Falling in love with Valentine's Day

I absolutely love celebrating Valentine's Day in the classroom, it is such a great time for students to show how much they care for one another.  I love all of the handwritten cards and sweet treats, it is such a happy time!  One of my favorite parts about Valentines Day is candy conversation hearts!  My husband thinks they taste like Tums, but I just LOVE them!

I love these cute little treats because they are yummy and fun, a perfect combo.  They are also a great seasonal tool to use in the classroom, making for a perfect math manipulative!  I created this Valentine's Day numbers FREEBIE which is a great review for this time of year. Students can also use conversation hearts to help them complete the pages.

 

I give each student their own little box of conversation hearts to use, they get so excited to complete their math work when they know these little treats are involved.  This FREE numbers pack has practice pages with numbers up to 20.  Having these sweet little counters makes it easy for students to understand the relationship between numbers and quantities.

Grab this little freebie by clicking on any of the pictures above or by clicking here: 

                         Valentines Day Numbers FREEBIE!

If you are looking for more hands-on ways to use candy conversation hearts in your classroom, check out these fun resources!

          

Valentines Day Subtraction

          

Falling in Love with Science

Have a wonderfully sweet Valentines Day!

A New Year with New Reading Goals

Heading back to school after the holiday break reminds me of how I felt back at the beginning of the school year.  I am filled with a renewed sense of ambition, energy and excitement.  It's amazing how some family time and Christmas cookies can quickly make you forget how nutty the last week of school had been.  

Now is the time to prepare for the long haul toward the end of the year and I am looking forward to hitting the ground running. I love to set goals for the year, both personally and professionally.  Having a clear visual of what I want to accomplish really helps to guide me throughout the year.  I think it is important for our students to have goals as well, especially in the classroom.  

When we return to school this coming week I am looking forward to helping my students set their reading goals for the rest of the school year.  In kindergarten these goals can vary from mastering letter recognition to reading a level G fluently.  Regardless of the child's ability level, we will be setting attainable goals that will help them on their reading journey.

These reading goals recording sheets are a great tool to use with students to help them focus in on a goal that will lead them to reading success.  I like to set goals with my students 1:1 to make sure they have a clear understanding of their goal.  I fill out the form for them and have them write in places they are capable of filling out, such as their name.  I really enjoy this bonding time with each student, we keep it fun and light with a clear focus.  Here are two examples of completed forms:

Once our goals are completed, I send home a parent letter with a copy of each goal plan so that parents are aware of their child’s reading goal and can help them to practice at home.

I review these goals with students several times throughout the year to make sure they are on track.  A good time to meet is after assessments are given and you can update their progress together.  When goals are accomplished, students can create new goals.  I like to reward students for their hard work with recognition in class, a certificate of accomplishment or a letter home to their family.

I hope you have an amazing 2016 and that this resource helps you and your students accomplish great things.  You can find this FREE resource by clicking on any of the pictures above or check it out here: 
FREE Reading Goals Recording Sheets

If you love goal setting with your students, be sure to check out the math and writing versions of these recording sheets.
                                      
                                      

Math Goals Recording Sheets
Writing Goals Recording Sheets

Teaching Story Elements and a Princess and the Frog FREEBIE

Story elements are super important for students to understand, as they help to improve reading comprehension.  Reading comprehension is vital in reading development so it is beneficial for students to have a good grasp on story elements from a young age.  I love starting in Kindergarten with a focus on characters, setting, BME (beginning, middle and end), conflict and resolution.  I think it important to introduce these concepts early on so that as students grow, they will put these building blocks together to better understand plot, theme, main idea, author's purpose and more.

There are so many ways to teach story elements, but I always find that students show the highest level of interest and success when they are hands-on and interacting with the story.  I love anchor charts!  We work together to create big ones as a class but we also use smaller versions for reference around the room once the large ones come down.

* Note that the story used in each of these anchor charts is The Princess and the Frog.  They will go perfectly with the FREE resource below. *

Graphic organizers are another great visual for students to record their findings from the stories they read.  I love this flappy foldable because it can be used for any story and it shows student understanding of the text. Bonus: it is fun to create and complete!

This and other fun resources are included in my Story Elements pack, which you can find here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Story-Elements-1774955

I love teaching through music, so I created 3 short songs to help my students remember how to find the setting, characters, conflict and resolution in a story.  They pick the songs up quickly and they really help as a quick mental reference.  These songs, as well as numerous other materials including 11 short story passages can be found in my story elements pack.  This pack has everything you need to get your little ones engaged in the key elements of a story.

Now on to the FREEBIE!  I pulled some of my favorite graphic organizers and pages from this story elements pack and made them specific to the tale of The Princess and the Frog or The Frog Prince.  It includes a short story with comprehension questions and other ways for the students to identify the story elements from this tale.  Click on the picture below, or this link to grab your FREEBIE: http://tinyurl.com/pge6nus
I hope you enjoy them!  Thank you for stopping by!

