Five for Friday October 10

Happy Friday! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey!

Rocking Dan Teaching Man has a great video about being a good friend. He has lots of great videos on his Youtube channel!  We talked a lot about being good friends in class this week (every week...). My kids are such a great little bunch together, and I want to keep that up. I try to notice everything good and PRAISE IT UP!  Of course they have moments, and I have a few who forget- but that's what these great songs and what our character education moments are all about.  Dan's song is so great because we can talk about the vocabulary in it, and I can use it as a reminder later in the day-  "Remember when we sang about..."   Also, it's got a great rhythm for the kids.

              

I also found these videos that I'm going to use next week!

My kids are going to love this What Do The Letters Say song from Have Fun Teaching.
             
Have Fun Teaching also shared this great Sight Word Songs video on Youtube.  I am going to play it in the background during free choice time.  Hopefully, the kids will learn those words and maybe not even realize it as they're  singing along.
             

For letter Cc this week, we made our Cat Cookies.  I posted about those here with LOTS of other cat  and "at" freebies!

These cookies would also be fun for Halloween. They're so easy and fun to make!

I always make a poster for the room. The kids love looking at it.

Here is a copy of the "recipe" if you'd like it. (Just click the picture.) I send it home with the child's picture stapled to it.

I posted at Pre-K and K Sharing about some of my favorite Dollar Tree finds and how I like to use them in my classroom. You can go see how I spend my dollars...

One of my favorite finds was all of the camo things they had.  I made a  Camo Write the Room. I am going to put the camo sightwords all over the room and use this as one of my centers. The children can wear their vest and helmet, and use the binoculars to find the words.  I also bought a camo tablecloth (for $. 97 at Walmart).  I was thinking I may put that up on a wall and put the sight words on that another time just to switch it up.   If you would like a copy of the recording sheets, just click on the picture below. 

 

If you would like a copy of the camo sight words, click this picture below. I just printed them and cut them apart to put up around the room.

I also made this mat on a piece of cardboard. I know- can you believe the detail?!  I wrote sight words on the bottom of some army guys, and the children can match the army guys to their spots on the map, then record the words on their paper.  

You can also find camo pencils that would be so much fun to use for these centers. 

These great dinosaurs would also work well on my mat (since it is so simple  versitile...). You could write sight words or letters on these guys!

Another fun activity we did this week was our Block City Classroom Book.  I posted about that here.

The children built with blocks in pairs. I took pictures and made writing papers for the children. We turned and talked about our creations. Then, the children wrote about what they made.

I love this activity because it takes away the illustrating this time and lets the children really focus on writing words (not hiding behind drawing). I know the drawing is important, but I do have some who will draw until the day is done to avoid trying to put some letters on that paper.

Their buildings are also fun to write about because it is something they made and know about. It was fun to listen to the turn and talk and the questions the children were asking each other about why they built it, what it was for, and if it fell over.  Finally, the children felt successful whether they wrote a few letters, or a page of words.

"I built with people and built gates on the side."

 "It was hard.  It was not balanced. It was tricky."

 I was SO PROUD of him for hearing  the beginning sounds of "I made a truck."I helped him form the 'm' and 't,' and we reread what he wrote. You should have seen him beaming!

I love to use Library Mouse to introduce Writer's Workshop, when the children really start writing their own books.  

                                             
After we read the book, I take this box around as the children sit in a circle, so they can look at the "author" in the mirror. I just cut a hole in the middle of a shoebox, covered with contact paper, and put a mirror on the inside.  
                                    
Instead of leaving the box out all year, I put this mirror on my white board by the writing table, to save room on the table.  It's fun to send someone back to check the mirror, if they're having a hard time writing.



Finally, I was so proud of my Shape Town for helping the kids learn their shapes. They have been bringing in all sorts of things from home, sorting them, talking about shapes- just like I hoped.  Until Monday morning when one mother came in and said her child was SO sad because he forgot to bring something for "Garbage Town."  GARBAGE TOWN?!   OK- I do see quite a few toilet paper "cylinders" in there, but it's sort of the epitome of "One person"s trash is another person's treasure." I'm thinking it's a sickness kindergarten teacher thing, the way I look at everything and see a different way to use it.

If you would like to make your very own Garbage Town Shape Town, you can get the parent note and poster if you click the picture below.
                            
