rubber boots and elf shoes: printable

Showing posts with label printable. Show all posts

How many pumpkins tall are you?

Today we measured in pumpkins.

Yup, orange, round things, grow on a vine, used to make jack-o-lanterns.

one of our prized pumpkins from the school garden

What are we learning?

numeral recognition

numeral printing

counting

counting by 5s

counting on

non-standard measurement

(a first step in learning measurement before using standard measurement tools)

First the kidlets measured themselves on the pumpkin measuring chart.

Our very tall principal even got in on the measuring fun!

Each child recorded their pumpkin height.

Click [here] for your free download. It make a great class book.

In the afternoon we measured with pumpkin measuring sticks.

Sometimes I put out a bunch of random objects from the classroom for the kids to measure.

Sometimes they explore the classroom to find things that they are curious to measure.

Usually we find a "big" project that we need to work together to measure. Today I was the big project! Sadly (not really!!) there are no photos to share of that measurement experience!

Click on the graphic for a pumpkin measuring stick free download.

Print, laminate and measure.

Sandi

One of our favourite books is Julia Donaldson's The Gruffalo. All right - it's one of my favourite books - but my enthusiasm is contagious - so the kids love it too.

As well as being a perfect story for reading, watching (the BBCOne production is delightful), and retelling -- it is also a perfect story for learning story elements.

Sandi

One of the Eric Carle books that just has to be read and enjoyed every year is The Very Grouchy Ladybug.

We love the art work, as a teacher I embrace the math concepts, and we enjoy all the animals. But we wonder, why does that ladybug need to be so grouchy!

Sandi

3 clues and a brown paper bag

I finally found a way to do show and tell that I not only could live with, but actually like and enjoyed.

I had banned show and tell from my classroom for a number of years. I could not stand the "bring and brag" that it often turned into. And I could not keep my eyes from glazing over and the kids sitting attentively for another "this is a rock that I found on my driveway this morning" or "this is the toy that I got from McDonalds when I went with Grandma - it is very special to me".

I found other ways for the children to use their oral language skills and practice speaking in front of others.

This year, one winning smile accompanied by some gentle cajoling, and a bit of serendipity, resulted in show and tell that the shower-and-teller, the rest of the kids, and the teacher enjoyed.

Sandi

We are in the middle of planting seeds and growing thing.

And my student teacher, Miss Jane, decides that seeds are not just for planting - they are for measuring.

Sandi

The kids looked so freakin' cute in their elf hats and ears that I just had to take pictures.

And if we take pictures, we might as well use them in a class book.

I wanted to make a book that was worthy of my kids' elfin charm (and use their developing reading and writing skills appropriately.)

Sandi

Every Christmas needs some elf ears.

At least in we do in my kindergarten class.

This year we "elf"ed ourselves - with elf hats.

Sandi

Do we love Pete?

Goodness yes!!

We could not resist starting off our school year with Pete.

He is pretty much the coolest cat in school.

And we are learning from his groovy attitude.

Sandi

It is always a good time for a little rainbow fun.

Sandi

There is so much scope for the imagination with tooth fairies and tooth dudes.

Because they are definitely not all the same.

Yes, there are the traditional ones with delicate wings, wands and flutter-y feet,
but there are also tooth fairies that look like they would be right at home on Halloween night, and tooth fairies that wear leather and drive motorcycles.

images from The Tooth Fairy, What Do Fairies Do With All Those Teeth, Andrew's Loose Tooth

We figure that since there are lots of different kinds of kids, there must be LOTS of different kinds of tooth fairies. And there are lots of different kinds of tooth dudes.

So much scope for the imagination, I just can't resist having a tooth fairy/tooth dude photo shoot.

I bring in my tooth fude - tooth dairy (there really isn't a good way to combine the words dude and fairy), suitcase.

Sandi

Fire Safety Week is next week - but it's always a good week to learn about fire safety.

First I am going to tell you a little story.

A long time ago (like the 70s) I was visiting my grandparents' unheated home in England (they don't seem to believe in central heating in England - at least in the 70s). My bedroom had an old electric fire in it. One morning, I was chilly, and stood in front of the electric fire to warm up. The frill on my jammies got inside the protective cage and caught on fire. I had no clue what to do, so I ran around the room screaming my head off. Luckily my mother was in the next room and stop, drop and rolled me. The end of the story is that I had a deep second, partial third degree burn on the back of my leg and got to check out a number of hospitals around England.

The post script to the story is that I believe that it is really important to teach kids what to do if they, or someone else catch on fire.

Sandi

A couple of weeks ago a friend and I were looking for treasures in the children's section of a bookstore, and we both picked up this gem. (Pete and Mo also found their way into my shopping bag.)

