Having Fun and Learning...the Kindergarten Way!

Today was what I had imagined every day in kindergarten would be like when I started teaching!

We worked with so many things 'hands on' today that I am thinking our pencils may have been a bit lonely today!

We started the day with some play doh math!

We are working on addition- joining groups- and just introduced the addition sign.

Yesterday was all about the connecting cubes- and they got it- so today I wanted to have a little fun!

I gave each one of them a ball of play doh and that was their 'work mat' today!

I'd write a number sentence on the board and they used the backs of their pencils to 'stamp the problem' and then answer it!

 5+2

 5+5

 4+2

I even had a HUGE ball that stuck to my Eno board!  

Each time we had a new problem I would say 'erase it' (and they would roll it into a ball) and then 'get it ready for the next one' (press it flat on the table).  

They were so excited about doing math with play doh that they were mad when I told them it was time to clean up for snack!

Time for word work!

We made some -at family rhyming hats after listening to The Cat in the Hat!

They also read 'Silly Cat' from my Foldable Rhyming Readers pack and used it to help them fill in the -at words on their hat!  

You can find them here:

They proudly wore those hats for the rest of the day!

Later on we moved onto writing!

We have been working on introducing 'How To' books.

In honor of Dr. Seuss' birthday on Sunday, we made red & white striped hat...cookies!

(You can read all about how I introduce 'How To' writing to kindergarteners HERE!)

They are SUPER easy...and since we charted a 'How To' on how to make them, here is what you need to do:

 

Gather ingredients:

Spread the icing on the cookie: 

Place a gummy on the icing.  Then repeat...icing, gummy...

...icing, gummy....

...and keep building until all the gummy life savers are out! 

...and now that our hat is done...it is time to eat!

Mmmmmm!  Yum!

But our fun did not end there...

Science time...mixed with a tad of Dr Seuss influence brings us...OOBLECK!

Now if you have never made this with your class, I HIGHLY suggest it!  The excitement shrills and 'this is the best day ever' will make it all worth it...plus it is super easy AND not as messy as it looks!

We started by reading Bartholomew and the Ooobleck by Dr. Seuss

The kids were CONVINCED my 'magic potion' was in fact made of wet mouse hair, whiskers, onions, etc from the story- but it was merely Borax soap dissolved in warm water!

We mixed glue and water with a bit of green food coloring and then waited and watched as I poured in the the 'magic potion'!  And within a blink of an eye it transformed into....OOOBLECK!

I showed them some 'oobleck tricks' (let it sit and it turns flat and cold, put it on your crayon box and it takes the same shape, let it hang over the desk and it will go all the way to the ground) and then sent them on their merry way....

 In no time, it was hanging off every desk in my room!

And it stretched in our hands too!

You'd have thought it was Christmas!

So each little one got his/her bag of oobleck to take home...and I am hoping the parents are loving it and me as much as their kiddos did today! ;)

Here's the 'recipe' for Ooobleck (I times this recipe by 4 for the class)

*Dissolve 2T in 1/4c warm water and set aside

*In another bowl, mix 1/4c. white glue and 1/4c. water along with some food coloring (we did green based on the book, but it can be whatever color you choose!)

*Add the borax mix to the water/glue mix and you will see it start to form a solid!

*Pour off the excess water and distribute for tons of fun, excitement and joy!

We are going to continue our Dr Seuss fun next week...with our 'read the room' fun...and will also FINALLY be celebrating the 100th Day of School, so I made this 'CVC Search' for my kiddos for phonics center for next week.  Even if your 100th day has passed, you could use it and tell your kids the cake is to celebrate Dr Seuss' birthday- they will have no idea his real age (87)!

Students use magnifying glasses to find the hiding CVC words (4 for each vowel) and record the words they found on the sheet.  They can then can color the picture or read to the whole class!

Enjoy the freebie!  Let me know what kind of Dr Seuss fun you were up to this week!

I am linking up with Hanging Out In First for a 'Read Across Our Blogs' week of fun and freebies!

Click the image below to find all who have linked up!

Until Next Post,

March Madness Blog Hop!

Let the March Madness begin!

This weekend a group of blogger friends and I have linked up for a fun March Madness blog hop and a $100 Buy Sell Teach Raffle!  Why?  Because we are excited about opening up new shops at Buy Sell Teach.

Never heard of Buy Sell Teach?  Buy Sell Teach is an on-line teacher store that sells educational materials for grades preK-12 grade for all subject areas. Each freebie offered in this blog hop is linked back to a store at Buy Sell Teach where you can download it for FREE!

