Feature Friday 12/11: Big Ideas for Little Hands

Hey guys! Julie here from Big Ideas for Little Hands. We love using technology in our classroom and I am always looking for fun new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. 

It's been pretty easy to incorporate technology into Math and Reading with fun apps and online games. The struggle was how do I get technology into my writing time. The answer was this amazing app that I found, ChatterPix Kid.

We have been practicing writing stories during Writer's Workshop. Once the kids were done with their stories, I had them draw a picture of the main "character" of their story. These stories were information stories so they drew a picture of what they were inform the readers about. 

Once they drew their picture, I quickly snapped a picture of their drawing using the app. Then, on the app, you draw a small line where the mouth is. This will allow the picture "to talk." 

Once you have a mouth, the app will count down and the students will record their stories when it says "Go." Then you hit save and you are done. This app makes it so easy to create a talking picture. Once I showed my kids how to use it, they were able to do it on their own without my help! Perfect!

Come take a look at a few of our stories my kids created!

So simple to incorporate and a great way to motivate students to write. At the end of each week, the students that have finished their stories and created a video have a chance to share their video with the class. Definitely a highlight of the week! Head over to download the free app and let your kids' imagination run wild while they write and create!

~*~Julie~*~

 

Feature Friday Fun: Casey Harlan from Grow and Enjoy!

It's finally Friday! Not only are we all screaming TGIF {or maybe that's just me? :) }, but today's the day we feature one of our amazing Kinder Tribe members!

Today we are featuring Casey Harlan who wrote a fabulous post all about colors. This is an activity that is not only perfect for the beginning of school, but is extremely functional throughout the entire school year. There's nothing better than meaningful classroom decorations! Take it away, Casey! :)
 

Hello fellow Kinder Tribe members! I hope you have had a great start to your school year. My name is Casey and I am a second year kindergarten teacher in Kentucky. I also blog over at Grow and Enjoy. You can find links there to my other social media platforms and my TPT store.

Today I am going to share one of my favorite projects that is perfect for the beginning of the year!

 

I completed this project with my students for the past two years and it has been a huge success. The students love participating in a project that becomes a permanent part of their classroom.

The color wall project concludes a week long emphasis on colors. It is also part of the students' first homework assignment. Students work with their parents throughout the week to collect examples of different colors.

Some favorite things to bring in are magazine clippings, photographs, fabric, and food labels. You can tell from the pictures below that we get a wide variety of items!

The students bring their items in on Friday. We then sort them as a class onto the various posters. I cut the words for the posters out with a Silhouette Cameo.

Not only do the posters look awesome, but this project also teaches me a lot about the students. One student spent time with her grandmother searching through her sewing fabric. One student brought in clippings of all different color cars last year because he loves cars. Another student brought in Iron Man for the color red because that's his favorite super hero.

I love that each of my students have a little piece of themselves hanging up in our room (even if it is one of their socks!) The posters then become a functional part of our classroom known as "The Color Wall". Students use it throughout the year as a reference for spelling. 

Here is how our color wall turned out this year. I would highly recommend this project for all kindergarten teachers! Students practice color recognition, sorting, and immediately feel ownership for the classroom.

Thank you for the Kinder Tribe for hosting me today! If you would like to follow me elsewhere please check out Grow and Enjoy. You can also search for Grow and Enjoy on TPT or Pinterest  or @caseharlan on Instagram.

 

Our Feature Friday Post: Stacey Brednich from Giggles and Glue Sticks

Happy Feature Friday! 

It's the day of the week that we feature one of our amazing Kinder Tribe members who will share some wonderful Kinder Wisdom with us!

Today, we are featuring Stacey Brednich who wrote a fabulous post all about apple activities. Perfect for September, right? She has integrated so many subjects into her apple theme and she has included the perfect FREEBIE at the end just for you! 

Tis the season for.... Apples!!

Hello, I am Stacey from Giggles and Glue Sticks and I am so excited it is September! Time to bring out all of our apple math and literacy centers and have some apple fun! I am going to share with you some of the activities we do in September all centered around apples! 

  I created this pack to have a quick and easy go-to for a review of muliple early literacy skills. For this month the theme is APPLES, of course!!! For each of the 6 pocket activities, there is a little song to go with it. Some days we have time for the songs, some days, we just go down the pockets and it gives me a quick assessment of what to work on more. But the skills covered are (1) letter identification (where is the worm hiding), (2) word counting/sight words, (3) beginning/medial/ending sounds,  (4) syllables, (5) rhyming words, (6) segmenting and blending. It has worked beautifully for a fun little practice and review!

