Lincoln is so Stinkin' Cute

My students have loved reading these 2 emergent readers about Lincoln and Washington. They are right at their level and they feel so proud and successful. I have them in my TpT store for just a couple of dollars... no big deal. We read many different stories and compared and contrasted him to Martin Luther King. Their understandings were amazing.

We guided them through these drawings, first on a white board and talked about Lincoln's tall hat and how he stored important papers in it. They were fascinated by his ability to teach himself how to read and we also talked about how he persevered (our unit of study) and set goals for himself. Whew, that's a lot for a 5 year old to take in but they really loved hearing all the non fiction stories. I swear a 5 year old can make a connection to almost anything you throw at them! 

How adorable are these. We hung these in our window and it looks precious from the outside. Both classes are there and I love watching our students proudly show their parents which one they did. My administrator laughed so hard she almost choked! Try this with your kids.

So naturally our sight word practice was using Abraham Lincoln and this time we hid a penny behind one of the cards. My kids do not get tired of this activity and thought the penny was so much fun to find. This is a great way to build sight word fluency with young children. We chanted, "Abraham Lincoln was his name. He wanted men to be the same." Okay, don't judge. This was not my best...

The Ikea frames come in red, white and blue so I took advantage of this and did the teen numbers in ten frames for my students to practice and do with a partner. They adored this activity and it really keeps them engaged. They picked up the frame, brought it to their seat and each student counted and recorded their response after they both agreed on the answer. I love these frames and use them all the time! 

Where did that 4 day weekend go? I am preparing for a conference and trying to finish up my PowerPoint. I will tell you more about that later. Come back to find out who I am presenting with. She is such a superstar in the blogging world!

Have a great week friends.

Meet the Presidents: Kindergarten Kids Love Non Fiction!

I love teaching about the presidents in celebration of their birthdays in February. My partner was born on Lincoln's birthday and I was born on Washington's. Yup, I swear this is the truth! The kids get such a kick out of this and we love teaching about these two important leaders. This books have been some of my best sellers because their is so little informational text out there that young children can actually read! Much of what is available is too complex for young learners. However, I do have a few favorites you might want to check out. I am a big fan of the scholastic series My First Biography. They have a limited number of books but my guess is more will come. Common Core requires that we read more non fiction to our students 

and I think they need readers that reflect this shift. If these readers appeal to you they can be purchased here and here. I provided a colored version for the teacher to present and a black and white version for your students. The dots are under the text to help children with tracking. What are some of your favorite activities to do to celebrate these holidays? We make a tall hat for Lincoln with a shiny penny glued to the front that  the kids get to clean themselves. This is a big hit with the boys! For Washington we make a red, white and blue three cornered hat with a feather (Michaels purchase) with a fake quarter in the center. This is a great time to talk about money with your students and do some probability work, flipping a coin to determine heads or tails. Students have a blast with this. So take some time out of your busy day to expose your students to biographies that they will enjoy.