My First Week of School Lesson Plans

Hi Friends,

Just wanted to share with you my lesson plans for the first week of school.  My kiddos are starting to get used to my procedures and routines and are getting the hang of school life.  I don’t have to repeat myself as often as I did a few weeks ago, thank goodness!  Hopefully it will be smooth sailing from here, hehe…yeah right!

My first week of school was jam packed with the introduction of rules, routines, procedures, and beginning skills like cutting, pasting, drawing, etc. 

Get my lesson plan in PDF format HERE.

Also get my FREE Getting Ready to Cut Worksheets HERE.

Till Next Time,

KKAP 

Classroom Morning Routine Poster Freebie and My Word Wall Update!

Welcome back to school!  Things are now in full swing again and I’ve just completed my first week of school.  Now that I’ve gotten semi-ready for this next school year I can finally sit down on my computer and blog!  I’ve been wanting to share all of the things that I’ve been working on for the past few weeks hoping I’d have some free time but with over 25 kids to prepare for, I’ve had my hands full. 

Every year I forget how much energy it takes to get a smooth running classroom.  The students are starting to understand my routines and procedures.  Over the years I’ve learned that you need procedures for EVERYTHING.  Even small things like where to put the cap of their markers when it is in use or how to have a quiet transition from a standing position to and sitting position.  Oh and you should always explain why you have that particular procedure in place.  Try not to overlook anything and model, model, model. In fact, today I had to show my kids how to sit properly in their seats because some of them made themselves at home and propped their feet up on their desks.    

Anyway, I wanted to share with all of you my morning routine poster.  All you have to do is print, glue the two pages together, and laminate them for durability

Here’s my Morning Routine Procedures when they enter the classroom:

1.     Take your chair down.

2.    Hang your backpack.

3.    Put on your nametag.

4.    Turn in your homework.

5.    Sharpen you pencils.

6.    Use the bathroom.

7.    Morning work. 

   

Click here to download this poster. 

I also wanted to update you on my word wall.  Here’s a picture of what it looks like on my bulletin board.  

Click here to get my word wall alphabet cards. 

I glued my alphabet word wall cards onto cardstock and laminated them for durability.  I then placed small pieces of Velcro under each alphabet.  I laminated blank strips of white paper so that whenever I want to add a word to my word wall I can use a wet erase marker to write the word and easily post them up.  I place my word wall fairly low to the ground so that it is accessible to all of my students.  It allows the word wall to be interactive.  Students can come up to the bulletin board and grab the word they need, then easily place it back on for others to use.   

85 Digraphs, Blends, and Alphabet Flash Cards With Bonus Charts Included

It's 2013....Happy New Year!!!!  Goodbye 2012, hello to new beginnings and hopeful changes!  I knew I was finally rejuvenated from this past semester when I started to lose track of the days.  School starts back up again this week...bring it on!  I always get motivated to teach after  long vacations.

So, now that my students know most of their letter and sounds it's time to teach them digraphs and blends! Check out my pins on pinterest for ideas on how to teach digraphs and blends.  I also created my own set of flash cards that include digraphs, blends, and letters.  It looks like this:

Click Here to get it on Teachers Pay Teachers

Click Here to get it on Teachers Notebook

Also if you haven't already downloaded my free Number Flash Cards with 10's Frames,

Click Here to get them.

I also joined up with Freebielicious for their Fabulicious Freebies on the 1st

Click Here to get more freebies

Linky Party!  Get more freebies here on Teaching Blog Addict.  It's an awesome site!

I just linked up with Classroom Freebies.  There are so many awesome freebies that you will need to buy another hard drive...hehe!

Free Number flash Cards with Ten's Frames

I am so blessed to have such a great class this school year, however this past week was super challenging.  It seemed like all of my kiddos were already on break and moved at a snail's pace when doing their work (except when it was time to play, they can sure move fast then!).  I'm so glad winter break is finally here!  *sigh of relief*  This is wonderful!  Then REALITY sets in.  There's lots more to do!  It's my own doing though.  I absolutely LOVE teaching, but it also means work never ends and when I am on break it means I need to catch up on my own personal life and chores that have been neglected, hehe!

I wanted to share 3 craft projects that I did with my class this past week.

This santa project was inspired by Mrs. Lee Kindergarten.  I loved this project because each Santa came out completely different. 

