At The Beach Common Core Essentials

Here is our latest Thematic Unit. As with all of our units, it is strategically linked to the Common Core Standards!

Table of Contents:

Scripted Literacy Lessons With Independent Options:

Beach Blanket Bingo: Naming Alphabet Letters

Sight Word Suds: Writing Sight Words

Seaside Fun: Sound Substitution

Beach Bears: Decoding CVC and CVCe Words

Independent Activities

Sorting Shells: Identifying Digraphs

Scripted Math Lessons With Independent Options:

Beach Ball Bonanza: Decomposing Teen Numbers

Castles In the Sand: Addition

Up The Boardwalk: Graphing Sums

Flip Flop Fun: Plus One

Independent Activities

Beach Ball Counting: Matching Number and Quantity

The Beach Shop: Counting Pennies

Guided Reading Books

To The Beach

Class Made Books

At The Beach

Science

Make a Beach: Water Erosion

Float The Boat: Buoyancy

Writing

Beach Word Wall

At The Beach

Water Sports

Art Projects

Paint a Shell

Design a Beach Towel

Shapley Sandcastle: Using Geometric Shapes

Songs/Fingerplays

At The Beach

The Castle

Going Over the Sea

Moving

19 years of kindergarten stuff stacked in my garage, waiting for the movers.

After teaching two half day sessions of kindergarten in the same school for the last 19 years, I am moving. My husband and I are packing up for a new adventure 8 hours away from our current home. I will be starting over in a new school and I am just a little bit scared to say the least.

However, the school is amazing! It is new and ultra-modern. And, one of the best parts, FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN!! I will be posting a lot of pictures along the way as I set up my brand new classroom. For 19 years my teacher desk only had 3 legs and was held up by milk crates. Wow, just a desk with 4 legs will be a great treat!

My husband is starting his new job as Superintendent of Schools in a brand new district. We have resigned to the fact that we will not be getting a summer break this year. But, I guess that is the price that must be paid for adventure. :) Our new community is amazing and we can hardly wait to become a part.

Last summer I bought a few new books with great intentions to read all. I did not get to these two books and so, they are on my list for this summer.

  The Clutter-Free Classroom is having a great summer reading linking party. Check it out to hear about great summertime reads.

The Day of the Dinosaur

Nothing excites and intrigues young minds more than enormous dinosaurs that once roam the earth!

Dig a dig a dig a dig a dinosaur! Bury some bones in sand or dirt at the science center.

Create a classroom of paleontologist by using geometric shapes.

Tablespoons, bowls, small petrie dishes, vinegar, and soda make for an exploding great time!
After demonstrating this experiment whole group, the science center needed little supervision as the budding scientists  enjoyed conducting an experiment while mixing ingredients.

Create a Dinosaur Museum by adding dinosaur models, books, posters, and maybe even some real bones!

Write about dinosaurs in science journals.

Construct dinosaurs at the art center.

Please check out our Day of the Dinosaur: Thematic Common Core Essentials. Teaching the skill and drill necessary to meet CC Standards could not be more fun!

This 127 page unit, Day of the Dinosaur, is strategically linked to the Common Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, worksheets, science, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation. The lessons (games or activities) included are scripted. They are written in a format that can be easily taught by the teacher or readily handed off to a parent volunteer or a classroom aide with complete confidence that objectives of the lesson will be reached. 

Songs/Fingerplays
Stegosaurus
A Paleontologist
ROAR
Five Enormous Dinosaurs

Art Projects
Dinosaur Mosaic: A Cooperative Activity
Paleontologist: Using Geometric Shapes
Dinosaur Hat
Dino Rider

Writing
Dinosaur Word Wall
About Dinosaurs
If I Were a Paleontologist

Science
Dinosaur Facts & Information
Stegosaurus Skeleton: Tactile Science
Dinosaur Dig

Guided Reading Books
When Dinosaurs Lived
Class Made Books
Our Dinosaurs

Scripted Math Lessons With Independent Options:
Dino Diner: Composing Numbers 10-20
Dino Land: Identifying Numbers
Dinosaur Addition: Solving Addition Problems
Dinosaur Park: Counting Objects & Recording Numbers

Independent Activities
Dinosaur 10’s
Dinosaur Hunter

Scripted Literacy Lessons With Independent Options:
Dinosaur Desert: Fluently Naming Alphabet Letter Sounds 
Dino Detour: Fluently Naming Letter Sounds (Or Sight Words)
Dinosaur Lunch: Reading Simple Sentences
Dinosaur Sounds: Writing Alphabet Representation of Sounds
Dinosaur Takeover: Decoding Words
Independent Activities
Dinosaur Eggs: Writing Simple Words
Dinosaur ABC: Alphabetical Order
Dino Blends: Identifying Graphophonemic Representation of Blends

How to make a poster

Yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to enlarge a section of our Alphabet Fair unit so that I could have a large classroom poster. First I tried going to a copy store, but the starting cost to print one poster sized image was 25 dollars. Then I found this site that will take an image and divide it up so that you can print a poster sized image on your regular printer. I imagine I'll be using it a lot this summer as I prepare for next year.