100th Day of School

My 100th day is next Wednesday, February 5th, how about yours?

As I am just beginning our class celebration of Chinese New Year, I am trying to get everything ready for a great, stress-free 100th day.

My favorite thing is to have 100 Day Free-Choice using "I Can Cards" with a few parents roaming around to assist as need. Check out my activity cards, I know you will love them.

We also have more activities and games here. 

Winter Olympics: Common Core Thematic Essentials

The 2014 Winter Olympics begin in Sochi with the Opening Ceremony on February 7. The games are exciting not only for the athletes, but also for people who watch them. Capitalize on this excitement with a unit on the Olympics!

Start off with a Torch Relay - have your students take turns running around the playground or gym, passing the torch to each other. Have an Opening Ceremony - let students design a flag, then march around the room. As the days continue, play math and reading games featuring Olympic sports, read a guided reading book about the Olympics, write about winter sports, make an Olympic windsock, and design a medal. To complete the Olympic experience, sponsor an Olympic game day. Gather beanbags or pucks for hockey and curling, make skis and skates with paper plates and laminated paper, and round up some scooters or carts for bobsled races. 

The Winter Olympics last for 2 weeks. Capture the imagination of your students and the spirit of the Olympics with Olympic-themed games and activities! For ideas, check out our Olympic unit: It’s Time for Winter Sports. Lessons and activities include the following:

Literacy Games

Bobsled Raceway: Reading Sight Word Sentences (or Alphabet Letters)

At the Olympics: Naming Sounds or Reading Nonsense Words 

Hockey Shot: Segmenting Words into Phonemes

Winter Sports: Writing Sight Words (or Alphabet Letters)

Literacy Worksheets

Winter Sports: Reading and Matching Color Words

Olympic Medal Match: Distinguishing Between Two Similar Words

Math Games

Ski Jump Addition: Adding Two Numbers

Olympic Medal Count: Graphing Medals

Olympic Sports: Decomposing Numbers

Going For the Gold: Teen Numbers

Math Worksheets

Roll To Color: Creating Sums

Half Pipe Hype: Comparing Two Written Numerals

Writing

Olympic/Winter Sports Word Wall

Writing Prompts: Winter Sports

Label the Sports

My List of Winter Sports

Guided Reading Book

The Olympics (Level B and Level D versions)

Art Activities

Olympic Windsock

Olympic Medal

Olympic Torch

Gym or PE Activity

Olympic Challenge

Penguin Book Reports -- Common Core Kindergarten Writing

Following are our Penguin Book Reports after our Kindergarten "Close" Reading of Non-fiction books about Penguins. Oh, and yes we fulfilled these Common Core Standards.

Text Types and Purposes

 CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic

Research to Build and Present Knowledge

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.7 Participate in shared research and writing projects (e.g., explore a number of books by a favorite author and express opinions about them).
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.W.K.8 With guidance and support from adults, recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer a question.

Chinese New Year Thematic Unit for Kindergarten

I have just finished ordering my red envelopes, chopsticks, and fortune cookies from Oriental Trading as I am getting ready to celebrate Chinese New Year, Kindergarten Style.

I have always loved this holiday! It is so full of culture and packed with learning opportunities. My students always love to practice reading and math skills, Gung Hay Fat Choy style.

I will be using my thematic unit for the bulk of my teaching, as well as adding two Chinese New Year books from my February Guided reading set. 

This set contains two Chinese New Year Guided Readers

I love the song Gung Hay Fat Choy by Nancy Stewart. If you haven’t used her music, check her out now.  

Here is a free poster that has a different version of Gung Hay Fat Choy that is a Kindergarten Kiosk original, enjoy!

So, what are you waiting for, get ready for the year of the horse that will begin January 31st.

Our Kindergarten Day

Here is my kindergarten schedule that I posted on the wall for parent teacher conference. My students loved making this "wall book." After it hangs on the wall for a few days, we will take it down, bind it, and put it in the check-out library.