Pom Pom Power! Having fuzzy fun in math centers! **Fun Freebie**

What math manipulative is colorful, quiet, inexpensive, easy to clean up and oodles of fun?  Pom Poms!  I love working with pom poms, whether it is for a fun craft or a quick game, they are the perfect tool.  My love of pom poms was quickly shared by my students when I introduced them to pom poms in their math centers.   This inspired me to create my 12 Pom Pom Math Centers and this FREE extra decomposing math center using those fuzzy little friends.

You can use pom poms to teach several different math topics.  My students have used them for number sense, shapes, sorting, patterns, addition and subtraction, measurement and so much more!

These centers are so easy to set up and take down that it makes prepping math centers a breeze.  And with all of the teaching options, from beginner to advanced, they come in handy throughout the school year.

This FREE decomposing with pom poms math center is not included in my original pack.  I created it for my friends here at Keeping it Cool at School so that you can see just how fun, easy and effective working with pom poms can be.

Download this FREEBIE here:  FREE Decomposing Numbers Pom Pom Math Center   and be sure to let me know how much you and your students enjoy the fun and festive feel that pom poms bring to your classroom.

I love anchor charts!

   Teachers and students love anchor charts!  I love anchor charts and use them for everything! They are amazing for reading and writing to remind students of routines, procedures, and important information they should remember. They are also great in math for helping students remember different strategies and concepts. Anchor charts are helpful in the primary grades because it can be difficult for students to remember several steps in a process. Being able to reference anchor charts around the room really helps to continuously reinforce the content that has been taught.
    I personally love making anchor charts because I like creating the pictures and attempting to write in a nice font.  I always say I have the handwriting of a 5th grade boy, so the writing part takes major focus.  Anchor charts are a wonderful interactive activity that students should be engaged in.  My students always share what pictures they want to see, or they contribute to the pictures as well.  Here are some anchor charts for reading that we have hanging from a clothesline in our classroom.

The kiddos picked their favorite storybook characters to be included on this anchor chart which helps to make it more memorable.

*Have fun with anchor charts!  They don't have to be a masterpiece, just effective.
*Add book covers, photographs and other familiar items that might spark the kids interest and help them remember the concept.

 *If you can't add all of your content onto one chart, keep adding on to one and then tape the next one to the bottom, or hang them next to each other.

I could plaster my classroom walls with anchor charts, but after awhile too many will look cluttered and lose their effectiveness.  When we move onto a new topic I like to hang smaller anchor charts, or put them in centers for students to reference.  

Do you love anchor charts as much as me?  What do you use them for?

Fiction and Nonfiction Bulletin Board!

Oh, bulletin boards...a love/hate relationship.  I love doing bulletin boards, but sometimes things get so hectic it becomes tough to change them every month.  With that being said, I am pretty lucky because I don't have an actual bulletin board, I have these metal strips that hold student work.  It's nice because when I don't have time to get real creative, I can just slip some recent student work into the strips.  The part that stinks, is that when I want to do something fun and festive I have to get out 20 pounds of sticky-tac and adhere everything to the wall.  This month we have been really focusing on identifying fiction and nonfiction.  This is a tough concept, but we have been having a lot of fun learning with songs, center activities and much more.  We decided to showcase some of this work in the hallway with the help of a few snowy friends.  Sorry the pictures are a bit blurry, but you get the idea :)

My son is obsessed with Frozen and I haven't been able to get the songs out of my head all week!  "Do you want to build a snowman?"  My students love the movie as well so I just had to find a way to get Olaf up on that wall.  I love hearing the kids freak out when they walk by him in the hallway, I even caught a little girl hugging the wall yesterday haha.  So cute!

The student work displayed consists of various pages from our nonfiction retelling books and a sorting page for pictures of books we cut out of Scholastic Book Club magazines.  You can check out these products for more fiction and nonfiction fun!

Soapy Sight Word Fun

I am totally in love with word work this year!  I have always enjoyed it, but this year I am trying extra hard to make every day totally hands-on and loads of fun.  One activity that my students and I love is creating our sight words in shaving cream!  It is super fun, the kids get a ton of kinesthetic practice with their sight words and our desks look sparkling clean afterwords.

Just a few tips before your begin:
- Use unscented shaving cream, unless you want your room to smell like a men's locker room for a week.
- Have students roll up their sleeves, they will get messy :)  Good thing it is just soap and it will come right off, and usually fades by the end of the day.
- When finished, have students rub the shaving cream around until it disappears and then use baby wipes to clean off any residue.

        I usually start by prompting the kids with phrases similar to "write a sight word that starts with an L and rhymes with bike" or "write be, now erase the b and make it an m, what word do you have now?"  You can make up any fun riddles that you would like.  I also like to have them race to write the entire word wall from A to Z and write and share their favorite words with their friends.  The kids love getting messy and playing with their words, and so do I!

What is your favorite word work activity?