Turkey Time + a Freebie!

I am so excited about a week of Thanksgiving fun.  We will be learning about the Pilgrims and American Indians, sharing what we are thankful for, feasting with one another (while in costume of course), and dancing!  It's TURKEY IN YO' BELLY TIME!  :)



Our literacy and math time will be filled with turkey time activities from this pack!

Our week wouldn't be complete without reading Turkey Trouble!

After reading, the students will complete this fun writing activity:

You can CLICK HERE to download this fun Freebie!

Have fun with your little Turkeys this week!

Pumpkin Fun: Physical Properties, Write-the-Room, Adjectives, & Bingo [+ 2 are FREEBIES!]

Not sick of pumpkin fun yet!?  Nope, neither am I!  ;)  More importantly, my students are still loving learning with pumpkins.

This year, my team and I are really digging deeper into our standards and are evaluating our lesson plans critically.  Instead of focusing on the activity, we are shifting our focus on what really matters - the objectives and the learning!  For the past 8 years, I have used pumpkins for measurement activities in my classroom.  I blogged about it here.

While fun and cute, these learning activities did not actually address many of our standards in Kindergarten!  Most of the measurement tasks were too challenging and not developmentally appropriate for my students.  They did not internalize the learning because they were not ready for these experiences yet. 

We wanted to use pumpkins for learning, so we adjusted the student journal and activities to match our standards in science!  Our students observed and investigated the physical properties of their pumpkins and recorded their learning in their mini-journals.

Both versions (math-focused and science-focused) of the book are included in this product.

In literacy, my students practiced spelling their color words with this Pumpkin Write-the-Room...

And we described our creative pumpkins using adjectives on THIS FREEBIE:

We will be playing pumpkin sight word bingo this week.  You can download this FREEBIE here!

 I hope you and your students can use pumpkins for rich learning experiences in your classroom!  :)

Pumpkin, Pumpkin, What Do You See? Mini-Book FREEBIE!

I love, love, love this time of year in the SuperKid classroom.  The students are so excited for the upcoming holidays, the cooler weather is invigorating, and themed activities are just downright FUN!  I created this pumpkin mini-book to use in my "Making Books" station next week, and I added it to my TPT Store for free because I think your students might love it, too!

The book comes with two versions - one with faceless pumpkins for a more fall-themed book and the other with jack-o-lanterns for Halloween-themed fun.

The students get to write-in their own pumpkin color of choice on the last page!

I hope you're having fun in your classrooms this month.  Enjoy this mini-book and don't forget to follow my store!  =)

Numbers 1-10 Student Book

Well hi there, happy Fall to ya!  Anyone else in utter disbelief that October is already well under way!?  It's been a fast and furious first 6 weeks of school, and we have been having a blast in math!

This year, we are implementing the new math TEKS, which are similar to the Common Core Standards.  We have been devoting all of our math time so far this year to developing number sense for the numbers 1-10.  We have been counting, comparing, and composing like crazy!  I created this student book that we used as an informal assessment.  It could also be used for guided or independent practice, or even for homework!

Representing Numbers:

Counting & Recording:

Subitizing:

Comparing Quantities:

Comparing Numbers:

Generating a Number 1 More and 1 Less: 

Composing Numbers:

The book is available in my TPT Shop, and it's on sale right now!  :)  I hope you are having a great year with your own SuperKids!

Procedure Posters for the Win! (And one's a FREEBIE!)

As all of my fellow Elementary School teachers know, the most important learning that happens during the first few weeks of school are the many, many procedures that help our classrooms run smoothly all year long.  This is my 9th year teaching, yet I still always forget just how much STUFF there is to explain to my sweet new babes every September.

Today was our 10th day of school, and mercy me, I am sick of hearing my own voice!  But I know that it is so worth it because if we iron out all of our procedures and routines now, the class will function as a well-oiled machine from here on out!

This year I was determine to help my students master 2 of my most dreaded procedures from the get-go.  The 2 procedures that year after year cause hiccups in our day and drive me absolutelycrazy:  Packing Our Backpacks and Gluing Papers into our Journals!

So the class helped me create two fabulous posters that make these procedures oh-so-simple and easy.  I have them hanging up and refer to them as they are needed each day.  The kids also had so much fun making them, and they remember the steps better because they were included in the process.  Plus the glue one has a song - and we can remember anything if it's put to music!  :)

 

When students forget a step, I just remind them by saying the step number.  It's so fantastic to watch them independently go to the poster, find the appropriate step, and then complete it!  And it's so much easier on me to simply give them a step reminder rather than repeating the same phrases over and over and over again.  ;)  BTW, Step 2 is my solution to avoid pile-ups and traffic jams right in front of the cubby shelf.

We use standard composition books as our Math and Science Journals.  I love how sturdy they are, and how they have plenty of pages for the year, but I do not love how difficult it is for my little ones to properly glue something into them!  Since we glue things into our journals almost daily, this procedure is crucial!  I'm convinced that this poster is going to keep our journals beautiful with seldom a journal glued shut!  So far, so good!  I use silly voices for each of the incorrect gluing titles and we hold our hands up in an X as we say and discuss them.  Make it fun, people!  :)

If you're interested in this Gluing Into a Journal Procedure Poster, click the link or find it in my TPT Store for FREE!

I hope your SuperKids are doing a fabulous job learning all of your classroom procedures!

Globally-Connected Classroom: Parent Permission Forms {FREE for Facebook Fans}

I am beyond pumped to provide ways for my students to share with classrooms and students around the world this year!  I am specifically planning to start out using Twitter and Mystery Skype [<-- check out my Mystery Skype post here] to help us connect globally. 

I want the parents to be informed and excited about our use of these technologies in the classroom.  I also need to be sure that privacy is respected and that I have the necessary permission to include students in these online forums.

I created four separate permission forms that are generic and can be used by any teacher!  They contain places for specific information to be inputted by you where needed.

If you'd like to use these, head on over to my Facebook page and hit that little "Like" button!  :)  Then click the "Fan Freebies" tab and you can download any and all of these permission slips (plus the other goodies that live there).

I hope you enjoy!  Let me know how you plan to help your students connect globally this year!