SNOW DAY!!

Some how we got a snow day today....and I am taking advantage!  Working on a bunch of new items for my TPT store, cleaning, and running errands and working my second job through out the day for my wonderful, creative mentor and friend, Erin.  Check out her amazing and super cute t-shirts here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/zoeysattic

Oh and of course, trying to finish season 3 of Downton Abbey before March 3rd!

Anyway, I am a little disappointed as well.  We had a big day planned for Dr. Seuss.  My teamates and I created our own 30 minute Dr. Seuss activities to do in our classrooms, and then the 3 classes were going to rotate through all three! Oh well, we will just have to move it to Monday!!  Will post pictures then :)  Have a great weekend!

Counting and Cardinality ideas!

Counting and Cardinality

K.CC1  Count to 100 by ones and by tens.   **Have two different color pointers, one for boys and one for girls. Ex. When you hold a blue one in the air, the boys count, when the pink goes in the air, the girls count from where the boys left off, when both are in the air, they both count.  You can do this by ones and tens.
K.CC2  Count forward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of having to begin at 1). **Write numbers on bottle caps (milk carton caps work best) have them in a bucket.  The students draw one and have to count on from that number.  Or have them find the numbers that come before or after.
K.CC3  Write numbers from 0 to 20. Represent a number of objects with a written numeral 0-20 (with 0 representing a count of no objects). **Have a bag of number cards.  One student picks a number and starts to write in on a dry erase board, the other partner has to guess what it is.  Take turns doing this. **Search and Find Number Fun. Find numbers with a magnifying glass.  You can find this on at my TPT store.
K.CC4a  Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality  When counting objects, say the number names in the standard order, pairing each object with one and only one number name and each number name with one and only one object. **Have several containers, bags, buckets, etc. Put a number card in each of them.  Have the students count out buttons, chips, beads, etc. and put the correct number in each container.
K.CC4b  Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted. **Use a blank ten frame.  Have students roll two dice.  They use counters to cover the ten frame according the the number they roll.  (Make your own dice out of wood blocks, or have them roll again if they get an 11 or 12) Each time they make the ten frame, they count out each counter as they place it on the frame.  After they build the number, they write it on a  white board, and then clear the mat and roll again.  This should be done with a partner.
K.CC4c Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality  Understand that each successive number name refers to a quantity that is one larger. **Create a number line out of string.  Put across front board and have students add numbers to make a number line.  Fold index cards in half to make a tent, and hang over the string.
K.CC5  Count to answer "how many?" questions about as many as 20 things arranged in a line, a rectangular array, or a circle, or as many as 10 things in a scattered configuration; given a number from 1-20 , count out that many objects. **Do 'Quick Images' as a group.  Make flash cards with groups of objects. The students call out how many are on each card.
K.CC6  Identify whether the number of objects in one group is greater than, less than, or equal to the number of objects in another group, e.g., by using matching and counting strategies.1 [1Include groups with up to ten objects.] **Read the book Five Little Monkeys Jumping on a Bed.  Use monkey flash cards (Freebie at my TPT store) and have students drop them onto a piece of fabirc/felt.  Count the cards that land on the felt (bed) and the ones that land on the floor.  How many landed on the bed?  Was the number on the bes greater than or less than the number on the floor?
K.CC7  Compare two numbers between 1 and 10 presented as written numerals. **Play Gotcha! (or War) students decide which number is greater than and less than. The student with the bigger number keeps the pair. **Play fast fingers.  Put hands behing back and on the count of 3 hold a random number of fingers up.  The students decide who has the bigger number and who has the lesser number, using the language, "4 is greater than 2, and 2 is less than 4."

More to come, when I am not so sleepy :)

Kindergaten Math Common Core Workshop

Went to a great workshop today and walked away with a ton of great ideas for math centers!  All aligned to the common core! I will share one idea per CCSS later on tonight!

New York/D.C Trip

Been on vacation the last few days, so will post after Thanksgiving!  Trying to keep up!!

Writing Celebration!!

I am so proud of my kids!!  We have been working on personal narratives for the last few days!  I stapled together a book with three blank pages.    We talked about planning what to write on each page before writing it down.  We also have been learning that it is important to keep the same idea throughout our story. Some of my more advanced writer's got to use pages with lines on the bottom so they could write sentences. My lower students were given a book with blank paper so they could illustrate a story and label their story!  They turned out great! During our writer's celebration, the kids loved sitting in the "Author's Chair" and sharing their work!

Non Fiction Text Features

Today during our Daily 5 reading lesson, we got to explore non fiction books!  I had each student pair up with their read to someone partners and choose 2-3 books that they could look through!  I told them to be looking for things that looked different from the fiction books we typically read, and to place a post-it on each page they found something!  The kids did great!  They were noticing the table to contents, maps, diagrams, illustrations and photographs!  We wrote down all the features we noticed on chart paper. 

***Sorry, I forgot to take pictures today!  I'm new at this :)

Veteran's Day Assembly

Veteran's Day was on Sunday, November 11th, but our school honored our Veteran's today!  We had a special guest of one of my students come in our room today and talk to us about what it means to be a verteran. He shared about his own journey as part of the United States Army and showed the kids  the medals and patches he earned. We also celebrated with a school wide assembly!  The kids loved it, and were really interested!  If you know a Veteran, thank them!!