Being Thankful!

Hi, it is Jane checking in once again.  As I Canadian, I recently celebrated Thanksgiving and I thought I would share a bulletin board idea that you might like to make in the upcoming weeks.  We wanted a school wide display for all 800 of our grade five to nine students to be a part of.  I made different templates with the writing stem "I am thankful for" and  students had to finish the sentence and illustrate their statements.  Once they were all complete, I made a large "Be Thankful" sign using black poster board.  My class helped to place all the statements around the sign in the main hall of our school.  It was a simple display yet a powerful one.  

I would love to pass through the hall and see students gathered looking at and reading the different things students were thankful for.  You can get the free templates here if you would like to give it a try at your school.

Be Thankful Bulletin Board

This upcoming week in our Canadian schools we will be thanking and honouring the soldiers past and present on November 11, which is our Remembrance Day.  Every year I like to spend the week completing various activities related to this special day.  One of my favourite books to read is A Poppy Is To Remember.

After we complete this book I also have my students do a water colour painting.  All you need is painter's tape and blue and green paint.  I got the idea from searching the internet for an art project a couple of year ago.  You can see the original post here.  It explains how to complete the painting step by step.  My students are always so proud of their finished product and they look wonderful on display.

The finished product!

I  hope you find these two bulletin boards helpful in the upcoming weeks!

End the Year with a Bang!

Are your kids getting antsy? Are you tired of lesson planning? Do you have a countdown started already?  Here are a few ideas to end the school year with some fun! 

We have 2 countdown bulletin boards in our room. :) I put this flower bulletin board in my classroom titled "Blooming 1st Graders". I have 23 students, so we started our countdown at 23 days and are removing 1 flower at a time. My favorite countdown bulletin board "Popping Into 1st Grade" is outside my classroom so the whole school can countdown the days together. Each balloon has a simple activity in it that my class gets to do each day after we pop the balloon. This is of course if they can have good behavior til the end of school. If not, then we don't do that activity for the day :) Examples of activities include: read to another class, crazy craft day, shoes off for the day, write with markers, etc. 

Want a free copies of the activities to put in balloons and a cute little clown to blow up for your board? Click here to grab these FREE "Popping Into ___ Grade" bulletin board activities.

                     

 

As soon as it starts to get nice outside, which was very late April for Indiana this year, I like to get the kids outdoors more. We have reading time outside, sidewalk chalk writing, nature walks and observations, and do a variety of math activities.  I also put some of their favorite center games from the year back into their literacy center tubs.  My kids are aware that to do to these special learning activities, they must continue to make good choices each day. 

Here a few fun educational activities I do:

• Shaving cream writing (put a blob of shaving cream on their desk and let them write words)
• Sidewalk chalk (write down numbers, words, letters, etc. and have them try to throw a bean bag on whatever you say)
• Heads up 7up (have to read a sight words before they guess who picked them)
• Ping Pong Basketball Relay Race (2 kids run and grab a ping pong ball, read the word, then try to make it into the bucket, tag the next player) 
• Write "Summer Bucket Lists" 
• Make memory or autograph books
• Bowling (work on subtraction)
• Go Fish (divide class into smaller groups) 
• my class LOVES go fish so much that I made this sight word version

A few of my favorite activities that aren't educational :)

• End of the year pictures to send home
• Drip, Drip, Drop (like Duck, Duck, Goose but with water. Kids drip on kids until they want to tag someone, then they squeeze a bit more water on them and then run away!)

I hope that you have gotten a few ideas to make the end of your school year fun, while maintaining good behavior and an excitement to learn. 

        

Focus on Learning

Hi, I'm Linda from Kinder Doodles.  I am so excited to be a part of this new blogging adventure.  There will be a new post every day ~ please become a follower so you don't miss a thing!

Several years ago our corporation started requiring teachers to post learning objectives in "kid friendly" terms.  Well, I teach kindergarten and felt puzzled ~ how can I post learning objectives that were not only kid friendly, but were something that my little students could use?  After some thought, I decided to transform my large "teaching" bulletin board to an interactive "Focus Wall."  The result not only was met with my principal's approval, but has become a focal point of learning for my students.

Before ~ My bulletin board did include some learning objective type materials on the blue section.   But there was a lot of "non objective" things, too ~ three pocket charts with names for stations, etc., the large birthday chart, and dogs. 

After ~ To create a visually appealing and cohesive look, I covered all three bulletin boards with blue fabric and used cute border from School Girl Style.  Each section contains items that showcase what the students are learning each week.  Actually having examples of what the students are learning means more to Kinders than simply listing the objectives. The cards, materials, and posters are "real," not just abstract words that satisfy a directive to display learning objectives.  Our focus wall gives my little students something concrete to help them to understand what skills we are working on during the week.  We refer to the focus wall during many lessons.  I like having such a large area to be able to display teaching materials ~ everything is readily available for use.  Students are able to see  our weekly skills at a glance because nearly everything is represented in one place. The Kinders have come to use the materials on the focus wall as reference tools ~ often referring to the words, the hundred chart, etc. throughout the day.  I also have a group of students who play school during our free choice center time at the end of the day ~ it is so cute to see how they use the focus wall in their imaginative play!

I like to use small pocket charts (this one is from the Dollar Spot at Target) on my focus wall to hold small cards.   Clothespins and ribbon are perfect for hanging items that change frequently.

This is actually a learning center from The Mailbox.  I have a lot of these activities and frequently use them on the focus wall to present or provide practice for different skills.  Stikki Clips hold the cards onto the workmat.  Once we are done using this on the focus wall, I will put the activity set into one of our math tubs.  

I do have "We can..." cards posted, but these are not the most important part of our Focus Wall.  Because only a few of my Kinders are able to read all of the cards, their main purpose is to remind me to name the objective or skill we are working on when we focus our attention to the materials.

I am so happy with what my focus wall has become.  It is a great teaching tool for me, but more importantly it is a great learning resource for my little students.  It presents everything we are learning each week, and gives students the opportunity to see, think about, interact with, and discuss our learning objectives on a daily basis.  Click HERE to visit my blog to read more about the progression of my focus wall.

I have created a little freebie for you to use on your own focus wall.  It also can be used if you are required to post your learning objectives.  Click HERE to download it now.

 

Thanks for visiting!