Pumpkin Investigation!

The baby's asleep! I was able to get in the shower AND eat lunch AND have time to spare to blog? Today is a good day! (Now if I can keep the dog from escaping the backyard, it'll upgrade to great- but that's a story for another day!)

One of the reasons I love doing apples in September is because it leads so well into pumpkins! The background knowledge on apples really helps kids expand their learning by applying it to pumpkins. They have similar life cycles, similar parts, and they both make for some excellent fall themed cooking in the classroom! YUM!

The first part of my pumpkin products that I've added was the Pumpkin Investigation!

Does it look just like the apple investigation? YES! Was that on purpose? OF COURSE! When it comes to little ones, familiarity, routine, and repetition are key! With similar visuals and understanding what they did last time, students will have greater independence in this activity. Plus, the familiarity helps them build deeper connections and understandings of the topic at hand. Many teachers feel the key to engagement is *new* and *different*, but what I've found is familiarity with a slight tweak has shown the greatest engagement and independence in my little learners.

Take a closer peek below!

Interested? The best part is it's a DOLLAR DEAL! Yes! ONE dollar! Find it here!

Be on the lookout! The mini book version of the investigation is coming in my pumpkin pack shortly!

Keep your head in the clouds!

All About Apples! An Apple Finale!

I like to end my study of Apples with a day of cooking in the classroom. There is always so much joy when I bring a cooking activity into the classroom. Magic seems to fill the air while curiosity and engagement fill the students eyes. Plus, an added bonus if you make something with a delectable aroma such as this delicious and easy Applesauce Recipe!

I must admit, I found this recipe from Persnickety Plates. I love to cook, but I am still a novice in creating my own recipes! Thank goodness for blogs like hers!

This freebie is included with my Johnny Appleseed product (read more here) as well as my Bushel and a Peck of Numbers (read more here) all together in my All About Apples Bundle here!

     

Check out all the details below!

Keep your head in the clouds!

Happy Birthday Johnny Appleseed!

One of the reasons I love to do apples at that the start of the year is because the unit hits a crescendo on September 26th in celebration of Johnny Appleseed's birthday! I've put together some of my favorite activities I use to celebrate one of America's beloved characters.

I love teaching new topics with coloring book mini books. They offer visuals to help understand the writing and they're perfect for children to turn to and color for independent work when they are early finishers. 

There's of course, an apple investigation! I have two options for greater differentiation. There is a one sheet option as well as a mini book containing each activity from the investigation on individual pages. You can read more about my Apple Investigations here. If you're interested in just downloading the Apple Investigation single sheet, you can do so by clicking here.

I love ending Apple Investigations with Apple Tasting! I bring in a few apples of each color and we all taste test them together as a class. Not only is it a fun way to practice our scientific observations skills but it ties in the five senses and builds great classroom community as students have opportunities to share each other's opinions and compare their thoughts.

We also make a class graph with our favorite apples to eat! Talk about STEM in action!

There are also Literacy Resources as well! One of my favorite activities to offer Kindergartners is Color by Sight Word. I love the fine motor skills practice of coloring in smaller areas while incorporating sight word practice with color word practice.

Here's also a sneak peek at the Apple Easy Reader Mini Book that's also included:

With more pages included in the pack!

Plus a Johnny Appleseed hat and more! Is there any other activities you are sure to include when you celebrate Johnny's birthday?

Click below to download the Johnny Appleseed product from my TPT store:

If you want even MORE Apple downloads, check out my All About Apples product here:

Keep your head in the clouds!

Selfie Portraits

One of my first jobs as a teacher was in a district that celebrated learning at the end of the year with a Portfolio Day. We as teachers collected pieces of work throughout the year to pull together in their end of year Kindergarten portfolio. It was a little piece of pride and joy for the kiddos as well as the teachers!

After that experience, I always find myself looking for ways to show tangible growth across the school year. I loved having pieces of the portfolio to pull out in IEP meetings, parent teacher conferences, or just to show students how much they've improved since September! My favorite piece of growth has always been self portraits. I LOVE seeing how the fine motor skills grow and how much detail students start to add into their self portraits each month. I couldn't help myself, but to embrace the children's love of selfies with, Selfie Portraits!

