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.

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!

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

Fall Fine Motor Worksheet

Check out my Fall Fine Motor Worksheets.  There are 18 different fine motor worksheets in the packet.  You can print them out and use them as worksheets or you can laminate and use with a dry erase marker in a learning center. 

Check it out at my TPT store:  FALL FINE MOTOR
Normal price is $2.00, but from now until Wednesday (October 9th), you can get it for only $1.80.  Also the first 3 people to comment below, I will email them a free copy!

New Classroom Pictures!

  

First Grade Assignment list and Word Wall

 Writing and Art Center under the Word Wall

 Mailbox and Writing Center

 Mailbox- I am hoping that this will help my students in the letter writing process.

 Kindergarten Tables- I have 10 kindergarten students.

 View from Kindergarten Door-  I love my Smart Board!

First Grade tables and view of Kindergarten Side of the room.

More Pictures Coming Soon!

How's your classroom coming?

Write the Room

Now that my classroom is bigger (TWO TIMES BIGGER!!) I am excited to try out more learning centers.
Last year my room was so cramped, that there wasn't a lot of room to move around. But, this year, my classroom is a great size for 19 students! One of the learning centers that I am the most excited about adding is WRITE THE ROOM. I bought cute little clipboards at Walmart the other day that will hang just right on my hooks. I will have the students use the clipboards and worksheets (that you can download for FREE by clicking on the picture) to walk around the room and write down words that are interesting to them. I have on display all of their classmates names, a word wall, and some environmental print posters that will work great for this activity.
Have you ever tried this learning center before? Let me know how it has worked for you!

The Three Little Pigs

This week we are doing a unit on favorite books. One of the books included in the unit was The Three Little Pigs. Today, we read the original big book by Paul Galdone. In math we are studying clocks, so when we got to the part about the wolf asking the pig to meet him at certain times, I passed out Judy clocks and had the students make their clocks show the time that the wolf was supposed to meet the pig and predict what time the pig would actually leave. After we read the story, I had the students write a paper about what they would have made their house out of if they were one of the three little pigs. Then, we worked on the letter g and I worked with small groups on a reading story about pigs. The students took the story home to read again for homework.

Predicting times during The Three Little Pigs

A kindergartener would build his house out of bricks.

One kindergartener would choose bricks because they're hard.  Another kindergartener would make his house out of bricks because it would look cool.

Practicing little g and big G with whiteboards before trying it on paper.

Practicing little g on paper.

Small group reading paper.

End of the unit reading book, "The Three Cats".  We read it in small groups first and then I send it home for homework.