Science and Social Studies Vocabulary Word Walls

Most schools are now requiring Science and Social Studies Vocabulary Word Walls. We have always had Word Walls for ELA and Math. The Science and Social Studies words can be a little more difficult because these words are usually harder to spell.... so harder to recognize for the younger students.

Here is a picture of my Science and Social Studies Vocabulary Word Wall.

I don't really have a lot of room for so many Word Walls, but they are required and my students use them in their writing. My Kindergartners would not be able to recognize these words though if it wasn't for the pictures. They use the School Tools pictures a lot in their writing. This is included in my School Tools packet on Teachers Pay Teachers (link.) Lots of other activities and printables are included also.

My Science Vocabulary Word Wall was put up after we did whole group lessons and other fun activities with this packet. (link) This deals specifically with K.P.1.1 in the Common Core curriculum. These are words that my students need to know, the pictures help.

Notice I had to use one of the center cards! I let my students use these cards at their seats whenever they need to for writing. It really helps them to see the words along with the pictures and sometimes the cards turn up in a journal instead of in the baggie where they can be found!

This is one of the whole group cards that I use to teach and show what the words mean.

****** After writing this post, I realized I should have just made Word Wall Cards with the pictures! So I have included those in this packet. If you have already bought this from my TPT, just go to your purchases and download the updated version.*******

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! We are on our countdown to Winter Break... I love those words! I try not to think about it though because I want to take my time with my students and not rush through their Kindergarten Year.

Have a great December!

Technology In Our Kindergarten Classroom

My students seem to learn best with technology, color, and interaction. I guess it has always been that way, except now technology is more high-tech.

My Ks are using the little Chromebooks I wrote a grant for last year. Of course at that time I didn't know I would be using them with Ks! I was uncertain if they could use them without a mouse, but they went for it immediately and all three are using Starfall. If you have other websites that are easy for Ks to get around in, please leave a comment.

This is actually going to be my writing center. I have a big ole Teacher Desk that is taking up prime property in my room. This was moved out yesterday so I now have room! These two Chromebooks are now in my little listening center so this is my writing area. My room is actually a mess right now and I can't wait to straighten it out this week. (We had 27 students and just split the classrooms so I have way too much stuff.)

This is my new assistant who is actually a certified teacher. She is showing students how to use the Smart Table. They love this! I can't wait to find time to make some activities on this. We do not have a Smart Board but I was able to get this from the EC Dept.

These pictures are our Cut N Paste Center. They rainbow trace their names and then cut the letters out to build their names. Turns out so cute. I wish I could figure out how to put this in an interactive pdf file so everyone could use this. Any ideas?

The Cut n Paste Center is one of their favorites.

What are some of your students favorite centers?

Today we plan on doing this center. This should be an ongoing center from now on until these sight words are mastered.

I only have 5 girls in my room, so while this will appeal to them because they love to make things and all of my girls play some type of sport, my boys will especially love the graphics.

Thanks for visiting! Pam

Veteran's Day Wish

I hope that all Veterans today have someone that will shake their hand, hug them, give them their love for all the sacrifices they have made for our country.

My son, my father, my mother's grandfather, my sister's husband, my sister-in-law .... these people are near and dear to my heart and they have served our country with pride. I know there are so many others that have served our country and I thank each and every one of them.

Sending special love and thanks to all our service men and women!

How Do You Display Student Work?

We have to have student work displayed in our hall and classroom. I love to do this anyway, but it is a requirement at our school. I wrote about how I display my students work on a previous post.

I thought maybe someone might be interested in  how I display my students' work in the hall. In a previous county we had a pretty strict Fire Marshall and things could not be hanging all over the place (I think it was only 60% of a wall could be covered??)

This is what I came up with a few years ago. I like the way each student has their place on the wall!

I usually only change it once a month, but in the past I have changed it weekly.

I didn't notice till now that one of the little spider webs is crooked!

How do you hang up your student work? Leave a comment below with a link to a pic! I would love to see how others display their students' work!

I have my  Student Work Topper on TPT. I printed my original Toppers pictured above in black and white and then took Sharpies to color in the WOW's (I do this a lot!) No color at the time and I had to finish this! The TPT packet has color and black and white Toppers, plus 10 different describing words! And instructions! Check it out if you are interested in displays! (Click on the picture below for a look!)

Thanks for the visit! 

October Flew By!

I don't know about the rest of you, but October just flew by for me! I love October and all the fun activities that we can do with our students, but I couldn't get it all in.

We did have so many fun times and I know every one of my students look at spiders in a different way. We never got around to actually carving a pumpkin, but we did make the cutest little pumpkins as our 'curtain.' I love to hang things from my window.

This is a picture of my class window last year. These are the dodecahedron's we did in 4th and 5th grade AIG. Mr. J. Hughes, one of my favorite TPTer's made this item up! He is amazing. You have to visit his store, (here's the link.)

This is my window this year. I haven't decided how I am going to do my 'curtain.' I think I want a little more color than I had before. (More on this later.)

We have 27 students in our K classrooms. Next Tuesday I will have 21! I am so thankful we have a new teacher. She is right beside me (we connect with a hall with a B and G bathroom!) She loves Science and I am so excited. I will miss my students but they will be next door and I can pop in anytime.

I can't wait to have just 21 folders, notebooks, activities to make, students to meet with.... and the list goes on and on!

I do have a little Turkey Center Activity in my TPT store if you want to take a look. It is Gobblin' Fun! I am going to introduce it today in whole group and then let my students have a go at it! We are working on Beginning Sounds and this is just another way for them to have fun while practicing!

I'll take pics later!

Thanks for visiting.