Randomness and a Freebie

I have been racking my brain since Sunday to try to come up with a real topic for blogging on and I've come up with nothing. Nada. So here I am with a random hodge podge of stuff.
I have about a month before school starts back and really sooner than that I need to head to my classroom. I don't even know if I can get in my room yet. Usually I head back into the classroom in the month of July. I'm a weirdo. I like working in my room before school starts because there is no pressure. I can work on projects and if I feel like leaving I can. It is time for me to start thinking about what I want to do in my classroom and the next school year.
I'm planning on using bright colors in my classroom. I created a decor set all in rainbow colors to use this year. You can check it out on TPT. It is my first editable item. It was a lot of fun to make and I can't wait to get all ready for my room.

Here's the link on TPT

I realized while laying in bed the other night that I still needed name tags and tags for cubbies. I usually use a placemat for the name tags that has letters, numbers, colors, and such on it. But I won't use those until the second six weeks. (You can find a freebie of that on my facebook page under fan freebies tab.) So I made a freebie to share with you. 

Click here to go to the freebie. 

Mondays I keep my almost 3 year old niece. We have a blast together and I get to "teach" her. Yesterday we played Hi Ho Cherrio.

I don't think I had played this game since I was a kid. I was so impressed that my niece was able to play the game. I had to interpret the spinner some for her but she was able to count the fruit off her tree or out of her basket. Of course she also had fun just taking all the fruit and putting in her shell from the beach. But it got me thinking. This game would be perfect for beginning of the year math workstations. It practices counting, one to one correspondence and just playing a game. I'm definitely going to be finding this game for my classroom. 

We also had a lot of fun with pipe cleaners and beads. We made bracelets but again there was a lot of learning to be had. There was counting, sorting and then fine motor skills. It reminded me of this pin that I found on pinterest. 

I'm definitely going to be setting this one up for the first rotations. Looks pretty simple to get going and good for the kids to practice counting and some fine motor skills.

So those are my random thoughts for today. I spent part of my day with a family from school whose son has brain cancer. I asked for prayers back in January but I thought I'd share again. Please pray for this 12 year old boy and his family. I am so amazed by the strength his parents have had through this all. 

My favorite reading pins

It's time again for the pinterest party over at Just Reed. I have had so much fun joining her pinterest parties. This week it's all about reading. I love teaching reading and it could be because I love to read so much. Reading is one of my favorite things. That has been the only plus side to my hubby being out of town this week. I've been able to stay up late and read. I've read 3 books since he's been gone.

1. This first pin is from Meaning Matters. It's a retelling bracelet made from a pipe cleaner and beads. I've used this a couple of times. I first saw it on Fran at Kindergarten Crayon's blog for Thanksgiving. But I've also used it for Pete the cat.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400135524/

2. The next one is all about foldables. I use foldables some but not as much as I would like. This is from A Teacher's Treasure. She has a ton of examples on her blog. Check it out here. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400728563/

3. The next pin is one of my own products. It's my Monster Mapping unit on TPT. It has different story maps and graphic organizers. I use it a lot with my kids and their reading journals. I shrink them to a half page and they fit perfectly in their reading journal.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400732782/

4.The next one is from my friend Jennifer from Herding Kats in Kindergarten. She has a great elements of a story pack. I have all the posters printed out and in my binder that I use for reading groups. It's great to use to introduce different story elements. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467399023054/

5.This anchor chart is all about talking about books. I would love to get my kids talking more about books and what they have read. This pin didn't lead anywhere but it's good inspiration.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400625743/

6.This is another anchor chart pin. Only this one is from Fabulous Fourth. I love the idea of having a visual reminder of character traits. It's so hard for kids to think of traits beyond nice.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467399461859/

7. Have you checked out the Teacher Tipster? I saw this idea over at that sight. They are power tower sight words. You write the words on the cups and then make towers with them. (This picture comes from this site http://lewislearninglibrary.blogspot.com/2011/02/managment-monday-tuesday-other.html?showComment=1310685889346) This is on my to do list this summer. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467398902737/

8. My class this past year loved Pete the Cat and so do I. So I'm planning on starting the school year off with some Pete the Cat fun. I found these super cute necklaces over at Coyne's Crazy Fun Classroom.

 http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400776587/

9, Vocabulary is a very important part of reading and I love this idea from My Heart Belongs in First about ways to display vocabulary words from books. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400726874/

10. My last pin is all about finding the right book. I hope that I can help all my kids to find the right book and they won't dislike reading. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400704195/

Those are some of my favorite pins about reading. Be sure to head over to Just Reed and check out the party.