Thank you for stopping by!

Dollar Days Linky Party

Yes- we spent part of our morning on the 4th of  July at the Dollar Tree. 

And, yes,  I also have to say it was WONDERFUL!  :)  Of course the minute I got in line with my full cart, ten people decided to check out right behind me with two or three items- and I had that guilty feeling that I was wasting their time.  Why do I do that?  Well, I am over it (obviously not because I just wrote about it, but I am much better... :)  and here are some of my finds today.   

I am linking up with A Teacher Without a Class- Dollar Days .  Stop over and link up with some of your favorite Dollar finds! 
 

Here we go!

 

I use these for patterning, sorting, counting, adding, subtracting, showing more/less, graphing, and  stringing onto yarn for necklaces.  I do an ice cream math sheet where each cone has a number, and I use these for the "scoops" of ice cream the children count for the cone.

 

These are another staple for the beginning of the year.  I love using these to have the children make shapes, letters, add, subtract, make tally marks, show me more or less...  lots of ideas- and then they make a great snack that usually every child likes.

 

These are just to refill my "warm fuzzy" container.  :) Hopefully we will go through  A LOT of these!

 

                                         
Last year, I got lots of these blue glass stones from the Dollar Store and filled my "Have Your Filled A Bucket" bucket with them.  After we read the book, I gave each child one to keep in their pocket or by their bed to remember to fill buckets.  I keep a full bucket of these for all of us to remember at school.

 

 

These are for my little gals who need some help with hairdos in the morning. :)  I even have girls come back from years past to have me braid their hair or put it in a pony tail.  And- I always have some come in on Wacky Hair Days looking for some crazy idea.  I love that they know they can always come to me.  Some little girls I have don't get that kind of attention at home at all, and just love to have somebody fuss over them a little- and then they feel so special with their pretty hairdo.  That is WELL worth the dollar! 

 

 

 This looked SO cute.  My kids always love their gold.  The leprechauns always leave us some, of course, but we also have some in our pirate ship for play, and to use with our pirate counting game. 

My husband looks at our driveway and sees a stone driveway that desperately needs to be paved. 

I, however, look at it with a much more optimistic eye and see treasure.  

This is some sort of "Leprechaun Math" I think!  ;) 





I am going to try these for nametags on the tables this year. I am going to write the names, laminate them, and try Velcro on the tables.   I have done the contact paper, the shipping tape... so time for the Velcro!  Some days, I am going to pull a switch-a-roo and instead of their NAME- it will be a ... SIGHT WORD at their spot!   :)  Can't wait!

I bought 5 packs of each of these to use for sorting, patterning, counting, adding, and subtracting.
I guess 5 packs of each might disqualify it for a dollar purchase, but...

These cuties will be for sight word games or math games- probably when my mother comes in and works one on one for RTI.  She can have the child put a favorite dinosaur on "see" or find both of the "like" words  and put matching dinosaurs on the words.

 

 

Envelopes are some of the most fun things to have at the Writing Center!  I also use a bunch of them for Writer's Workshop after we read The Jolly Postman and everyone decides they need to put all of their ideas in little letters.  I put a limited number out at a time at the Writing Center. :)

We use lots of highlighters in Reading Centers.  We find letters, sight words, punctuation marks- you name it! 

 

 You would have had to buy these, too.  I just know it...  I am not even quite sure what I will do with these.  They would be great for chosing partners, addition/subtraction facts, contractions- oh so many things!

 

 

 I love having Bugles on hand- for those children who  forget to get that finger in there for one to one correspondence in their A and B reading books.  They are just a fun reminder to point to each word.

(When a cute little 5 year old's finger is in a Bugle it doesn't look so creepy. Ha! I just don't have any cute little 5 year olds handy, so I was the finger model.)

 

 

I didn't buy these BUT they were only a dollar.  I found an entire Pool Noodle Pinterest Page with TONS of ideas for using these, so in case you are interested, they are only a dollar at the Dollar Store!

That's about it-  Aren't you glad you weren't behind me in line?  We also got other things not for school (surprise, surprise), like gift bags... you cannot NOT buy gift bags at the Dollar Store- or is that just me?! Jeff got like three things and went to the car to read the paper.  Bless his heart. :) 

 

Thanks for stopping by! 

Carolyn