Teaching Sight Words (Journeys units 1, 2, & 3)

This week I am on unit 4 lesson 17 in my Journeys reading series. This year my kinders seem to be having more trouble than usual learning their sight words. I have also had to adjust some of the words I teach since the sight words are not the same in Journeys as they were in our old reading series.

I have created a sight word bingo game to use with my small groups next week to review the sight words from units 1, 2, and 3 of Journeys. I hope you can use it too. If this goes well, I plan to make one for units 4, 5, and 6.

I am sure many of you teach these same sight words even if you don't use the Journeys reading series so this may be something you can use too.

Journeys Sight Word Bingo - Units 1, 2, & 3

 

If you download this bingo game, I would love to hear from you. I always love to hear your suggestions.

Linking Up With Love

I am loving so much right now and this was the perfect linky party for me to link up with. I'm linking up with Tessa from Tales Outside the Classroom for her Valentine's linky!

  

I am love my wonderful husband. I am so blessed to have him in my life. He loves me for all my quirks and always encourages me to do the things I dream of.

 

I am loving this little miracle that is growing inside me right now. I can't wait to meet him or her in June. I am so excited to be expanding our little family to include a little one. Soon we will be a family of 3!

 

I love being a kindergarten teacher. I love my kinders and all their stories. They always brighten my day and keep me smiling. It is amazing to see the progress they make from the beginning of the school year until the end of the school year.

 

I love blogging and getting great ideas from other teachers. You all keep me smiling and help me be a better teacher for my kinders because I get such great ideas from you.

 

I love TpT. I am constantly making new things for my classroom and I can share them or sell them through TpT. It is amazing to think that materials I create are being used in other teachers' classrooms all over. It makes me smile!

 
 

I haven't really created many Valentines activities on TpT but I have posted my February math journal prompts. They are $3.00 and there are 15 prompts in all. Each prompt is aligned to a Common Core standard and it is printed at the bottom of the prompt.

Teaching About MLK

I know this post is late, but I wanted to share with you. Last week, I taught about Martin Luther King Jr. I usually teach about him the week before the holiday but I was swamped with mid-year testing so we are learning about him this week. 

I saw the wonderful idea on Pinterest to use a white egg and a brown egg to teach about how on the outside we may look different but on the inside we are all the same. It was so interesting seeing how my kiddos responded to this activity.

Here are some pictures of the activity. They aren't very good. My camera wasn't having any part of these pictures for some strange reason.

The eggs before cracking - The shells are different colors (brown and white).

 

The eggs after cracking - The insides are the same!

The egg shells and the cracked eggs - They loved that the inside of the eggs were the same no matter what they looked like on the outside!

My kinders drew what the eggs looked like before cracking and after. I didn't get a picture of the before, but this is an after picture.

This would be a great activity to use next year with your kiddos if you haven't done this already!

Math Monday: February Math Journal Prompts

It is Monday and I am posting my February Math Journal Prompts on TpT early. Yah! I know it may not sound like a lot to other people but lately I can't seem to get much done early. There are 15 prompts in this pack and they are $3.00. Each prompt is aligned with at least 1 CC standard and the standard is listed at the bottom of the prompt.

February Math Journal Prompts

Writing Wednesday: Winter Writing

This week we are finishing up our winter unit. Yesterday I read the book Snowmen at Night to my kinders.

 

After reading the story, we imagined what we thought snowmen would do at night. Here is how my students' writing turned out. Several of them are very good and creative while others just took ideas from the book. 

"They play snowball fight." This is one of my precious Hispanic children.

"They play ball."

"They had a snowball fight."

"They plays." This kiddo couldn't write anything when he came to me so this is a big improvement!

"They drink cold cocoa." This is one of my top readers/writers. She can spell pretty much anything!

 

Friday Freebie: Ending Sounds Activity Sheet

Happy Friday everyone! I am exhausted after a very busy week, but I am excited for the long weekend ahead! Yah for 3 day weekends!! I do have to finish my students' report cards before Wednesday so I guess I will be working on those at some point this weekend.

I created this simple activity sheet for my students to practice ending sounds. I hope you can use it as well. The students just fill in the missing ending sound for each of the pictures. 

