Five for Friday...so glad it's Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching this week to share my Five for Friday.  Life has been busy and wonderful around here and I couldn't think of a better way to share all the latest!

1.  Last weekend the hubs and I went to my beloved alma mater for a basketball game. I realize I'm a bit biased, but I truly don't believe there are many places better than Allen Fieldhouse on game day.  Right before the game started and we headed to our seats, big Jay walked right up to me to pose for a picture... and who's going to turn that big guy down?  We had a fantastic time and, of course, a big KU victory at home!

2.  Speaking of Kansas... Kansas Day is coming up on January 29th, so we have been working on Kansas symbols in Kindergarten.

My mind was blown last year when a new co-worker moved in from out of state and informed me that not all states go crazy over their birthdays the way Kansas does, but, well, that's just how we do it around here!   Probably one of the cutest conversations I heard this week went like this:

Me: Ok kiddos, who remembers our state bird? (and, of course, several shout out)

Student 1: Bald Eagle!
Student 2: The Jayhawk! (clearly earning extra credit)
Student 3: Hummingbird!
Student 4:  (scrunching up face and thinking really hard) I know it starts with M... um... Mummingbird?

I was just tickled!  He was trying so hard to remember!  FYI, the correct answer is Meadowlark.  You know, in case you ever find yourself on a game show about to win a ton of money and they throw a little Kansas trivia your way.  Just don't forget to share the winnings!

3.  The weather in good ol' Kansas is finally starting to warm up to above freezing temperatures, but we have had our fair share of snow lately (which also means our fair share of indoor recesses).  Rather than hate it, we embraced it in sweet room sixteen!  Snowmen are everywhere!

Inspired by the wonderful and talented Cara Carroll, we did two snowmen crafts this week.

After reading the book Snowmen at Night by Carolyn Buehner, the kiddos began brainstorming what the would do if they were snowmen alive at night to do whatever they wanted.  Their responses were precious!  These were two of my favorites:

Read 100 books

Go to the wedding dance

I made my own number stories to go along with our math lessons this week (see Five for Friday #4) and was very pleased at how the students were able to solve the problems independently.  I think they are truly grasping how to make ten!  If you'd like a copy of your own, click the here for a free download!

4.  We hit a milestone this week in math:  Making 10.  We have been working on understanding addition and number sentences lately, so this week we had some fun with all the different ways we can make ten.

Inspired by A Cupcake for the Teacher, I helped the students see all the different ways to make ten with our Rainbow to 10 anchor chart.  I don't know if it was all the colors or the fact I busted out the smelly markers, but my students loved this chart!  Luckily for me, A Cupcake for the Teacher also posted a freebie for the little ones to make their own Rainbow to 10 to keep.  I had them leave it in their work folders this week to refer back to in different lessons, but sometimes I find my little learners just admiring their math masterpiece!

We just couldn't quite leave our sweet snowmen out of math this week, so we made these awesome ten frame books by The 2 Teaching Divas.

5.  As wonderful as this past week was, I think I saved the best for last.

I can barely type this I'm so excited.

Remember my inspiration for my snowmen craftivities (and a gazillion other lessons I've taught throughout my career)?

I get to meet her!

My principal approved my request to attend the SDE Conference for Kansas Kindergarten Teachers and Cara Carroll from The First Grade Parade is presenting!  I'm beyond elated to get even more ideas from her!  

How was your week?  I'd love to know!  

Have a wonderful and amazing weekend!

-Liz

January Fun and a Freebie for YOU!

If we must go back to school, I insist we go back with new Teachers Pay Teachers resources.  I insist!

If by chance you're still looking for new ideas to get you excited about the return to school, check out my new product on Teachers Pay Teachers!  Switching from first grade to Kindergarten this year has given me a unique opportunity to basically start over in my literacy centers and small groups.  I've had a blast creating new resources for my students that I can make specifically to fit their needs.  I can't wait to share the new centers with them this week!

Over 80 pages of goodies for you to share with your Kinders!  

The first activity is all about sight words.  We use Scott Foresman/Reading Street at my school, so I made sure to include some new words and review words for January based upon our reading series.  

There are two types of activities to practice sight words in this resource.  Sixteen sight words are presented over four different Sight Word Spinner activities, and then each of those words has its own Find-and-Color Sight word worksheet.  I personally like to laminate spinner activities for my kiddos.   It allows for me to cut back on paper and ink and lets them do the activity over and over... and they love using the dry erase markers.  It's a win-win!

