Spending a Snow Day Inside!

SNOW DAYS! A day to sleep in, cozy up, and relax. Or, at least they used to be! Then I had kids. Kids who LOVE to be outdoors. Kids who LOVE the snow. Kids who can NOT wait for the snow to slow down and get out there. Suddenly, my cozy calm snow days became filled with a rambunctious child with snow day excitement, and I needed to find some fun fillers before Daddy was able to get out there with them. Then the pandemic hit and those carefree Snow Days became Remote Learning Virtual Days. Now I would DOUBLY need some fun for Lincoln in the future.

Here we are, gearing up for Snow Storm Number 3 this Winter, and this time I've come up with some fun activities ahead of time so I can be ready when he starts, "Play in the snow? Play in the snow? Play in the snow?" The great thing about these activities is that they double for fun at home AND fun during the inevitable indoor recess that often follows snow storms. Look below and pin the activities to save for later when you're in need for some winter indoor fun!

Sock Skating!

This is a fan favorite in this house! All you need are a pair of socks and a non-carpeted floor and you're set. Put on some fun music and slide away. We even got some number cards out to rate the spins and performances. Naturally, Lincoln got all 10s!

Hot Cocoa Bar

Hot Cocoa Bars are a must for post Snow Play! This is perfect for after recess or a classroom celebration (more on that in a future blog post). You can put out whatever floats your boat. Some staples would include:

• marshmallows
• chocolate chips
• shaved coconut
• sprinkles
• candies
• chocolate syrup
• whipped cream
• cinnamon
• strawberries for mug garnish

It's a great way to wind down after a day of fun (or calm down when you just can't get out into the snow quite yet).

Fauxman Building Contest

Move over snowmen, a new man is in town! Introducing the Fauxman! Use anything around your home or classroom to build your own snowman. I recommend starting with controlled materials. Then after a few times with provided materials, expand to choosing your own!

Some great materials for Fauxmen include:

• cotton balls
• marshmallows
• play dough
• shredded carrots
• chocolate chips
• pipe cleaners
• qtips
• pretzel sticks
• donut holes
• mini donuts
• legos
• building blocks
• and more!

Awards can be given out for "Most Creative," "Most Edible," "Tastiest," "Silliest," "Tallest," "Most Accessories," and "Most Colorful."

Tell me, what do you do indoors to keep the fun and excitement of a snow day? How do you bring the magic when indoor recess is required? Drop me a comment below to start the conversation!

Reading Our Way to Thanksgiving!

 

As I was writing earlier in the week, November is the start of the literacy magic of Kindergarten! We begin our slow journey into Guided Reading this time of year. There are three important facets of reading I try to instill before we can dive really deep into Guided Reading: a love a reading, sight word recognition, and tracking print.

Sometimes during Guided Reading, I like to just read to the students. We can all have the same book in front of us and practice the critical skills of concepts of print. We hold our books the right way, turn pages, follow the story across pictures, and most importantly, develop a love of reading!

This adorable foldable book is perfect for all of these skills. The kids can fold the book themselves (building independence!), turn the pages correctly, follow the story across pictures to help retell, and then, the pièce de résistance: color in the illustrations! Plus, talk about a great cross curricular with Social Studies. Get it here.

At this point in the year, we have begun learning our sight words. I usually teach two a week, beginning with number words and color words. Then, I like to start with some basics that will help construct sentences well in writing as well (I, see, have, like, can, you etc.) Recognizing these sight words during authentic reading time is a HUGE success for kids. This is the magic I'm talking about- the twinkle in their eyes and pride in their soul when they are "reading" and find a word they know! One of our first reading strategies is to use the picture clues to help read unknown words. After reading about The First Thanksgiving in our foldable book, children are able to identify much of the picture clues from the book. Download it here.

This book is available with and without tracking dots to help students beginning to learn how to appropriately track print. It's great for differentiation.

While it's great for students to practice these pattern books and know what to expect as they begin to read, I often find when they first begin to track print, students aren't looking at the make up of the words or reading with one to one correspondance. They often point as they recite the memorized pattern, but are not matching their words to the print correctly. That's why I LOVE this interactive sight word reader. 

I like to have kids create their own book based on their true likes and dislikes of traditional Thanksgiving foods. Then, after they create and read their own book, they can swap with a friend. This is a fantastic quick assessment of print tracking because without the pattern and without knowing their friend's likes and dislikes, they are forced to put their skills into actions without relying on the pattern. I love doing this book the week I teach do and not as sight words. Learn a little more about these interactive sight word readers here.

