Five for Friday November 14th and FREEBIES!

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! This week I'm sharing lots of things I love to do with my class this time of year- and lots of freebies included in there, too!

Our Physical Therapist shared an overview with us about age appropriate activities for kindergarten students.  She also shared some ideas children can do at home to strengthen these skills.  I made some parent notes with the different ideas and posted about them here.  I also posted some good warm up activities for fine motor muscles.  

You can click the pictures below if you would like a copy of the notes to send home.  I like to have some different ideas to send home with parents at conferences.  

                           

We learned all about the National Anthem last week, and  I posted about it here.  Here are some National Anthem freebies for you if you would like them! 

I made a paper I made with a quick history of the song (that I condense for my kids) and the vocabulary and phrases we discuss- dawn, twilight, hailed, broad, ramparts, gallantly, perilous, proud...  It is really amazing what they learn from this song.   If you would like a copy, just click on the picture. It's also amazing the number of "ramparts" that will be built out of blocks after they learn this word! I sent a copy home with the children, so they could amaze their parents.

The children learned the vocabulary so quickly. We review it every time we sing the song, so they really know what the song means.  I think that is important for them- and they love knowing it.

I found this AWESOME Star Spangled Banner Freebie at the Crafty Classroom blog.  It is wonderful. I laminated the pages and made a couple classroom books. The illustrations are great and really help with the vocabulary.

There is also a mini book for the children to take home. This was a HUGE hit! I folded them for the kids ahead of time, because that was tricky. We also practiced turning the pages because there was a little skill to that, too. They were so proud when they got it.  I sent it home on Monday, and I heard there was lots of singing at home on Veteran's Day...

My sister shared this Thanksgiving Story Bracelet with me a few years ago, and it has been my favorite Thanksgiving activity each year since.  If you would like a copy of the paper, just click on the picture.

The children really learn the Thanksgiving story, are able to retell it, AND have a new piece of jewelry!  

First, we read a lot of books about the first Thanksgiving.  The children have a good background and are familiar with:  the Pilgrims leaving England on the Mayflower, because they wanted freedom to worship God they way they wanted to; the Mayflower landing at Plymouth Rock after a long, hard trip;  the Native Americans helping the Pilgrims learn to hunt, plant, and survive when they arrived in this country; and the feast the Pilgrims and Native Americans had to celebrate and give thanks for all they had survived and all they now had in their new land.

I introduce my bracelet to the children, and we all retell the story together with my bracelet. We do this a few times each day whenever we have a few minutes.  I want them to really KNOW the story before they make their bracelet, and take it home to retell.

I move each bead as I tell what it is for. 

The Pilgrims left England because they wanted freedom to worship God as they wanted. (1st green)

They left England on a ship called the Mayflower. ( white bead)

It was a very long trip across the ocean. (I say a word for each of the 3 blue beads: very. long. trip.)

Finally, they saw land! (green bead)

They landed at Plymouth Rock. ( gray bead)

When they landed it was Winter. (I say a word for each of the 3 white beads: very. long. Winter.)

Finally Spring came! (light green bead)

They met Squanto, a Native American who helped them learn to hunt and plant. (Light brown bead)

To thank the Native Americans, the Pilgrims had a feast for everyone including:

cranberries (red bead), corn (yellow bead), turkey (brown bead), and pumpkin pie (orange bead).

After the children retell the story really well with my bracelet, they each make one during our small group center time.  I have the bags with the correct beads already sorted.  They just choose a pipe cleaner.  We string each bead on as we tell the story. Then they retell the story to a friend with their own bracelet. 



 

I send a copy of this paper home with each child, just in case they forget what a bead means, so the parents can coach them on if they need a hint.   I don't want anybody to be frustrated! 

This book is good for so many things. The children noticed the leaves were blowing because they were placed randomly on the page. They noticed the movement, the excitement, and the emotions just from the illustrations. 

Next, since we have been learning about punctuation marks, we point them out in the text.  This is a great story for noticing quotation marks.

 

 We also talk about what it means to be thankful. That is harder for the children to explain than it sounds.  The story also uses "grateful," which is another good word to introduce.  We came up with words like happy, pleased, appreciating something (although that is a big word, too!)  I finally came up with being happy with something that means a lot to us.  Then, telling someone that you are happy about it, or thanking them for it if it is something someone has done for you or given you.  How does that sound? 

Click on the picture below if you would like a copy. It is SIMPLE- because the kids get to make it fancy.

We started this activity as a whole group, making the hand turkey cover. 

                                      

 I modeled first page illustrations, and we did that together.  

I finished the rest of the book during our small group center time. Both worked well. I liked having the children draw their families during small group time, because I could talk to each child about his/her family, what everyone looked like, who was biggest or smallest, if there were pets...   

I also love sharing, "I'm thankful for all the good things that I see," with the kids. I love hearing and seeing what is special to them. I do have them label what they draw on this page, so we get a little writing in there.