Ending Sounds Activity Sheet

If you download this activity, I would love to hear from you. Thanks for your support!

 

Mid Year Assessments

The mid year is here and it is time for assessments to be completed again. This is a busy time of year with lots to do especially after we have just returned from Christmas break, but it must be done.

This week I am completing running records for each of my kinders. I am sure most of you have to complete these running records at some point during the school year, but this year we were asked to complete them at the beginning of the year and this is our 2nd time completing them to see if our kinders have improved their reading levels. Some of my darlings just weren't ready to do this at the beginning of the year so I was glad to see that many of them have improved their reading levels since then. Our goal is to be reading on a level D independently by the end of the school year which is a challenge in kindergarten, but hopefully most will be reading on a level C independently. 

I am also completing the assessments for our 2nd nine weeks' report card. I am using the CC Math Assessment pack from my TpT store for the math standards. I have also made ELA assessments for the 2nd nine weeks. I plan to finish this pack soon and put it in my TpT store. 

My teacher assistant monitors my other students who are completing independent activities while I am completing these assessments. Sometimes these activities are activity sheets at their tables; other times the students are in literacy stations.  

I hope this helps give you a peek inside my classroom. Happy Thursday everyone! 

Math Monday (On a Tuesday!): Building Shapes

This post was supposed to go out yesterday but I was too tired when I got home so here it is on Tuesday. 

My kinders have been practicing with 2D and 3D shapes for a while so I decided to do a fun activity to have them practice building 2D shapes using pretzel sticks and marshmallows. Each kinder got 6 pretzel sticks and 6 mini marshmallows (in case they needed extras). The kiddos loved this activity! They were on task and engaged throughout the entire activity and loved that they got to eat the manipulatives at the end of the activity. This activity focused on the Math Common Core standard K.G.5. Here are some pictures of their completed shapes.

BTW: I just found out this morning that I have been approved to attend the SC Kindergarten Teachers Conference in Columbia on March 4 & 5. I am so excited to be able to attend!! :) Are there any other SC kindergarten teachers out there who are attending??

Wonderful Winter (Friday Freebie)

This week and next week, I am working with my kinders on the theme of winter. It has been difficult to teach about winter this week since we have had temperatures here in SC of 70+ degrees. It has felt nice to be outside but definitely not winter weather. In SC, we rarely ever get snow, but I love teaching about winter. 

One of the activities I have done this week in my small groups was a snowflake syllable sort. This was a good way to review syllables with my kiddos. Once everyone got a chance to use the activity, I am putting it in a literacy station for next week. I am putting this sort on TpT if you would like to download it for free.

Snowflake Syllable Sort

January Math Journals

I am late, but I guess it is better to be late than to never get these finished. I finally finished my January Math Journal Prompts and posted them to TpT. There are 12 prompts in this pack and they are $3.00. If you would like to purchase them, just click on the picture below. 

January Math Journal Prompts

 

There is also a fabulous Kindergarten resources giveaway at Rockin' Teacher Materials. Click on this link to enter:

Rockin' Teacher Materials

New Year's Resolutions

Last Thursday was our first day back after Christmas break. Since we were only in school 2 days this past week, I decided to teach about the new year. I read the adorable book: Squirrel's New Year's Resolutions. I purchased this book last year through Scholastic Book Clubs and it is great to explain what a resolution is to younger students who may not understand otherwise.

 

After reading the book, my kinders got a chance to write their own new year's resolutions. I thought they turned out so cute and this was a great chance to see who remembered their letter sounds after the break.

help other people

help my mom clean up

to write better

help my mom clean up

I love to see how they sound out words and I can hear each one of them talking to me as I read their writing.

New Year, New TpT Sale

Happy new year! I have loved meeting some new blogging friends this year and keeping in touch with blogging friends that helped me get started. Thank you for an awesome 2012! I am looking forward to an even better year of blogging in 2013!

As a way to welcome in the new year, I am having a 3 day sale in my TpT store. Everything will be 15% off so if there is something you have had your eye on, now is the perfect time to purchase. Just click on the button below to go to my TpT store.