Five for Friday March 24

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

We worked on  these number bonds with gold on St. Patrick's Day!  This worksheet is from The Printable Princess. It was in a packet a while ago- but I think the packet has changed and I can't find it there now.   

Anyway- we worked on number bonds using our 'real' gold.  I spray paint lots of rocks with gold spray paint, and have counters forever.  The leprechauns also left everyone a piece of the 'real' gold, too.  

The leprechauns wrote on our table with dry erase markers, and that gave me a great  idea- so... I made number bonds for the children right on the table!  They loved it.  It came right off with cleaner after we were done.  

Making the number bonds right on the table was a great way for the children to use manipulatives and really visualize the number bonds.  I'm thinking jelly beans are next... Maybe I'll make a bunny face for the big part of the number bond, and then each ear will be the other parts.  

We needed some sunshine.  Upstate NY is pretty dreary all winter long...  These were so easy to make. I did it with the kids one at a time.  I drew the arch on the bottom.  Each child painted that first, then I painted each child's hand so she could stamp it on for the sun rays.

I wrote "You are my SUNSHINE!" on a paper for them to copy.  They did a really great job.

I hung these over the children's lockers, and we made a poster to go over the top.  I always love this saying.  Snow White is so wise... 

I wrote a few weeks ago about my Chit-Chat topics. What I've been loving lately is my new line up activity.  Usually I have the children chit chat for the few minutes after writing, after they wash up, before lunch.  With a couple minutes left, I'll get everyone's attention and have them ask their partner a 'Line Up Question.'  Each child must tell me what his/her partner's answer was before lining up.   These are simple questions like, "What's your partner's favorite color? favorite animal?  favorite ice cream flavor?  favorite toy..."

The first time I did this, I got a few, "I forgot," or "I don't know."  Well- that doesn't get you a spot in line!   I said, "Well, you better ask again and remember so you can line up!" Then I moved on to the next person.  Next time- every single one of them remembered!

It's important to be a good listener,  to really listen to friends and pay attention.  I want them to know that now. It matters.  I feel like with the world moving faster and faster, it's more important than ever to teach children to truly listen to each other. 



If you would like a copy of my topics that I use, just click the picture below.  I print out a copy and leave it on my desk.  Then, I check off the one that we use.  I also use this as a writing prompt sometimes for morning work. 

It's my FAVORITE time of year... I got to teach my kids The Water Cycle song.   Dr. Jean and I made a packet all about The Water Cycle, Water, and Clouds!  I posted about it HERE.

We've added all of our FAVORITE activities in the packet.

In my post, I share some of the fun things I love to do when I teach the water cycle that fit into math and ELA. 

Here is the Prezi that is included with the packet. This Prezi includes The Water Cycle song by Steve Songs.  We also love singing  Dr. Jean's The Water Cycle song, (the download is included in the packet)- and WOW- do my kids know all about the water cycle!

Here is my class singing the song after only one week! I think it is impossible to NOT be happy after we do this song.  

             

I shared this post before, but I just reread it and loved it all over again.  I thought I'd  share it with you again in case  you didn't see it. I love Marc and Angel. They just write practical things that makes sense- and make you go, "YEAH, that's so right."

30 Things to Stop Doing to Yourself by Marc and Angel

The post has a great write up about each thing, but here were some of my favorites, with different pictures I put with each one.

There were SO many that I really, really loved.  Which ones are your favorites?

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend!

Five for Friday March 3rd

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

This week, I introduced Bossy "e" or Magic "e."  A few weeks ago, we talked about Bossy "r", so the children were ready for another bossy letter.  Some of my kids are really ready to take off with Bossy "e," (and not just because they enjoy being bossy themselves sometimes...) because they are noticing the silent e at the end of words in their books.

 

We LOVE these videos!

Susanna from Whimsy Workshop does a DARLING Bossy E idea that I loved from the minute I saw it.  Isn't it the cutest thing?

Mrs. Pollard, from Tales of a Teacherista, has a wonderful, wonderful  Silent E Word Activity FREE at her TPT store that I use and LOVE!

I made this anchor chart for the children-more plain and ugly much less cute and fancy than Susanna's, but with her idea. I started with two of the same words and no "e."  Then, during morning rug time when I introduced it, a child came up, glued on the Bossy "e," and said, "SAY  YOUR  NAME!" to the vowel before it.

  

During small group center time, we reviewed our lesson. We read both words across the paper and saw that without an "e" they were the same word.  Then, the children added a Bossy "e" to the left side list.



