Christmas Around the World: World Tour Mega Bundle

We have received numerous requests for a bundle of our Christmas Around The World products, and here it is! We are offering this for a great savings of $7.00, priced at only $18.00 for 370 pages of around the world cross-curricular fun for grades Pre-K, T-K, Kindergarten and 1st Grade.

Contents Include:

Christmas: A World Tour Part One

Part One of the “Around-The-World Tour” is filled with time-tested, quality activities that are strategically linked to Common Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, social studies, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading.

Part One Contents

Germany
Australia
Russia
Denmark
Spain
England
France
Africa
Canada
Greece

The activities include:

Literacy Activities
Australia: Surfing Santa: Segmenting Words
Russia: Land of the Sweets: Comprehension 
France: Le Reveillon: Rhyming
Greece: St. Nicholas’ Boats: Naming Sounds
Italy: Befana’s Toys: Changing Initial Sounds to Make New Words

Math Activities
German Advent Calendar: Solving Problems Using Mental Math Strategies.
Denmark: Nisse The Elf: Subtraction
Africa: Candle, Candle: Decomposing Numbers
Canada: Tree Delivery: Making Combinations for 10
Spain: Spanish Shoes: Writing Numbers
England: Stocking Stuffing: Counting Objects For a Given Number

Songs and Fingerplays
Germany: O Tannenbaum
Australia: Six White Boomers
Denmark: Ten Little Gnomes
Spain: Navidad

Art Projects
Germany: Star Christmas Countdown
Russia: Nesting Dolls/Nutcracker
Denmark: Danish Christmas Heart
Spain: Balthazar & the Wise Men
Africa: Candle Art
Canada: Strip Christmas Tree
England: Christmas Cards
France: Christmas Santons 
Greece: Christmas Fishing Boat

Kitchen
Australia: Pavlova

Writing
Country Word Walls

Guided Reading
Christmas Friends: Sight Word Reader
Class-Made Book: Around the World

Part Two of the “Around-The-World Tour” 

is filled with time-tested, quality activities that are strategically linked to Common Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, social studies, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading.

Part Two Contents
India
Sweden
United States of America
Bahamas
Peru
Israel
Mexico
China
Italy
Scotland

The activities include:

Literacy Activities
USA: Decorate Away: Blending Phonemes
Bahamas: Junkanoo: Using Common Nouns in Complete Sentences
Israel: Identifying Letters or Decoding Words
Italy: Befana’s Toys: Changing Initial Sounds to Make New Words
Mexico: Poinsettia Race: Naming Letters Quickly
China: Christmas Lanterns: Writing Alphabet Letters

Math Activities
India: Diwali Day: Identifying and Comparing Numbers
Sweden: St. Lucia Day Deliveries: Composing Teen Numbers.
Peru: Fiesta de Navidad: Classifying and Sorting Objects
Scotland: The Mischievous Elves: Identifying Numbers


Songs and Fingerplays
India: Little Clay Lamp
Sweden: Lucia Day
USA: Ring Your Bells
Peru: Fiestas de Navidad

Art Projects
India: Clay Lamp
Sweden: Star Hats, St. Lucia Wreaths
USA: A Gift for Mom & Dad
Bahamas: Starfish Santa
Israel: My Star
Italy: My Ceppo
Mexico: Poinsettia Construct
Scotland: Shape Elf


Kitchen
Australia: Pavlova
Peru: Panettone

Writing
Country Word Walls

Guided Reading
Around The World: Sight Word Reader
Class-Made Book: Around the World

Part Three of the “Around-The-World Tour” 

is filled with time-tested, quality activities that are strategically linked to Common Core Standards. It is divided into areas of literature, music, art, literacy, math, social studies, creative writing, word wall, and guided reading.

