First Few Days of Fun- and a FREEBIE!

I am always amazed how quickly learning happens in Kindergarten.  It is sort of like you can't even slow it down. The children are so ready to absorb what you say when the year is so new and fresh.  I have introduced 5 sight words- I, a, can, like, and look.  They can't get enough. Once I mistake them for possibly being second graders because they read so well already, they just want MORE!

I am using the same simple morning message format for these first couple weeks.  I am only changing the day and special, because I want us to get in the habit of reading it each day together, noticing the capital letters, spaces, and punctuation.  

Some days I will put in a sentence strip with something else to do, like this:

Here are our Rug Rules.  I have mentioned that they are a variation of WBT rules.  I love watching the children do #5. We do "safe" like someone is safe at home  plate, "kind" like giving ourselves a big hug, and "honest" with our hands over our heart.  So sweet.  The smile face is "secret rule six"- Make your dear teacher happy!  They love that it is our secret rule.  OK- I  love it, too!  ;)

 They are already in the habit of telling me, "An author writes the words." or "An illustrator draws the pictures."  After I introduce a book and say the author's name, I say, "Tell me in a complete sentence what an author does."   I started doing this because I like them to answer me in complete sentences.

I introduced Eagle Eyes- sort of by accident, when we were reading Llama, Llama Misses Mama.

At the end, when Llama is so happy to see Mama, and runs to her, my one little sweetie said, "UT OH- He threw those crayons!"  She zoomed right in on that! So of course, that opened up the praises for her "eagle eyes!" And so the reading strategies began... I love when teaching happens like that!

Today, one of our Literacy Centers was reading "I Spy" books to help us sharpen our eagle eyes!

I also want to show you how my golf pencil worked for my little guy's grip- ready?

Day 1- regular pencil:

Today- golf pencil:  Oh. my. gosh!  I love it!  He was just adamant that he had a pencil with an eraser- and I slapped one on so fast!  :)  (By the way, after we read In My New Yellow Shirt, he decided he would be a yellow 'rig.'  That is what that means written on there! :)

Am I the only one who can't just let snack be snack? I have to turn it into yet another "hands on" activity- like sorting.  

 (Poor thing is like just let me EAT my snack!!!)

Heaven forbid they have pretzel sticks- we make every shape and letter under the sun!  Snack takes for. ever.

I love my Common Core Math Standard I Can Statements from Erin Dowling!  I also got her Writer's Workshop Procedures.  We are working on shapes this week in our math centers. 

This was a little Hexagon City the kids made after they sorted.  

I also wanted to let you know that my Pre-K, K, 1st Grade Character Education Prezi is free at my TPT store. 

I posted a sad little post yesterday (that I took off)- because someone left bad feedback for this Prezi, and it just said, "to small."  It ruined my day  I thought about it all day a few times throughout the day. First of all, the feedback lady seems to teach 3rd-5th grade- so I don't know if "to small" meant that the Prezi was too small, it was too small for her grade (which it would be because it is for Pre-K to 1st) or if it wasn't zoomed out and was actually too small size-wise... oh dear. If she had EMAILED me, I would have made it all better for her and given her money back and been nice.  :(  It is a smaller size Prezi- but has some great Character Education videos on it  as well as some class rules posters and all of the WBT rules and explanations from Chris Biffle. I made it just to have my videos together when I wanted a quick Character Education fix in the class!  I hope you enjoy it and can use it.  PLEASE leave me some loving feedback because apparently I am a huge baby not very thick skinned and words of affirmation must be one of my love languages- or maybe I just am not really good at handling whatever the opposite of words of affirmation are. Either way, thank you, my sweet, sweet, blog buddies.  Thank you to my sweet friend Leslie from Color, Cut, and Glue actually caught my little  post yesterday for the short while it was up there... and made me feel so much better.  Have a great night!

                                   







Eagle Eyes and a Giveaway!

