ScreenChomp and Rhyming Dust Bunnies

My new favorite app is ScreenChomp!!! As part of guided reading, I did a small group activity to help kids say and hear rhyming words.  I read the story Rhyming Dust Bunny by Jan Thomas.  We created an anchor chart for rhyming words and had to discuss what a dust bunny was before we read.  After we read the story, the students created a dust bunny on the i-pad with ScreenChomp.  Then they picked a picture out of the rhyming bag.  They drew that picture and another picture that rhymes.  I found it helped if the students said rhyming words into a whisper phone.  When they were finished, they recorded their rhyming words.  These were posted on their KidBlog to share with their families and they love listening to them during choice time.  Here is an example below.

 

Rhyming Dust Bunny

Crazy about i-Pads and Smartboards!

I am so blessed to have many forms of technology available to help educate my students in my new district and it is time to start blogging about it!  In my kindergarten classroom, I have 4 i-Pads hooked up to AirPlay and a Smartboard.

One lesson was completed during guided reading/writing, we were working on the words I and like and writing a complete sentence using those two words.  I had the students write a sentence about themselves in their writing journal (I like...).  Then using the app Popplet lite the students took a picture of themselves to place in the middle of a character web.  They typed their first "I like" sentence in a new bubble and then typed another sentence in the next bubble.  The app allows you to take a picture of the popplet and from there I posted it to my students individual Kidblogs.

 

I have a classroom blog setup through Blogger and my hopes for the blog is to inform parents about what goes on inside our classroom and to realize all the learning and hard work a 5/6 year old does in Kindergarten!  I find it difficult to get my students and parents to realize that reading is thinking!  To help, I have started having a couple of students draw out their thinking during shared reading.  I have used the app ScreenChomp.  ScreenChomp is a free whiteboard/recording app that allows the students to use it like a drawing app and then record what they are drawing.

Here is one example!  We were reading It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall. I had two students record their thinking (I liked... It reminded my of...  How would I feel...).  First, they drew their thinking in ScreenChomp and then recorded what the story reminded them of.  Here is a picture of what it looked like.

The story reminded the student about our field trip to the pumpkin patch and all the work that goes into planting a pumpkin patch.

 

Kinder Jungle

Photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Meet Your Teacher

I received a cute poem from a colleague and it is perfect to give to your students before school starts.  My district has Meet Your Teacher the Wednesday before school starts and I give them this envelope that says do not open until Monday night!  This summer I went Vista Print CrAzY and created some cute Jitter Glitter Stickers to add to the package!

 Here is the poem...

The night before school is exciting and fun.

There are always so many things to be done.

Your clothes are ready, your backpack is too.

Your classroom is full of fun things you will do.

Lots of questions go through your mind.

All types of thoughts of every kind.

But sometimes we will all get the jitters down deep.

And that makes it hard to fall fast asleep.

So I’ve made this magic “Jitter Glitter” for you.

Full of promises for the whole year through.

On Monday night when you lay down your head.

Just sprinkle some glitter under your pillow in bed.

The glitter will help you sleep through the night

And you’ll wake up in the morning fresh and bright.

I’ll sprinkle the glitter under my pillow, too.

Because I am so super excited to see you!

 

Sweet Dreams Kindergartner!

Love,

Love BLOG BOOK Studies!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for starting this summer book study!  I have not been introduced to this book before and I am finding it very beneficial since my district has implemented Daily Five for our guided reading time.  I love how this book correlates with Daily Five, but also makes a few changes.  Every system is not going to work for every classroom/student.  I love how this book gives examples to blend together literacy stations and Daily Five.  Guided reading is one area of reading instruction that I seem to struggle with and I am looking forward to learning what works for others.

AcTiVe LeArNiNg with MoNkEyS aNd BaBoOnS!

I would like to share a game I have created to incorporate active learning in these last few weeks of school and practice adding and subtracting fluently.  FYI- Studies show brain function is higher when a child is physically engaged in an activity.  The game is title MONKEYS AND BABOONS!  Materials needed are 7-10 handkerchiefs, index cards, safety pins, and an area to run.  Write addition and subtraction problems on index cards (adapt for sight words, letters, numbers, etc.) and attach them to the handkerchiefs with a safety pin.  Students who are chosen to be monkeys will add the "tail" by stuffing part of the hanky in their back pocket.  The baboons want to try to grab a monkey tail.  I set up cones to create boundaries and when the monkeys are set the baboons start chasing them.  When a baboon grabs a tail, they yell out the addition or subtraction problem with the answer and they get to the count of 5 to attach their tail.  I pause the game after a few minutes and switch roles if someone has not had a chance to be a monkey.  The kiddos LOVE this game and it lets them release some of that extra energy!! If only I could find a way to bottle that energy :)

 

Happy Mother's Day

Here are the Pinterest inspired Mother's Day gift my kiddos made for their mothers!  They are adorable banners that say LOVE and the O is their handprint and the V is their footprints.  First, we finger painted the background and then added prints with black paint.  I glued that to poster board and on the back they completed the sentence I love my mom because...

Who Doesn't Love sUbTrAcTiOn!!!

The best thing happened over this loooooong winter!!!  I now have a Dollar Tree or as my grandfather calls it a "JUNK STORE" by my place.  I love shopping at that JUNK STORE!  At the Dollar Tree, I had found an adorable alligator hat and monkey masks.  Instantly, I became inspired!! I am going to teach a unit on subtraction and I am going to begin with the song 5 Little Monkeys Swinging from a Tree.  The kiddos are going to love these!!  I also created a subtraction worksheet to practice writing the math sentences.  Click to enjoy! 

 

 

Christmas Gifts for Parents!

Well, it has been a long time...This post could either be really late or really early!  I am going to stay optimistic and say really early!!  For a winter gift, my students made fingerprint snowman door hangers for their parents.  We painted the wood hangers I found at Wal-Mart light blue with acrylic paint and then they finger painted snow and a snowman. They add details and glitter snow.  They turned out adorable!

I Love Jan Brett Stories!!

My class is currently in the middle of a Jan Brett Author Study and we are focusing on The Mitten this week. I have adapted making a text to self connection lesson for this story The Mitten. The students connect with what Nicki does in the snow to what they do in the snow. Click here to get the worksheet.