 This was one of my favorite self-portraits from last year!

If you are looking for another fun book to have your children write for Thanksgiving, Michaela Peterson has a sweet  I'm Thankful For Minibook freebie at her TPT store.  I love her illustrations. 



Thank you so much for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

Developing Motor Skills FREEBIES

Our Parent Teacher Conferences are coming up soon.  I always like to have different ideas to share with the parents.  Our Physical Therapist shared an overview with us about age appropriate activities for kindergarten students.  She also shared some ideas children can do at home to strengthen these skills.  In the "olden days" they were just called chores, and were common sense, but today, I think sometimes parents forget that they can actually ask their children to help at home.  And better yet, while the children are learning and helping at home, they are actually growing stronger.  So, I thought maybe if I sent home a list with pictures of activities with the parents , it may give them some new ideas to try at home.

Just click on the picture if you would like a copy.  The first page is just for kindergarten because it is the skills a five or six year old should be able to do. But the page with ideas could be sent home with any grade- even college age kids... if  need be...

Here is a paper that I send home to parents with some ideas that they can use at home to work on developing fine motor skills.  Lots of times parents want to help, but aren't sure what activities would be best.  Click HERE if you would like a copy.

                           

These are some fun warm up activities that don't take long, but help children transition into an activity using fine motor skills, like Writer's Workshop. Pre-writing exercises not only help children warm up their fine motor muscles, but also help them to focus on using them the best they can.

1.  Windshield Wipers- Children hold their hands above their head and cross straight arms 10 times.  Then, they place the bottom hand over the top hand, and repeat.

2.  Door Knob Turns-  Children pretend to turn door knobs with arms straight out in front of them and rotate toward the midline for 10 repetitions.

3.  Rainbows-  Have children hold their elbows with opposite hands.  They lift their elbows overhead in a single motion and return to their waist. Repeat 10 times.

4.  Mickey Mouse Ears-  Children put their fists by their ears, open hands, and close tightly.  Repeat 10 times.

5.  Desk Push-Ups- Children put hands flat on desks, with thumb and index fingers forming a triangle. They bend their elbows, put their nose into the triangle, then straighten their arms.  Repeat 10 times.
Coloring and writing use fine motor muscles, but aren't best for developing these muscles and making them strong.  Young children need lots of opportunities to develop these muscles so they don't get tired or frustrated completing activities that use these little muscles. It's just like any muscle that you need to strengthen so you can use it confidently and with best control. Children want to do their best work, enjoy it, and  feel proud of it. They don't want to feel clumsy and do sloppy work. Lots of opportunities to develop fine motor skills, both at home and at school,  are important for young children. 

We had a very informative class  with our OT, discussing the book Teaching the Moving Child by Sybil M. Berkey.

She shared some great ideas for fine and gross motor activities for children.

1. Use golf pencils or broken crayons to help children use correct finger grip.

Broken crayons kind of make me cringe.  I could have named my blog "Sharp Pencils and Brand New Crayons,"  because those are two things I LOVE.  OK- even more honestly, it could have been named "Sharp Ticonderoga Pencils and Brand New Crayola Crayons." But that would never fit on a button.

However, cringing aside,  I do see the benefit of using these smaller writing tools for children who need help or reminders using the correct grip.  If a crayon or pencil is small, children can't get all of their fingers around it, and therefore are "forced" to use a correct grip.  This is an especially good tip to remember at the beginning of the year.

I didn't have too many golf pencils, but that wasn't a problem by the end of summer- because this is my husband and son on a typical weekend!

2.  Have children write in a prone position (lying on the floor with a clipboard) or standing and writing on a wall space to put their wrists in proper position.
















I tried this one and you can see it does position the child's arm and wrist correctly.  I did have a couple children who have "floppy wrists" or who bent their wrists around when they wrote.  Lying on the floor made them rest on their forearm and keep their wrist in the right position.  This isn't practical all the time, but I could definitely have them do this more during center times or certain writing times.  I didn't like the wall writing as much probably because I don't have much wall space and the paper has to be at the perfect height for them so they aren't reaching up  or stooping down, which defeats the purpose.


3. Have over-active children do "chair push-ups" or push against a wall to remain calm and more focused.

   

We do like a good "Chair Push-Up" break now and then!  My whole class does this together. I always have a couple children who benefit from this the most, but it is fun and helpful for everyone- as well as a challenge! They love to see who can stay up for a long time. 

We have a ball with the Wall Push.   I don't have much wall space, but we all line up quietly and walk around the corner in our hall, where there are no classrooms.  We try to push the wall as hard as we can.  I tell them we are trying to make Miss Quick's classroom smaller by pushing in the wall!   They really think we have moved that concrete wall over.  Sorry, Miss Quick, for your shrinking room!

These activities are also great for developing some shoulder strength.

