Five for Friday



I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for my first Five for Friday!

This week we learned all about Natural Resources!
We made these adorable mobiles.  The images on the mobile were drawn by my teaching partner's husband.  He's a super talented artist.  I keep trying to talk them into doing clipart!
 



We talked about the difference between Natural and Man-Made using this unit from Elizabeth at Kickin' it in Kindergarten
 

We have also been working really hard on our Informational Writing in Writer's Workshop.



 

Our school spirit day this month was Culture & Geography Day.  How cute are these 3?!?!


And now it's time to celebrate because I'm on...

Woo hoo!

Now go check out Doodle Bugs Teaching to see what everyone else has been up to!



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No Worksheet Wednesday


Today I am linking up with The Primary Chalkboard for No Worksheet Wednesday.  
Last year, I bought a box of these Reusable Dry Erase Pockets on Amazon.  In an attempt to save paper, we have slowly been transitioning to using these instead of making copies for all students to record their work.  At first, I had inner struggle about not sending home work for the parents to see what we were doing in class.  But as a parent of a 2nd grader, I realized that what I do with most of my daughter's worksheets (recycle them the minute we empty out her backpack!...um, right after telling her what a good job she did, of course) is probably what most parents do.  I figure that the parents get plenty of information through my newsletters and photos that I didn't need to send these things home just for them.  

In math, we are working really hard on addition.  Each week, the students work at 4 different math stations.  We are working using different strategies to solve addition problems.  
Here's what we did today:

Addition with 10 Frames and Rainbow Tiles
(Find it here)

Addition with Dominos 
(A freebie from Khrys at Keepin' It Kool In Kinderland.  Get it here.)

 Number Line Frog App on the iPad

Ancient Addition
(Recording sheet from Khrys & dino cards from Mr. Greg. )

I really love that I don't have to make a zillion copies of everything and that I'm not sending home tons of paper for families to have to sift through!  The best part...I have all the copies I will need for next year so NO prep!

Now go check out The Primary Chalkboard and see who else linked up!

This post contains affiliate links for Amazon. By purchasing an item on the Amazon site using these links, I will receive a small commission on your purchase. 



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All About Ponds: Week 2

Ponds, ponds and more ponds!  
Want to read all about week 1?  Click here.
We kicked off week two with talking all about what a habitat needs.  The students were lead through an activity to build a model pond habitat with a marine science educator from the a local science museum.
  
Students marked the water line

Added both sand and gravel to the bottom

Used a piece of a clay pot as the shelter

And finally, added a piece of elodea (water plant).

As we added each piece, students discussed as a small group where things should go in the habitat, how the animals might use the different parts, and made observations.  Then as any good scientist would, we recorded our work in our pond journals.

Throughout the rest of the week, we observed 3 different pond animals (tubifex worms, water snails, and fish).  Each time, students worked in small groups and discussed their observations and made predictions about what each animal would do when it was added to the pond.  We recorded our information in our pond journals.

 "They look like shrimp."

 "The tubifex worms are tangled."

"The fish has a mouth and it has scales."

We then took our learning outside to the school garden where the students worked in small groups to create mini pond habitats.  The challenge was to create a pond using found objects in the garden that would hold water, have a place for animals to use as shelter, include plants and rocks, etc.  The kids had a blast working on these and couldn't wait to show them off to their friends!



My Kinders are now pond experts and we will be putting that schema to good use with our All About books in Writer's Workshop!

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All About Ponds: Week 1

Every year, we celebrate a school wide Oceans Week.  Each grade level studies a different water habitat.  In Kindergarten, we learn all about Ponds!


We spend our first week getting to know the pond habitat and the plants and animals that can be found in a pond.

My pond bookshelf

We share our schema.

We explore real pond water.


We did some fun activities in small groups:
Paper models of pond plants and animals

Click here to find this book
 
Listening Center and  Frog Life Cycle

Pond Art inspired by In the Small, Small Pond by Denise Fleming

Because our school is under construction this year, we were not able to build our pond art habitat as we have in years past.  Here are some pictures of our display from last year.



Stay tuned for our pond fun from week 2!


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Jumping in With Two Feet


A few years ago, when our district started talking about the Common Core, I went in search of support, ideas, and someone to explain the standards in plain English!  That's when I discovered the amazing world of teacher blogs.  I'm a visual learner, and being able to take a peek into others' classrooms was exactly what I needed.  Over the past couple of years, I have learned so much from so many amazing teachers!  It has made me a better teacher.  

For about a year, I have been tossing around the idea of putting myself out there and sharing what I'm doing with the world.  With the support and advice from a few of my blogging buddies, I'm finally ready to jump in!  

I have to thank my girl, Lindsey, at L. Paull Designs For All for the amazing blog design.  She is so sweet and wonderful to work with.  I really gave her very little to go on and she nailed it on the first try.  If you're looking to start or just update your blog, go check her out!


So here's a little about me...

I'm a HUGE Giants baseball fan.

I have an AWESOME family.

This is my favorite place on Earth.

I've been teaching for 13 years...and always in Kindergarten!


Thanks for stopping by!  I can't wait to share my journey with you!

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