Just a reminder that my Fun in Fall Prezi and Googly Eye Giveway ends today!  Stop over and enter.  I am giving away 2 of my Fun in Fall prezis- and these silly- yet awesome- googly eye rings that loved- and thought you might, too! :)

 

On to one of my favorite reading helpers...   The first reading buddy that I introduce is Eagle Eye.

 

 

I start talking about  this strategy from day one.  We notice.  Everything.  The children are already using their eagle eyes to get used to and remember details about our room, new toys, new friends, their locker, their bus, their new teacher. They just don't even realize what a valuable tool they are already using- so Eagle Eye helps me point that out! 


When I first introduce Eagle Eye, we talk about the eagle's amazing eyesight.  They love hearing that eagles have can see forward and to the side at the same time. (They have 2 centers of focus where humans only have one.) They can see a fish in the water when they are gliding in the sky way up above, and a rabbit up to a mile away. (I give the children the name of a place about a mile away from our school so they have an idea how far a mile is.) A fun fact is that people see just three basic colors, but eagles see five, so they can see even well-camouflaged prey.

 

We play 'The Detail Game' a lot at rug time.  It is simple, fun- and a great way to introduce and explain what a 'detail' is- since we will be using that word a LOT all year long! If a detail applies to the student, he/she stands.  I start by saying, "I am thinking of a person," so everyone is standing.  Next I may add a detail like, "This person is a girl."  Then, "This girl has short hair," "This girl has a pink striped shirt," etc until only one student is standing because I have given so many details that we figured out who I was describing. 

 

Another game everyone likes is the sorting game.  I have everyone stand on one side of the rug. This is a completely QUIET game.  Everyone must be quiet- until it is time for me to call on someone to guess what detail I chose.  In  my head , I decide on one detail that I am looking for the children I choose to have (maybe a striped shirt).  I point to children to line up on the other side of the rug, one by one, who match my detail -no talking. ;) .  Once I have chosen all the children, I ask if anyone knows why this group is has been picked.  The children raise hands, and I chose someone to answer. 

I start with kind of an obvious detail- like all red shirts , then move to trickier ones- like writing on shirts, a hairband in hair, shoes with no laces... We play this game a lot and the children become very good at noticing details.  After a few times, the children love to be the ones to chose a detail and be the leader.

 

I have out my bin of I Spy books as some of our first free reading books of the year.  The children love these books- and have fun working with friends to find the pictures. It's a great way to make friends when you are both trying to find some tricky little things in a picture! ;)

 

ANYONE losing anything in the classroom is a  great way to reinforce Eagle Eyes! We all search for the missing item (which 5 year olds seem to love to do...) and when it is found, I name that person "Eagle Eyes (insert-last name-here)."  Just wait until you see the pride that follows this new name... :)The next time something is missing, that little person is all over the job of finding it! 

 

I wrote a post about a writing activity  I do later in the year using details.  This may be a good activity for 1st graders earlier in the year.  For Kindergarten, we start slowly- first noticing details everywhere, and then adding them to our illustrations.

 

I also  do lots of activities with the eye when I introduce Mr. Broom's Sense of Sight. 

 Mr. Broom is how I teach the 5 Senses. 

 

 

 

He looks silly, but he is a class celebrity... He gets a new sense each day which explains why he only has his eyes and nose...  I usually teach the 5 Senses in February or March because that seems to be a time we need some fun science activities.  It would also work well at the beginning of the year- and I know lots of people teach it around Christmas since there are so many great activities to go with it that time of year.  You could use some of these sight activities on their own to go with Eagle Eye, too.

 

This post reminded me of a couple favorite "grown up" things I have read about noticing- and perspective.  First is Hands Free Mama's post Notice the Good -which is a wonderful reminder anytime especially for the beginning of the new school year. I love her writing.  The second is the book The Noticer by Andy Andrews.

 

Have a wonderful week and thank you for stopping by! Don't forget to enter that giveaway!