Please Label Your Parts... A Lima Bean Pictorial and Cut and Paste Freebie!

As you move along during your Plant Unit your beans will begin to grow and once they start sprouting leaves I like to create a pictorial (GLAD strategy ) in front of my students so we can talk about the parts of the plant and what it needs to grow.Use large chart paper for this. Remember to just outline your picture in light pencil so you can draw it with marker or crayons while the students are watching and you are talking and confirming their knowledge of  each part. Add the details of the picture by asking questions such as, "What does our bean need so it will grow?" and you can even invite students up to add rain, sun, soil, etc. This will keep them more engaged as you are working on the pictorial. Some teachers allow students to color the pictorial later but often I just fill in the color with scrapbooking chalk which fills it with color quickly and effectively. I love the soft look of this. Be sure to label the parts to build academic vocabulary and review this daily, adding on as you see fit.
At this time I often hand out white boards and markers and do a guided drawing of this with the children. Sometimes I will do it the following day as a review.
The follow up to this is a cut and paste that the children do independently after we have gone over the parts of the lima bean plant numerous times. They have to follow the key on the right to color it properly and this is  ideal for reviewing color words. Have you "bean" growing lima beans in your room? I hope so! Would you like this little cut and paste? Click here but please remember to leave a comment and share your planting ideas. Thanks so much.

Are You Full of Beans In Kindergarten? Grab this freebie!

Now that California teachers are implementing the Common Core our perspective has shifted and we are making certain strategies a part of our daily teaching. Many kindergarten teachers love to grow lima beans in baggies or in soil but now we want our students to record their observations (through drawings, labels, and writing) and to document this on a daily basis. This is a flip book that is generic since the students write in the day on the front. In my classroom I might start them off with guided drawing and label the parts as a group but this would be easy to differentiate depending on the skills of your children. Some teachers choose to plant their bean in soil (just one) and the entire class observes the same plant. You have lots of choices with this but I thought this little log would be useful for you. It is 2 pages and you run it back to back so students know where to put their drawing each day.

I worked with a team of wonderful,primary teachers on a unit of study for our district that reflects the CCSS and created this log for our district teachers to use. I hope they find it useful. Click on the picture to grab this item for your classroom. Be sure to check out the Greenhouse freebie posted too! I love comments if you can spare the time. Have a great Sunday friends.

Fran

"Bean There, Done That" Freebie You Will Love

Be sure to tape your baggie to the back of the greenhouse. It fits perfectly in the window opening that you have cut out. 

This was so much fun to do with our kindergarten students and they are having a blast watching these grow in their personal greenhouse. They look precious hanging up in the windows at our school. Be sure to soak your beans overnight to get fast germination and great results. Remember that 5 year olds have no patience to wait. We even looked at the baby inside of a bean after soaking it overnight and the children were fascinated with this science activity. I promise that you cannot kill these if you follow these directions and they get plenty of sun. Everyone has a green thumb in kindergarten! Now go try this. You can grab my little house here but please leave a comment and become a follower. What do you think of this?

What's Blooming In My Store?

I finally finished this packet but it was so huge that I split it up into two parts. Seriously. This has every trick in the book that I have learned to motivate students to work on blending cvc words.The theme is Spring even if it is still snowing where you live! April is here and this is when  I would go into panic mode over what my students couldn't do. Do you get crazy too? I am not interested in first grade teachers storming into my room wondering what I did all year. Right? You can relate to this. So I work on this skill with nutty intensity. It shows up all over the room, in the morning message, and even on the yard when the kids are "trying" to have some recess fun. I have been known to drag out sidewalk chalk to spell out words on the blacktop but the custodian ends up hating me! Oh well. A teacher has to do what it takes. 
These packets introduce just 25 CVC words and students practice using them through games, activities, and literacy stations. The second packet allows students to practice these words through cutting and pasting 
( hello- some have not mastered this even in April) and I even sneak in some letter writing practice known as handwriting. Can you imagine? Check these out if you are a desperate kindergarten teacher, an intervention teacher (aren't we all) or a Special Education teacher. It might help your students learn these important CCSS Foundational Skills and your principal will realize that you are truly  a super hero.
Click on each flower to plant those seeds of knowledge