Chapter 3 of The Next Step of Guided Reading

It's time for this week's look at the Freeblicious book study,The Next Step in Guided Reading: Focused Assessments and Targeted Lessons for Helping Every Student Become a Better Reader . I'm loving this book. If you haven't checked it out yet, you should. It is a great resource for guided reading.

I read this chapter while I was on the beach a couple of weeks ago and I was ready to go teach some guided reading right then. I felt like I finally knew what to do with guided reading. I have read several posts about this chapter all ready from the hosts of the chapter and I'm not sure I have anything earth shattering to add. Marsha from A differentiated Kindergarten wrote an incredibly thorough post about the nuts and bolts of the chapter. Jeannie from Kindergarten Lifestyle wrote a great post about tracing letters.
There are two groups of students that Richardson addresses in this chapter. The first is the Pre-A group which is the group that still needs to work on letter knowledge and names. There are four parts for this group that need to be done every time:
1. working with letters and names
2. working with sounds
3. working with books
4. interactive writing
You should work on each of these components each time and work with the group between 15 and 20 minutes. What I really liked about Richardson's outline was that she gave a time frame for each activity.

It breaks down like this:

One of the other points that Richardson makes in this chapter that really stuck with me is the idea that you ask questions about the book that the kids have to answer in complete sentences. This is especially good for the ELL students. I have had a third or more of my class be ELL students the past few years so I'm always looking at ways to help these students. I've also noticed that kids don't seem to have conversation skills anymore. They watch a lot of tv and some of the kids that I work with don't seem to talk a lot to their parents.
The format for the emergent readers is pretty similar but instead of working with letters and names they are working with sight words. Richardson recommends not moving on to a new word until the previous words have been mastered. I typically use the sight words that are in our reading series. In our old series, we had one word a week in kindergarten and then eventually 2 words. In the new series, we start with 1 for the first 10 weeks, then move to 2 words for 5 weeks, then it's 6 for the last 15 weeks. This is a lot more words than I'm use to teaching in one week for kindergarten. I will be using a lot of Richardson's strategies for these learning words. She encourages a lot of writing of the sight words. This is something that I have always found important. I expect my kids to be able to write as well as read the sight words. Here are a couple of her strategies for sight words:

There is tons more information in the book, including some great planning sheets. I know for me the biggest thing is timing. I hope that having this breakdown of time will help me to stay on track with my groups and get what I need to get done. I also love that I have a format to follow. I can plan my groups easier and plan groups for my assistant. I have a half day assistant in kindergarten and a full day assistant in first grade. I'm terrible at planning things for them to do like that. It's hard for me to verbalize what I want done. So I'm hoping using a format like this will help that issue.
Be sure to head over to Marsha's blog and link up with your guided reading thoughts:

It's a facebook freebie hop!

Graphics from Laura Martinez

It's finally time to reveal the surprise. My Kinderland friends and I have arranged a facebook freebie hop for you. 41 of your favorite bloggers have teamed up to bring you some great freebies. Just head over to my facebook page and start hopping. But you have to be a fan to get the freebies.

Phonics Time

I'm linking up with Castles and Crayons for her Schedule Spotlight series. This week it is all about phonics. I missed last week's party all about math but I'm back on track.

I usually have my phonics lesson right after our whole group reading lesson. I start off with going over all the letters and sounds. In the pat we've used the Treasures reading series. It came with cards with letters and pictures on it. I use the Spalding phonics method. Each sound has a motion to go with the sound. I tried to find a video to show you but I couldn't find the motions. One of the other k/1 teachers was trained in this method and she trained me in it. This coming school year we're adopting Journeys. I hope that I will have some sound cards to use for this purpose next year. The first year I taught kindergarten I only  went over the letters that I had formally introduced. But this past year, I introduced all the letters and we went over all the sounds everyday. After reviewing the sounds, we move on to the focus phonics skill of the week.
Monday
We read the book Sing and Read Alphabet books from Frog Street Press. Then we brainstorm as many words as we can that start with the letter. I use the promethean board for this. My higher kids usually take this list and make a little book out of the words that we brainstorm and right sentences with it. The rest of the kids do a practice sheet on the letter. We also do handwriting practice with the letter on the promethean board.
Tuesday
We identify more words that start with the sound we're focusing on for the week. We also practice blending words with the skill. Usually we'll watch some kind of vidoe during this time or do something with Starfall.com.
Wednesday
We do a picture sort on the promethean board. Sometimes it's the focus sound and a different sound. Sometimes it's where the sound is in the word. For example, we might sort initial and final m in words. Usually this day we do a handwriting practice sheet.
Thursday
This day we focus on blending and making words with the focus sound and the other sounds we've learned about. We also do some kind of worksheet with the letter and sound.
Friday
Assess on letter identification and sound. Then do a craft activity related to the letter. For example, for the letter m we made monsters.
That's been our routine in the past. With a new reading series, I'm sure some things will change. By the second semester of Kindergarten, I did my phonics lessons in a small group. I had my class pretty much divided up into 3 groups. My group that really had a handle on the sound of the week would work more on short and long vowels. They also did more writing than the rest of the class. My second group was the kids that needed just the normal phonics lessons like outlined above. My third group were my ELL students. They were their own group mainly because they weren't in my room during the phonics lesson.
After our whole group lesson, the kids go to literacy workstations. Usually these workstations involve practicing the sound and skill we are working on for the week. I also have a promethan board work station that includes handwriting practice and the picture sorts from the weeks before.
So that's what my phonics time looks like. Be sure to head over to Castles and Crayons to check the party out.

Be sure that you like my facebook page. Some friends and I have something fun planned for the fourth.

One more thing. I've started a new blog. It is more a personal blog where I write more about faith and marriage. I would love for you to come over and check it out. I've only got one post but I'm really excited about it.

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Math the Pinteresting Way

Reading and writing were always my favorite subjects in school. Well, that and history. But through teaching, I've really grown to love math. There are so many fun things you can do with math. I also think the way I was taught math is so different than how we are encouraged to teach math now. I didn't have a good understanding of numbers or why we did math the way we did. Now we are encouraged to teach for understanding and not just memorization. I went to a few trainings when I first started teaching that were Marilyn Burns teaching. It was through this that I began to understand things like pi and circumference. So today I'm linking up with Just Reed for her 10 Pin party all about Math.

1. This first pin is from Sunny Days in Second's TPT Store. It's beach bump. My kids absolutely love the game bump. It is a great way to practice addition facts. She has all kinds of themes at her TPT store.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467398090296/

2. With the adoption of the common core standards comes the adoption of the mathematical practice standards. I have been trained on them multiple times but I don't have them displayed in my room. I think it would help immensely to have these displayed. My friend Mary from Mrs. Lirette's Learning Detectives has some free posters in her TPT store. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400607902/

3. This next idea is something I definitely want to make one of my first math work stations this year. It works on number recognition, counting and fine motor. But the picture doesn't like to anything. I think the idea is pretty self explanatory. (If this is your picture, please let me know. I'd love to give credit.)

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467397382055/

4. I love Maria from Kinder-Craze. She has great ideas and great products. This number decomposing activity will be a must for me and my kiddos next year. You can check it all out here at her blog Kinder-Craze. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467397913099/

5.This is another idea from the great Maria at Kinder-Craze. It is all about solid shapes. Check out her post here. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467399541401/

6.I love using picture books to teach. This pin leads to Love 2 Learn 2 day and her great list of books that go with different concepts. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467397425923/

7. I have been working on trying to implement math workstations or tubs in my room for the past 2 years. I am still trying to get it worked out. This pin is a great blog post from my friend Mary again. Check out her post here.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467399702281/

8. Here are some more math workstation ideas. This time from Marsha at Differentiated Kindergarten. If you haven't checked her blog out you need to. She is phenomenal. These are some apple work station ideas.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400655726/

9.I love scoot games and so do my kids. This is one of the scoot games I have free on my blog for adding 3 digit numbers. The kids loved the crazy cat graphics.

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400732703/

10. This last pin is another scoot game I made and use in my classroom. Paw Prints Addition scoot. I use it as a game and as flashcards. There are 3 different versions of the game depending on what strategy you are working on. 

http://pinterest.com/pin/167055467400776602/

There are 10 ideas and pins all about math. I hope you found something you could use. Be sure to head over to Just Reed and check out the rest of the party.

By the way, make sure you are following me on facebook. I have a surprise coming up this week. Here's the link to my page, https://www.facebook.com/MsKerriAndHerKrazyKlass