Scissor Practice Made Simple!

So here is a simple activity we are doing with our ELL's tomorrow to allow them to have more practice with scissors. We have a rigorous curriculum to teach and need to get as much accomplished as the kids can handle.
Our children need to work with scissors and just cut straight lines under supervision. We want our students to be able to identify these school supplies and use the linguistic pattern you see here. This will help to build their fluency. For the beginner, labeling the object is a starting place. The other pattern that goes with this is "_______ are in my my backpack." Pick and choose what will be useful for your students.I like running the backpack on colored paper and having the kids just color the school supplies. It looks cute to run them on a variety of colors and to make this an easy board for the beginning of the year. We have 31 kids and this really makes it challenging to come up with easy projects they can do with some independence. I will try to post this later if you want it! Have a great day of teaching. 
Thanks for your patience today. I post early in the morning and now I can give you that freebie just because you are my friends. Grab it and use it with your little ones tomorrow. These graphics are done by my friend Makda and naturally they are fabulous.You can leave her a comment right here if you LOVE them cause I love her!

The Rules of School

We have just started back to school and are going over behaviors and procedures with our new classes. Most of our little ones have never been to school and are in a state of shock. Therefore, it is really important to go over expectations to build community and so children can understand what you want them to do. I am a big believer in taking pictures to anchor their understanding since many of our students are ELL's. It is difficult to know their language level when they first come into the room so this is an effective way to communicate. It is nothing new, just a reminder that in kindergarten I think super simple is best. Pick and choose what you want to hammer on!

Shape Up Please!

I made this little book for my grade level to use next week to review shapes. I am hoping this is a review but we can also practice concepts of print. The new sight words are here and is and I am providing addition practice with the word the. The little books are a big hit in the room and I have the kids highlight the sight words with their yellow crayon to keep them engaged. I love when one little book covers many different standards. Now I need a Big Book to match this. Do you want a copy? Grab it and shape up! These graphics were designed by www.djinkers.com and can be purchased.

The Name Game

Most kindergarten teachers start the year off working on letter recognition. Often our students come with limited knowledge so we start with their name, like so many others who work with young children. Here is a sample of how I make mine. The photo goes in the left corner of the card and then I type in the student's name. The vowels are in red and we will work on these special helping letters a bit later. You know the drill but for those of you who may not here are a few simple activities you can do:
1. Have students identify the first letter of their name
2. Sort students who have the same first letter
3. Have students count the letters in their name
4. Clap out the syllables in each student's name and sort them this way
5. Build community by having entire class identify the student on the card
6. Put all the names together on a ring so students can use the names of their friends in their writing.
7. Sort boys and girls in a pocket chart
8. Have students take their name card to their seat when they are ready to practice writing their name

Why put the photo on the card? Many children in our program cannot recognize their name and need this scaffold to feel successful.

Later we give them cards with just their name and the photograph on the back. Obviously this is much more challenging for them.

Tell me what activities you like to do with their name.

All Little Books Need A Mommy Version

I am getting ready for our new students and my partner loves this emergent reader. Yesterday she asked me to make it a big book to use with the children before handing them an emergent reader. Smart lady! So I had very little time and this is my quick and easy version for the children to use for practice. Maybe we will build the labels in a pocket chart the next day. Not bad for an easy peasy book. How do you make yours?

All you need to do:
1. Enlarge your images on the computer or a copier
2. You can print them in color or do them in black outline and fill in
3. Bump up your text and use a thick font so the kids have good visibility
4. Separate the words with a few spaces so young children "see" the spaces between words.
5. Frame the text so they can make a connection between the words and the picture
6. Count the words to build concepts of print
These graphics are from DJInkers and from Scrappin Doodles. All I did was purchase them and enlarge them for my classroom.

My Students Flip Over These Books

My kids love these little flip books and they are easy to make and can be used for lots of concepts. This one is for matching sight words, one is lower case and they have to find the matching uppercase partner. I usually provide a recording sheet with this to make it a bit more interactive and to hold them accountable. However,you can have different expectations for different times of the year.

I am selling this in my TpT store for only $2.00! If you are interested in purchasing it you can grab it here.
There are twenty sight words presented and this packet is 22 pages. I hope you like it.

Those Beginning Days of School...

School starts next week and this is a standard activity in my classroom that I open up with. I try not to get a little crazy when I see the results. We have many kids that cannot write their name at all or proudly show it to me in all caps (you know exactly what I am talking about) and I spend lots of time undoing that. Their drawings can give you a ton of information about their developmental stage and often the little girl with cute ponytails and a zigzag part has been to preschool and her person will have clothes, facial details like eye lashes and lots of details. So lets see how they look this year... Save these to show the kids at the end of the year. Some of them are horrified by their poor fine motor and it is cute to watch their faces!

A Cat With A Positive Attitude

At the beginning of the year it needs to be simple and just plain fun for kinders when they first come to school. These can be folded ahead of time and a label can be used for each student's name. My kids might like taking this home with their Pete headband on . I will have to have my camera ready to go! This book is available right here. let me know how your class likes it!

I know that many of you liked these name tags or told me some great ways you are using them in your classroom. So many of you are so creative. So, if you need a set and cannot stand the thought of making them,
I took the names off of mine and want you to have a set to start the year. If you already have name tags you can use them for sight words, letters, numbers, whatever. Click here.

Please don't eat your name tag!

Are you still using name tags with soft yarn? I did this for years until I figured out this system. These badge holders are super expensive in office supply stores but not in Walmart. You can use them year after year and when I have a sub I leave these for her to use. Easy-peasy tags that the kids love to wear. I put them in a pocket chart outside on the first day so the parent can help their child. I also make an extra set of cards with icons in case a new child comes and I need to write in their name quickly. I keep extra badge holders on hand. When students are wearing these we can play name games easily. So, if your kinders tend to eat their name tag or twist it around their neck until they turn blue, this might be your solution! Try it!