 

A Deal Breaker In Kindergarten: My Newest Packet

I was recently in a meeting with a district administrator and she asked me what I considered to be crucial skills  for students to have before moving on to first grade. For once, I paused and gave this some careful thought since I think all of us are faced with this issue as we approach the end of the year. First, I look at a child's social and emotional development and that truly guides my thinking. With that being said, I really am concerned if a child cannot blend sounds to make words. This is a real deal breaker in my head because students who struggle with this skill often become overwhelmed the following year. Our first grade program moves at a crazy speed and these kiddos are not ready for the pace or the demands being placed on them. Administrators fight us on this but kindergarten teachers get to know their students quite well and often have well thought out reasons for wanting a student to spend another year in their classroom. Retention has become a dirty word! Right? The child who only recognizes a few letters or only knows a few sounds will obviously have a difficult time but not being able to decode simple cvc words makes reading laborious and difficult. It makes building fluency almost impossible. What do you think?

At this time of year I use every trick in the book to teach my students how to blend sounds to make words and decode simple cvc words. This packet is filled with activities that I have had great success with. It is filled with books that students make, cut and paste work, cvc word searches, literacy stations that are taught in a small group setting, games and much more. I only work on these skills with 25 words, five from each vowel group (a, e, i, o, and u). This builds student confidence and has been highly effective in my classroom.

I am almost finished. My husband is my official editor but he is out playing softball so keep your eye on this and I will let you know when it is in my store. I hope this makes a difference for you. The theme is Growing Flowers. Let the games begin!

What Is Blooming In My Store For Springtime?

Spring is in full bloom in Southern California and I have some packets that might help you as you head for the end of the year. This is now the home stretch and it might help to have some Common Core work for your kids to use that reflect the skills they should be acquiring as the year closes. These are some of my favorites that might work for you.
1. Farm Fresh Fun (Math and Literacy Stations with a great emergent reader for position words)
2. What Is On A Farm?
3. Eat Your Fruits and Veggies (This has an emergent reader done in the form of riddles)
4. What Can I Do At The Beach? ( Students write sight words in this reader and sponge paint the sky) This also has a teacher version. I think this is adorable for the end of the year!
If you think these might make your life easier, click on each title to fly over to my TpT store. Happy Spring!
Fran

Blow-Out Blog Brouhaha... Never Miss This Event

How do I talk about this event without gushing? If you live anywhere within 100 miles of these meet-ups, it is well worth the effort to attend. I am not even kidding. First of all, you get to meet me. Why is that such a big thrill? I am the oldest of all of you and started teaching before many of you were born. Don't even think about arguing with me about that.  Remember that I am super bossy! 
The event was held at Red Robin ( okay Fran might have taken that up a notch but you know how old people like to complain) by two of the cutest women I have ever met. Kate from Second Grade Sparkle and Katie from Teacher to the Core. I loved both of them within seconds of meeting them. They did an amazing job of organizing this blow out party and a ton of bloggers came. There were no random, creepy people that showed up which was a real relief! Stop laughing. They have been known to just join the group. Okay I digress. The party planners, who clearly understand that we are all like first graders, had precious name tags for us and goodie bags (big shout out to Wendy for all the books). Christy and Tammy from Fluttering Through First Grade brought the cutest pads in the world and we loved them so much. Heidi, yes our Heidi is from Southern Cal. dropped a billion of our DVD's on the table for teachers to have. I knew that would make you jealous. Anyway, we talked and talked and resented when the waitress interrupted  us to take our order. The nerve of her! What did we talk about... everything you can imagine! Traci from Dragonflies in First sat next to me and needs to be my friend forever. She is so talented and smart  and I just love her personality. We chatted like old friends. She has created an amazing planner that you need to purchase if you haven't done so already. You have one? Check hers out cause it is brilliantly designed. Yours can't be as good... just sayin'  Do you know Christy and Tammy? Christy sat next to me and she is hilarious and I got to hear all about her partnership with Tammy. These two ladies are just the smartest and best out there. They have the best of both worlds as part time teachers, bloggers, and moms. Check out their packets because you will be so impressed. My Annie ( I love her so much) was across from me (Annie Moffatt) and it is always so much fun to be with her. Annie is a mom who is home schooling her children and is always working to stay ahead of the curve in education. She has new ice cream scoop packets that are adorable so you need to look at these. Your students will find them a real treat! She is truly talented. Hadar (Miss Kindergarten)  was at the other end of the table but we finally got to chat for a bit and I also spent a little time with Michelle from Apples and ABC's. It was so much fun to catch up with these gorgeous ladies and Layla, from Fancy Free in Fourth is expecting her second child. We took the cutest picture together with her "bump". Layla was the only upper grade teacher in the bunch but if you know teachers who need Common Core packets that are well designed, she is your person. 
Heidi (our celebrity) also came to this gala event and generously brought a ton of her stuff for teachers to have. We loved her for doing this. Okay I hear you yawning so I will bring this to a close. It was one of the best days ever! 
These events are so important to me. Why? They make me realize the power of the internet and how blogging has changed my life. I have met warm, wonderful teachers who have changed my world, one kid at a time. I love you guys and I am counting the days until we meet again. 
I know I left out a ton of people but others will have done a better job. Back to my Common Core assignment... I swear I need to stop jabbering about this day!
Fran