 Another great apple activity is reading about Johnny Appleseed! And we love QR Code listening centers...such a great way for students to listen to a story multiple times to improve comprehension, vocabulary, and reading fluency!

We also do lots of reading and writing fun with apples! We read poetry about the life cycle of an apple, we write and tell stories with our apple cubes, and we practice letter fluency by reading our apple strips! If you do Daily Five in your classroom, this is a great set to implement apple science into those centers.

I really LOVE math for little ones. There are so many fun, engaging, and hands on ways to teach number concepts to young children! And apple themed games are the best! 

This set has so many fun games to practice early math concepts! Great for centers, small groups, guided math groups....

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We LOVE our Roll and Race games! It is one of our favorite go to centers and it practices couting, graphing, more and less!! I had one commenter mention that she used these games for morning work! Brilliant. Such a fun way to start the day!

And last but not least....another favorite....and FREEBIE!! Our number line mysteries are great mental math games that help students practice counting and number order! You can get this freebie or any of the other activities mentioned by clicking on the pictures! 

I hope this has given you some apple inspiration for this new month! Happy September! 

Stacey

Feature Friday - The Learning Studio Bug

Hi Everyone! It's Annie from The Learning Studio Bug! I'm very excited to share with you on this Feature Friday!

I want to share with you a few of the tools I use to reinforce my behavior management system in my classroom.

I have a whole "bear" theme which my kiddos LOVE! I also love the ease of using a clipchart! The children's names can be moved "up" the chart quickly and it creates a great visual to reinforce those good habits and behaviors which we love to see! 

It's so important to ensure that these little kiddos are given every opportunity to receive positive reinforcement when they perform their responsibilities well, follow instructions, being good listeners, stay on task and most importantly when they follow the class rules. I disagree with having behavior charts that can potentially demoralize a child's self esteem and shut down their initiative to perform their very best.  So rather than "dinging" them for poor behavior choices, I committed to reinforcing GOOD behavior choices in my behavior management system. This is what I came up with, created and have used with great success in my classroom.

This system is pretty simple and this is how it works:

During the first week of school when rules and expectations are modeled, I introduce my "How Is Our 'Bear'`Havior?" Clipchart to the class.

Each day they earn the opportunity to move their "Bear" Clip up to the next color on the chart based on their behavior (for example when they make good choices, perform their responsibilities well, follow instructions, being good listeners, stay on task and most importantly when they follow the class rules).

The beginning color on the chart is green. They are called "Climbing Bears". Every student is a "Climbing Bear" and strives to continue "up" the chart as they progress. When they reach the top of the chart, they've earned "The Golden Bear" award for that week. 

At the end of each day, I give each student a token whose clip was moved up. They can earn up to four tokens each week. With their four tokens they can exchange them into "Bear" Bucks. (I couldn't resist throwing in a little monetary exchange to reinforce their money math skills :) If a student hasn't earned a token, their "Bear" Clip remains on that color and can continue to strive to move upwards the next day. At the beginning of each week all the "Bear" Clips begin again at the color green. 

They can then use their "Bear" Bucks to purchase reward coupons or opt to delve into the class treasure chest where specific reward items or coupons are worth from one "Bear" Buck on up. Trading opportunities are provided at the end of each month. They are always SUPER excited to save those "Bear" Bucks and trade them in for such tangible rewards that they themselves have worked hard to earn. It's wonderful to see the look of pride in their expressions when they earn each token or "Bear" Buck and receive their reward coupons or treasure!

*For any cuties whose "Bear" Clip remains on the first green color, I send home a short note to their parents encouraging them to discuss the importance of making good choices at school and to remind them to keep trying. I believe in all they can achieve and remind them that they "Can Do It!"

As with any behavior management system implemented in your classroom, it must be clear to your students and consistent in order for it to be most effective. Classroom management is especially important at the beginning of the school year. It sets the precedent for the rest of the year and the tempo of attitude in your classroom. I've found my "Bear"~Havior system to be very engaging, good habit forming and most of all positively reinforcing for my little cutie~pies' behavior. They feel safe in our classroom environment and know exactly what is expected of them in our daily routine.

      Thank you so much for making me a part of our Kinder Tribe's Feature Friday!!!

My "Bear"~Havior System is available to download and use for your classroom at: