Ghostmallows Graph, Count, & Add

Yesterday was a teacher workday filled with a variety of activities: conferencing, waffle making, putting skills into the gradebook for the team, lesson planning, creating buddy activities with my 3rd grade buddy, remembering a previous co-worker with a plaque/tree presentation, helping with paperwork for the new running club, and organizing my clutter. It was a great day! So tonight I finished grading some paperwork and created a Ghostmallows sheet that my kinders will do with their big buddies. We'll have an intern read the story, We're Going on a Ghost Hunt, and have our students sort and graph their ghostmallows. Afterwards they will add different combinations of their ghostmallows. Click below to get it if you want it!

 

 

 

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Stretchy Snake

What do you do during CAFE's mini lessons? The last two weeks, I focused on Stretchy Snake with my kinderkids. There are so many cute freebies on TPT about Reading Strategy buddies. However, I am using what I had found originally before I discovered TPT. I still use Christina Bainbridge's mini posters (free) and now I have included Deanna Jump's Guided Reading activities ($) to help with introducing and practicing reading strategies using little stuffed animals. I only introduce one at a time. So far, we have Eagle Eyes, Lips the Fish, Stretch Snake, and Chunky Monkey. I post my CAFE menu on my cabinets.

 

I created my own strategy cards. April Larremore has a great freebie that inspired me to make my own. 

I found the colorful CAFE headers on TPT for free from Rachelle Rosenblit.

 

 

Two weeks ago, with our Reading Street series big book, Flowers, I took out some bean cards made from Growing Kinder's Math & Literacy for Little Sprouts. I dispersed the 12 green bean cards around the room and had my students work in pairs. They folded their papers into quarters to make 4 boxes. They worked together to use "Stretchy Snake" to sound out CVC words. Then they numbered the box to match the bean's number, wrote the word, and drew a picture. They looked like they were having a good time, and they did such a great job working together!

 

 

While they were working, some of my kinders finished quickly, so I had them do 4 more on the back. I thought to myself about doing this activity again, but differentiating it for my students. So this past week I created another version using fall leaves. Some of my kinders needed more challenging words, so I moved to using some blends and sh- words. Many need practice with CVC words, so I had those out as well. We colored a yellow or red dot on top of our papers to help us remember which words we were going to try and read during this mini-lesson.

 

 

 I made a fall packet of words that can be used for kindergarten or first graders. There are short vowels, long vowels, and blends. I also included black and white patterns so you can print on colored cardstock and write your own words on them. You can find this 70 page packet at my TPT store for $2. Click below to see more about the packet there.

 

 

 

 





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Currently October and a Reading to Self Freebie

 



Hubby and I went out this morning to the farmer's market and picked out some yummies for our dinner. I have completed my Reading Endorsement assignments for the week, and getting involved with a little blogging. In the background, it's just the humming of the dryer, reminding me I have more laundry to do!

 

I am so proud of my little kinders when they are reading to self. They use their book boxes (IKEA cardboard magazine holders) to store their reading materials. Inside, I have them keep their Reading Street Buddy Reader, a couple of Reading Street easy readers, a couple leveled readers, and their own books made. They also have a ziplock bag that holds their reading tools: "Keep Your Eye on the Words" pointers and bookmarks for sharing with partners. This was the first year that I incorporated Kim Adsit's Blasting Off with Reader's Workshop. I am loving the anchor charts and ideas for mini lessons! She even has mini anchor charts that I have used for my students to glue into their reading journals for reference.

 

 

 

 

This week will be a sad, yet happy week. It will be my intern's last week with us. We are going on a field trip to the zoo on her last day! Should be fun!

 

I am in need of a teacher work day to catch up on paperwork! Luckily we will have one on an upcoming Monday. I was going to rearrange my classroom furniture then, but yesterday morning, I was inspired. So glad I did. Because of the smaller space, I tried 3 tables of 6 kids. My kinderkids are flexible and great at moving themselves around for different projects requiring space. So I squeezed another table in, and I am loving how much table space they have for themselves. I just don't have a table to catch my clutter!

 

I'm leaving you with a little treat. My reading bookmarks needed some revamping, as my previous ones in the above photo were made over 14 years ago!! I pass them out to my students when I want them to share about something particular about their reading. For example, we have used character and setting bookmarks. While reading a book, they find a picture of the character or setting in the book. When it's time to share, they can turn right to the page and share the character or setting. It's a great way for me to also observe who knows characters and settings.

 

Click picture to get FREEBIE.

 

 

 



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