What Common Core Standards Do They Have Under Their Belt?

The year is coming to a close in my district and I have been busy rolling out our spring units that now reflect the Common Core. Many schools are having end of the year celebrations and parents are visiting classrooms to admire all the work their children have proudly created over the year. Now you are wondering how the year slammed by so fast (or not). The paperwork has gotten out of control and the kids were ready for the summer right after spring break.. right? This is a tough time for teachers and anything that brings your life under control is embraced with enthusiasm. I decided to try out something new. This is not your standard memory book because my students would struggle with all that independent writing and I would have to do all of it directed,during small group instruction. OMG another job. So how is this different?

I took some of the highlights of our CCSS journey this year and created a student book that kindergarteners can complete on their own!  Okay I lied. Many kids will be able to pull that off and then we have a few... Yup read that again to be sure. It is a reflection of the skills they have acquired and can also serve as an assessment tool for specific skills.  You can pick and choose the activities you want them to work on. Does that sound useful? Wait, there is more! In addition, this is an emergent reader that they can share with their families, once you have gone through it together! It has dots under the text for tracking and is somewhat repetitive. I love the idea that they are essentially creating a Common Core journal of their year long understandings and can share this portfolio at home. The prep for this is minimal because I am afraid to contribute to the insanity at this time of year. I've got your back! I am off to work but will put this up in my store later. What traditions do you have for your little learners? Grab a tissue and share!

News Flash: Father's Day is Coming!

I work in an elementary school where I am rolling out the Common Core K-5. This has been a real challenge for me this year but I have been told by my upper grade teachers that older kids are just bigger and they still love cute worksheets and anything that allows them to draw. Who knew? I decided that they needed a "pick-me-up" after the state testing and made them a special newspaper for Mother's Day. This was such a huge hit across the grades that I am bringing in a similar activity for Father's Day. I wish I had taken pictures of their completed work because they were spectacular. I forced my principal to stop working ( he was crazy busy) to look at them and he started reading them. Kids really expressed their feelings and gave you a window into their lives that was so touching. One child wrote that he loved his mom because she kept him safe and another child talked about his mom always telling him to do his best on the hard tests he had to take at school. Another child wrote that her mom loves to spend time with her and they dance together while she gets dinner ready. Students often have lives where they are faced with poverty and poor living conditions but they can always write about their love for their parents. It made me stop and realize that we offer them a safe haven and bring stability to their lives. If you would like this feel free to click here to download. Leave a comment and tell me any great ideas you have for this holiday. Thanks for stopping by.
Happy Mother's Day!

An Interactive Mother's Day Card For Kinders

It is time to take a break from the race to the end of the year and have your students make a special card for their moms. I think this is a keeper because the kids get to make a special cut and paste card, a little strip book goes under the cupcake honoring all the things their mom does for them, and they get to write the word "me" on each one. Quick and easy-peasy. I bet it gets them a hug and a kiss from a happy parent! Mission accomplished. You can grab it right here but please leave a comment and head for the TpT sale.

Planting More Freebies On My Blog

I know when I go on Pinterest or cruise around on other blogs I often see a brace map that is adorable and is presented as an art project that is a cut and paste activity. I love how beautifully these turn out and appreciate all the skills that go into creating them. However, (deep breath) now that we are on the Common Core train our thinking has shifted a bit and our students are being asked to think like  "scientists" and to draw the parts of a plant themselves (visual imprinting) which is a way for a young students to record their understandings and build knowledge. This can be done in large or small group settings and allows children to label each part with an appropriate word, building academic vocabulary. When doing this you want to encourage children to make the parts to match the "whole" plant on the left side. I talking about putting the pieces of a puzzle together to make the entire picture. Are you on board for this?

Cards can be used to guide student thinking and can help them learn to label these parts more easily. I love making these and using them in my Morning Message, in a pocket chart, on a word wall, or as part of a literacy station. I will post these later as a freebie in my TpT store. Leave a comment if you would like these plant materials for your classroom.  Click on any picture to take you to my freebies. Leave a comment if you can and become a follower!

Please Label Your Parts... A Lima Bean Pictorial and Cut and Paste Freebie!

As you move along during your Plant Unit your beans will begin to grow and once they start sprouting leaves I like to create a pictorial (GLAD strategy ) in front of my students so we can talk about the parts of the plant and what it needs to grow.Use large chart paper for this. Remember to just outline your picture in light pencil so you can draw it with marker or crayons while the students are watching and you are talking and confirming their knowledge of  each part. Add the details of the picture by asking questions such as, "What does our bean need so it will grow?" and you can even invite students up to add rain, sun, soil, etc. This will keep them more engaged as you are working on the pictorial. Some teachers allow students to color the pictorial later but often I just fill in the color with scrapbooking chalk which fills it with color quickly and effectively. I love the soft look of this. Be sure to label the parts to build academic vocabulary and review this daily, adding on as you see fit.
At this time I often hand out white boards and markers and do a guided drawing of this with the children. Sometimes I will do it the following day as a review.
The follow up to this is a cut and paste that the children do independently after we have gone over the parts of the lima bean plant numerous times. They have to follow the key on the right to color it properly and this is  ideal for reviewing color words. Have you "bean" growing lima beans in your room? I hope so! Would you like this little cut and paste? Click here but please remember to leave a comment and share your planting ideas. Thanks so much.

