Happy Thanksgiving

 

Wishing you a peaceful day full of family and friends!

I am blessed to spend mine with my wonderful 3 children and husband and to have other family to visit.

 

In TPT news, I added a new Holidays themed set with tons of pieces for use with short vowels. It is mostly first grade review but works with extending kindergarten skills. I am almost finished activities for Snow Reading and Writing. I have to decide how much and how many variations to include but I am loving the unit and its graphics by Kari Bolt (just like the ones above). My TPT store is on sale for Black Friday 20% off and then it will be 20% on Dec 2 & 3 for Cyber Monday sale. You get 28% off when you combine the 20% off with the TPT code: cyber.

 

Enjoy,

Jenn

Five for Friday Turkey & Education Week

I am sadly missing pictures but here is an update on our week.

1. We researched Turkeys! We used multiple sources to gather information on wild turkeys. PebbleGo the database (I love that our school has a subscription) & Scholastic Let's Find Out were our main sources. When we were working on recording the sources on our class tree map, one of my students pointed out that we should write videos because both the magazine online and the database had videos of wild turkeys. What was the big question they wanted answered...Do turkeys climb or fly to get in the trees to sleep? So our research went on...

This book was in our library center this month and what does the turkey tell us but that yes he can fly. So I offered the students another source (we hadn't talked about)...interview. They interviewed me. Yes, I have seen wild turkeys and was able to add more information. This class kept adding branches to their tree map - Turkeys...can, are, have, live, eat - as we learned more and more.

It was a great tie into comparing bats and birds last month as we read Stellaluna.

 

2. Turkeys continued as a focus when we read A Turkey for Thanksgiving

We sequenced the animals from the story onto a turkey hat...imagine the picture of the great hat here. Turkey's head in the front and tail feathers around the back of each child's head with the story sequenced on it. They loved retelling this story.

 

3. Speaking of sequencing, we read Our Special Sweet Potato Pie

from our reading series - which is a fun fantasy tale. We also predicted and discussed family meals.

 

4. A little Math update in the middle of all this literature....

One of our warm-ups this week: draw me at least 2 shapes that together have 7 vertices. A challenging question that the students took on as a challenge. They worked to find all kinds of combinations (triangle and...square, rhombus, trapezoid, rectangle). They ruled out using the hexagon because there aren't 1 sided shapes. It became a great lesson.

5. We had guest readers this week. In honor of American Education Week, our kindergarten invited members of our Board of Ed to come read to our classes. We have 6 classes so they read to 3 classes at a time. : ) We have a very large school district and thought most people would be booked already. What a nice surprise to find 5 that wanted to read to us! We also had guest reading from our principal, financial secretary, and the college age niece of one of our teachers. My team picked great books and some of our guests brought their own. Our guest reader books tied into our PYP attitudes and attributes and our transportation theme including: Hooray for Diffendoofer Day, Oh the Places You'll Go 
Daredevil   Rosie Revere Engineer   Balloons Over Braodway

Busy, Busy...Freebie Reader

It is me! I am stopping in to say hi and drop off a freebie reader. I Have, I Can Stamp It! Reader.

 

I have been making mini readers for my class recently and they love marking up their readers and coloring them in. Right now, they are just for my class and mostly Fall themed. Hopefully, I will get them finalized and TPT ready to share with you all. For now, I have a different kind of reader for you!
One of my favorite rotations for Stamp Center is Stamp It books. I change my centers out every 6 days and alternate the types of activities. I needed one for HAVE and Kari Bolt's Action ClipArt set met that need. You pick the pages you like and print 2 per page. The students stamp the letters for the word have. Differentiate by having students look for other focus words, initial sounds of the picture words, answer the question, or use other materials (ie smelly markers). A writing extension (which I seem to have at every center) includes creating their own page.

Enjoy!

Jenn

KinderMyles

Linking up with Freebie sites.

and
 

Currently November & Facebook Freebie on the First

Linking up with Farley's Currently for November.
And a new November Facebook Freebie - Calendar Cards in ABB (then and now) and ABC Pilgrim and Native American Friends. Just hop on over to my facebook page to snag it. Here's a peek.

CURRENTLY
Listening
Last weekend, in the midst of our anniversary and my son's birthday, our outdoor cat (who was left with us when friends moved out of state long ago) wanted to come inside and not go out. After she passed, my husband took her to animal control while I was at work. He and the 2 year old came home with a kitten. Of course, the kitten had a brother in the same cage so now we have 2 who we are keeping indoors. Our dog Fred (a Chihuahua/Maltese mix) was super excited for play mates and the one cat thinks he can wrestle with the dog already. They look to be an interesting mix.

Loving
My 2yr old for trying to brush the kittens teeth with a spare toothbrush, my son for not wanting the dog to feel the kittens are more important, my daughter for wanting to trick or treat as her brother's twin Iron Man. Here is where I wish I could sew and had the time. My son picked out a hand-me-down Iron Man costume (not that he knows who he is) but the mask was broken and it was a little tight. So we searched and found one on sale from the 3rd movie that fit a little better. My daughter, who wore a cheerleader outfit to school, decided to wear the hand-me-down to be her brother's twin.

Sweet Pin
Shhhhh! I am just not a pinterest gal. I admit it. Right now, I spend so much spare time on the computer doing school work that my spare computer time is reading blogs. Another secret...baking in my house almost never happens - we are lucky to have dinner.  However, for Currently, I went on and looked up Pumpkin. I found these. Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. Two of my favorite things. I am going to have to try the recipe on Thanksgiving Break. Link is in the picture.



 *****Did you see the giveaway for Sara's 1 year Blogiversary at Polka Dot Kinders?
Four 4 Great Giveaways to enter!

Trick or Treat and a freebie

 

It is getting close to that time of year!



I added a few new items to my TPT store and a freebie.

Trick or Treat Write the Math Room with a bonus treat Bump games.

Write the Math Room - 3 Versions (count the objects, ten frames and dominoes) with recording sheets
BUMP! - 4 versions (1 die, add 2 dice, add 10 to the die & 6 to 10) in both costumes and candy designs

 

 

 

We are also loving our Candy Corn First Sound Sorts. I printed mine half size to sort into smaller containers and on our pocket chart.



I have been making a mini-reader for my class recently. You print the 2 pages back to back, cut the page in half horizontally, stack the pages, fold and staple. The students trace certain focus words, look at beginning sounds and discuss the pictures. Here is a Trick or Treat one FREE for you.

 

 

Have a great week.

Linking up with

Candy Corn Sound Sorts & TPT Sale

Did you know TPT is having a sale to celebrate followers on Facebook? Use coupon code FB100K for an additional 10% off. What a day for my internet to be down, right?
It is "working" (knocking on wood now) so my store is on sale and my newest product is also up - Candy Corn Sorts. If you liked the turkey feather freebie from Friday, you'll love this one.

I've been creating things recently for use in my classroom and with my kids but not whole units. It has been a busy year. Not to mention World's biggest fieldtrip coming up this week and a cold that won't quit. I put together this unit to cover some of the most popular sounds from the beginning of the year. Each sound sort has between 8 and 24 cards. Candy corn pieces can be printed full size or 2 per sheet. Sounds included - /s/ /p/ /k/ /b/ /f/ /t/ /n/ /m/
Differentiate by using just initial sounds or just final sounds or a mix of both. Cards are organized by sounds so you print what you want. The pictures are blackline on colored candy corn to save on colored ink.
Customize by how you play the game. You can use mats or attached mats to a bag as a goody bag or use another sorting container (I'm sure no one has as many little pumpkin containers as me : ). You can even use the pieces by themselves. My son is working on /s/ sounds in speech class so I'm just using /s/ and s-blends with him. We are practicing stretching the words like ghosts on our turns.
Ways to Play: Search for a Sound: Lay candy corn upside down. Players each take a mat with a focus sound. Players take turns turning over a card and saying the name of the picture - stretching it like a ghost. If it matches their mat, they keep it.
Sort the Sounds: Lay out candy corn upside down. Make “goody bags” with different focus sounds. Set up the bags in a row. Each player takes a turn turning over a card, saying the name of the picture (stretching the sound like a ghost), and putting it in the correct bag.

 

 

Thanks!

Jenn

Turkey Feather Sounds Freebie

Here is a little freebie using Creative Clips' Gobble Gobble set. Players match the feather with the picture to the correct turkey. You can use the color version or the black and white version. Long ago, I made a set with feathers made out of construction paper and peanut shaped turkey bodies. It was time to switch to clipart. : ) You can also have the students cut and paste the blackline versions and glue in a notebook or on paper. This freebie is just /s/ and /p/ for the sounds we are working on in kindergarten right now. My son is working on /s/ for his Speech homework so this is a fun way for him to practice. I hope some of you can use it! (and that I have more time soon to make some bigger units for sale).

Have a great day!
Jenn

Linking up with