sight Word Linky Party!  I just had to tell you all about some of my favorite songs that teach the sight words, because when I first started teaching I didn't realize that you could use music and movement as well as visuals to teach sight words.  Now that I'm a 20-year veteran, I realize by using movement, music, and a visual, you're really including all types of learners.  The first great pair of songs is by Jack Hartmann and they are called "Popcorn Words" and "Popcorn Words (4, 5 & 6 Letter)" from the CD's Hip Hop Alphabop and Hip Hop Alphabop 2.  You can listen to the first one on Jack Hartmann's web site, and the second one is the exact same song but with different words.  I give the children popcorn word cutouts (the file shown below, printed on yellow paper) and have them "pop up" when it's their turn.  The children are positioned on their knees so that they can easily bounce up and down during the song; when it's their word, they stand up.
Popcorn Words for Board

I also have a Popcorn Word Wall in my room so the kids can easily see the words and use them in their writing daily.  Here are two quick-and-easy popcorn word sheets that I made, where kids are just practicing saying the word and visually matching it to its identical partner:
Popcorn Words Cut Paste

Another really fabulous song is "Singing the World Wall" by Dr. Jean, from her album Kiss Your Brain. It's a really cool teaching song because once you get the melodies down, you can use this song to springboard to other sight words.  For example, Dr. Jean uses the melody for "Three Blind Mice" to teach the word "and," but really any 3-letter-word can be used with that melody.  She does the same thing for 4-, 5-, and 6-letter words.

I also make sight word board games for each month of the year.  I just put a new kindergarten egg sight word game on TPT.  I really like making and using these games, because the kids play cooperatively with others, and they really take pride in being able to spell and recognize the sight words.  I also made a special poster called "Super Sight Word Spellers."  When the children know all of their sight words for your class, you simply put their name on the list and give them a prize.  My children kept asking me to re-test them because they wanted to be the next person on the list.

Have a super time singing and spelling!

Eating The Alphabet

"Eating The Alphabet" by Lois Ehlert

Eating The Alphabet by Lois Ehlert is a colorful ABC book that encourages your sweeties to learn new vocabulary as well as phonics and letter identification.  Let me be completely honest when I tell you that my kids really are into this book up to about letter K.  Then the wiggles start.  You know what I mean.  Sally starts touching Sarah's hair, Billy starts poking Carole, etc.  It's a long book.

So, this year, when I was preparing to use this book with a kindergarten class, I got smart.  I went to the grocery store and bought dates, a kiwi, and peaches.  I actually wanted mangoes, but the particular store that I went to didn't have any.  I also prepared a CD with alphabet songs on it, to get the kids up and moving.  When the students came in, I started with a song by Dr. Jean called "Phonercise."  This is such a wonderful song because it has the kids stretching up to say the letter, touching their shoulders to make the letter sound, and touching their toes to say a word starting with that letter.  I paused the song at letter K so that we could read the book up to letter K.  We read each page, clapping the syllables for each word.  This really allowed the students to be involved with the story.  It also helped tremendously with the wiggles I talked about earlier.  Showing them the real fruits also piqued their interest.  This is such a great book for introducing new fruits and vegetables to your children.  The kids told me they didn't know what dates were, so it was sort of a mini-science lesson within the language lesson.  We also check any food allergies before we let the children eat anything.  So, when we got to letter K in the book, I showed them the kiwi and then we finished the rest of the Dr. Jean song.  After finishing the song, we went back to reading the book.  It went so much better than trying to read the whole book without any kind of movement in the middle.  I will always do it this way from now on!

Sample game boards for ABC BINGO

If you're interested, I have an ABC BINGO game (available on TPT) using very colorful pictures along with letters and words on the game boards and teacher cards.  I tried this out the same day as reading Eating The Alphabet, and my small group loved it.

Wow!

I love my county!  Two really sweet gentlemen from the Communications Office of my school district came to my classroom last Tuesday to film a video segment about me.  There was an interview and they recorded us doing our morning message and circle routine.  I found out today that the video is on the front page of my county's web site.  Here it is:



With all the excitement, I forgot that I wanted to share with you some ideas for March.  "Sing Into Spring" by Jack Hartmann is really great for calendar time because it talks about how winter will end and spring will begin.  "The Leprechaun Song" by Newbridge Songs For Learning is sort of a little story that the kids can act out as they're singing the song.  Another cool song that I just found yesterday on iTunes is "The Leprechaun" by Joe Guida the Singing School Bus Driver.  I like this one because it has a very Irish folk sound to it.

I have really been trying to make calendar time more exciting for my kids by changing the numbers every month.  Here is a giveaway that you can use in your calendar kit, or as a number sequencing game in Math Center:

Calendar Numbers in Shamrocks for March

"The Story of the Leprechaun" by Katherine Tegen

I think it's also helpful for the children to hear books about different holidays so that they can recognize what special days occur in each season.  I really enjoy reading books about magical creatures to my kids.  School is so tough these days with so many facts that we have to impart to our children.  I think some of the sparkle and magic has been lost.  The Story of the Leprechaun by Katherine Tegen helps restore a little of that fantasy that children need, and it teaches a nice message about not being greedy.  I think what I'm going to do with this story is tell the children that the leprechaun must have visited our classroom early in the morning because I found some green Play Doh that smells like mint.  Then I can have the students continue working on making shapes with part-part-whole.

I would love to know which books you all use in the month of March.  Please leave a comment below.

Fabulous Fractions

Teaching fractions, in my opinion, starts with symmetry.  I just found a great song by Judy & David called "The Symma Tree" (it's available on iTunes for 99 cents), and it really explains the concept very well for pre-k and kindergarten students.  I think cutting Play Doh in half is a great way to get started teaching the children about part-part-whole.  It's easiest if you start with circles and squares.  Next I get out the masking tape and put a line down the center of my body.  The kids crack up laughing at first, but then they all want to volunteer to be the person with the line of symmetry down the middle of their body!  I then play games like "Simon Says," but when we freeze, I ask them if they're symmetrical or asymmetrical.  You can also use the song "Freeze Dance" by Greg & Steve for the same activity.  I like to use slices of cheese, graham crackers, and candy bars to show children how you can cut things down the middle to leave two equal parts.

For fine motor practice, I had the children complete this symmetrical house picture.  If you hold a mirror across the page you can show the students how the whole image should look, to help them draw the correct parts.  I have many more of these; if you leave a comment that you like this one, I will put up more as freebies.
Symmetry House


When you actually start exploring fractions, I have found two fabulous songs that I use all the time.  The first one is by Dr. Jean and it's called "Fraction Pizza".  When we sing the song, I use plastic fraction pizzas that I bought at a local teacher store.  I've also seen velcro pizzas at Toys R Us.  If you can't find these toys, you can just make an art pizza with markers on a paper plate.  The second song that I like to use is "Fraction Is Part Of A Whole" by Miss Jenny, and it's also about pizza.

I made these books a few years ago when I was in kindergarten, and I hope they are helpful for you:
My Fraction Book
My Circle Fraction Book


Enjoy working with fractions!