Five for Friday November 13

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

I'm so glad it's the weekend.  I have so much I should do...

Let's get started with some great free math resources!

Last week, our primary teachers were lucky to have Annie Cartie come share some fantastic FREE math videos for students and families.  Annie explained that while students have been introduced to Common Core Math, many parents have not- and they aren't familiar with many of the terms used and different ways of solving math problems that students are required to know.  Parents are at a disadvantage when they try to help their children with homework, because they aren't sure exactly how they are supposed to do that. WSKG put together a team of people to address that problem. They've put together many wonderful math videos for teachers to share with parents.  Each video is only about 45 seconds to 2 minutes, just the perfect amount of time for families to watch, understand the vocabulary or concept, and feel better prepared to help their children.  

Below is a handout Annie gave us to share with parents so they can access these videos.  

Here are some sample videos from the Youtube Good to Know Playlist, just so you can get an idea about how awesome they are!  They intentionally move quickly because they are for a quick explanation of a concept for parents.  They aren't meant to be used to teach students, although they could be used to help students remember concepts that were previously taught. They sort of remind me of Ted Talks.  I love how they're made.













Feel free to pass this great information on to families of your students if you would like!

Another great site Annie showed us is PBS Learning Media.  You can browse by standard or by grade and subject.

This is a screen shot of part of the search I did for K-Math. It shows just a few of the clips that come up for that search.

Each little video clip is about 1 to 2 minutes, again, intentionally, to highlight the concept and keep the students' interest.  This is a wonderful resource, and it's FREE!  You can sign up at PBS Learning Media so you can make folders of videos you like and save favorites.

Peg + Cat is a wonderful show for primary students that focuses on lots of math concepts.  The kids love it and learn at the same time!  If you haven't met Peg yet- you'll love her.  At the site, you can play games and watch full videos or clips,

Another fun  site that brings movement into your classroom is Kids in Motion.   Here is a sample of some of the videos at the site:

This idea was started by a school district near mine.  The students weren't getting enough PE time to meet the requirements (which I don't think any of the schools probably do because there just isn't enough time in the school week), so the district came up with a way to include a lot more movement into classroom activities.  I know lots of us use Go Noodle and have many fun brain breaks we use. These videos are just another free resource with some fun activities to get your students moving!

Here are a couple samples:

(This one would wipe me out for the day... )

Finally, here is a Thanksgiving favorite.  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. We've been learning the story, and the kids are so good at it now.  We are making our bracelets on Monday. I can't wait.  I send this paper home with the bracelet just in case the children forget what one bead means, and parents can help them remember.  I don't want anyone to be frustrated.  

The children really learn the Thanksgiving story, are able to retell it, AND have a new piece of jewelry to boot- what could be better?!

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 some extra 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).

This is a wonderful book that is very age appropriate to teach about the first Thanksgiving.

 I also like this book by Ann McGovern.

I love to use these books by Kate Waters.  The children love to look at the pictures in her books, and I condense the information to make the books work best for my Kindergarteners.  Click on the picture below to go to the Scholastic interview with Kate.  At the bottom of that page is a link to a transcript where she answers questions from students about writing her history books. Here is a link to her homepage where she shares information about all of her books.

This little cartoon actually does a pretty good job explaining the basics of Thanksgiving, and the kids really like it. It is sort of goofy-but...  I'm not five.

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- and are SO proud to do it!  



 

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

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!

Five for Friday November 15th

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

First of all, THIS was the view off our deck on Tuesday morning.  Boo.  When did this happen?!  I am not ready!  I am also not ready for it being dark before five.  

BRRRRRRRRRRRR.

I taught the children what a cornucopia was this week.  I decided to have them try to hear the sounds in the food they saw inside the cornucopia.  I loved hearing all of the words being s-t-r-e-t-c-h-e-d out!  They really tried hard, and I think they are doing well for this time of year. 



Just so you don't think they're all ready to skip a grade... yes- he used some '8's' in 'banana.'  



Tomorrow's words are ...   

They'll love them.

 

A while ago, I was asking for ideas for 'small moment' stories to use for my Narrative Writing Unit.   Kathy Griffin told me about the book  Every Friday, by Dan Yaccarino- and I love it. 

The author's story about why he wrote the book may be my favorite part because it is truly a real life small moment:

I guess the Friday breakfasts came about because like most dads, I sometimes didn't feel like I saw my son enough. Some weeks, our Friday breakfasts were the only time he and I had to talk or just share some time together.

I look back on when we started what became our little tradition. He was in preschool and had to start sharing his mom and dad with a new little sister. I wanted him to have some time when he didn't have to put up with a crying baby who yanked his ears, which he patiently tolerated. He and I soon looked forward to Fridays and the diner's owner, Nick, as well as a variety of regulars, warmly greeting us. To their continued astonishment, he consumed an entire adult-size order of pancakes and a side of bacon, of which I was very proud. I have fond memories of us watching people trudging through the snow and rain as he and I were cozily nestled in a booth, a little oasis from the outside world. As much as we loved Nick’s Diner, I think we both preferred the small journey we took each week to get there. It may have been a mere four blocks, but it was full of adventure: greeting familiar faces, window shopping and monitoring the progress of a building on the corner going up story by story.

My other favorite new book is Ralph Tells a Story.  It is PERFECT for writer's workshop.  Maybe everyone already knows about it, but if you don't, it is a winner!  The kids loved it.  They completely related to  the story, and the illustrations are adorable- with lots of speech bubbles and lots of fun.  Hey, it mentions "underwear" twice, so...  it doesn't get much better when you are five.

Nothing ever happens to Ralph. So every day when it’s time to write stories, Ralph thinks really hard. He stares at his paper. He stares at the ceiling. But he has no stories! With the help of his classmates, Ralph realizes that a great story can be about something very little . . . and that maybe he really does have some stories to tell. Debut author/illustrator Abby Hanlon’s endearing text and charming watercolor and colored pencil illustrations prove that writing can be fun! This story works nicely with Lucy Calkins’ Writer’s Workshop model of teaching.

Look at some of the illustrations:                 

                                                                           (I love this teacher! :)

I also found some other good books that I liked about treasures.  What a Treasure by Jane Hillenbrand and Treasures of the Heart by Alice Ann Miller are very sweet books, about 'treasure' being what is most important to you.  I thought this tied in really well with  choosing writing topics, because even though something may seem like a small thing, if it is important to the writer, it makes a good story.  So- because Amazon totally has my number   knew I was a total sucker for children's books was concerned that I got all the books I needed, they  thought that I may ALSO LIKE The Treasure by Uri Shulevitz.  I didn't want to hurt Amazon's feelings, so that is on its way. It looks really sweet, too. They are good, those Amazon people.

 

We kept practicing our Thanksgiving Story this week to go with our bracelet.  We are making  our bracelets next week, and I really want the children to know the story well.

As we move each bead, we tell part of the story.

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) (The kids love to say "LAND HO!")

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).

We read lots of books and watched some videos.  The books I am proud to say I used are:

The other resources I used were great, too- not as "scholarly", but the kids really learned the story and loved them. I'm proud that they learned from them- how's that?

Don't forget this "documentary" told from Plymouth Rock's viewpoint...

If you would like a copy of the paper I send home with their bracelets, just click on the picture.

It's ok that one boy still says the Pilgrims came over on the Cauliflower, right?  He'll get it... The bead is even white, which adds to the confusion.  Oh gee.

Just because I loved this- and it is so true.  

Have a wonderful weekend!