Print Concepts FREEBIE!

Some years you get students who have great understanding of print concepts.  You can tell they have been read to a lot, they understand which way words go across a page and they understand the difference between letters, words and sentences.  But there are those years where your students really need some extra help with print concepts.  I've created this easy to use pocket chart activity that I am hoping will help my kinders that struggle with tracking from left to right.  It's designed for a pocket chart.  Check out the pictures below.

                           
Hope it might be something you can use at the beginning of your year.  Get the freebie here

FREEBIES for K.MD.B.3 standard

We are all moved into our new house- every box is unpacked and everything is put away.  It has been a crazy week and we're dealing now with record heat 118 degrees!  Too hot to go outside, and the boys went to see some zombie movie, so I figured I needed to catch up on some blogging.  I made some games to go with K.MD.B.3 standard- Classify objects into given categories; count the numbers of objects in each category and sort the categories by count. 
Here are some pictures of the activities. 

This activity is designed for a pocket chart.  Students put the headers at the top of the pocket chart and then draw cards and place them in the correct category- same or almost the same. Same or Almost the Same

This activity is designed for partners. In this activity, a student chooses two cards.  Then he looks at the cards and determines what is the same (if anything) and what is different about the cards.  He shares his observation with a partner, and play continues.  Same or Different

Hope these are things you might be able to use when you are teaching K.MD.B.3 standard!

We're moving today!

We're moving into a new house today!  We sold our house in March and had to move into an apartment for 4 months while the new house was being built!  It's done and ready!  We get our keys today and begin the move from apartment and mini-storage into the new house.  Think cool thoughts as we move in 107 degree heat this weekend...  To celebrate, I'm having a sale at TpT.  Everything is 20% off.  Stop over and see if there's anything you like. Kinder Karla's TpT Store

Shapes and Positional Word Bump [FREEBIE}

Do you know the game Bump?  It's been around forever in one variation or another.  Well, here's one to practice positional words and 2D and 3D shapes.  You just print the spinner boards and game boards for every 2 students.  Gather a paper clip, a pencil and about 20 linking cubes (10 of two different colors) and you are ready to play.  It's my last shape unit activity I am making (getting bored with shapes- need to move on to something else) and it's a FREEBIE!!! Check out some pictures here and then head to my store to download it. 

More Shape and Geometry Stuff

Still hard at work on Positional Words and Shape stuff... only a couple of more ideas to share!
The first is a Shared Reading Book and Emergent Reader for shapes- one for 2D shapes and one for 3D shapes.  Here are some pictures and here the link to the product.

 

The other thing I've been working on is a positional word test for my kinders.  Here are some pictures of that as well as the link. It has 2 picture cards that can be used as individual assessments and 1 performance task you can use whole group.

 

Chapter 1: Teach Like a Pirate

I am linking up with a bunch of other bloggers to talk about the book Teach Like a Pirate by Dave Burgess.

http://rowdyinfirstgrade.blogspot.com/

Normally, I try to stay away from books like this because I think they are someone's gimmicky way to make money and probably don't have a lot of depth. So, with that being said, I couldn't help myself.  The title got to me!  I want to know why I should teach like a pirate.  So, I downloaded the Kindle version on my ipad today and read chapter one.  I can't say I am convinced yet, but it was an easy read and made me think.

Content Passion
It's really funny because I've gone through phases in my 20 year teaching career.  There were years where science and social studies was a passion of mine.  I was teaching the older grades where I could really go in depth in fun topics like motion and ancient Egypt.  Then, there were years where reading was my passion.  I loved doing literature circles and book clubs with my kids and really enjoyed the conversations we had about characters. Then I had my math years when I was deep in my learning about cognitively guided instruction and students' mathematical thinking and math was the best time of day.  And, I think I've always loved teaching writing!  Right now, as I enter my 3rd year straight of teaching Kindergarten I think I am back into my math passion.  I love teaching math- I love word problems and getting students talking about how they solved the problem and what strategies they used.  I love the A-ha moments the littles have when they finally figure out a math concept and can't wait to show off their new understanding.

Professional Passion
I love curriculum!  I love designing lessons, creating activities and sharing them with anyone who will listen to me!  My teammate always tells me that I should go work at district office writing curriculum maps and designing grade level curriculum- and that would be a dream job for me!

Personal Passion
My family would be my personal passion! I love spending time with them.  I love doing things with my 10 year old son and enjoy learning about the things that interest him.   


Guided Math is hosting this week's chapter so head over there and check out other people's thoughts.

Check back next week for Chapter 2.

Teaching Shapes Unit

It is at summer time that I feel the most ADD.  I seem to bounce from one idea to another, get obsessed with something and work on it for a while and then, either finish it or leave it for awhile and bounce to another topic.... See what I mean??
We teach shapes as our first math unit when we come back to school, so that topic has been on my mind.  I've got three or four different shape projects in the works, but here's my latest freebie.  It is a quick assessment for 2D and 3D shapes. Nothing super fancy or earth-shattering, but hopefully this will work!  Here's the TpT link.  Hope it's something you might be able to use too!