Hands Can

author: Cheryl Willis Hudson

illustrator: John Francis Bourke

publisher: Candlewick
reprinted February 12, 2013

delightful for children 2-5

This inviting offering provides youngsters with an almost sensory experience in which they can experience how their hands help them to explore and interact with their world.

-- School Library Journal

Comparing our choices, my friend told me that she was going to add Hands Can to her beginning of the year focus on hands.

She told me what she does in her classroom. Brilliant. Just like her.

Sandi

Time for a little Public Service Announcement.

Inspired by Grade ONEderful's Poetry Slam

and the amazing, wonderful, blue sky, rarely a cloud weather we are enjoying.

Remember to

slip

slop

slap

seek

and slide

slip on a shirt

slop on some sunscreen

slap on a hat

(with a brim that covers your face, neck and ears)

seek shade

slide on sunglasses

The Aussies have have had it figured out for a while.

Sid the Seagull has a good-on-ya-mate jingle to help us remember to be safe in the sun.

Now the Poetry Slam.

On the increasingly rare occasion that we have a sunscreen June

we read this poem together.

I only had it on chart paper for group reading.

So, I made some individual reading versions.

black and white with pictures

colour with pictures

all words

Lots of white space and simple illustrations, so the kids can focus on the words.

Double spaces between words making it easier to track for beginning readers.

Friendly, easy to read font.

Click on which ever version your heart fancies for a free download.

happy summer!

Sandi

chatper 7: I Thought I Knew How to Teach Reading - but Whoa!

I was really hoping that this chapter would give me the magic ticket to teach reading.

A list of to dos: turn three times clockwise under a silver moon, clap 3 syllable words twice a week, read a Dr Seuss book once a month, use deliciously descriptive language, always keep the printing pencils sharp, sprinkle with fairy dust - and ta da - they read!

Well, yes. And no.

Johnson and Keier definitely have a list of things to do.

But the ta da - how they fit everything together to make meaning from lines on a page - moment for each child is different - and that is where teaching is an art.

expectations

I love what they said about expectations. High expectations. Of myself as a teacher, and of my students' learning. (p. 110)

• Expect that the lowest-achieving students can learn to read and write.

• Support children as they learn how to learn.

• Believe that you are the one who will teach this child to read and write.

If I don't expect it, it is very unlikely to happen.

I need to define my expectation.

I expect that all my students will enjoy looking at books for pleasure and for information. I expect that all my students will look forward to and enjoy story time. I expect that all my students will develop the skills and strategies necessary to become fluent and comprehending readers.

Then it becomes an intention. Teaching with intention is powerful.

Love this book.

names

I loved all the ideas using the kids' names to help them learn to read. On a post that Kimberly wrote about her classroom decor, a reader commented that names are the first gift that a parent gives their child. Their name is usually the first word that a child learns to recognize. Let's use that natural connection to build reader confidence and connection to print.

One of the songs that we sing (phonemic awareness) at the beginning of the year is Willoughby Walloby Woo. It's fun, it uses the kids' names, and teaches rhyming.

I made a class book page to go with the song. The plan is to take a picture of each child lying on their stomach with an-elephant-is-sitting-on-me face. Click on the elephant to download a copy.

no pain

Last week I learned about physical literacy at a kindergarten summer institute. One of the things the instructor kept reiterating was "no pain, no pain". If kids learn to flinch when a ball is coming their way, they will likely never unlearn it.

The same is true for reading.

Johnson and Keier write: Make learning to read easy. (p. 129)

They quote Frank Smith: The main thing we learn when we struggle to learn is that learning is a struggle. (p. 129)

I guess that is when we use our magic fairy dust. The art of teaching.

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Sandi

Pete has his school shoes on and he's heading to school.

This time he's not walking.

No siree.

No strawberries. No blueberries. No puddles.
Not that that would faze him.

This time he has wheels.

Those wheels go round and round.

And it's all good.

Pete drives the school bus; the horn goes toot-toot-toot, the wipers go swish-swish-swish, the engine goes zoom-zoom-zoom, the door goes open-and-shut and the cats shout let's-rock-out.

It's the wheels on the bus with a bit of a Pete twist. And in a Pete-zen sort of way, the journey is more important than the destination. Don't know where that bus is going, it just keeps driving.

Pete's Wheels on the Bus joins other versions of the classic song.

My kindergarten kidlets know and love Raffi's version (who doesn't love Raffi?), the Maryann Kovalski version (bottom left corner - she has illustrated a number of well known songs - always adding a second story through the illustrations). Their favourite is The Seals on the Bus. Making the animal noises is just too much fun!

I will be interested to see how Pete and his wheels stack up to these established favourites.

After we read Pete and some other wheels on the bus books, it will be time for a school bus activity.