October in Kindergarten

October is my favorite month of the year!  I love pumpkins, fall colors, and Halloween.  I just celebrated my 11th wedding anniversary with my sweet husband.  We had a beautiful fall wedding during one of the most lovely times of year here in my little part of the world.

So, it's one of my favorite times of year in the classroom too!  This is a sweet Fall on the Farm bulletin board from last year...

It was done slowly over time during our farm unit.  The trees were done collaboratively using corks and tempera paint.  I drew the trunks ahead of time using pastels.  The kids painted the leaves and apples using the corks in small groups.

Fire Prevention Month is also super cool.  My kids love seeing firefighters get into their full gear.  They especially love the "Darth Vader" breathing of the oxygen tank.  It's cool to see the fire engine too.   We are sending kind thoughts to all the firefighters and those affected by the wildfires in California right now.  Keep reading to find a firefighter FREEBIE later in this post.

In my classroom we always learn about pumpkins and use Halloween themed materials to practice important literacy and math concepts being taught.  Learning is more FUN that way.  So I am super excited to show you a special new product I made...

This is the beginning letter sound match activity from my Kindergarten Centers for October.
I adore the watercolor graphics.  It's great literacy practice during anytime in October.  They are perfect for Halloween too.

These pumpkin letter cards are also super sweet watercolor graphics!  You can use them for letter sound practice.  Pulling them out of a plastic pumpkin like this is so fun.  We say the poem I heard from Miss Kindergarten to practice letter sounds...  "Pumpkin, Pumpkin, nice and round, grab a pumpkin, say the sound."  It's great practice AND formative assessment.  You can also use these cards to match uppercase and lowercase...

This activity also comes with a recording sheet for kids to practice writing the matching letter.  My kiddos NEED the handwriting practice... so it's a great activity.  It's split into two sheets, so you can do this as two separate activities on two different days.  It's a better plan to do it in two days for our little learners in kindergarten.

 I also adore these eyeball jars that we are using for number sense activities.  My kids just learned number words by making this Counting Bears Number Book.

So we will be using those eyeball jar numbers to practice number words, counting strategies, number order, and more.  The number cards and number word cards both work with this sweet activity too...

These cute candy corn numbers can be used in many of the same ways.  They also have star ten frames to match.  All these number activities will help make my hands-on lessons with my math curriculum much more fun.  All these number activities come with recording sheets so students can review and extend concepts with pencil and paper.  They make great homework for October as well.

I love to begin my number activities by having kids work collaboratively to put the numerals in order.  We do it forwards and backwards.  Then they can match the counting cards and other representations of the number to the numerals.

We are also working on decomposing numbers as we work on counting strategies and number order.   It sets students up for success with understanding addition and subtraction later in the year.  This mat is a fun way to decompose numbers.  Using candy corns for math manipulatives in October is a must.  Here you can see 6 decomposed as 4+2  and 3+3.

 You could also use little mini erasers, bears, or cubes from your classroom as well.   These simple mats will work with ANY counter manipulative. These decomposing numbers mats are in my Kindergarten Centers for October as well.

The understanding that larger numbers can be made with combinations of smaller numbers is a hugely important concept in kindergarten math.  So we practice this A LOT during the year.  These are a couple of other ways we practice...

This set of Roll, Count, Build Number Sense Activities has a mat for every month of the school year and some extras too.  It also has mats for both two dice and three.  This is a great way to differentiate and is actually great practice for first grade too.  It comes with recording sheets to write number sentences as well.

You can use the dice mats with dominoes too.  We LOVE dominoes in our classroom.  They are the original number bonds and help kids learn soooooo much about numbers.  So, I love this sweet little math product.  You can grab it right here: Number Sense Activities - Roll, Count, Build all year long!

This Roll, Count, Color All year long! is another way to practice these same concepts.  They also make easy homework for parents at home.  This set of recording sheets for dice also have images for the entire year.  They are made to use with one, two, or three dice.

You can grab these pages right here: Roll, Count, Color All year long!

Back to the October center activities...

This is another activity to practice decomposing numbers.  My students are going to pretend to be wizards or mad scientists making potions...