Part Three Contents
Eid
Kwanzaa
Hanukkah
Diwali

The activities include:

Literacy Lessons 
Eid: Reading Sight Words
Eid Variation: Reading Alphabet letters
Happy Kwanzaa: Reading Nonsense Words
Spin the Dreidel: Naming Alphabet Letters
Spin the Dreidel Variation: Decoding CVC Words
Follow the Lamps: Blending and Segmenting Words
Art Projects
Eid: Crescent Moon
Kwanzaa: Kinara
Hanukkah: Star of David
Hanukkah: My Menorah
Diwali: Rangoli
Writing

Scrapbook Pages:
Eid
Kwanzaa
Hanukkah
Diwali
Songs/Fingerplays
Eid
Kwanzaa
The Dreidel Song
Diwali is Here

Part Four of the “Around-The-World Tour” 

Allow students to keep the memories of their world tour by completing A Scrapbook or Passport Book, and then binding into an around the world memento. 

Part Four Contents
Two Scrapbook Cover Options: Color or Black and White
A Scrapbook Page for each of the 20 countries and 4 holidays Found in our Christmas World Tour Series. These pages are available at two levels.
A Culminating Scrapbook Activity to include in the scrapbook.
An original song adaptation of Let There Be Peace On Earth.


Part One Features:

Germany
Australia
Russia
Denmark
Spain
England
France
Africa
Canada
Greece

Part Two Features:

India
Sweden
United States of America
Bahamas
Peru
Israel
Mexico
China
Italy
Scotland

Part Three Features:
Eid
Kwanzaa
Hanukkah
Diwali

The Virtue of Gratitude and Young Children

Teaching young children the art of gratitude can be difficult, especially when they are naturally egocentric, but nurturing this character trait will certainly pay off. According to Dr. Robert A. Emmons of the University of California, genuine gratitude is the key to living a happy and fulfilling life. Here are a few tips for building gratitude:

Model Gratitude

Openly voice appreciation for the world and those who truly make it a better place. Use words of gratitude to increase appreciative vocabulary. Call attention to the kindness of others and show respect for efforts by using words like "please" and "thank you" in front of your children. Express gratitude for the child and how he/she make your life better.

Show Appreciation

Display genuine appreciation for a child’s efforts for assigned tasks. Never jump in and help them, but rather appreciate their abilities as you let them experience that tasks take effort. As this effort is experienced, appreciation for the efforts of others will evolve.

Be Patient

Allow your child to evolve the virtue of gratitude naturally. Reinforce constantly, and compliment each step along the way. Understand that children's egocentricity is common and natural, and that learning to be grateful is a process.

Create Opportunities

Allow opportunity for children to be generous. Create “Secret Helpers” in the classroom or home. Help your child/children to do small tasks for others in secret, to allow for the experience of watching the joy felt by others.

Don't Focus On Possessions

Remove material things from the gratitude equation. In the days of affordable toys, children generally have many possession they gained without any effort. I would call this lucky. “Wow, aren't you lucky to have such great toys?” But once you tag the need to be grateful for these toys to the equation, the child will not be able to truly discern what grateful is as most toys are gained without effort. Rather, focus on the gratefulness of food, family, love, caring, fun, time, events, fieldtrips, excursions, and other gifts of a non-material nature. Also focus on things of nature such as moisture, sunshine, day, night, stars, etc.

Document Gratitude

Create a classroom or family grateful journal. Assign a different family member or class member to record something he/she appreciates. Read the journal as a group once each week, reflecting on each new entry.

The Three Bears: Kindergarten Thematic Teaching

Bears Anyone?

This week we have been studying the great traditional tale, "The Three Bears."

If you would like to offer your students a wealth of "Three Bear Fun," check out our great Bear Themed products that are filled with cross-curricular learning and aligned to Core Standards!

Quick and Easy Kindergarten Assessments

Thanks to ESGI, the Amazing Online Assessment Essential, orally assessing each of my kindergartners to prepare for our end of trimester report cards have been a snap! Usually I use this assessment on my iPad, and call students over to my teacher table, but because I have had a student teacher, each have been able to come up to teachers computer, quite an exciting event for a 5 year old!

If you haven't signed up for your free 60 day trial! 

Simply go to  https://www.esgisoftware.com click on the orange button!

Please remember to enter promo code B7227, when you find you can't live without it, you will receive $40.00 off the already low price.

