Journeys!

Our school system adopted a new reading series - Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Journeys! I was so excited when my assistant principal presented me with my copies. 

I am making literacy units for each of the lessons and have finished the first one. I just can not get out of "school mode." It takes me a few weeks.

Here is the link.

These literacy units may look similar to the literacy units I have written for the Reading Street series, but I did have to change the skills for the literacy centers and the story maps for the books.

I will be making these this summer but I do not plan to blog about them, so if you are interested in these units, please follow me at TpT to know when they are listed.

Frog Day

Many years ago, when I was in college, my mom taught third grade and she had a Watermelon Day. The students wrote about watermelons, did art projects about them, measured watermelons, and had a watermelon seed spitting contest. I remember the excitement at our house as she prepared for that day.

This school year we had an Apple Day and a Pumpkin Day. On Friday, our Field Day was postponed due to rain and I had to quickly create some lessons for the next day. I decided to do a "theme day" and the students would participate in activities that involve learning about frogs. We read Frog and Toad stories, made frog puppets, and discussed the life cycle of frogs.

In order for it to truly be a theme day I needed a math lesson that included the song "Five Green and Speckled Frogs".  So the students used 5 green linking cubes and pretended the cubes were frogs on a log and removed the cubes from the log as we sang the song, We used one green cube to jump up and down the numberline to solve problems. I needed a math page and could not find one so I made this page before school. The students drew frogs on and off the log, added scenery and then completed the word problem below. Here is the link to the Frog Math page (free).

Chair Baskets

I received an email requesting more information about my chair baskets. I took some photographs to help explain how they are attached (the chairs are upside down on a table). I purchased the baskets at the Dollar Tree and I tried many ways to attach them including magnets, velcro and then eventually tying them with satin ribbon (less stretchy). The next year, mom suggested that my dad use a drill to make holes in the bottom and then attach them with plastic zip ties. These photos show how to attach them. Check the Classroom Photos above to see what they look like at the tables. The students keep their school supply boxes, dry erase boards and writing journals in them.

Here is a photo of my mom's baskets. She ordered her baskets from Really Good Stuff. They have slits so you would not need to drill holes in them.

We are in our last full week of school and we will be reading the book Animal Homes by Angela Wilkes. These are the writing activities we will do with this book.

Free Memory Book

I enjoy spending the last day of school reminiscing and celebrating the school year by creating a memory book. I have finished making mine and here is the link if you would like a copy! 

Kindergarten Memory Book

TpT Sale

I will be participating in the TpT Sale. It will be a great time to purchase items you would like to make and use next year!

I completed the last literacy unit that I use with Kindergarten Reading Street series. It has been so much fun writing these units. I have heard from teachers all over the country that are using them and I hope it made your planning a little easier and your students smarter! 

This last literacy unit can be used when you read the book Animal Homes by Angela Wilkes.

There are materials to use for whole group reading, student written response pages, and many literacy centers.

Here is the link for the literacy unit.

Reading

This week we are reading Building Beavers and the students have many opportunities to write about what they have learned about beavers!

Next week we are reading The Night Worker and writing about day and night activities.

I have finished these Literacy Units and Math Centers and they are at TpT.

The Day and Night Literacy Unit and Math Centers are perfect to use with the book The Night Worker.

Here is the link for the Day and Night Literacy Unit.

Here is the link for the Day and Night Math Centers.

These next few weeks are so busy with Art in the Schools Night, our Kindergarten Music Program and Field Day. I have a great math lesson and freebie to post soon!

Beavers

This week we are reading the book Building Beavers by Kathleen Martin James. We will be using this unit to study beavers and create tree maps and other graphic organizers about them. The literacy unit has everything you need to teach this book with all of your students during your read aloud or whole group time. There are also many literacy centers with recording sheets that provide for differentiation.

The Mathematics Centers packet contains 20+ centers with cute graphics of beavers. 

Here is the link to TpT for the Beavers Literacy Unit.

Here is the link to TpT for the Beavers Math Centers.

I will be working on a Space Literacy Unit for The Night Worker and a Jobs Literacy Unit for The House that Tony Built.

This Week and Next Week

It is hard to believe that we have 5 full weeks of school left (and a couple of days). We also have more stories in our reading basal than weeks, so some weeks I am planning to do two books instead of one.

This week we read On the Move by Donna Latham and here are some of the activities we did:

We read many informational texts and wrote about Transportation.

This week we are reading This is the Way We Go to School and Homes Around the World.

I hope to begin working on a Space Unit for Night Worker (and finish the Beavers Math Centers)!

Mathematics Centers

About 17 years ago, I spent one week during the summer receiving Math Their Way training. At the time I was teaching first grade and I used the manipulatives and some of the activities, but not as much as I am now with my kindergarteners. We are lucky to have the Investigations Math Kit to use as a resource and that is what I use to plan my whole group lessons, but for my math centers I have updated the recording sheets.

I started using these centers last week:

Linking Cubes Center

Beans Center (they are plastic)

2-Sided Counters Center

Pattern Blocks Center

Counting Jars Center (color code the lids and place counters in them)

Dice Center

 I have a few more I plan to switch out sometime in the next few weeks. The students have enjoyed playing these "games" and recording the "combinations." They are becoming more fluent everyday!

Farm Unit

I plan to use this unit the week we read the book Old MacDonald Had a Woodshop by Ashley Wolff.  I included picture cards for farm animals and tools, writing activities, graphic organizers and chart pieces, and many centers.

Click here for the Literacy Unit.

Click here for the Mathematics Centers.

I will try to get the Beavers Literacy and Math done tomorrow!

Homes Around the World

This literacy unit is about Homes Around the World and includes picture cards, graphic organizers, chart pieces, student writing papers, and many literacy centers with recording sheets. I am planning to use this unit the week we read Homes Around the World by Judy Nayer. 

Click here for the Literacy Unit.

Click here for the Math Centers.

I hope to finish the Farm Literacy Unit and Beaver Literacy Unit tomorrow!

Reading Stories

Here are some of the writing activities we did for these stories the past few weeks:

Max Takes the Train

Mayday, Mayday!

The Little Engine that Could

Maps and Globes

The Maps and Globes Literacy Unit would be perfect to use when you read the book This is the Way We Go to School by Edith Baer. I included picture cards, student writing pages, a shared reading books, and literacy centers. 

 Click here for the Literacy Unit.

Click here for the Mathematics Centers.

Up next: Homes Around the World!

Transportation Units

I am planning to use a transportation theme with the book On the Move! by Donna Latham. The literacy unit has many picture cards to help with discussions, graphic organizers, student writing papers and literacy centers.

Click here for the Transportation Literacy Unit. 

Click here for the Transportation Mathematics Centers.

I am working on the next unit. It will be about Schools Around the World and Countries.

My goal is to complete the last unit (unit 6) this month!

Little Engine Units

These units would be perfect to use with the book The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper. I included activities that go along with the book and activities about landforms. There are picture cards, graphic organizers, student writing pages, shared reading books, and many literacy centers with recording sheets.

Click here for the Literacy Unit.

Click here for the Math Centers.

 

Next up:Transportation

Abuela

We read the book Abuela this week.

Mom made this chart and used it on the document camera.

We did some additional writing about grandmothers and families this week.

I am working on the Literacy and Math Units for The Little Engine that Could! I hope to have them completed this weekend.

Antarctica

Antarctica Activities!

 Mom's chart

 Mom's class compared our city to Antarctica

One of the daily morning surveys

My TpT store is on sale through March 4th. 

I am working on the next Literacy Unit about Trains and Landforms!