We used white tempera paint to create this Santa Handprint Ornament.  Make sure the paint it THICK and not runny.  You can also use acrylic paint instead.  Paint on white paint onto each child's hand and have them hold the ornament like a ball, gently of course.  We then used permanent markers to add details to our snowman.  I've used window markers as well and they worked perfectly fine.  I usually buy my frosty ornaments from K-mart (Jaclyn Smith Brand).  

Here's the poem I usually include with this gift.  

These aren't just five snowmen

As anyone can see.

I made them with my hand

Which is a part of me.

Now each year when you trim the tree

You'll look back and recall

Christmas of 2012

When my hand was just this small!

We also learned the letter Ll and made a cute ladybug out of uppercase L. Check out my alphabet letter art  page on pinterest for more craft ideas.  

Lastly, in class we are learning our numbers 1-20.  I was getting tired of my handmade number flashcards and finally got around to making some on the computer.  These flash cards include numbers 0-40 with 10's frames beneath each number. I usually use these number cards for whole group or small group instruction. We use these for games, centers, flash cards, etc. There are many possibilities for these cards. All you have to do is print and laminate!  

They look like this:  

I wanted to share them with you!  Click any of the number cards above or click here to get them for free on my TPT page.  If you download them, would you kindly leave a rating and/or comment on my TPT or on my blog :)

Pumpkin Exploration & FREE pumpkin investigation worksheet

A few days ago I bought mini pumpkins for our class so that each pair of students can share a pumpkin to investigate throughout our pumpkin unit.  It was under a dollar for each mini pumpkin.  While investigating our pumpkins throughout the week, we displayed them on our desks so that it made us feel like we were in a pumpkin patch.  We have gone over the pumpkin life cycle and used our senses to describe our pumpkin.  See my previous post  about that here.  Next week we will work on our pumpkin exploration worksheet.  Carving mini pumpkins are a bit tough so you may want to get a pumpkin carving kit with the saw like knife for easier cutting, especially if you will be carving a pumpkin for each pair of students.  

The worksheet explores the following:
What does it look like?
How tall?
How big?
How many seeds?
Sink or float?

click here to download the worksheet.

Kindergarten Literacy Centers and Math Centers Management Board

Now that my kiddos are much more independent, I have finally started my literacy and math centers.  I was inspired by  Keen On Kindergarten's blog: Work Center's Board and created my own centers board for my classroom.  The lady bugs cover my students pictures.  I laminated my cards and put velcro behind the them.  It allows me to easily move the cards at the end of each day so they are ready for the next time.  You can also use  the cards in a pocket chart.  That would probably be easier, but I didn't have an extra pocket chart or the wall space.  

Here's how I manage my centers:

Students have partners (2 per center, heterogeneous  grouping).  

Here's how I make my pairs:  First I rank my students by their ability level (high to low).  

Example:

Frank (high)

Bella

David

______Mary_____

Jim (middle)

Jane

James

Daniel (low)

After ranking my students, then I divide them in half.  I match up my high level student to my middle student, next highest student to another middle student, etc.

Here's how they would pair up the students above:

Frank-Jim

Bella-Jane

David-James

Mary-Daniel

The reason I pair students this way is to allow the proficient students to help those still developing their skills.  It also prevents me from pairing a very proficient student with a student that is not yet meeting standards.  

Students rotate to 2 centers (30 minutes) for literacy and 2 centers (30 minutes) for Math each day.  All the students have to do is look for their picture and find their centers for the day.  This allows me to meet with at least 4 small groups each day.  My small groups are homogeneous and I work with no more than 6 students at a time.  

My literacy centers are spread out throughout the room.  My math centers are placed in baskets or folders with numbers on them.  Students just grab their numbered folder or basket and work at their desks.  

Center Transitions:

At the end of the first center I ring a bell.  Students are required to clean up quickly and put away their centers (2 minutes). Then I ring the bell once more and students must freeze.   I say "class."  Students respond by saying "yes."  Then I say, "march."  and like soldiers they march to their next center.  

click here for my Literacy Center Cards.

Click here for my Math Center Cards.

Race to 10 & Race to 20 Tens Frame Dice Games

My kindergarteners are learning how to count and recognize numbers.  We just learned the number 10 last week.  I wanted my students to continue to practice their counting, so I created a Race to 10 and Race to 20 game to help motivate them to count.  They absolutely love dice games.

Here's how to play:  

Students play in pairs.  They take turns rolling a die and place the same amount of counters in the tens frame.  The first to fill their tens frames wins.

Click Here for Race to 10 Game

Click Here for Race to 20 game