First, I took a little blogging break, and our family headed to Texas for a while. We visited friends near Houston and stayed in Galveston. We had a wonderful time! Everyone in Texas that we met was nice. VERY nice (except the ferryboat man who yelled at me for feeding birds, but that was my fault, so- I am cutting him a break.). Maybe everyone is just a little warmer and more comfortable in Texas, instead of freeeeezing all the time here in NY. Maybe. I am freezing now. Can you tell? It is 2 degrees- without the wind chill (which is supposed to bring it to -25 by the way)- but don't worry- it is supposed to get all the way to 6. This picture was our back deck yesterday afternoon. MAYBE we should have taken off those cushions. Oh dear...
On the plane, I was thinking of all sorts of blog post ideas, but didn't really think about school- which was a great brain break.
I wrote a post for Pre-K and K Sharing that I will post on Monday (Jan.6th) ALL about SNOW. ALL ABOUT SNOW. I should have named it "Everything You Wanted to Know About Snow, But Were Afraid to Ask." I found snow books, activities, classroom games, online games, food ideas, videos, Science lessons, and lots of TPT freebies! I got going like I was writing a thesis on snow, for heaven's sakes! So if you are looking for snow ideas, stop over Monday for that post!
Here are two quickie games that I like to play with the kids- simple and fun. I am thinking I may need to play these on Monday when we get back for two reasons. First- because we just got over a foot of snow and are supposed to get more on Monday. Second- I am wondering if anybody remembers any sight words after break...
This first game is a Snow Day Sight Word game that I just call SNOWSTORM! Everyone has a snowflake on a headband. I write a different sight word on each snowflake. (You could use math facts, ten frames, letters, numbers- anything!) Here are two different versions of the headbands.
Each child also has a clipboard with a recording sheet. I wrote before that since I don't have enough clipboards for everyone, I just put a big clip on the end of these old dry erase boards that I have, and they work great. If you want to get fancy, you can get some magic snowflake pencils at the Dollar Store.
When I say, "SNOWSTORM!" everyone starts walking around looking at each other's headband word and writing that word on their recording sheet. This is a simple and fun way to practice writing sight words. They kids have a ball.
Here is a copy of the recording sheet if you want to play! I always use the 3rd page one, but I made the others just for fun- so the game seems a little different if we play it again. :) Just click on the picture if you would like a copy!
Another fun game is like Mingle-let's face it- it IS Mingle- but I call it Snowballs! Everyone walks around the room and is an individual snowflake. When I say "Snowball group of 4!" the children have to quickly get into a group of four. Then, I say "Snowflakes" again, and the walk around until I call out another "Snowball group of 3!" or whatever. They LOVE this game.
Another discovery on my trip was my new friend Dan Colquhoun songs. I listened to probably all of them on Youtube and loved them. The kids are going to love them, too. Here's Rocking Our Way to 100!
He has lots of fun Letter Songs, too! Check him out on Youtube here or at his Facebook page!
I added two of Dan's counting songs to my Math Counting and Cardinality Prezi, now, so they are on there, too. I am going to add more later.
My Kindergarten Common Core Math Prezi Bundle includes 4 separate Prezis: Counting and Cardinality/Base 10; Measurement and Data; Geometry; Operations and Algebraic Thinking. I found the best interactive activities, links, anchor charts, and videos to teach and/or reinforce each of the 22 Common Core Standards for Kindergarten Math. Each Standard is separated so that you can zoom in on the one you are working on and have all of the links right at your fingertips, ready to use for whole group instruction, small groups, RTI, math centers, or even for the extra few minutes you may have throughout the day. You could also send the link home to parents so they could practice a certain skill at home with their child. Go try them out if you want to!
One thing that I kept waiting to do was to get some Happy New Year decorations on sale after Christmas to use as my Welcome Back to School theme next year. Well, we left for vacation on Christmas, so I obviously did NOT shop. THEN we were snowed in. So today I tried, with no luck. The Dollar Store had exactly one Happy New Year mylar balloon left- which I'm thinking would not last until next September. Luckily, on my way home, I remembered that there is this "new" thing called online shopping... SO I got right onto Oriental Trading and ordered some fabulous things.
I have 99 Likes on my Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together Facebook page. I would LOVE 100! :) That's my number 5! :) That's it. Just begging.
Have a fabulous, wonderful weekend! We are supposed to get another snowstorm on Monday. Is it wrong that I am secretly thinking of a snow day after we have had this nice break? The problem will come when we have to make up days at the end of the year, and it feels like June is 45 days long!
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