And to compliment this great tool, don't forget to check out these "Best-Selling"Assessment Packets! As a bonus, all of these paper assessments are already loaded on ESGI, ready to go!

  

Portfolios: Authentic Assessment

Do you use portfolios? 

A portfolio is a great way to collect and save work throughout the year. It provides parents, teachers, and even students with a tool for assessment. It also serves as a wonderful keepsake of the kindergarten year.

What goes in a portfolio? You can include anything that you consider important. Some suggestions include writing samples, recordings of science experiments, and art or construct projects. Include a variety of other work such as periodic handwriting and math work pages to show the scope of your curriculum. To round out your portfolio, add a few photos. You may even want to include copies of report cards or testing results.

If you haven’t started collecting items for a portfolio this year, it’s still not too late to begin. Start simply, saving one or two selections each month. Collate the pages, punch holes in them, and place in a 3-prong folder. If you save three or more samples each month, you will need a binder for each student.

Students and parents will enjoy looking through the portfolios. They can show growth while preserving memories of the year. For ideas and templates, check out these products:

   

Native American Thanksgiving Fun

Art activity: Native American Children. Instructions can be found in our thanksgiving Unit.

I love teaching my students of the Native American Culture that is represented in my classroom. 

This Thanksgiving unit is strategically linked to the Common Core Standards! It is divided into areas of literature, media, music, art, literacy activities, math activities, worksheets, science activities, creative writing, word wall words, and guided reading. The activities are clearly written, easy to use, and need limited amounts of preparation. 



Literacy Activities:
Hop To It: Identifying Letters and Sounds
Turkey Lurkey: Producing and Generating Rhymes.
Turkey Twist: Kinesthetic Practice With Letter Recognition
Dinner Rush: Naming & Generating Beginning Sounds
Thanksgiving Races: Developing Fluency
Rhyming Worksheet


Math Activities:
Turkey Guesses: Making Estimates
A Feast For All: Counting Objects to Show Physical Representation of Numbers
Thanksgiving Feast: Counting Forward From a Given Number in a Set of 10
The Turkey Dance: Identifying Numbers and Recording Results.
Thanksgiving Parade: Ordering 1-10 Ten Frames
The Turkey Bowl: Comparing Groups of Objects

Songs
Gobble Gobble Gobble
5 Fat Turkeys
I Like Turkey
A Very Fine Turkey


Writing Prompts/Word Wall (Style Choices)
Thanksgiving
I am Thankful For
Thanksgiving Word Wall

Art Projects
Handprint Turkey
Easy Construct Pilgrim
Construct Indians
Tangram Indian
Draw a Turkey

Guided Reading Books
Happy Thanksgiving

Social Studies
Pilgrim Kids: Compare and Contrast Facts

Teaching Students To Give Thanks: Gratitude and Other Important Life Skills

Wondergrove Kids are at it again!

Thanksgiving is coming! Food, fall, and football! It’s a time for families and friends to gather and give thanks. One of my favorite teacher spots,  Wondergrove   has posted five Thanksgiving videos you can share with your class. These videos offer valuable tips to remind your students that Thanksgiving is more than a big meal. It's also a moment to reflect and be thankful. Each video is less than 60 seconds so you can show one a day leading up to the holiday. Check it out here! 

Developmentally Appropriate, Family Friendly Homework

For more than two decades I have sent home monthly homework packets with my students. Why?

1. Because, all parents want the best for their child.
2. Because, parents are partners and deserve to be given the tools to help their child succeed.
3. Because, homework time between parent and child can be a bonding time.
4. Because, homework offers opportunity to develop responsibility, time management, and persistence.
5. Because, homework increases student academics.
6. Because, homework improves study skills.
7. Because, homework enhances parent understanding of classroom academics.
8. Because homework does not have to involve worksheets.
9. Because, homework can be given that is respectful of parent's valuable time.
10. Because, homework can and should be fun!

Following are samples pages from my monthly homework packets. These packets are fun, engaging, flexible and easy to use. Best of all, children love them, they increase academic performance and allow parents to be true partners in their child's education.