Hope Everyone Is Having A Thankful Thanksgiving!

Holidays are always bittersweet for me. I miss so many of my family members that are no longer here, but I love being with the family that surrounds me now. When you really think about what is important in life, it always comes back to family and loved ones.

I always think about my students also. Past and present. Are they warm and looking forward to a nice family gathering? Do they feel loved and safe in their homes? I know most are having a wonderful holiday, but some I know are feeling frustrated and miss their lunches at school and our tasty snacks, and the feeling that they are safe. To all children, all over the world, I pray that they find a safe and loving place during this season.

Here is my 'Turkey Curtain.' I love making a curtain out of my students' work!

I used this as a center and we made 'at' words. The Turkey on the purple paper was rather difficult for some of mine. I gave them a number, they put the number on the turkey's belly! Then they had to show the number 4 different ways. Most drew the number, tallied the number, wrote the number word, and then make a number sentence such as: 4 red flowers and 2 blue flowers makes 6! It was a cute activity and I am going to make some of these up for the next big holiday coming up!

I also made a pumpkin "curtain" last month. The pumpkins were cute but when we added the turkeys, it was so amazing! Most of the time when my students are doing a 'craftivity' I am pulling small groups. The Mouse Can See Leaves is the best little book to pull at anytime for small groups! 

 

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Pam

Letterland Letterland! There is no better land!

My students love Letterland! I have added so many Letterland Supplemental products in my Teachers Pay Teachers Store! Pam-DAlessandro.

This is for the beginning of the year, after FAST TRACK. I use this for my first lesson after assessments. it is on pages 43-50 of the Letterland Kindergarten Manual. Lessons 19-20. I use this the entire week, supplemented with my other Letterland activities. I always call my small independent groups, centers but I know many call them stations or specials.
 

You know you hear a song and it plays over and over in your head? Well, that is how the theme song to Letterland is with me and my students. We hum it all the time!

When we first started with Letterland last year I have to say I had some issues with the program! First, the accents were all British and I had to teach little Ks the letter sounds in English! AND nine of my students were ESLs! 

I started using it and really got into the program and now I love it!  The characters are cute! They call the characters, Letterlanders! They live in another land of letters, sounds complicated if you are new to the program, but as you get into the program you can see it does work! Students learn the sounds and letters!

We had a Letterland Parade on the 31st. Students had a month to get their costumes ready. Red Robot on the left hand side was the cutest little guy! They all had fun and parents walked along with us as we went in every classroom in the school.

Notice the crayons.... yes, I am really particular about crayons. That came from my student teaching days. A long time ago! I only have my Kinders take out the crayons that they need. Then immediately put them back in the box. It is easier for early learners to have a plastic crayon box where they can have them spread out more. But still only one crayon at a time.

I make sure not to rush them. It takes more time to be neat and careful than to just hurry up with something. All things take time for early learners and there is no use rushing them.

I made some up with just Annie Apple and Clever cat.  I'll try and upload them here, but will put them in my  TPT store.

Students cut out the pictures and sort them under the /a/ or /c/ sound.

The clip art all came from DJ Inkers and Whimsey Clips.

I wanted my students to identify the beginning sounds of /a/ and /c/ words. Of course, learning to write the letters correctly helps! The clip art all came from DJ Inkers and Whimsey Clips.

I made double copies of the picture cards that are in Annie Apple's center. My Kinders couldn't draw as well as some of the other classes I have had, so they put the picture of /a/ words under their paper and traced. They are getting a lot better now!

I love interactive emergent readers and this is printed back to front. I hope someone who is teaching using the Letterland program can use some of these supplemental centers. I have more centers, powerpoints and all that I have made up,  so please follow my blog and I will put these up as I go. 

Let me know if these links work. I hope this helps someone. Also, I will be putting some freebies up on my TPT store. If you want to be notified, please go to my store and click Follow. I promise I don't send out a lot of emails, just when I have a new Free Item or New Product.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Pam-DAlessandro

Loving The Photo Boxes for Math Centers!