Mitten Match is a good way to review after break, or to reinforce letter recognition for those little ones that don't quite have the confidence yet.  Students sort and match the mittens with uppercase and lowercase letters.  Included are two worksheets to practice supplying the missing uppercase or lowercase letters.

Snowball Sounds actually has two different activities, basically because I couldn't decide exactly which I liked best.  The first sort is with the entire alphabet, so students are to match the beginning sound to each letter with a letter snowball card and picture snowball card for all 26 letters.  After I made that, I started thinking about how some of my little learners still need the extra practice with just a few letters at a time.  I then created two different sorts, one for the letters Dd and Kk and one for the letters Ff and Rr.  Same concept of matching up the beginning sound with the correct letter, but this time focusing on two letters at a time!  The D, K, F, and R letter sorts also include a cut and paste worksheet for extra practice.

Winter Word Puzzles focus on building words through onset and rime.  Teachers laminate and cut apart the puzzle pieces and students then build words using the picture with the rime cards as a clue.  This center includes a recording sheet so you can monitor their word building.  I also included two cut and paste printables that can be used as a follow-up for the center or just for extra practice any time the students need it!

My kiddos this year LOVE clapping out syllables, so I had to make sure there was a syllable sort in this packet.  This activity includes snowflake cards and a sorting mat where students will decide if the word has one or two syllables.  I've also included a Snowy Syllable worksheet for extra practice.

Finally my literacy centers wrap up with Snowflake Sentence Scramblers.  This resources consists of seven different sentence scramblers where students unscramble the words to make a complete sentence, use their very best handwriting to copy the sentence, and then illustrate what the sentence says.   All sentence scramblers use sight words and really help my kiddos remember a sentence always starts with a capital letter and ends with punctuation.  I know I'll be using these to ease back into our Writer's Workshops after a long break!

As a freebie for those of you who have so kindly visited my blog, I'm sharing the first unit of Snowy Sight Words!  This includes the spinner mat and four find-and-color worksheets.   Click the picture below to download your free copies.  I'd love any feedback or for new followers on the blog and my TPT Store!  And don't forget, if you like this freebie there is plenty more in my Kindergarten January Literacy Centers Packet!

Thanks so much for sharing in my excitement over new centers!  It's the little things, right? :)

-Liz

Farewell, Winter Break

Seriously.

How is break already over?  I'm excited to go back to school and see my Kinderbabies, but wowzer!  Time goes so fast when I'm sitting on the couch watching Netflix! ;)

I hope all of my teacher readers had a great time off!  I know I sure did!  Since I not only took a break from school but also accidentally took a break from the blog, here are a few snippets of what I've been up to to catch you up to speed:

For whatever reason, my husband and I got into a card game phase at the beginning of break.  We barely watched any tv (or did laundry...oops) whenever we were home because we were constantly playing Skip-Bo or Phase 10!  It was fun to relax enough to feel like we had time for a game.  And yes, I won most games. :)

 Christmas pictures are a must in our family.  We took a couple of selfies, but once my mom was involved she insisted on taking a picture of her "kids" in front of the tree.  For as old as I feel some days, I won't complain when mom insists on little things like this!

My husband, me, and my "little" brother on Christmas morning.

Coffee seemed to be a big theme over break.  As soon as Christmas was over, I snagged eight (yes, 8) bags of Starbucks Christmas blend on sale for 75% off the original price!  I'd like to say this will last us until next year, but we all know that isn't true.

My husband and I also discovered a new date night idea where we live.  This new dessert spot uses liquid nitrogen to fuse together coffee and homemade ice cream.  It was delicious! 

Unlike me, who enjoyed over two weeks of break, my husband eventually ran out of his vacation time and was back to work.  So often during the school year I find it hard to sit down and watch the news, which is also the hubby's job.  It was so refreshing to watch him do his job so well!  I'm always proud of him, but seeing him in action reminded me of how talented he is!  Also... isn't he so handsome? :)


Finally, we wrapped up 2014 by having a wonderful dinner out with family.  We had such a wonderful year last year - a beautiful wedding, incredible honeymoon to Jamaica, a new house, a new job, and so many amazing memories.  I cannot wait to see what 2015 will bring!



If you're also excited about what 2015 will bring, check back on the blog tomorrow for my new January Literacy Centers aaaaand... a freebie as a preview of my latest creation just for you!

-Liz