Again,  this is a great brain break for everyone in the class!  Who doesn't feel like pushing a wall every now and then? One good thing about doing this in the hall is that I tell them we have push really hard, but be quiet, so they aren't screaming- but putting the effort into the physical exertion.

Mean Soup is a fun book to read before you practice some gross motor exercises- and if your class is ever in a sort of picky mood.



The story is about a boy who had a very frustrating day. His mother suggests that they make soup together, which he does not want to do at first.  She boils water on the stove, adds a little salt,  and screams into the water.  Then, she has him do it. They both scream louder into the "soup" until they feel better.  After that, the mother decides they should stick their tongues out twenty times into the soup- which, we, of course, did as well. (I actually made tally marks each time we stuck out our tongues-  MATH!)  What a fun idea to get out some frustration! We also took out our frustrations on the wall.  Again, sorry, Miss Quick- we are SURE your room is at least a foot smaller by now. 

                                        

It's such a fun way to teach children a safe, productive way to relieve stress.

  

Other good suggestions for an overly-active child were to have him/her do more physical jobs for you in the classroom, like wipe down tables, push in chairs, or carry heavy objects (like a small stack of books) for you in the hallway.  Kids love to be helpers, and this is a way for a child to be a helper and have some physical stimulation. 

(ok... maybe just a small stack!)

 

Go Noodle is FULL of great brain breaks and activities for getting children moving.  It has everything from Zumba to Yoga.  If you haven't used it yet, you and your kids will love it. It's free! Go check it out! I posted about it HERE.

Of course good old fashioned PLAYING is fabulous, too- but don't get me started! 
I hope you found some things you can use and share with parents.  Thank you for stopping by!

Five for Friday September 12

I am linking up with Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday!

We had lots of fun this week- and we used our Fun in Fall Prezi a LOT!  We worked with apples, our monarch changed into a chrysalis, and we watched some back to school videos.  The children loved watching the caterpillar change into a chrysalis.  If you would like this Prezi, I made it one for the United States and one for Canada.  

The Back to School part of the Prezi is FREE at my TPT store. Just click on the picture!

Here are some of the other Prezis that we used this week.  Just click on the picture if you want to go to that Prezi at my TPT store.  It is SUCH a time saver for me to have these up on the board so I can just click to whatever link I want to bring up. The Kindergarten Math is a bundle of 4 Prezis- for all of the math standards.  This week, we used this one- Counting and Cardinality. This one also has Base 10 on it.

I think I am going to do my Five Senses unit in the Fall this year. I usually do it in Spring, but I am thinking Fall or Christmas would be lots of fun, with lots of great senses activities. I could literally sit in a room with a McIntosh Apple Yankee Candle- or any of the Autumn Harvest candles- and use my sense of smell all day long- plus I love to make my scented Play Doh with fall scents.

 

If  you know me, you'll know that this is one of my FAVORITE things to see my children do... play. The learning that happens during playtime is more that I could even write down. This little group had a ball in my housekeeping area, playing and getting to know each other.  I love taking the time during these busy first couple weeks of school to walk around and play WITH the children- talk to them, laugh with them, and just listen to them.  If you want to learn about your children, just listen to the way they play.

 

My friend Susanna from Whimsy Workshop shared this idea that she found somewhere.  I have gone back and cannot find where I saw it- so if it's your idea, I'm sorry I'm not giving you credit- but thank you because I really like it!  I've been having my kids come in, put away their lunchbox and folder, and then find their name and answer a question before they begin their morning work.  This week I asked about a letter in their name.  This was great practice for them to recognize and find their name, and then for us to count how many were in each column.  Plus, we got a little graphing, and more and less work in  already. 

I posted some Pre-Writing Warm Up Activities at PreK and K Sharing this week.

My post also included some of my favorite sensory ideas to use with my children.  This time of year (well, any time of year, actually!) I like to use lots of fine and gross motor activities with the class. 

I made a paper that I send home to parents with some ideas that they can use at home to work on developing fine motor skills.  Lots of times parents want to help, but aren't sure what activities would be best.  Click HERE if you would like a copy. I am sending a copy of this paper home on our Curriculum Night, and then again during our 10 Week Conferences with parents of children who may need some extra fine motor strengthening.

                             

Here are a couple Friday Favorites:
My friend Lorri, who teaches first grade across the hall from me, had this adorable idea for "preserving" summer memories, for her students' first writing activity back to school.

And finally, you know how I made this anchor chart about drawing a person?

Well, we actually had a lesson and everything- a very detailed lesson. I modeled it. I saw lots of nodding.  So, when the kids sat down to draw a picture of themselves for our Class Friends book in the nice little box I had for them, above their picture, this little friend said...

 "Let's just start with addin' my deer horns!"

I'm pretty sure that's not what we started with when I did my drawing lesson...

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!  Thanks for stopping by!