Monday, May 27, 2013

I'm Going to the Ocean! Math Freebies

I wish! Soon we will be on vacation, but for now, I will just enjoy a fun ocean theme with my kindergarten students. It's always a fun way to end the school year.

At this point, we are reviewing several important concepts from the year.  There are a few mathematical concepts that need reinforcement. I decided to make some very easy activities for them using an ocean theme.

The first set reviews the mathematical term "fewer." For some reason, my kiddos had some trouble determining a set using this term. I also wanted to practice writing addition sentences using picture models.The second activity (the one with the cute crabs) practices adding on or counting on from a given number - tricky!

Enjoy!







I also have a new emergent reader in my TPT store. It's all about the ocean! Click below to check it out.


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Wednesday, May 1, 2013

Cloudy With A Chance of...Ivory Soap?

I was visiting an awesome website called Steve Spangler Science and read about a really cool experiment! My kindergarten students have a science lab book. In addition to the three major units of science I teach every year, I like to also incorporate other experiments in order to teach them about important concepts.

During our study of the spring season, we learned about the different clouds in the sky. While researching different experiments, I found this great activity on the Steve Spangler site. Did you know that you can make a cloud out of a bar of Ivory soap? I was amazed! It has to be a bar of Ivory soap and if you microwave it for 90 seconds (place it on a paper plate) it forms into the shape of a cloud. The kids loved it!!! You could hear the ooohs and aahs all over our school building.

I made my own lab sheet for their lab books (composition notebooks).


Here you go! Click on the picture.




After the experiment, we pasted the sheet into our books and answered the questions. Here is what the soap looks like after it heats up in the microwave!




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Saturday, April 6, 2013

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

Yes, Earth Day is almost here! To celebrate this important day, I created a new emergent reader. Please visit my TPT store to check it out! Now...I am going to take this book's advice and go outside because the sun is shining!!!



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Tuesday, March 26, 2013

What A Reaction! Volcano Activity Freebie

Hello Friends! We are in the last week of our dinosaur study. In fact, my dinosaur museum is on Thursday. If you want to check out photos from last year's exhibit, click here.

Today, we read a book about the various theories as to why dinosaurs became extinct. One of the theories was that several volcanoes erupted, causing the extinction. Then, we read a book about volcanoes. The children screamed with glee when I told them that we were going to make our own volcano!

We talked about the word "reaction." Then, I showed them the vinegar and baking soda. Some of them were already familiar with the experiment. After performing the experiment, we completed a science sheet and pasted into our science journals. Click below for your own copy.






Here is the picture from last year:


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Monday, March 18, 2013

Roar!!! Dinosaur Persuasive Writing and Word Wall Station Activities

Hello friends! I am in the middle of one of my favorite themes for the year - dinosaurs! Be sure to click on my dinosaur links on the sidebar to view pictures of my dinosaur museum and to grab some freebies. I am also in the middle of my persuasive writing unit - kind of a challenging unit for kindergarten, but they are quickly becoming experts.


To go along with both dinosaurs and persuasive writing I read the book, Can I Have A Stegosaurus, Mom? Can I Please? by Lois Grambling.




The children loved this story! After reading the book, we brainstormed ideas we would give our own moms to convince her to let us have a dinosaur. We talked a lot about the word reason and how you had to really try to convince her with a great reason. After sharing some great ideas, the children wrote their persuasive pieces on special stationary. Click below for your own copy.



One of my literacy stations is the word wall station. The children typically sit in front of our word wall and write  about ten words onto a piece of paper. I decided to "jazz" it up a bit and make it a dinosaur word wall station. Again, please click below for your freebie.




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