Each month has themed clip art and a cell phone for students to draw their selfie! Instead of the usual mirror we've used in the past to look at to make a self portrait, I also allowed students to use the classroom ipads to look at their own selfie to help them draw! 

Plus, it includes monthly name writing practice on the line at the top! Another great piece of growth to show parents throughout the year. Check out some more samples below! You can purchase Selfie Portraits from my TPT store, here.

Keep your head in the clouds!

I Love You, A Bushel and a Peck

I am ALWAYS looking to build my repertoire of center activities. They are perfect for small group work as well as early finisher activities or morning work options! This apple themed math activity is one of the first centers I pull out during Math rotations!

Download it here!

It covers all the basics of numeracy for the start of Kindergarten Math! There is numeral identification, ten frame recognition and counting, tally mark recognition and counting as well as finger counting! To top it all off, the recording sheet incorporates handwriting with numeral writing practice!

There are two separate recording sheets, one for numbers 1-10 and one for numbers 11-20. Plus, for easier differentiation, each recording sheet has a blank version and a dotted version for tracing! Don't you just love when differentiation can be made with a touch of the copy machine! Plus they look so similar, students feel like they are doing the same as their peers. I like to write names on the sheets ahead of time and sometimes I even let them choose which page they would prefer!

When it comes to center activities, I am a huge proponent for REPETITION! The first time a child is working with an activity, they are learning the HOW of it- what are the rules? How do I keep play going? What do I do if this happens? The second day is when they've mastered the how and are now focused on the content involved. For the first two times in a center, I like to have an adult running it to help answer any questions and ensure both the HOW and the CONTENT are being performed correctly. After that, I can usually put a center out as an independent rotation from time to time.

I love the ease of these to create independence early in the year- and especially love how it goes with Apples for Back to School theme, Autumn theme, or a general Apple Theme!

For even more apple fun, download my All About Apples Bundle here!

Keep your head in the clouds!

An Apple a Day

There's something about September in Kindergarten that screams TEACH ABOUT APPLES! I don't know if it's the connection to Fall and the seasons, if it's merely a tangible topic that most kids have some background knowledge on, or if it's just teachers are born with an inclination toward their career's symbolic fruit, but Apples are my favorite way to kick off Science in Kindergarten!

Our first unit in Science is mainly to teach students how to be scientists through observation. This is why I like to kick start my Apple Unit with a hands on Apple Investigation.

It's part of my Dollar Deal on Apples! You can download it as a single sheet here.

If you're using the same apple for the entire investigation, it's best to do the color, stem, leaf, and measurements first. Next, I move on to sinking or floating, and finally I end with cutting and investigating the seeds before, our fan favorite in K, the taste test!

This year, in an effort to simplify the investigation for my little ones, I decided to split my investigation into a mini book! Each piece of the investigation got it's own page. (Here's a sampling below)

I made each page a center. Students rotated through, completing and collecting pages as we went along. They LOVED building the book as we went and I saw a big difference in their concentration per each investigation. This mini book can be found in my Johnny Appleseed product here! I can't wait to showcase you even more from that later this week.

Download the single sheet Apple Investigation in my TPT store here.

If you want to explore the Mini Book, check out my Johnny Appleseed bundle in my TPT store here! (The single sheet investigation is also included in this product!)

For even more apple fun, download my All About Apples Bundle!

I Scream for Hopes and Dreams

It's Labor Day, which is usually the telltale sign that Summer Break is officially over here in Jersey. This year is different for me. For the first time in roughly 27 years, I am not heading into a classroom as a student or a teacher (some years, I was both!). I'm on Maternity Leave to start this year! Could you blame me for wanting to stay home with this guy?

Photo Credit: Janet Lanza Photography

However, once a teacher, always a teacher! I cannot help but reflect on Back to School seasons of years past. My school is rooted in the ideals of Responsive Classroom and in nearly every classroom, you can find Hopes and Dreams for the students, teachers, and sometimes even parents posted year round as goals for students to develop and work on all year.

As many of my lessons as a Kindergarten teacher begin, I love kicking off Hopes and Dreams with a book. My kiddos LOVE Leo the Lightning Bug!

Have you read this one before? It's the darling story of Leo the Lightning Bug and his challenges and struggles to make his own bright light like the other lightning bugs. I have found it to be a great tangible connection for students to create their own hopes and dreams for the year. It doesn't have to be the same as their friends and it could even be something their friends are able to do well that they aren't able to.. YET! It's a story about resilience and never giving up. It's a great way to begin the thought process on what their own personal hopes and dreams would be for the school year.

Hopes and Dreams in my room are shared and posted ALL. YEAR. LONG. On days when we need a mood lift or a reminder of why we are in school and what we are working for all year, we refer back to our Hopes and Dreams. For something to be posted for the entirety of the year, I needed something I was willing to see all year. And so came, I Scream for Hopes and Dreams!

This adorable craftivity can be found in my TPT store here!

Best Part? It's a dollar deal!

That's right, ONE dollar for a meaningful and estetically pleasing lesson. Because who needs any more stress during Back to School season?

Enjoy this deal or pin it to save for next year!

Keep your head in the clouds!

Taking the Work Out of Paperwork

It is finally getting to be time for me to sink my teeth into my classroom and begin to set up for a brand new year. Classroom setup is one of my favorite things about a fresh year. I love to redesign and put a lot of thought into my set up. Bulletin boards are one of my FAVORITE things to do. I put my heart and soul into design that I have found myself scrambling last minute for all the necessary paperwork to send home with my sweet new little ones for their grownups.

Well NOT. ANY. MORE!

Click here to download from my TPT store!


This product comes with 13 different forms to use at Back to School time as well as anytime throughout the year! Plus, don't they look great on Astrobright paper? I love to copy those beginning of the year forms on different colors for multiple reasons. When I go into a student's file and need a form, I can find it quickly if I know what color I'm looking for. Plus, when collecting all those forms, if one goes missing, it's a helpful way to help students and parents when you can say, "We're missing your contact sheet- the green form!"

Here's a highlight of some of my favorites from the pack!

Info about your students!

This is where I can find out logistics about them, such as their favorite color or book as well as how the parent would describe their child. I like to know their strengths and perhaps any hardships that their child may be going through.

I have to admit, I never thought of a family holiday survey until working with my teaching BFF for the first time a few years ago. Holiday Surveys are SO helpful throughout the year. I love being able to know what they celebrate and calling on parents to help us learn more about their cultures in the classroom!

Contact Info and Communication Log!

It dawned on me this year. Why create a separate Contact Card and Communication Log? Everytime I made a phone call I took out both- why not combine them? Now I have a contact form with a communication log already started directly below it! I photo copy my full page Communication Log on the back of it to continue going should I need to! It's the little things sometimes that get me excited and this was one of them!


Release Forms and Transportation Forms

Whether we find it a sad reality or a smart tactic, I always feel more comfortable when I have a few release forms signed at the start of the year. Every time I participated in ANY food related activity, I used to give myself the heebie jeebies! I was constantly worried that a child would slip an M&M while counting during Math when at home they have a strict no sugar policy or touch an ingredient during a whole group cooking activity and discover an allergy for the first time! Now, I have my families sign a Snack and Food Release. It sounds so silly, but food is a huge component of my classroom. It makes so many lessons come to life, and while many times we are only handling the food and not eating it, I want to be able to use these fun reinforcers without the worry!

(We have a district wide technology and photo release form that is filed out by all students, but I've always created my own technology release as well. It allows me to photograph or video record students for our classroom twitter as well as post their work too! Additionally it makes me feel more comfortable blogging to all of you knowing I am being transparent with the families of the little ones I care so very much about. Those forms can also be found in this pack!)

I've also included a Transportation Form to help you get your little ones to and from school each day. When I get the data from this form, I make a class list of where everyone goes and hang it by the door. It's super helpful at the ever stressful dismissal time and it's also a great resource for a Sub!

There are also Back to School Night Reminders, Social Media Handle Sharing and so much more! Check it out here in my TPT store!

If you like what you see, use this to pin it to your boards for later!

Keep you head in the clouds!
xo