A farm thematic unit has so many opportunities to integrate learning across all content areas. Scroll down to see some of our farm-tastic activities and get a freebie! We started our farm study with the realization that most of the foods we eat and the clothes we wear come from farms! We started a KWL chart and, as we did research and answered our questions, we wrote them underneath the post-it notes. Next, we read some farm books to start our research. Reading A to Z has great informational books on different levels, if you have a subscription to the site. They also have information sheets you can print out. I also love Pebble Go for researching each farm animal. Some big ideas we are covering in our farm thematic unit: There are different kinds of farms.Animals and plants on a farmLife cycles of plants and animalsCrops grown depend on climate and locationFarmers have many jobsWe get lots of things from farms! Our ... read more
Writing How-to Books in Kindergarten
In Writing Workshop, we are working on How-to books and so far, it's one of our favorite writing units! Here are some fun ways to introduce writing How-to Books Give directions out of order. Let the kids see how it just doesn't work that way! Coming to the carpet, cleaning and lining up, getting ready to go home- any of these familiar routines are a perfect opportunity to show why it's important to give steps in order. Ask your students to give you directions to draw a person. They'll surely start with a circle for the head, but make sure when they tell you to draw the body, you draw it on top of the head! Draw the mouth above the eyes and both the ears on the same side, unless they explicitly direct you where to put them! Great lesson on being specific and detailed. Have partners work together to draw a house: One student gives directions while the other draws. Flip over the paper and switch roles, this time drawing a ... read more
What To Do With Extra Classroom Magazines
Do you have extra Scholastic News Magazines lying around your classroom? I hoard save Scholastic News magazines because I just love them and can't imagine discarding them. However, we just never get to all of them and I always have a big pile by the end of the year. Well, I finally buckled down and thought of some ways to use them! Non-fiction Text Features Go through old magazines and cut out examples of text features. The big teacher versions are especially great for this. Tape those examples onto chart paper and, after introducing text features to your class with books (you'll want to do this activity after you have had several discussions about text features), go through each example on the chart and ask kids to tell you what that text feature is and how it helps the reader. Label as you go. It's ok if you don't find examples of all text features. Make sure you have the ones children will most likely ... read more
Teaching Main Idea and Details
It's time for our non-fiction unit! This is one of my favorites because kids just love learning amazing facts. It's fun to watch them become little "teachers" to their peers, sharing what they learn and have become experts on. One essential skill we cover in this unit is finding the main idea and details. Here I've included ideas for helping your students learn to identify the main idea and details in text. It's not always easy for little learners to grasp the concept of main idea and details. It's helpful to break down this skill into easy-to-follow steps. Main Topic vs. Main Idea Beginning readers can have a hard time distinguishing the main idea from the topic, often using just 1 or 2 words to tell the main idea. This is really the main topic and is a stepping stone to understanding main idea. When kids can identify the main topic, I explain that the main idea is a complete sentence about the topic. I challenge ... read more
9 FREE Valentine’s Day Centers
February is a busy, busy month but hopefully you can squeeze in a little fun with these fun Valentine's Day centers! The best part- most are completely free! Valentine's Day Center #1: Our Favorites Carousel One of my favorite Valentine's Day writing activities is this 'carousel' we do about things we love! I make 5 charts and place them around the room. Kids move from chart to chart, drawing and labeling one thing on each chart. My 5 categories are: Some tips: This carousel activity is great for many concepts- 5 senses, ways to make different numbers, word families, etc! Valentine's Day Center #2: Labeling Poster This Valentine's Day station has a poster with clipart and pre-labeled post-it notes. I stack these out of order and kids figure out where they go. Valentine's Day Center #3: Labeling These labeling sheets are perfect for kindergarten and first grade! My students just love them ... read more
Easy Peasy Centers
If you teach kindergarten or first grade, chances are you have centers (or stations) in your classroom. Centers are almost a necessity in primary grades, but aren't you tired of preparing new centers week after week? I love having fresh, fun, meaningful centers, but one of the things I struggled with most was finding the time to plan and prep them! I think we’ve all been there- so many ideas and plans of grand things we want to do for and with our students, but not enough time to get it all done. Then, after you create or put together amazing centers, comes the problem of storage. Where do you keep all those pieces?? I found that having reusable centers made center prep and management so much easier. Reusing doesn't mean boring, though! I'm talking about meaningful centers that are also engaging for kids. Best of all, they're SUPER easy to prep, store, and reuse! I had these pocket dice in ... read more
Gingerbread Man Activities
Do you love Gingerbread Man activities as much as I do? I just love using these fun stories and incorporating all content areas in my gingerbread man unit. Here are some of the fun things we do! All of the activities shown are included in my Gingerbread Man Mega-Pack. I start by reading The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. I use picture cards to act out the story on my pocket chart as I read it. Kids retell and act out the story on the pocket chart afterwards too. Then, they complete the sequencing activity below and use it to practice retelling the story to one another. Or, they glue the story elements (differentiated) and retell using these pictures. As we read different versions of the gingerbread man, we complete this chart and compare/ contrast the story versions. Displaying the information on a chart helps kids clearly see the similarities and differences, and they are able to talk about them with partners. We also compare ... read more
The Why and How of Teaching Comparing and Contrasting
If you ask a student to get you a red coat from the class closet, they will likely find it easily among a sea of black coats. However, if there are 3 red coats, they will need more guidance to find the one you want. This is where comparing and contrasting comes in. It's a skill we use daily and it's an important one. Most kids can easily compare and contrast the obvious (i.e. the color of a coat), but kids have a harder time noticing more subtle differences, and an even harder time verbalizing similarities and differences. If kids don't learn to compare and contrast in a meaningful way, it will hinder their reading comprehension. Comparing and Contrasting will not only help students with reading but also in everyday life! It helps them: Organize and remember information Highlight subtle differences between objects or concepts and, in turn, help them make better decisions in life This is why we need to teach comparing and ... read more
Poem, Craft, and Jokes for some Pumpkin Fun!
Pumpkins, pumpkins, all around! Besides pumpkin measurement, centers, and experiments, here are a couple of activities for some pumpkin fun in your classroom! PUMPKIN COUNTING POEM We've probably all heard a version of this poem, and this one is perfect for October. I laminated the poem with the vine and the pumpkins, then added Velcro so my students could order the numbers. I also used a dotted font so they could trace the numbers as well. After reading the poem, students worked on it at our poetry/math center. The top stem is tricky, so you can also just have students draw a green vine on the paper. If you want to make the top pop-up stem, you just need very thin strips of construction paper (I used the long side of an 11 x 17 sheet). Glue and twist across the paper, then have students glue their pumpkins on top. Finally, end your pumpkin fun with these Halloween PUN-kins! You can use these jokes throughout the month, ... read more
Easy & FREE Halloween Centers!
Fall! It's my favorite season of the year! One of my favorite things to do in the fall is go pumpkin-picking with my family. We have an amazing local farm and they have the BEST pumpkin pie, apple cider donuts, sweet corn.... so yummy! Another thing I love about the fall is Halloween! Throughout the month, I have Halloween center activities that are fun, meaningful, and easy-to-prep! AND, most of them are absolutely free! I have provided templates for you to use in your classroom with supplies you already have, but a few require some extra materials. STORYTELLING CENTER Before I show you the activities pictured, I have a NEW freebie for you! One of my favorite books to read aloud this month is Room on the Broom by Julia Donaldson. This Story Sequencing and Retelling freebie is perfect for a whole-group or center activity after reading the book together! FALL CENTERS Fall leaf rubbings- Kids ... read more