Christmas Tree Craftivity - A Number Bond Math Activity

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My class and I began exploring number bonds last week. They have been having a lot of fun building them with counters and unfix cubes.

I wanted to try something festive and fun last Friday. I always try to incorporate art into our math lessons whenever possible. You can never get enough art in Kindergarten!

We began by painting trees, I showed them the easiest three trees to draw, a giant triangle, three stacked triangles and a tree with branches that curve inwards.



Next we filled in our trees. I passed out a bunch of different choices for coloring: crayons, colored pencils, markers and oil pastels. I like to mix up our supplies whenever possible, it makes the bulletin board look more dynamic!
Then I passed out their number bonds. They had to come up and choose two colors of finger paints to decorate their tree. The top number of the bond is one color and the bottom was another.

After that, they just had to add all the ornaments together to solve their number bond equation!

The best part was how easy it is to assess, I just had to see if they painted the correct number of ornaments!

It was a great way to reinforce this concept this holiday season!  You can find this item in my shop!

How do you incorporate art into your classroom?

Thanksgiving Reflections in Kindergarten

Thanksgiving Reflections, graphic organizers and checklists to help K-1 students understand what thankful means.



Like all Kindergarten teachers, my class is on many different levels when it comes to writing.  I wanted to create a Thanksgiving writing set that would allow all my students to reflect with ease, no matter where they are in the writing process.


A preview image of all that is included in the Thanksgiving  Reflections set.


I included checklists, with reasons why both family and friends are important, to help them gather their thoughts.

This allows them to feel more confident when it is time to write.

Next, they can choose from one of three writing templates:

  • This Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for....
  • This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my family because...
  • This Thanksgiving, I am thankful for my friends because....

 Also included  are two different bulletin board display signs and coloring pages.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Role Model of the Day Freebie


We are always working on improving ourselves in Kindergarten. Here is how we are achieving this goal.

We have a behavior card system in class - everyone starts on green each day, yellow for a warning, orange for a time out (one minute at recess) and pink for a visit to the office.

In order to be the Role Model you have to keep your card on green the day before, by following our three rules:

#1 - Be Respectful           #2 - Be Kind               #3 - Be Safe

Having those 3 simple rules has really improved our classroom behavior. Anytime anyone is off task, I remind them of the rule they are breaking and they are up to switch their cards.

Card changes are never permanent either, if you completely turn your behavior around it goes right back to green!

A few weeks into the school year we started having a Role Model of the Day! I waited until we had our behavior system in check to implement this new daily routine.


This sign hangs right above the behavior card chart. Everyday during morning meeting, I write a new name up there. It is laminated to make it easy to change up each day.

I alternate by girl and boy to keep it fair. After I name the Role Model, the class raises their hands and shares out why they think that person was chosen.  And of course, we applaud our role model! 

It is wonderful to see how each student lights up, not only when they are chosen, but once they hear what their peers have to say about them! 

If you would like to use this sign in your classroom, just click here, or click the picture above for this freebie!

How do you manage behavior in your classroom? Let me know in the comments below!

Counting Song Craze


We are in a counting craze in our Kindergarten class lately! Here are our top five favorite counting songs:

# 5  Numbers in the Teens (They Start with a 1)



# 4  Number Words Rap!



# 3  Count to 20!!!!



# 2  I Can Count to 100



# 1 Counting Super Hero



They are really helping to improve my students ability to count, and recognize numbers! The only downside is that I walk around singing them all day everyday!

The upside is that my kids walk around singing them all day too, especially #1. They are all obsessed with the counting super hero!

What songs are your students smitten with? Let me know in the comments below!

Things I Love...August Edition

Here are my current obsessions, click the picture or name for links!

Clothes:
                             dressbarn             tjmaxx                dressbarn

Shoes:

                        Coconuts Coffey Boot -  dsw                                  
   
Bag:
                                 Nine West Turn N Chic Satchel - macys
Nails:

                                       Sansa                             Remy

                                    Yuna                                  Teigen

Decor: I must confess...this decor is already purchased!! I am holding off on shopping for myself - but when it comes to my classroom I go full throttle! :)





What's on your dream shopping list? Let me know in the comments below!

Things I Love...July Edition


Happy Fourth of July!! Summer is here which is wonderful of course! However, it leads to more free time. Which leads to more online browsing time. I am trying to keep it at that - window shopping as opposed to buying! Here are a few things that I am currently smitten with!

Click the pic or store name for more info!
                 
  
             Amazon                                                                  Macys

Dresses, both by Evan Picone of course! I am always looking to expand my collection!
                                                           Macys

I have a lunch bag I love, but this is gorgeous!
                                                          J.Crew

Small purses have never really worked for me, but I would make an exception for this one!

                                                            DSW

I adore this shoe. That is all there is to it!!

What is on your wish list at the moment? Let me know in the comments!

Things I Love - May Edition


Spring makes me think of dresses and I have purchased a few new ones that I simply adore and had to share with you!

Lately I have been all about Evan Picone. I bought these two back in the winter, and now I found three more I am smitten with!

Click the pictures or store names for links if you would like to check them out!
I found this one on Macy's.com, and with my gift cards and the promo code, I paid nothing! <3

It is available in a pink and yellow pattern too, but I love the olive green and cream mixed with the purple and teal combo!

This was on ideeli, on sale for $45.99 with 20% off and free shipping! It only cost $36!
Here is the best deal of all! I had been eyeing it on both Macy's and ideeli for months, but I ended up purchasing it from TJ Maxx's new online site! I wasn't even aware that they had one until last month! Maybe that is not a good thing to have found out... ;) They had it for the best price of all, only $29.99!
What is a dress without a fabulous jacket to wear over it? Especially in New England when the weather can be wicked fickle this time of year!

I scored this jacked by Bar III on Macy's.comand with my gift cards - and their friends and family discount - I paid...nothing!! I cannot wait for this one to arrive! (Wednesday cannot come soon enough!)

How about you? Any great spring/summer finds you would like to share? Let me know in the comments below!

Data Tracking Sheets

I have been working on getting my fifth grade class to be accountable for the grades they earn this year. I have a few students who have a tendency not to take some of their grades too seriously.

In November we began tracking scores, and I noticed right away that it impacted their awareness of the grades they got. Several mentioned "I don't want to mark this test down!" I asked them what they could do next time to avoid this and they all replied "study a lot more!"

Then the holiday's came and all of our many snow days. As many routines do, this began to fall apart. I have a couple of students who never forget to mark scores down, but I know many have not been following through.

I wanted to revamp them (my old ones were just tables with no clipart - so very dull!) to hopefully motivate them to fill them in more often.
I included directions and cover sheets in this set. We currently store ours in a folder, but I think the cover will make it easier to find!
There are sample score sheets so they can see the different options they have for filling in their sheets. A lot of my students use the bar graph, but the line graph is a lot quicker to fill in!

Each month has 7 sheets: Spelling, Vocabulary, Math, Science, Social Studies and 2 Reading sheets, one for Constructed Responses and one for Reader's Responses. We do both responses in my classroom, but the Constructed Response is a bit more formal.

All the subjects are scored 0-100%, except for the Reading Responses and Constructed Responses - those are based on a 5 point scale. I made it larger, in case you want to include 1/2 points.
All of the monthly sheets have thematic toner-friendly black and white clipart.
We are going to make completing our data sheets a habit by incorporating it into our morning routine. All corrected work will be waiting on their desks in the morning and they will fill in their data sheets before morning meeting!

I am looking forward to sharing these with my students when I go back to school next week!

This set is available in my TpT shop. Just click on the store name or the pictures above!