Plants, Plants, Plants!

We just starting our plant unit! I have been loving it because I found TONS of fabulous free resources to use! Read on to see what we've been doing and where you can grab these freebies.

Parts of a Plant

On day 1, we focused on the parts of a plant. I found this super cute anchor chart idea on pinterest. (Not sure where it is originally from, if you know... help a girl out!)

We read a Parts of a Plant reader that I got for FREE from Greg over at Smedley's Smorgasboard.

We also sang a Plant Parts song by Dr. Gene!

Once we learned ALL about the parts of a plant, we added our new learning to our Plants anchor chart. We will continue to fill out this anchor chart and then use it to publish writing at the end of the week.

Then we made this cute little craft that shows the parts of a plant.

(I got this FREEbie from Kimberly Cavett.)

Plant Needs

On Day 2, we focused on the needs of a plant. 

We sang this Needs of a Plant song to help us remember everything that a plant needs.

We added the needs of our plant to our craft.

Then we filled in the "need" portion of our anchor chart.

Click here to grab this free graphic organizer and a writing page.

We will be finishing the graphic organizer and then doing some writing all about plants. Next week, we will start on the plant life cycle.

Here are some books that we have been using to lead our discussions. Click them to see on Amazon.

           

Follow me on Pinterest to see more great ideas I've found.

Earth Day (Five for Friday)

Happy Friday! We celebrated Earth Day all week! It was a short week for us due to Easter Break (private school perks). Short week = good week. I also finished my Vandy classes this week and I am officially ELL endorsed! So happy to have that completed.

Do you every have those days at school when you think "Is this really my life??". Well that was today for me. This is not Earth Day related, but I had to share...

In case you do not speak fluent kindergarten: "I pooped on the floor today and I will not do it again today. Never not Sunday and Monday."

Insert... is this my life...thoughts.

This freebie came from Miss Kindergarten.

We read this little reader all week. I am so proud of how far my kiddos have come in their reading. It really starts to click around this time of year and it is so rewarding!

Last but not least, it is time to announce my giveaway winner!

Congrats to... Lori!! You will love your ESGI subscription!

If you haven't checked out ESGI yet... you need to. Like NOW. Read about it here.

Thanks to all who entered and commented on that post! I will be sending ALL of you an item of your choice from my store. =)

Random Updates!

Here are some random ideas and updates of what I have been doing since I have been MIA. (Sorry y'all... Grad school is KILLING me.)

Easy Hands-On Addition Practice

This is an easy way to make a simple addition worksheet a hands-on learning experience. Just add manipulatives! We drew two circles and used beans to solve the addition problems that came from this set of  free worksheets. Easy, no-prep practice!

International Day--Mexico

Every year, my school has "International Day" where each classroom researches a different country. We then make a banner and bring a food item from our country for all of the other classes to try. The kids LOVE it. I am always surprised with how willing they are to try all the different foods and how eager they are to learn about different cultures.

Our country this year was Mexico. We made Day of the Dead Masks and our food was Mexican Wedding Cookies. The cookies are pretty much all butter and sugar--but of course the kids loved them!

Long/Short Vowel Anchor Chart

My curriculum teaches long/short vowels by having the children mark the vowels in the word. I am curious to know how others teach it? It is a hard skill for my kiddos to grasp, but we are working on it! I made this anchor chart to help them.

St. Patrick's Day and Spring Centers

We have busted out the St. Patrick's Day and Spring Centers. Spring Break is next week (woopwoop!) so we are using some of them this week! 

(Don't judge me for the nasty glue desk. If you teach kindergarten, I KNOW you'd be lying if you said your desks don't look like this the majority of the time! At least I hope so.)

Need some more St. Patrick's Day ideas? Check out these posts from last year.

Weather Five for Friday (January 17)

Do you ever have a week that seems so crazy and jam-packed... then you think back and you can't think of the reason it was so chaotic? Well, that was this week for me. BUT it is Friday AND a three day weekend! Yippee!

This week we barely started our weather unit. I am going to share some of what we have done/are going to do. There is a pack of freebies if you stick around to the end!

On the first day we talked about weather, we made an anchor chart that shows the different types of weather. My kiddos were already familiar with the types of weather because we talk about what the weather is like each morning during calendar.

We have been using the poem "Weather Ways" to go along with our unit. We read the poem each day and look for sight words, rhyming words, etc. throughout the week. At the end of the week, we add the poem to our Poetry Notebook and do an activity. This week the students unscrambled the mixed-up poem and glued it in the correct order. (The poem and mixed-up activity are included in the weather freebie!)

We did read Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and wrote about whether we would/would not want it to rain food. I loved listening to the kiddos answers and reasoning behind them. (This page is included in the freebie.)

As I was planning my weather unit, I realized I had ZERO books about weather. Oops. So I ordered a bunch from Amazon and I can't wait to use them! These are the books we will be using...

                                      

                                                         

                                        

           

Thanks for reading through this post! Click the picture to grab your Weather Freebies!

Have a great MLK weekend!

Pumpkins Galore and a Giveaway!

We have had a week full of pumpkin fun! I am linking up for Five for Friday to tell you alllllllllll about it. Stick around until the end for a chance to win some pumpkin goodies!

We cannot celebrate Halloween at my school due to religious reasons... however pumpkins = fall so they are fair game!

 "Five Little Pumpkins" was our poem this week. The kiddos loved it. This version is a little different than the one I learned as a kid--no witches or magic included.

We went on a field trip to the pumpkin farm on Thursday. The kids love it and so do I! If you live in the Nashville area, you should check out Walden Farm. They do a great job and make it easy for the teacher to have a stress free day--which is ALWAYS a good day in kindergarten.

After the farm, we did a "pumpkin discovery" activity with the pumpkins we picked on our field trip. 

This is part of a freebie by Nicole Ricca that you can grab here. There a lots of great whole group activities in the mini-unit she made!

We whipped out my new Pumpkin Math Centers this week. (Hang around to the end of this post for a chance to win them.) We are hitting numbers 0-20 HARD.

In this center the students put the pumpkins in order and then write the numbers on their recording sheet.

Here they count the pumpkins on each side, then decide which side is greater.

Here they practice number fluency by rolling a die and then reading the numbers in the matching row.

Here the students scoop a handful of pumpkins, count them, and then tally the amount.

This week was the first time I used dry erase pouches for my center recording sheets. (You can see them in the center pictures above.) Can we say huge paper saver? The kids love them too. Dry erase markers = the most exciting thing on the planet when you are five. Don't you wish a marker could bring you that much happiness?? I got my pouches with my scholastic dollars last year. Here are some similar ones you can grab on amazon for much cheaper.

Want a chance to WIN my Pumpkin Math Centers? Just leave a comment with your email address on this post and I will pick some winners by the end of the weekend!

I sent my Pumpkin Math Centers to all of you who commented. Thank you for reading my blog! If you missed out on this giveaway, don't worry! There will be plenty more. =)