Prayer Request

I am sorry that I have not been on this week. On Monday my uncle lost his entire home to fire so this has been a very difficult week. I am asking all of you to please pray for our family during this difficult time. I have been through a house fire when I was a child and lost everything I owned. It is a very hard thing to recover from. Thank you all for understanding. 

Leaping Leprechauns!

St. Patrick's Day is coming soon so I wanted to share a freebie with you. 

Shamrock Syllable Sorting Game

I printed it on cardstock and laminated it for durability. The kids pick a picture card and clap the syllables. Then they put it under the correct label - 1, 2, or 3 syllables. I have also included a recording sheet to go along with the syllable sorting game.

Shamrock Syllable Sorting Recording Sheet

 ~Joni

WOW!

I can not believe that it is March already! It seems like we were just celebrating the new year last week and we have already completed 2 months in 2012! Wow...time is going so quickly! 

This week we have been celebrating Dr. Seuss. I forgot my camera at school and will post pictures of what we have done so far next week when I get back to school. Today we had a school-wide (over 700 kids) celebration of Dr. Seuss's birthday by having a hat parade. It was a lot of fun but it meant the kids were very hyper excited throughout the entire day! Now I am home and trying to relax. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

BTW: I have a new Donors Choose project that I would love to get funded. You can click on the link below to visit my project page. I would appreciate any donations. You can also search for a match code that will double any donations. Thanks in advance!

A Peek At Our Week - Presidents Day

Sorry this post is late! I was going to do it this weekend but was too busy to sit down and finish it.


Here is a peek at last week. We learned all about presidents and American symbols. My kinderkids loved this unit and learned so much. We first talked about our first president, George Washington. After reading several books about his life, we completed a bubble map together.


Sorry this one wouldn't upload the right way!

Then we talked about Abraham Lincoln and his life. We made a bubble map about him as well.

After talking about both George Washington and Abraham Lincoln the kids completed this activity sheet from Mailbox magazine where they sorted the pictures by which president they belonged to. It was a great review of what they had learned and they did really well during this activity during independent group time.

Kindergarten Hoppenings had some adorable activities that she did last year with her kinderkids. We completed the counting by 5's activity since we have been practicing for a while. The kids LOVED it! It was great practice and was hands-on.

For the next 2 weeks we will be doing our Dr. Seuss unit. I am so excited. This is always a favorite of mine. Look for more pictures to come!

Dental Health Month

A couple of weeks ago we talked about Dental Health. Here is one of the activities we did.

Each child made these cute toothbrushes using a strip of construction paper and half of a 4x6 index card. We worked together to make the toothbrushes and fray the edges to look like the bristles. Then each child wrtoe something they had learned about keeping their teeth healthy on the toothbrush.

The purple toothbrush was made by one of my intervention group students who was so proud of herself for writing a complete sentence! :)

Sounding Out Words

I have been working with my kinderkids on sounding out words for quite a while now. They have learned to sound out words using the PALS (Peer Assisted Learning Strategies) reading method - they read it slowly, sing it, and then read it. This is a great reading supplement if your school does not have it. It is through the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center at Vanderbilt University. I have used the 1st grade and kindergarten books and it helps my kids every year. They also love the fact that they get to work together as partners. It takes some time to teach them to work together well but it pays off in the long run. Does anyone else use PALS in their classroom??

We have been using games to practice sounding out words and spelling them using letter cards. Now I am having my kids practice sounding out words and writing the sounds/letters they hear. Here are some practice sheets I made to use with my kinderkids.

CVC words practice 1

CVC words practice 2

I hope you can use these as well! Please leave me a comment if you download. They make my heart happy! Thanks!

~Joni

An Oldie but Goodie!

I have been working with my kinderkids all year on counting up to 20 objects in different arrangements. We began by working with counters and manipulatives. Now we are working on the Kindergarten Common Core standard K.CC.3. Here is a generic counting sheet that I used for them to practice counting up to 20 objects. Hope you can use it too!

Counting up to 20 activity sheet 

If you download this sheet, I would love for you to leave me a comment! They always make me smile. Thanks!

St. Patty's Day Fun

St. Patrick's Day is on the way so I wanted to share a freebie with you.  I hope you can use it in your classroom too!

St. Patrick's Day Counting Sheet

Not the best picture...Sorry!

If you download the counting sheet, I would love for you to leave me a comment! They always make me smile. Thanks!

~Joni

Donors Choose is GrEaT! :)

Just wanted to show you the new bookshelf that I received for our classroom library thanks to some great Donors Choose donations. The kids are in love because they can now see the front of the books they choose to read. :)

Blogger won't let me rotate this one! Sorry! :(

~Joni

I Love Donors Choose!

I LOVE Donors Choose! I had a project fully funded before Christmas to get games for my kinderkids to practice phonemic awareness and alphabet/letter sounds skills. This is a picture of the things I got from my Donors Choose grant. Aren't they great?! I am so very excited and my kinderkids LOVE them!!

Currently Feb. Linky Party

Oh Boy 4th Grade has her February Currently Linky Party up so I had to join.

What Do You Love? Linky Party

Kimberly over at Funky First Grade Fun is having a "What Do You Love?" Linky Party. Since Valentine's Day is coming up I thought it would be fun to join in on the fun! Stop by her blog to check it out!!

• I love to watch movies with: my sweet hubby!
• I love to read books (place): on the beach
• I love to shop for: purses and shoes! (I am definitely a girlie girl!)
• I love to collect: anything with a palmetto tree or pineapple on it (I am a SC girl!)
• I love to listen to: country music
• I love to eat: Mexican food
• I love to talk about: my wonderful class or my great family!
• I love to make:new things for my classroom!
• I love to travel to: the lake
• I love to teach: math