This fun math activity has pictures of fun potion bottles in different number combinations.  Here you can see 7 decomposed as 5+2, 3+4, and 1+6.  Students can make Potions with any combination that matches the total number (7).

There are cards included to record the number relationship like this or with full number sentences.  It has fun recording sheets too!

Here are some other fun activities in this set:

Practice for rhyming... this includes other materials and gives ideas for lots of ways to use these cards.

OK...  this is turning into the blog post that will never end.   This Kindergarten Centers for October set also includes activities to practice hearing and counting syllables and color words too.  It is going to help make my October fun for the kids and easy for me... now that all the cards are printed and laminated, Ha ha!

Thank you so much for reading this post.  I hope some of these activities gave you ideas for your kindergarten classroom in October.  If you want these activities for your classroom, you can find them right here: Kindergarten Centers for October.

I promised you a Fire Prevention freebie...

It's a labeling activity just perfect for little students who are learning to stretch words and listen for sounds to write them.  It only has five words, so it's not overwhelming for kiddos just starting to write.  I did this as a guided activity where we worked collaboratively to stretch and listen and I modeled the writing.  Don't you love the rainbow jacket in this one?

Here's what the page looks like blank:

There are two pages included with boy and girl firefighters.  It's in my TpT store. You can grab it right here:   FREEBIE-Label the Firefighter


I hope you have an amazing October with your class!  Thanks for stopping by my blog.
Happy teaching!

2017-18 Calendars are here!

Are you starting to think about next school year yet?  I hope not!  If you are a teacher, I hope that is the last thing on your mind.  But, honestly, this is the time when we reflect about went well, what we want to do better, and new things we might try next year...  or maybe you are thinking about vacation, baseball, and beating the heat. 

These calendars are the first thing I do each summer for back to school because I have so many teachers who depend on me to make calendars for their students each year.  We all use these for kids to learn and practice writing numbers to 30 in our classrooms.  This is an activity teachers have been doing for years and it is one of the few things I have NOT kicked to the curb since common core came along.

When CCSS came along, there were so many new activities to try, new curriculum to implement, and I felt like there was not enough time for everything...  especially in a partial day kindergarten.  There were so many old activities that just had to go.  But this activity is still my go to for monthly number writing.   There are so many concepts we work on each time we do this...  of course the actual handwriting of numbers, which is TRICKY for little learners.  And of course there is the rote counting and remembering the number order.  We also do a lot of work on the order of numerals in the two digit numbers.  We look at patterns that can help us remember.  Kids also learn to use tools in the classroom to help themselves.  Many students work on perseverance, focus, and time management as well.

Even though I really do like my adopted math curriculum, it doesn't give the kiddos as much practice with number writing as they need.  So this is an important area to supplement.  If I don't send them to first grade knowing this, then I have failed.  My friend next door teaching first grade still does this in her room every year too.   The kids benefit from fine motor practice and double digit number practice.  Did I mention that the families LOVE getting these at home each month?  I have parents comment on them all the time.  I even have kids tell me where they put the calendar in their homes.

OK, so... clearly this is a tried and true learning activity.  Are you doing these in your classroom?  If not, why?

Is it because you don't have time to think up an art project each month?  I've got you covered!  My calendar product comes with art ideas for the entire year with details about how we did the project.  I update it each year with new projects.  It also has links to my Pinterest boards so you can search for new ideas.  Is it because you don't want to have to buy a new download each year?  Got you covered there too!  My calendar product is perpetual, so you automatically get a new download each year.  Just go into My Purchases on TpT, find the calendar product and download again!  Easy Peasy!

So, if you own my Calendars for Number Writing ~Perpetual~  go download it and grab your new calendars.  If you don't have it yet, you might want to consider investing in it.  I have a commitment to make these calendars through 2028, and will probably make them well after that.  The price will be going up when the school year begins, so I hope you get it this summer to save.

Let's look at some adorable seasonal art and then I will show you the new calendar set for 2017-2018.

This apple is adorable!  We did an apple unit that year and we talked about the variations in colors even on apples from the same variety.  I thought it came out beautiful!