You can download all three of these books in one product here: Interactive Thanksgiving Sight Word Readers

What skills are you working on this time of year? Let me know in the comments below!

Keep your head in the clouds!

A Horn of Plenty of Letters!

 

November in Kindergarten is the start of literacy magic! Kiddos are beginning to understand and practice tracking print more independently. They are grasping letter-sound knowledge and building their fluency there, and they are mastering proper letter formation in handwriting. If you've never taught Kindergarten, trust me when I tell you, its magical! The beginnings of being able to read is an incredible sight to be seen, and I feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of such an important process in so many children's lives.

In addition to the huge push of phonemic awareness that is so critical to the reading process, November is also when I've always started to hone in on alphabetic principle. By this time, we have our Fundations Drills down pat and are ready to really put those skills into practice.

This is exactly why I created A Horn of Plenty of Letters- A Thanksgiving themed, hands on center that focuses on beginning sounds.

Pictures are used on each fruit and vegetable so students can practice their phonemic awareness skills by hearing the word and isolating the beginning sound. Then, they can begin to map the sound to a letter. Differentiate with FIVE different recording sheets to best meet the needs of your students!

I found this adorable cornucopia in the Target Dollar Spot (because everything wonderful is always found in the Target Dollar Spot!). Students pulled a card from the cornucopia, said the picture word, isolated the initial sound, then chose the letter that corresponds with that sound. Since we are still amidst learning letter formation, I began with the tracing recording sheet. I always begin a brand new center in a guided group run by myself or another teacher in the room. Then, after some practice with guidance, I move it the following week as an Independent center. 

It was a fun activity and my little kinder loved seeing both what kind of fruit or vegetable they got as well as deciding what was on the picture. Laminate the cards for easy cleaning between turns OR just have the teacher pull the cards! This can still be a COVID friendly activity.

You can download A Horn of Plenty of Letters here!

What are your favorite November literacy activities? Comment on this post and let's swap great idea!

Keep your head in the clouds!

Halloween Emergent Readers!

In Kindergarten, I always loved kicking off some basic guided reading practice in October. Routines are set, student/teacher relationships have begun to blossom, and we are ready to dip our toes in the water of the deep dive of reading! My school uses the DRA leveled reading assessment to benchmark students. We do no formal oral reading assessment until January. Fall is all basic prepwork of concepts of print, using picture clues, and listening for repeated phrases in pattern books. We slowly start to have students open their eyes to the first letter of the words they are reading so they can begin to rely on the letters in front of them rather than the memory of the repeated phrases or a misinterpreted picture clue.

That's why when I made these Emergent Readers for Halloween I had my students in mind! They are written to be on DRA Levels 1, 2, and 3 - which is perfect for Kindergarten or First Grade in the fall! Plus, with a Halloween theme, who can blame them for wanting to keep reading and get more and more excited for their very spooky day! They are differentiated so that students will have a book right on their level! Ease into reading for the little guys! Just practice tracking print or step it up to picture clues and decoding words here and there. There are four books- three of which come with or without tracking dots depending on the level and skill of your readers. The work is done for you! Just print (and put your copier on staple! It will put one staple on each book! All you'll need to do is cut the pages in half and the books are assembled for you!) and you're all set!

Who I Am on Halloween - DRA Level 1

Sight Words: I, am, a

Follow the picture clues to finish the sentence and practice tracking print! Don't forget to look at the words as you read- many pattern books change pattern on the last page!

I See Candy! - DRA Level 2

Sight Words: I, see, a

Follow the picture clues to read the color words for each candy. Pictures are coloring book so children can color in the candy once they figure out the word. Then it can serve as a picture clue for them in future reads and will help facilitate independent reading. Each pattern ends with Yum! which can be decodable for those readers ready for it.

Who Says Boo? - DRA Level 2.5

Sight Words: A, does, not

More sophisticated patterned sentences, words that require you to look at the first letter (jack-o-lantern, not pumpkin; vampire not Dracula). The pattern changes at the end with a decodable sight word and picture clue to help. Because it focuses on the words does and does not, it's a great transition book to my Thanksgiving Interactive Sight Word Book!

