One More Sleep

One more sleep...until school starts again. We've enjoyed this break and I'm all for heading back tomorrow if only winter wasn't joining us so early in the morning. Glad for multiple alarm clocks.

I polished up and posted to TPT this Magnetic Sounds & Science unit with literacy and exploration centers - see the preview for some examples. It is on sale right now for $2.
G'Night.
Jenn
KinderMyles

Forces, Magnets, Push & Pull themes
Literacy and Exploration centers including recording sheets

Science
Sort the Cards – Magnetic, Partly, Not
Cut & Paste – Magnetic or Not
Foldables for cut and paste pictures or discovery drawings from investigations – Magnetic & Push/Pull

ELA
Magnet Match – Each player gets a letter magnet. Take turns turning over cards to find the matching picture (beginning and final sounds – m, g, n, k, l, p); 2 cut and paste recording sheets
Magnet Clips – Odd Rhyme Out – Put a clothespin on the picture that doesn’t rhyme; Recording sheet included
Magnetic Sounds – Pick a card and write the sound on a magnet on the board. Color and black/white. Beginning sounds – f h j k l r w z. End sounds:-d t s f k p n l b g m v
Word Wall Search – Glue or write word wall words on a paper magnet Then use to find words as they read in library or big books.
Sequence & Write – Unscramble the sentence. Then write your own and illustrate.(Magnet, Push, Pull)
Vocabulary Stamp – Stamp the words

Is It Time Yet?

While I was cooking dinner, my own preschooler dug out an extra pocket chart from my school storage and hung it up on the coat hook in her room. I had to try not to giggle when I saw it. She took a break from My Little Pony and playing vet to match her favorite letters from the reindeer/elf cards I made her last month. She is definitely ready to be back to school on Monday. Her favorite character in this set is the superhero reindeer from Edu-clips.com. Per her request, I'll be making some Snowman letter cards this weekend along with a forces unit for my classroom. What themes are your kids into now?

~Jenn
KinderMyles
Don't forget to pick up my Friday Freebie.

Currently January and Hope

Joining up with Oh Boy 4th Grade for January's Currently.
So it is okay that I double blogged today to get the freebie post and Currently both in : )

Listening: to the creak of the rope on

 our new therapy swing

Grandma bought the kids an inyard therapy swing and when the kids are quiet and one of them is using it, you can hear the rope. It is a blessing for my sensory kids so it is a sweet sound to this momma's ears.

Loving: having my husband home this week. Amazingly we had vacation days off together - it was a great idea he had.

Thinking: Is the dryer done? I'm waiting for my mattress pad and sheets to dry so I can hit the hay.

Wanting: to create more projects Creating is good for my soul and I like to share it. My school is piloting their own curriculum and being very structured about materials of instruction. Most of what I've made isn't a unit or polished to share yet. At home, we have had a very busy year. I've been immersed in autism blogs and research and OT. I have an autistic child and one with sensory issues and school wasn't going so smoothly but we've made some changes...

One Little Word: Hope

I tried on a few fonts for hope because isn't hope a little curvy. : )

Here's hoping 2016 is a bright year for you all.

Jenn

First Friday Freebie of 2016

 Happy New Year 2016!

I'm blogging by pictures today. : )

First, a freebie for this first Friday of January. Snow Sounds. These 2 games are black and white to save on ink. You can print each of the two games on different color cardstock and leave at the same center. Use stamper markers on the recording sheet or color in the spaces. 6 letters are included in each game. For each game, you get the recording sheet/game mat and 16 picture cards to match the 6 letters. Snowflakes focuses on beginning sounds and snowballs on end sounds.

Second, a sale to start the year. 15% off my TPT store for the end of 2015 on Jan 1 & 2.

Hope your new year is off to a great start. 

We've some changes around our house and a lot at school. We were able to take some time this break to clean the house (yeah!) and my husband was actually on vacation with us for most of it (yeah!). Looking forward,

Jenn

KinderMyles

November Currently

It is November 1st. Time for Currently. 