Are You Full of Beans In Kindergarten? Grab this freebie!

Now that California teachers are implementing the Common Core our perspective has shifted and we are making certain strategies a part of our daily teaching. Many kindergarten teachers love to grow lima beans in baggies or in soil but now we want our students to record their observations (through drawings, labels, and writing) and to document this on a daily basis. This is a flip book that is generic since the students write in the day on the front. In my classroom I might start them off with guided drawing and label the parts as a group but this would be easy to differentiate depending on the skills of your children. Some teachers choose to plant their bean in soil (just one) and the entire class observes the same plant. You have lots of choices with this but I thought this little log would be useful for you. It is 2 pages and you run it back to back so students know where to put their drawing each day.

I worked with a team of wonderful,primary teachers on a unit of study for our district that reflects the CCSS and created this log for our district teachers to use. I hope they find it useful. Click on the picture to grab this item for your classroom. Be sure to check out the Greenhouse freebie posted too! I love comments if you can spare the time. Have a great Sunday friends.

Fran

"Bean There, Done That" Freebie You Will Love

Be sure to tape your baggie to the back of the greenhouse. It fits perfectly in the window opening that you have cut out. 

This was so much fun to do with our kindergarten students and they are having a blast watching these grow in their personal greenhouse. They look precious hanging up in the windows at our school. Be sure to soak your beans overnight to get fast germination and great results. Remember that 5 year olds have no patience to wait. We even looked at the baby inside of a bean after soaking it overnight and the children were fascinated with this science activity. I promise that you cannot kill these if you follow these directions and they get plenty of sun. Everyone has a green thumb in kindergarten! Now go try this. You can grab my little house here but please leave a comment and become a follower. What do you think of this?

What's Blooming In My Store?

I finally finished this packet but it was so huge that I split it up into two parts. Seriously. This has every trick in the book that I have learned to motivate students to work on blending cvc words.The theme is Spring even if it is still snowing where you live! April is here and this is when  I would go into panic mode over what my students couldn't do. Do you get crazy too? I am not interested in first grade teachers storming into my room wondering what I did all year. Right? You can relate to this. So I work on this skill with nutty intensity. It shows up all over the room, in the morning message, and even on the yard when the kids are "trying" to have some recess fun. I have been known to drag out sidewalk chalk to spell out words on the blacktop but the custodian ends up hating me! Oh well. A teacher has to do what it takes. 
These packets introduce just 25 CVC words and students practice using them through games, activities, and literacy stations. The second packet allows students to practice these words through cutting and pasting 
( hello- some have not mastered this even in April) and I even sneak in some letter writing practice known as handwriting. Can you imagine? Check these out if you are a desperate kindergarten teacher, an intervention teacher (aren't we all) or a Special Education teacher. It might help your students learn these important CCSS Foundational Skills and your principal will realize that you are truly  a super hero.
Click on each flower to plant those seeds of knowledge

 

A Deal Breaker In Kindergarten: My Newest Packet

I was recently in a meeting with a district administrator and she asked me what I considered to be crucial skills  for students to have before moving on to first grade. For once, I paused and gave this some careful thought since I think all of us are faced with this issue as we approach the end of the year. First, I look at a child's social and emotional development and that truly guides my thinking. With that being said, I really am concerned if a child cannot blend sounds to make words. This is a real deal breaker in my head because students who struggle with this skill often become overwhelmed the following year. Our first grade program moves at a crazy speed and these kiddos are not ready for the pace or the demands being placed on them. Administrators fight us on this but kindergarten teachers get to know their students quite well and often have well thought out reasons for wanting a student to spend another year in their classroom. Retention has become a dirty word! Right? The child who only recognizes a few letters or only knows a few sounds will obviously have a difficult time but not being able to decode simple cvc words makes reading laborious and difficult. It makes building fluency almost impossible. What do you think?

At this time of year I use every trick in the book to teach my students how to blend sounds to make words and decode simple cvc words. This packet is filled with activities that I have had great success with. It is filled with books that students make, cut and paste work, cvc word searches, literacy stations that are taught in a small group setting, games and much more. I only work on these skills with 25 words, five from each vowel group (a, e, i, o, and u). This builds student confidence and has been highly effective in my classroom.

I am almost finished. My husband is my official editor but he is out playing softball so keep your eye on this and I will let you know when it is in my store. I hope this makes a difference for you. The theme is Growing Flowers. Let the games begin!

What Is Blooming In My Store For Springtime?

Spring is in full bloom in Southern California and I have some packets that might help you as you head for the end of the year. This is now the home stretch and it might help to have some Common Core work for your kids to use that reflect the skills they should be acquiring as the year closes. These are some of my favorites that might work for you.
1. Farm Fresh Fun (Math and Literacy Stations with a great emergent reader for position words)
2. What Is On A Farm?
3. Eat Your Fruits and Veggies (This has an emergent reader done in the form of riddles)
4. What Can I Do At The Beach? ( Students write sight words in this reader and sponge paint the sky) This also has a teacher version. I think this is adorable for the end of the year!
If you think these might make your life easier, click on each title to fly over to my TpT store. Happy Spring!
Fran