Weekly Wrap-Up -> Week 4

THE BEST PART OF ME
I've been working with each student individually over the past few weeks, getting to know them better by asking them their interests both at home and at school.  The first week of school, students had an opportunity to use loose parts to create their face.  I used this, along with a photo of them holding their name sign, to create this display.
I got this idea a few years back when I took the Kindergarten AQ course with Joanne Babalis.




LETTER FORMATION
I discovered these boards from Scholastic Canada (they are in their Classroom Essentials Catalogue) and knew they would be perfect with my Letter Formation Cards.  The pen is magnetic and when you trace over the letter, small balls come up to form the letter.  Students can use their finger to push the balls back down and start over.  
I can't tell you how much my students love these boards!
You can also find the boards on Amazon.



PENTOMINOES (TETRIS PIECES)
When I was little, Tetris was one of my favourite games to play!  These Pentominoes have been around for a long time and I set up this provocation for students to try and fill their cookie sheet!  It was much more challenging than it looks!
You can find these Pentominoes on Amazon.

ALPHABET SORT
I introduced this pocket chart activity - sorting picture cards by beginning sounds.  I left out a few letters to not overwhelm the students (these seems to be the sounds most students in my class knew so it was a good starting point).  I clip a Ziploc bag to the bottom of my pocket chart to store the cards.


You can find this activity in my Alphabet Picture Cards Sort pack on TpT.

RAINBOW LOOSE PARTS - LIGHT TABLE
Our colour inquiry is in full swing so I wanted to add this fun provocation at the light table - students used the coloured jewels and these rainbow mats to create a picture!

CO-CREATED MATH WALL
We have been working together on a math wall!  Students used buttons to represent the number in a 10-frame.  I took a picture of their fingers representing the number against a black piece of felt.  I also included a number poem to help us remember how to print the numeral.


You can download the 10-frame and number poems for free by clicking the picture below.

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Weekly Wrap-Up -> Week 3

This week we started our first inquiry of the year - colour mixing!  I noticed that the students were asking questions about the different shades of crayons when they were sorting and putting them away.  I left out a book called Pantone Colors and they enjoyed looking through that.

COLOUR MIXING
I set up this simple colour mixing provocation at our Science and Discovery Centre.
Using eye droppers, students mixed primary colours and I recorded their observations.

FLIP IT!  A NUMBER GAME
During our math block, we have been focusing on number sense (numbers 1-5) and when I noticed that many of the students were able to work on numbers to 10, I decided to use this Flip It - Back to School game.

Here's how you play:  
- hide the school card behind a number card
- students call a number and teacher turns the card
- if you find the school picture you win!

There are many versions included:  numerals (as seen above), tally marks, dice, even editable sight words!
You can find this game in my Find It! School pack on TpT.

MAKING 5
This was a great challenge for some of the SK (Year 2) students.  I gave them 5 Unifix cubes and asked them to work together and figure out how many different combinations they can come up with.  The catch was that no two combinations can be the same!
Look at all the ways they figured this out!


We then explored Pentominoes - which are the same as Tetris pieces (remember that game!?).  The children quickly pointed out how many of their combinations matched!  They even started fitting them together....which gave me a great idea for a provocation for next week....stay tuned!





CAN YOU SHOW THE NUMBER?
I put out simple provocations at the beginning of the year and this one was easy to set up.  Using Popsicle sticks, I made 10-frames.  I added fish and numeral cards and asked the students if they could show the number.

EMOTIONS - HOW DO YOU FEEL?
Our poem this week was all about emotions and how we feel.  We speak a lot about this the first few weeks at school.  We say it's okay to be sad or nervous, happy and even silly at times!  We also discussed how we can often see how people are feeling by looking at their face.
Using these emotion cards I made, we took turns acting out different feelings.  I even left them near the Writing Centre if students wanted to draw, and write about, how they are feeling.
I even set up a provocation having students draw on a face card (and turning it into a mask) how they are feeling. The blank face cards are from Scholastic Reading Club.

You can download these emotion cards for FREE by clicking the picture below 
(graphics from DJ Inkers).


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Weekly Wrap-Up -> Week 2

This week we focused on discussing how we are each special.  Our poem of the week was "I am Special" -> you can find this in my Rhyme and Chime pack on TpT.

TEN-FRAME SIGN IN
I've been having my students sign in each morning using 10-frames.  We decorated a small card with our face the first week of school (you can also use a photo of the student).  I affixed a magnet on the back and used these magnetic 10-frames (they can be found on Amazon).
Lots of math can be learned with this activity:  How many students are at school today?  At home?  Who is number 7?  How many more to make 20?


ALPHABET SONG BOOK
Each morning we sing the Alphabet Song Book to help students remember letters and their corresponding sounds.  I also gave each Year 1 (JK) student a black and white copy for them to colour and practice at home.

WHAT DO YOU LOOK LIKE?
This is a fun provocation I set up each year - because the faces are all different!!!
Use a bunch of loose parts, round cork boards (Dollarama) and mirrors and have students create their face.





OUR NAMES
Focusing on names is huge in kindergarten!  I read the book The Name Jar and we spoke about how we each have a unique name made up of letters.  I created these name cards (from Yukari at A Pinch of Kinder) and left them out with magnetic letters for students to build their name.

PAINT CENTRE
We open up our centres gradually in kindergarten.  Students must prove to use how they clean up, share materials, have gentle hands when using materials, etc.  This week we opened up our Paint Centre.  We start with one colour of paint and gradually added another colour each day. 

CHICKA CHICKA - BUILD A TREE (STEM)
I introduced a very simple STEM (or STREAM in our school) activity this week.  Can you build a tree using small blocks and Popsicle sticks to hold letters?  How many letters can it hold?  Can you build your name on the tree?

COUNTING APPLES
My colleague, Ms. Cippollone, gave all of the kindergarten teachers some apples that she had leftover from picking them last weekend.  They weren't too good to eat so instead we used them for this math (1:1 correspondence and counting) activity.  

SELF-PORTRAITS
We worked on our self-portraits, having students draw their face with pencil and then I traced over it with a Sharpie.  Their name is below.  We dotted it using Q-tips and paint.  
You can download the Q-tip rainbow name activity from last week's blog post here.


5 LITTLE DONUTS SONG
I worked with Mrs. Petrone (RECE) for the past 6 years and this year, with my class of 15, I am alone.  She sang such great songs to the children that I knew I just had to continue that!  So I typed them up and created my own props.  
This is one of my favourite songs - you can search the song on You Tube if you aren't sure of the tune.  I made the donuts from felt, although you can use construction paper also!
You can download this printable song for FREE by clicking below.


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