Halloween Decorations - DRA Level 3

Sight Words: said, the, I have, do, you

Sophisticated patterns that change with each page. Quotation marks and commas within the sentences. This book is incredibly similar to the DRA Level 3. Because of that, to keep fidelity with the assessment, I use this for students who are already assessed at a Level 3 or 4 so they can use these in Independent reading. This would be perfect for a beginning First Grader!

Click here to download these books today!

Keep you head in the clouds!

-Dianne

Gobble Gobble, Turkey Math!

Is November as hectic in your building as it is in mine? In Jersey, we kick off the start of the month with the NJ Teachers Convention- which means two days off of school. This is followed by Veterans Day which then leads into a set of four half days for Parent-Teacher Conferences and closes out the month with Thanksgiving and Black Friday. Tons of days off coupled with tons of extra responsibilities! When I feel like I'm getting a bit overwhelmed at the thought, I try to find the fun I can infuse into the classroom.

One of my students favorite November activities over the years has been this Gobble Gobble Turkey Count Math activity!

I love the hands on nature of the activity and the kiddos love the sweet little turkeys! I adore Math because you can show answers and methods in more than one way. This is particularly useful in Kindergarten as we are constantly working on number sense.

The feathers show numbers in numeral, tally mark, number word, fingers, and ten frames. With greater practice, the kiddos develop stronger subatizing skills.

Colors are vibrant, learning is happening, and it's ENGAGING! Snag your copy of this fun Thanksgiving Math Center here!

I like to use them first in Math Centers with a paraprofessional. Then I transition them to Independent Math Centers and finally I place them in Morning Tubs. 

How will you use these darling little turkeys in your classroom?

Keep you head in the clouds!

Veterans are the Heart of America

Does your school do anything special to celebrate Veterans Day? Annually, my school has held an incredible Veterans Day assembly. Students and Staff invite any veterans that are in their family to be honored. It is so humbling to hear the stories of our veterans. My own dad is a Navy veteran (though he doesn't like to be recognized for it, no matter how much I try!)

Part of the assembly responsibilities is decor by students. Admittedly, one year, I forgot to have my class make something and we needed a craft- STAT. Thus came, this now staple of my Veterans Day lessons!

The beauty of this is it's no prep! All you need is to print the sheet and offer some green, brown, and black construction paper!

I've also seen these done with red, white and blue construction paper for a more American flag look!

Students gain huge fine motor skills by building hand strength through ripping and tearing. I love crafts that have the same directions but can look their own unique way. We always discuss ripping Goldilocks sized pieces- not too big, not too small, but just right!

 Snag your copy here to get a simple,  NO PREP Veterans Day craft!

Keep your head in the clouds!

Thankful for Sight Word Readers

I love November! It is definitively fall. It brings about the excitement of the holiday season without pushing it too early or too soon. It brings about a time of gratitude and thanksgiving! What more is there to love?



To kick off the season of gratitude, I always like to teach my students about the first Thanksgiving. As always, I've made my favorite foldable coloring books to teach the topic. Explicitly teaching the topic and labeling new vocabulary words is a critical component to help enhance my students' reading skills. Besides the fact that research shows the higher vocabulary a child has, the greater their reading skills- knowing the name of words will help them read predictable texts with picture cues! Check out the cover of my foldable reader below. You can click the picture to download the book, or just click here!

In Kindergarten, November is also a time when we start to dive a little deeper into our literacy skills! Our November writing units consist of list books that we turn into pattern books! It is the beginning of tracking reading in predictable texts. Since November has a lot of Thanksgiving vocabulary, I decided to create an Emergent Reader with sight words my students would already know and picture cues for the unknown words! (See where that critical background knowledge and vocabulary come in handy!) Here's a sampling below. You can download it here.

It comes with options with and without dots depending on your preference!

In an effort to up the ante and differentiate learning, I made a create your own predictable reader for the kiddos! This interactive reader allows students to cut and paste if they like or do not like certain traditional Thanksgiving foods.

 It comes with options with and without dots depending on your preference!

The beauty of this book is that it takes out the predictability of the patterns and forces the students to truly track print. However, because it is their own opinion, the picture cues will help them navigate the unpredictable text. Not to mention, it's a great introduction to the sight words: do, not, like! Download it here!

November for us means conference season! If this is something you could use to help get through the busy time of parent-teacher conferences amidst cooking and prepping for the holiday, click here to download it today!

If you like this, you may LOVE my Thanksgiving Literacy Bundle. It includes this product plus my Horn of Plenty of Vowels Pack! Click here to download!