Making Lists for Writer's Workshop

I'm planning on starting Writer's Workshop with my kindergarten students on Tuesday.  Here are my lesson plans for the first 3 days:

Day 1:  Discuss the purpose of writing and the different types of writing.
    Answer these questions:   Why do writers write?  What do writers write?

Day 2:  Talk about making illustrations and labeling pictures.
    Activity- Draw an illustration about Christmas and label it.

Day 3:  Talk about writing lists.
     Answer these questions:  Why do people make lists?    What do people put on lists?
   Activity-  Make lists about farm animals, wild animals, pets, or insects.

I was looking on Mrs. Bremer's kindergarten website http://mrsbremersk.blogspot.com/
and she had some great ideas about making lists in kindergarten.  So, I made a few of my own word cards and lists to go along with learning about insects and animals.

You can check out all of the lists and download your own free copy HERE.

Wild Animals vs. Tame Animals

After Thanksgiving Break, my kindergarten class will start a unit on wild animals.  Here is a resource that I made to go along with the unit.  It's a sorting activity.

You can get it for yourself by clicking HERE.

Here are some books that I am planning on reading to go along with the unit:

Count the Ornaments Christmas Number Game

I just finished making a fun Christmas number game.  There are two different ways to play. 

The first way is to shuffle the ornament and word cards and place them face down in a stack.  Students take turns flipping the top card over and correctly counting the ornaments or following the directions on the word cards. 

The second way to play is to place all of the ornament and number cards face down on a table and take turns trying to make a match in a memory game.

I think that this will be a great addition to my Christmas learning centers.  I am also excited that it meets kindergarten common core standards.

I will be offering this product for free at my TpT store until December 1st.  Click HERE to head on over to get your free product!

Christmas Learning Centers

I scored some cute items from the dollar spot at Target this weekend!

It made me so excited that I got out my winter learning activity box early!
Here are some of the learning centers that I will be getting ready over Thanksgiving Break.

These cookie cutters will be used in my art center as stencils.

 These stamps will be used in my writing center to make cards and to increase fine motor skills.

 This is a class favorite CVC game.  I downloaded it from Kelly's Kindergarten last year.

 This will go in my math centers with some pom-poms.  I will either use it with a spinner or have the kids practice putting the pom-poms on the presents in numerical order.

 I scored these bags from the Target dollar spot last year.  They are perfect to put learning centers inside.

Leave me a comment or link to your blog what you are planning for your winter learning centers.

Christmas Fine Motor Pages

First 2 people to comment below, get a free copy of this product!
 

I had such a fun time creating these Christmas fine motor pages.  I love creating my own clip art!  Included in the package are 38 fine motor tracing worksheets with the Christmas theme.  There are pages with candy canes and Christmas trees, Christmas ornaments, gingerbread men and gingerbread houses.  You can use it with Common Core Standard CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RF.K.1a .  19 of the pages are pages that you can print out in color and laminate to use for a writing center or fine motor center.  The other 19 pages are black and white to be printed for each student to trace and color.  The first 2 people to comment on this post will get a free copy!  Also, the first 2 people to share the link to this product on their blog will receive a free copy.

Get your own copy HERE!

Become a follower on my blog and I will send you a free copy of this product.

And much, much more!

Joseph and the Coat of Many Colors

I also teach the Kindergarten and First Grade Sunday School class at my church.  We made this cute project to go along with learning about Joseph and his coat of many colors.

Before class, I cut a bunch of construction paper into one inch strips.  I also drew the outline of a coat on a strip of white bulletin board paper.

When the kids arrived at class, I showed them how they could take a few strips of paper and cut them into small pieces.

Then, I showed them how to glue the pieces onto the coat.

It was a great fine motor activity, as well as following directions.  One of my students was having a hard time understanding that he had to glue the paper inside the outline of the coat, not outside.

Community Helpers- Fire Fighters

Here are some things that we did for the week that we talked about Fire Fighters!

The Fire Chief let us use the fire hose to knock over the cones on our visit to the fire station.

Trying to "put out the fire".

Learning about being a Fire Fighter.

Fire Truck Snack

Fire Hats

Creation Book

In addition to making the ever popular creation snack, we also made a creation book to go along with our learning of the days of creation.

Day 1:  Light and Dark/ Day and Night

Day 2:  Sky, Clouds and Water

Day 3:  Dry Land/ Trees/  Plants

Day 4: Sun, Moon and Stars

Day 5: Fish and Birds

Day 6: Animals and Man

Day 7:  God Rested

Book Cover

Book Cover

 View My Creation Snack Idea HERE

Finger Paint and Silly Putty

 Have you ever made silly putty with your class?  It is very easy and fun to make.  Just mix two bottle of glue with your favorite color paint.  Fill up an empty bottle of glue with liquid starch.  Mix together.  Add some Lysol to keep the mixture from being too sticky.

Stop Light Snack And Police Officer Unit

When we talk about police officers in Kindergarten, we also talk about traffic safety and crossing the street.  I had a police officer, who is also one of our first graders' father, come in and talk about being a police officer and show off his police car.  At the end of the week, we had a stoplight snack for Fun Friday.  I gave each student a graham cracker and showed them how to break it in half.  Then, I gave them a scoop of white frosting and showed them how to frost their crackers.  Finally, I passed out red, yellow and green M&M's and showed them how to put them on their crackers to make it look like a stop light!  The kids loved it!

We also practice following traffic safety rules by riding our bikes around the school.  We got to ride a couple of laps around before it started pouring!  The bike riding also went along with our first grade reading story about a family that went on a bike hike.

 

The Bob Jones University Press Curriculum that we use for kindergarten also had police officer hats and badges for the kids to make!