Teaching Smart

Tammy over at Live, Love, Laugh is hosting a great "Teaching Smart" linky party that you can find here:

Teaching Smart Linky Party

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.

Sharon's Shop

Let me know what you think!  :-)

USA Symbols: Books & Materials

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

I Love The USA

What resources have you found for a United States symbols unit?  I would love to know!  Please leave a comment below.

Alphabet Books

"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.

Alphabet Scramble 5

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.

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.

Fascination Award

Hello friends!  I just found out that my blog was nominated for a Fascination Award!  If you have a second and would like to vote for me, I would be so thankful!

Using DUPLOs

For the last 20 years, I have used DUPLOs in my classroom and in my home when young nieces and nephews come over to play.  I used to buy my DUPLOs at full price, but now I look for special sales at Lego stores and try to pick up different sets at thrift stores and yard sales.  Let me tell you, you can find really good deals at yard sales.

Cover of the book "LEGO City Heroes!"

I received the book LEGO City Heroes! by Scholastic for Christmas last year, from a dear friend who knows that I would rather have teaching supplies than things for me.  This is a lift-the-flap board book that can be used as a read-aloud or placed in a center for pre-k or kindergarten children to have wonderful building adventures.  It also teaches social studies concepts such as community helpers, the tools/vehicles they use, and where they work.

Sometimes I feel like there is so much paper work for our kids today.  I really like to give my students opportunities to develop their fine motor skills in a way that's creative and totally fun for them.

Students building with DUPLOs in  a water table

There are so many fabulous sets that you can find or purchase; your children will never be bored!  I have found sets for the farm, zoo, community helpers, dinosaurs, and many more.  Since my children came in this year speaking very little English, the DUPLOs helped to put them at ease because they recognized different animals.  That's how they started role-playing together, pretending that they were the various animals.  Throughout the year, I placed DUPLOs in my science, math and construction centers.

I would like to find or purchase more sets that deal with habitats and simple machines, to use in science and social studies.

In ABC center I always place these DUPLO letter tiles and boards.

Student spelling her name with DUPLO letter tiles

In kindergarten, I plan to use these for word families.  I think it'll be a great way for the students to see how they can just change the first letters and make a new word.  For math, Lego also has a number and mosaic set.

One strategy that I used in pre-k was putting my students' names on Mega Blocks and then having them vote for different things throughout the day.  The blocks with their names on them really personalized the activity for all of my students and increased name recognition, one-to-one correspondence, measuring skills, and the concept of more and less.  I'm going to continue to use blocks with their names on them in kindergarten for the daily question, how we get home, spelling their friends' names, making real graphs, and data analysis.  I had to use the Mega Blocks because I also had to fit the Braille on each block so I could read the students' names.  But I had colleagues who used DUPLO bricks for the same purpose.  They said they found it very convenient to store, since they could keep them all in one basket.

Using Mega Blocks to graph a student vote

Using Mega Blocks to measure student height

Here is the site for Lego Education, in case you wish to browse some of their products:

Lego Education

I'm also very excited that I recently became a member of LEAP (the Lego Education Advisory Panel) and will be able to contribute ideas to the manufacturers for the development of these products.  Lego is paying my way to an annual LEAP conference in Kansas City, Missouri in July - I'm really looking forward to it!

I'm very interested to know how or if you use DUPLO or Lego products in your classrooms or at home with your kids, grandkids, etc.  Please leave me a comment - they always make my day!  :-)

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!