I know...I'm a terrible blogger so far this year! I haven't *quite* gotten in the groove of teaching, mommying, and blogging again ;)
However, I do want to share a little of what went down in kindergarten last week. We did a VERY simple farm week. I had grand plans of my granddad bringing the tractor and lots of other big things, but it just didn't happen. I think the kids still learned a lot and had fun!
We started the week by reading some fun farm books. Then, we made a little chart of animals on the farm.

Then the kids sorted animals as to whether they live on a farm or not.

One of my favorite farm stories to read is The Cow Who Clucked. It is so cute and perfect for introducing onomatopoeia! We did a little problem/solution then thought of all the sound words we would hear on the farm.  

We learned all about different farm animals {I even learned a little bit myself!}. First up was cows...we worked together to make a big handprint cow, then did a little shared writing to tell all that we learned about cows. Then the kids make their own cow {thanks to Cara Carroll for the idea - soooo easy!].

We also learned about goats...did you know goats usually have twins?!? We made some little goats {nevermind that they look more like cows/horses}.

We also learned all about pigs. We loved making the handprint cow so much, that we made a handprint pig then did another shared writing activity to add the facts we learned. The kids made their own pig using the template from my 3 Little Pigs pack.

 To go along with pigs we painted with "mud" {aka chocolate pudding}. The kids loved this! Afterwards, we worked together to write a mud poem {I first got this idea from Victoria at KinderKorner}.

In math, we used "5 Little Ducks" to help us learn all about and decompose the number 5. I didn't get a ton of pictures because math is still a lot of management right now, but here's a little peek.

{While we worked with these mats, we were writing equations on our white boards}

{Starting with 5, we do a math stick each week. The beads this week represented the ducks. I LOVE these!!}

I also made up a few new literacy centers and my kids loved them! I can definitely tell this is a group that's going to like themed centers!

All these centers along with lots of graphic organizers and the animal sorting activity can be found in my farm mini pack. 
This week we're learning all about apples and we're having so much fun!!

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Vickie

Whew! Even though we've been in school 4 weeks now, I still feel like I'm living a day or two behind! I always forget how crazy these first months are! We have settled into our routines for the most part, so we're digging in deep in reading and math!
This week, we focused on characters and sequence in reading. We used The Three Little Pigs to help us do this. I don't know why {I guess because I grew up hearing these stories}, but it amazes me how many children don't know classic fairytales! The one benefit though, is that I have a captive audience when I read them! We did lots of activities with the classic version and other versions of the story, but I only got just a few pictures of what we did {you can get these in my 3 little pigs pack}.
We sequenced the pigs and what they used to build their houses.

We compared the wolf from the traditional story with the wolf from The True Story of the Three Little Pigs.

We also very quickly compared the endings of all 3 stories we read {don't judge the chart...sometimes you gotta keep it real and show you didn't have time to make it fancy!}

In math, we focused on the number 4 and rectangles. We used our good friend Pete and his 4 groovy buttons all week to help us decompose, count on, and learn all we could about the number 4!

We also made our number 4 little guys and they turned out great! {these are part of my Nifty Numbers pack}

For rectangles, we sorted shapes and made our rectangle person. My kids look forward to these each week! {These are part of my Shape Up pack}

This week we're moving on to the farm and number 5. Hope you have a great week!

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Vickie

Week 3 is in the books and I feel like things are clicking! I'm not having to repeat morning procedures ten times and the kids are getting adjusted to being in "big" school and not getting a nap everyday! {Those first couple of weeks are rough!}
Since we were learning about the number 3 in math, our team decided to use Goldilocks and the Three Bears in our ELA block {I love teaching thematically!}. I used the traditional version and Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks!

Monday, we read the classic tale as a cold read. I was amazed at how many kids had not heard it! They were super engaged while I was reading! On Tuesday, we read the classic version again and sequenced Goldilocks' day.

On Wednesday and Thursday, we read Believe Me, Goldilocks Rocks and compared it to the original story.

We also made these cute little Baby Bears to hold our Venn diagrams. {and let me say my kids are already rockin' following directions for crafts!}

We also did a little porridge taste test {a.k.a. cream of wheat} and I was shocked at how much my kids liked it! The majority begged for more! 

 We also started workshops this week and I was amazed at how quietly my kids worked and how on task they were! We need lots of practice with the alphabet, so they worked on matching letters {something about having the characters from the story kept them engaged!}

We also worked on tracing letters and letter strokes.

In math, we worked on the number 3 and triangles. We started the week by using the 3 bears and our ten frame to decompose 3. I didn't get to snap a picture of the kids being the bears on the big ten frame, but I did snap one of their individual ten frames and of these cuties with their equations.

We also did these cute activities from my friend Deeanna's pack. It really does make a difference to start making equations and using the addition and equal symbols early on in the year!

We also used the number bond mats from my new number pack to decompose 3. The kids loved using the little bears!

Since we were learning about the number 3, it was also the perfect week to learn about triangles. We learned triangles have 3 sides and 3 vertices and eating the vertices off pita chips really made the concept stick!

We also sorted triangles and cut the pieces to make our triangle guys {which I also didn't get a picture of yet!}. These are part of my Shape Up pack.

All of the ELA activities and the porridge taste test can be found in my newest pack...

This week, we're moving on to number 4, rectangles, squares, and The Three Little Pigs. I'm hoping to get back into a regular blogging routine now that school is starting to settle down! I hope your week is fantastic!

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Vickie