Do Not Get Jealous But We Are Meeting Up Again!

I cannot believe how lucky I am to be included in the Southern California meet-up that is happening this weekend. I cannot wait to see some BFF's from other occasions and meet some new faces. These events are always a crazy amount of fun and I am always so amazed by all the teacher talent at the table.Usually I think I will be gone for just a few hours but this ends up being an all day event where we hate saying good-bye to each other. How is it that we all feel so connected to each other? We just do! When we met in Irvine we stayed in the restaurant most of the day and you could hear us all over the mall shrieking with laughter. I am counting the hours until the next party and I hope all of you So. Cal bloggers have this on your calendar. 

A big shout-out goes to the party planners who set this up,Kate at Second Grade Sparkle and Katie at Teacher to the Core. I will have pictures and lots to talk about after this event so please check back with me... OMG you must be so jealous. I wish this included all of you.

Love, Fran 

I "Sort Of" Love Jelly Beans So Have This Freebie

Who loves jelly beans? Do I hear "me, me, and me"? I did a training on the Common Core and filled plastic eggs with jelly beans. I used the Sweet Tart version and the teachers loved them! We played a game reviewing text complexity which was a blast but I ended up with a ton of jelly beans and did not want to eat one more. What's a teacher to do? I decided to make this little sort for my kindergarten friends to use. 
How this works:
Fill up small plastic eggs with a bunch of jelly beans (all different colors)
Do one for each student in your room.
Run off this sorting mat and graph for them to use.
Each student opens up his egg and sorts the jelly beans provided.
Once the sort has been completed the number is recorded on the right side of the frame.
Now you can model for them how to record the answers on the right side of the graph and color in each section, with the appropriate color.
Common Core wants our kids to be able to collect and record data but did anyone say it couldn't be fun?
Have a belly full of jelly beans! Click on the picture if you want this activity!
Fran

No More Simple Readers... Meet the Challenge!

I hope you have been adding some sparkle to your reading program and now is the time to step it up and bit.

March is here and the year is sliding by. Is it just me or did this happen quick as a snap? Here are some readers that can be used with any program to enhance your small and large group instruction. 

So as I move around my district as a Common Core teacher I have been in many kindergarten classrooms asking them what emergent readers they would like to have. These are four new Sparkle Readers I have created just for them. I have a balance of fiction and non fiction so that our children are building crucial academic vocabulary and knowledge which is age appropriate. These can be found in my TpT store and have sentence builders to go in the pocket chart. Each book has a sentence with a focus on "I like" and then a second one with a repetitive piece. There are a variety of activities provided to keep your students engaged such as word writing, counting by 10's, cut and paste, and working with transition words. Why do I have two lines? Common Core tells us that our children need to build stamina and be challenged! I am taking it up a notch and with repetitive text my ELL's will work on wrapping around which is crucial for first grade. It is March and I need to get them on the path to becoming first graders! No more little foldables... on to the real work of learning to read. Dots are provided to help children track these words as they sweep around the text. Are you up for the challenge? Check them out here!