Just a heads up that the boxes are on sale at Michaels right now. $14.99! Really a good buy and you can use them for so many things! 

Many of the craft stores are selling photo boxes. Some are clear, others have different colored bins. I ordered a set and started to put pictures but then decided to make centers for my Kinders. Colored coded - easy to pack away - exactly what my group of Kinders needed.

http://www.michaels.com/iris-color-photo-craft-keeper/10468242.html

They come on sale every once in a while. I think mine was 19.99. I love these cases for centers. Of course I had to make something for my Kinders.

This is the way I keep mine stored. The math center is all about number sense in Kindergarten.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Math-Centers-Print-and-Pack-Number-Sense-Practice-All-Year-Just-Add-Clips-3123602

The cards are as closely colored coded to the photo boxes as I could get. I just open the case and students take out the boxes that they need to finish or that they haven't done yet. There are over 100 pages with 3 cards on each page. That makes around 300 colored coded math cards. I will be adding more this summer when I start thinking of my Kinders needs at the beginning of the year. 

This is an addition card. Students take the little clips (read about these on another post) Making Centers. (search for December 2013! They have lasted quite a while!) My students love those little clips! They beg me to give them centers just so they can use them. After a few years of use, you do need to add some Gorilla Glue to get them to stay on, but they are well worth the trouble!

The girls love the stars and hearts. I do have sports themed and animals themed clips also. They can choose whatever they want. I keep a lot of them!

Very easy to put everything back in place. 

I keep the clips in plastic take out boxes.

All straightened up! Read for next time!

I introduced this center one small group at a time. I wanted all my students to know how to use the recording sheets that come with the Math Center packet and how to put things back. Plus, there are some cards that might need explaining, especially the number bond cards. I tried to differentiate the cards when needed. Those boxes are labeled with green for grade level and yellow for below. 

The recording sheets are simple. The one pictured is for the number bonds and addition and subtraction cards. Kinders will get lots of practice using this set. My ELL (English Language Learners) will also get a lot of use out of this because it is all visual. They have to count. I do have a few plastic containers of those wonderful small erasers that I use for my ELL students. They can take the erasers and put over the little animal pictures they are counting to help them keep track.

In this picture my student is wearing her Dolphin Headband. We are doing Dolphin Research and next Sharks! I like for them to wear headbands. It is fun and keeps them focused on what they are researching. This is all in my Dolphin Writing and Research packet for Kindergarten. They are doing amazing writing! (because they love the subjects!)

Click on the picture to view this packet on TPT!

Thanks so much for reading my blog! If you got this far I really appreciate your patience! I do 'talk' a lot! 

Dodecahedron Frenzy!

I love group projects! Makes me feel so good to see my students all working together and having fun!
The Dodecahedrons are so fun and do not require writing a ton of copy or coloring for hours. My Kinders love them!

My Kinders are learning to color while they are learning CVC words. I think they are doing a better job than at the beginning of the year. They enjoy making the dodecahedrons.

My kinders pick which family they want to make. They trace the words first, since the pictures might be hard for some to figure out. (Like wed.) Then they color and write the word on the dodecahedron circle. When they cut them out, they place them on my desk for me to put together. They watch me, but it is really hard for me class to put the tabs exactly right.

If you would like to make some with your students, I have this for sale on my Teacher Pay Teacher store along with the Dodecahedron for Digraphs! 

Click on this link or the pictures below to check them out.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Word-Family-Dodecahedron-Cooperative-Learning-Project-1596326

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Digraph-Dodecahedron-Cooperative-Learning-Project-1604146

Hope those links work for you. I am still learning this blogging business, but it is fun! 

They are really pretty just like this, but look nice hanging from my window. I'll take a picture of my window this week and post it! Hope you are all ready for this coming week! Most of us will be out of school for our Winter Break. We are out Friday at 12:45 and then will meet in our Media center for a Staff lunch! Can't wait. Thanks for visiting! Pam

Centers ~ Love 'em or Hate 'em - What's A Teacher To Do!