Listening - Hallmark Christmas Movies but soon to have on the new season of The Librarians :)

Loving - My Kids. So proud of all three of them.

Thinking - How much I love creating: Hay Roll & Trace

Wanting - A nap.

Needing - to finish grades & comments due this week for conferences at the end of the month

Yummy  - Pumpkin Pie Season...

Meet the Bunnies

Read & Respond

I was going to add this to a post tomorrow but I couldn't wait. We have been having a great time with our new format in reading groups. We still use mini-readers along with our school's Treasures and F&P readers, but we've added in Read & Respond texts. I've posted 2 units so far (March and April). 

They are fiction and non-fiction texts. Each text has a short text along with questions. The questions can have picture and/or written answers. Some of the texts have pictures above specific vocabulary, some have vocabulary boxes and some we have drawn pictures on the text. 

3 of the texts in the Read & Respond April unit are about the Bunny family. I've posted a freebie with 2 of the Bunny texts. 

Here students are working on The Bunnies Make Paint. First, we looked at the vocabulary. How were these things alike? Then we thought about the vocabulary and the title together to predict. We found the color words, vocabulary, and read the story. Then we answered the questions. The last paint he made was brown because chocolate is brown. We looked back in the text to sequence the colors the bunnies made. It is in the sampler.

We read this text today. We loved visualizing the bunnies. What did Funny, Sunny & Honey look like? What was rainbow water? Then, I had an oh-uh moment. When we got to the question on fantasy/reality, the Easter Bunny came up. So, our class read Corduroy's Easter Party which has great hidden details in the pictures. 

Corduroy isn't sure about the Easter Bunny. On each page a small brown rabbit is hiding and at the end, Corduroy gets a basket and note from the Easter Bunny. All was well.

Nonetheless...I changed the text in April pack and added another version. We had such fun visualizing that I added Meet the Bunny Family to the April pack. You can get The Bunnies Make Paint and The Bunnies Get Ready in the free sampler.

     The March packet has some great pieces on weather that we really loved including Cloud Pictures and these that I posted on my Facebook page.

It's An Art

When he was 3, my son would pick up a crayon or pencil and scribble. There weren't any m&m people yet. He would tell a story about this long squiggle that wound around the page. Sometimes we knew what he was saying and other times his speech and odd vocabulary (adapted to avoid sounds he couldn't make) caused us to just nod and smile. One day, he picked up a stick and drew in the dirt on the side of the ball field where his sister was practicing. There was a head and a body. Then arms and legs and a face. A life size person. How great it was to see him draw details. In second grade, he still draws letters instead of writing them. There is no stick and ball for him. Watching him draw the letters you wonder how he sees them. He uses more than the color blue now but painting and drawing don't appeal to him. He has an autism diagnosis, loves Math and is still working on social cues.

Remembering that life size drawing, it is no wonder how great he is at designing in Minecraft. I resisted getting it on my phone even with his begging. We agreed creative only and I thought he'd get bored with it but he did not. He's created and created. He has learned to use pieces in different ways. He doesn't get dizzy weaving his way around or frustrated when things don't come out the way he envisioned. He designs with humor and with love. When my grandfather passed recently, his anxiety was high and then he sat in the funeral home and built into his world. He added in the chapel and cemetery. He listened to stories about his great-grandparents and placed graves with flowers for them next to one another and explained why. He continues to add things that represent events in his life - a valentines house, a store for me to shop in, a bank to pay bills. He adds in inventions and humor: a pirate ship at the bank, aqueducts and a town wall that generates electricity. Creating and explaining his creations helps him connect with events and people. It helps his brain process.

Lately, he has added all kinds of places for family members and from the community around us. He was devastated when my phone died and he had to restart. Now he sits in the same room or very close to us when he is working which is wonderful. It is a talking point to have conversations and great to have contact from him.


How can we tailor instruction for students who express themselves in different ways?