We highlighted the vowel, who would now say its own name, and then read the new words.  This really helped the children get the idea of what that "e" actually does.

Traci  has this great free worksheet at her blog.  You can stop over to her blog and get a copy!

Thank you, Traci! 



We reviewed the words from Mrs. Pollard's activity.  I laminated the papers, and just stuck the "e" on with putty.

We review some words each morning during our rug time, just to remember the short vowel sound without the "e" and then the long vowel sound with the magic "e." The children are doing really well.  Sometimes I have the girls do a word, then the boys; sometimes I have one child do a word; sometimes we all do it together.    JUST when I  thought we sort of "got it," (on the 3rd day of reviewing this) I said, "m-a-d... Here is my clue for that word," and I made a mad face.  The kids thought that was funny- and then I put the magic "e" at the end waiting for them to say "made" and... they said, "HAPPY!"  I just sort of stood there...  So... we keep practicing!

Whenever we have a few minutes between reading and writing, or after snack when I want to clean up the tables and get set up for centers, I have the children Chit-Chat with a friend on the rug (or in a group of 3 if needed). The children sit knee to knee with a friend and talk about our topic for the day.  Then, the other friend asks a question about what was said.  We practiced, and I modeled it with some of the kids. They know that they will be chit-chatting with different people each day- or nobody at all if they complain...so... They actually are really great about just sitting down with someone who is near them on the rug. 

Every day, we have a different Chit-Chat topic, and the kids love it! Some days they come into the room in the morning before school even starts and ask what we are chit-chatting about today. I guess they like to prepare.
An extension of this activity is when I ask one partner a question about what the other said.  For example, after we chit chat about favorite ice cream flavors, I might ask one partner to tell me what the other partner's favorite flavor was, to see if they were paying attention.  That keeps them on their toes and helps them realize that listening to friends is important.


If you would like a copy of my topics that I use, just click the picture below.  I print out a copy and leave it on my desk.  Then, I check off the one that we use.  I also use this as a writing prompt sometimes for morning work. 

  

My kids have had so much fun reading sight word sentences. I call them FLASH sentences because they read them in a flash.  Sometimes during reading group, if we have a few minutes after a story, I will go around the table having each child read a sentence.  If they get it right, they get to keep it in their pile. 

If you would like a copy of these sentences, just click on the picture below.  They are SIMPLE.  I just copied them off on cardstock, cut them apart, and we use them all the time.  Sometimes I  pick one out as a sentence that I dictate that they have to write on the back of a morning work paper.

I posted HERE earlier in the week about some ideas I like to use for list writing with my class.  I love to find authentic ways to have the children write, so they see WHY it's important to know how to write neatly and to use as many sounds as they can in tricky words so they can read it and others can, too!

                 

I found this post from Teachmama.com called What Not to Say to Emerging Readers a couple years ago, and I find myself thinking back to it often, so I thought I'd share it in case you haven't seen it. She gives you some good things to think about as you gently guide you students to read more and more. Here is the video of the post.  This would be really great to share with parents, too.

Here is the part that I am was guilty of saying sometimes...

I always felt like I was saying it positively and as encouragement, but I see exactly what she is saying in her article, and I am not going to say it anymore. (I catch myself!)

This is what Amy Mascott (the author) says:

• DON’T SAY: You know this. . .

INSTEAD SAY: What part of the word do you recognize? If you get no response, say, Do you recognize this part (point to the beginning chunk or letter) or this part (point to the ending chunk or letter)?

Three things here:

1. If the kid knew it, she would have read it.

2. We all hate to be reminded that we knew something but forgot it.

3. By picking out two parts of the word, you’re setting her up for success. It all goes back to the choices thing that really helps with kids. Most likely she will recognize either the ‘b’ or ‘-at’ part of ‘bat’ or the ‘th’ or ‘-ick’ parts of ‘thick’.  If she can pick up either part, say, You got it! That does say ‘ick’. Now let’s put the first part, (give it to her and pronounce it) ‘th’ together with ‘ick’: th-ick. Thick!

Then put that new word into the sentence and give her a high-five for getting through it.

It is so good for me to think how I would feel if someone had been working with me on Physics or Chemistry (are you seeing a connection between me and a lack of science understanding?! yep.), and we had just gone over something, and I got to a question and had no idea how to do it.  I would NOT want to hear, "You KNOW this!" 

I remember taking a class where the teacher had our names written with symbols that we had to try to learn and recreate to "write" our names. It was hard! That was such a wonderful lesson to help put me in my little guys' shoes.

Thank you for stopping by.  Have a wonderful weekend!