This baby jack-o-lantern is so cute.  This little guy didn't want to do lots of cutting, but I thought he was really creative with how he did the eyes and the tiny vampire tooth.  You can find more fun and funky jack-o-lanterns on this blog post: It's Pumpkin time!

This was a fun project for November!  We just did a construction paper collage on cut paper plates for the pie.  The napkin is construction paper too.  We glued on a fort to make it complete!

This is one of my favorite projects for December.  I always have several colors of paper available so kids can make candles any color they like.  That way we honor any family celebrations or lack thereof.  The greens are just ripped paper glued on in two shades of green.  You can do ripped red paper for berries, or glitter berries too.  The flame is gold glitter.

This is my new favorite winter art project.  We did these last year for December and they all came our just beautiful.  This was a two part project.  First, kids make a tissue paper collage on card stock using a glue-water mixture.  After this dried, they cut out triangle shaped trees and glued them on the dark background paper.  Lastly, they dotted on white tempera paint using cotton swabs to make snow.  Each one came out as unique as the child that made it, but they were all lovely. 

This project was a water color resist using white oil pastels on white paper.  Kids cold draw trees, houses, snow people, snowflakes, etc.  It was an open ended winter drawing.  Then they painted over the drawing with winter sky colors like blue, purple, etc.  It is always an experiment doing water color resist with young kids.  They have to press hard with the pastels.  I just loved the way this one came out.  I like the colors and how it isn't "perfect".  It is beautiful.

I just adore these love bugs!  They made great art for our calendars a few years ago.  I used Ellison die cuts for the hearts and circles.  I cut some of the circles in half for the wings.  We had lots of different colors available for our little artists.  We also used googly eyes and oil pastels for details.

This spring calendar was also done with Ellison die cuts.  We have the flower die at school.  I made lots of those in yellow and white and the kids used tissue to make the little centers for the flowers.  They are supposed to look like daffodils... even though they aren't really accurate, they are still pretty flowers for March.

OK, this is the last one...  Earth Day art for April!  This earth template and the little Everyday is Earth Day sign are FREE in my TpT store.  They are part of an Earth Day writing activity  You can grab them right here: Earth Day FREEBIE!

Oh my goodness... that is a lot of art!  So even if you don't use my calendars in your classroom, I hope you found some ideas that you can use!  Here are my Calendars for Number Writing 2017-2018:

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy teaching!

Smile! It's a Teachers Pay Teachers SALE!

Just wanted to get the word out... there is a big sale happening at Teachers Pay Teachers this Monday Nov. 30th and Tuesday Dec. 1st.  You can save 28% on everything in my store.  Make sure you use the promo code: smile at checkout to get your extra 10% discount.

I am going to stock up on some wonderful things on my wish list!

I also wanted to let you know that I just finished two new products you might want to check out since they will be 28% off.

This is a great set of activities and printable practice pages to go with your gingerbread unit this December.  It has all the things I want for my own classroom along with a few others I thought might be helpful to you.  It's a really sweet set.  (No pun intended ;)  You can grab it by clicking on the image below or this link right here: Print and Go! Gingerbread

You may also want to see this helpful pack as well.  It is great counting and numeral writing review for throughout the year.  I love this activity because it is open ended and kids can challenge themselves.  It incorporates doing a detailed drawing, counting and numeral writing, and labeling parts of the picture.  I am going to keep these handy this year when I think we need some review or I need something quick in an emergency or for a sub.

This one is from earlier in the year before we learned how to label things in our drawings.

This one is from a lesson where students learned how to label.
Both activities went really well and I think this helps my students remember to include lots of details in their drawings.  You can take a closer look at this product by clicking here; Draw, Count, Write!  or clicking on the image below:

I hope you get some good deals on CYBER Monday!
Happy shopping!
Happy teaching!

Happy Halloween!

October has gone by so fast.  Has it been the busiest October ever for you too?  Wow!  And now it's almost over.   Ok, this little set of cards isn't related to Halloween, but I am so happy with how they came out.  They were a rush job last week to get them ready for Monday's math lesson.