I've read quite a few blog posts about centers and how a few teachers dislike them intensely. I can understand what they are saying because I would really dislike working with a small group of children and my other students were playing and making all kinds of noise in another area of my room. I wouldn't like that either. In fact, I couldn't teach with that going on.

I can teach with noise, the kind of noise where you can walk around and hear students talking about their work and what they are learning. I can't teaching with what I call "Noise Pollution." Nope. I will stop my class in a second if I hear talk that isn't related to learning.

There are times when talk is fun and students are just happy murmuring away about whatever strikes their fancy. Those times are usually at recess, the cafeteria or free time during the day. I hear this sometimes when students are reading to a stuffed animal in the room. They are retelling a story and getting sidetracked about their experiences. I usually let this just happily end with the story.  I expect centers and carpet time to be learning time. They can talk, but I tell them it has to be "Academic Talk." Yes, Kinders know what that means if you explain it.

I enjoy centers. I like the whole process. Finding center work that is engaging and meaningful, which means my students are having fun learning, is not easy. Once you have your centers in place, and the students know what to do, it is really not work at all. I don't add everything at once. Especially since I started the Daily 5. Word Work is next for my class and I am looking forward to this.

One of my centers for Word Work is my Sight Word Cut And Paste. I have this for Pre-Primer, Primer, and First Grade Words. I also have the 100 Fry Sight Word Word Work product  that was requested by a teacher. This does not have as many graphics and the students can focus more on the academics. Either way, all the work is done for you. It is easy for students to understand after the first few days of instruction.

           

As usual, thanks for visiting my blog! Leave a comment and the link to your blog so I can pay you a visit!

Do Something For Yourself In 2014!

Only a teacher will understand how much I have loved having my Erin Condren Teacher Planner. This planner has gone with me to every meeting and back and forth from home to school. Everything is in here! I thought long and hard about ordering one because they are higher than what I normally pay for a planner. I am so glad I went ahead and bought one.
This is how the box arrives.

Pretty nifty! It takes about 2 weeks to ship because every page is customized for you! I ordered owls, because my room theme is Forest Friends.

When I opened the box (yes I had my camera ready!) this is the sweet chocolate packaging! So special!

I loved the details in the packaging. I knew if she paid this much attention to the packaging, then the inside was going to be amazing!

My Planner! I could have put my grade level, but at the time I ordered this I thought I might be teaching AIG 4th and 5th grade again. You can put anything you want where I have my school name.

The inside is so beautiful. Very well made! The spirals are really strong. You have so many color options and designs to choose from.

I transferred all my passwords and usernames for my school resources. I also wrote in all the great websites and blogs that I can refer to and share in meetings. I am still writing in blogs and urls for Kindergarten!

This is the inside calendar. Of course mine is ALL filled up now. I write in everything! I know that I will be glad when next year rolls around. This year, with a new grade level, I am always doing things at the moment, next year with all my notes I can get ready well ahead of time.

This is a great pocket. I have all of my staff meeting notes and handouts in this pocket. I haven't gone to that many PDPs but the handouts and info are in this pocket also. It is very sturdy and had kept everything together.

This is a great little vinyl envelope to keep "stuff" in. I have used the free labels and all Erin sent with my order, but I have other items in here that I know I'll need during grade level meetings.

My planner is full! I take notes and as my new co-teaching friend and I plan, I jot down what we have talked about for each week, month, or holiday. This really helps me plan ahead for lessons and notes to parents and all. I feel lost without it now!

One thing I also do is write down when I upload a Teachers Pay Teachers product! I sometimes forget when I uploaded a product and this is so helpful when I am planning my next product.

If you are wondering whether or not to invest in an Erin Condren product, I highly recommend this!

I also have some new products in my TPT store. Don't forget the TPT Holiday Tips and Freebies ebook and my free submission! It's for Pre-K- 1st grade mostly.

Happy Holidays everyone and as always, thanks for visiting! Pam