Here is my March Madness Freebie

It will only be free this weekend, so be sure to head over there March 1st-2nd if you want it for free!

 As you hop from blog to blog meeting new teacher bloggers, be sure to enter the $100 raffle for a chance to win $100 dollars to spend shopping at Buy Sell Teach.  $100 will buy lots of great resources for your classroom!

Here is the rafflecopter to enter on my page.  If you are selected as the winner, I will forward your name into the 'Grand Prize Drawing' where you will have a 1/12 chance of winning the $100 BST Shopping Spree!  But, as the winner of my Rafflecopter, I will also allow you to pick 1 item from my BST store ($5 or less) for free!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!
Now click the pot below to be taken to Mrs. Payton's Precious Kindergarteners for your next freebie and chance to enter for the $100 Shopping Spree!  The more pages you visit, the more chances you will have of winning!

Until next post,

Bright Math Ideas Blog Hop...Joining Groups Jamboree!

I am excited to be joining a group of 20 bloggers to bring you this month's hop- which is focusing on math 'bright ideas!'  Each blogger will post about his/her 'bright idea' and offer you a freebie to get you started with what they chose to blog about!

The hop runs from February 22nd-24th!

Get ready to learn a lot and fill your brain and 'teachers tool bag' with amazing ideas, freebies and fun!

My kinders are getting ready to learn all about addition!  We will be working with joining groups, understanding what an 'equals sign' means and be introduced to the 'plus' sign within the next week or so!

My students work best when they have the opportunity to 'do math' so I created an easy and 'little to no prep' math center activity to help us work with these concepts!  We will start with understanding 'equal' and then move onto joining groups and eventually attaching a number sentence to our 'findings!'

If you are about to embark on something similar, grab some pattern blocks and read on!

So how do we start?!!

Students will use a work mat with an equal sign and find a bag of pattern blocks that I have counted out for them.  I am going to use actual pattern blocks- the picture shows card stock pattern blocks I made for my Joining Groups Jamboree pack.

Kids will take the pattern blocks out of the bag and make the two sides equal.  I will also have number cards available for them so that they can match the amount counted on each side to the actual number.

Once the pieces are sorted, they will record their finding on the recording sheet

Next is to work on joining groups...

 Again the bags will be pre-counted so that I can control the amount they will be joining

 And numbers will be available for students to match what they counted to the physical number

 And again students will record what they learned on a recording sheet 

Once we have mastered joining groups we will move onto making number sentences

 And will record what we found on our recording sheets

I can control differentiation by offering less blocks for support and more blocks for enrichment.  I will even have some students choose their own amounts of blocks (using the recording sheet to tell them which blocks to add) to make independent number sentences.

These workmats and recording sheets will be used as a center.  I am going to number the bags and recording sheets so that it makes the center even more independent!

Students will match the number on the bag to the number on the recording sheet until they have completed all 6 bags.  

I am planning on making it a 'move about the room' center because my students LOVE them!  I will have each child carry a clipboard with a work mat and recording sheet (along with their crayon box).  They will find the numbered bags around the room, take out the blocks, make the number sentence on the mat using the blocks, match the numbers and then record their findings.  They will put all the pieces back into the bag and move onto the next 'station' until all 6 are completed.

It can also be done as a 'stationary' center.  Place all the bags in a basket/bin/bag and place that, along with the mats and recording sheets, at the table.  

You can find all the pieces in this pack (which is only $2.75)!

Want to give it a try?  Here is a sampler for free!

The sampler has a general recording sheet that you can use with pattern blocks you have in your classroom.

It also has a 'BONUS' addition page that can be used for morning work, homework, a center extension activity, etc!

Want a chance to win the full pack for yourself?  

Leave me a blog post comment about a fun way you teach joining groups and addition in your classroom!  I will choose a winner on the evening of Monday February 24th!

Ready to find your next math 'bright idea' tip?

It comes to you from Laura from Differentiation Station!

She has a great post about subitizing- which is the ability to instantly count a group of objects!  She has a comprehensive post that explains the concept-one I am eager to try out with my kinders now!  It is full of wonderful pictures, uTube video links and a freebie sample for you to download to get started!

Click her button below and read all about it!

Happy hopping!

I am also linking up with Teaching With Nancy for the TGIF (Thank Goodness It's Free)!

Click this button to read more!

Until next post,