I started the week using these Number Tower Cards for a math game with my kiddos.  We are working on the concepts of number order, and more. less, equal with numbers 0-10.    The kids played a game as partners where they had to order the cards first and then take turns closing eyes while the other student removed two cards.  The student with closed eyes then had to guess which two numbers were missing.  They really had fun with it.  Both parts of the activity were fantastic!  I love these cards because the visual representation of the numbers "growing" really helps students conceptualize how numbers work.  You can grab these cards for your class by clicking on the link or image above.



We have also been doing some pumpkin studies in class and my kiddos made these sweet pumpkin  life cycle projects.  We only had a small bulletin board space for them, so they are packed in.  It looks like a little pumpkin patch.  They made these as an independent center activity over four days. 

Here are the four stages up close:

I just love kindergarten art work!  They did a great job with this craftivity!  It was super easy!  I just cut white 12 x 18 paper in half hot dog style.  Then I folded each into four equal sections.  We started with the papers folded shut with student's name on the first section that they needed to use.  Each day, I unfolded the paper to show the following section where the kids would do the  next stage.  Nobody got mixed up! It worked great!



These haunted, or spooky, shape houses were another project my kiddos did in October.  They are up in our classroom to help decorate for Halloween.  They are a part of my new project based homework this year.  Let me know what you think!  I have gotten some nice feedback from parents.  I would love to know what some other teachers think too.

The kiddos had to draw out the design to support creative thinking.

They also had to use a recording sheet to count how many of each shape was used in the final design as well as how many shapes were used altogether.

These are not available in a product yet.  I am creating it and piloting it this year as we go along.  If you love it, let me know and I will try to share my Project Based Homework as a product for next school year.

I had fun decorating the classroom this year for Halloween.  I use these cute hanging thinga majigs and a big Happy Halloween sign on the line across my classroom.  The ghost at the top of the blog post is another decoration in this set.  They are too cute to be scary, so they are perfect for kindergarten kids.  I have had these for years!  I am pretty sure they were Hallmark decorations and it was money well spent.  They were built to last.  I also put up all the haunted houses the kiddos made and it was perfect!




This is the treat I gave to my sweet students this year.

Silly scarecrow stuffies!  Yay!  I wanted something that wasn't food.  I wanted something that I didn't need to wrap or spend much time on.  And... the kiddos had so much fun acting out The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything By Linda D. Williams and Megan Lloyd, that I thought these little scarecrows were perfect!  I hope they have fun with them.  Thanks, Oriental Trading Co.  It was a money vs. time decision.  Time always wins out for me, so it was money well spent.

This is that book I mentioned above.  I read it every Halloween.

These are some others I really love for pumpkins and Halloween time:

 

A story about the little bat with a big idea who helped the witch just in time for her Halloween party. 

 

This is an adorable tale about three friends who realize their friendship is more important than how they make the pumpkin soup each day.   I used this story to introduce the concept of characters to my kiddos. 

This story is about a young boy who loves his jack-o-lantern and how a pumpkin plant sprouts back from what was left of it in the garden.  Great story that incorporates the fun of Halloween with the elements of growing pumpkin plants.  It is a must have if you are doing a pumpkin unit.

 

This is my absolute favorite book for a pumpkin unit!  The photos are gorgeous and it is truly written as poetry.  It gives students the opportunity to ask and answer questions as well as infer meaning because of the rich vocabulary and use of literary devices.  You will LOVE this quality piece of children's nonfiction.  Perfect for pumpkin life cycle studies!

I hope you had a super fun day with your kiddos in class for Halloween!  My day went really well.  I am glad because it was a big week.  We had the full moon, a field trip, and Halloween all in one week... Yikes!  But this great little class really stepped it up.  They did a fantastic job on our field trip and a good job on our Halloween day too.  I am so proud of them!

If you are looking for a great resource to help your October and especially Halloween week, go smoothly, you should really check out my Print and Go! Halloween pack.  It has a variety of interactive NO PREP math and literacy pages that are perfect for October in kindergarten.  You can look at it by clicking on the link above or the image below.

Happy Halloween!
Happy teaching!