Spring Break Freebie

Hello everyone! I'm Angie from Teacher's Big Helper and it's a pleasure to be part of this wonderful group of colleagues! This is my first time sharing some of my ideas with you and I look forward
to sharing much more with you in the future!

Spring Break is over for some of us and just starting for others. Hope everyone gets enough rest and comes back to school recharged and ready to end a great school year! I rested...a lot. I slept in, I shopped, I had lunch with family and friends, and I enjoyed every minute I had at home with my kids! Now, it's time to get ready to go back and listen to all the wonderful stories our little ones have to tell us. Although I know we love to hear all of their stories, we don't have have time to hear the long version from 22 kids. So, here's a little Spring Break Freebie to help your students tell you everything they have to say about their Spring Break.

Spring Break Freebie

Hoping everyone had or is having a wonderful, restful Spring Break!

Angie

Acting Out Positional Words {FREEBIE}

Positional words are a fairly easy concept for students to understand. Even thought it's a math concept, it can help them expand their vocabulary and use better describing words in their writing too. In the past, I've taught positional words with a student holding a teddy bear counter and having to move it around their body depending on the word I said. I decided to make it a bit more interactive and let the kids work together in pairs and act out their positional word to the class. 

 Students were allowed to use anything in the room as a prop to act out their word.

They thought it was really fun that they were allowed to even stand on the chair and tables if needed!

They had a lot of fun with this activity, so I figured I'd whip up a cuter set of flashcards as a FREEBIE for you! 

You can grab these FREE flashcards in my TPT store! 

Decoding Words with a Blending Snake

Decoding is the ability to apply knowledge of letter-sound relationships to correctly pronounce written words.  It is described as the foundation of reading.

Successful decoders are able to read more fluently, have increased vocabulary, and are able to better comprehend what they read.

As students gain word attack skills, they should be given the opportunity to read text that reinforces the phoneme combinations they have learned, and also challenges them with new learning.

Several years ago, I created blending snakes from old ties.  My students enjoy using the snakes to help them decode words.

I also created blending snake cards which enable the students to work on decoding individual words independently.  We begin by decoding CVC words.  Then we move to words with initial and final blends.

Students say the individual sounds in the word and then blend them together to read the word.  Then they open up the blending snake card to check their answer.

You can try them out for FREE in your classroom!

{CLICK HERE} to grab a set of my blending snake cards!

Responding to Text {Opinion Writing}

The students in my class have been working on opinion writing by responding to a given text (we listen to a story.) Here is a freebie and a lesson plan to use in your kindergarten or first grade classroom to help facilitate opinion writing.

The topic of this opinion writing lesson plan is seasons. Students listen to a story about four friends who disagree on their favorite season. 

After students listen to each reason, they sort the season cards. This will help students recall information from the story. Read the sentences for each of the seasons, or have the students read them to you. 

Let the students group into partners to discuss with one another what is their favorite season. Walk around the room and encourage/facilitate conversations among partners. 

Students are to write a response to the question "Which season do you think is best?" by citing examples from the text, as well as, adding their own opinions and details. 

I have added a sample rubric that is CCSS aligned to this pack to help first grade and kindergarten teachers assess their student's writing abilities. 

I hope you have enjoyed this fun and simple opinion writing freebie!

Valentine Sneak Peek

Is this true for everyone?

This was TOTALLY me last week.

I can't even begin to tell you about it. 

Well, it’s Kimberly from Loving Kinders and this week I’d like to...

share some of my valentine resources with you!

When it comes to resources I love to spruce it up with seasonal additions to keep learning fun and engaging.  Here are some of my valentine must haves.

Right now in kindergarten we are working with CVC words.  This is a great resource.  I print, laminate and place it in a center to use over and over again.  I also pull it out for RTI intervention.  You can use magnetic letters or whiteboard markers.

WRITING!!!!  Yes!  WRITING!!!

I use a Daily Five format so I can place this in my writing center or I can use it whole group.  Either way it will go into their yearly portfolio for progress monitoring and it is a wonderful way to gauge student growth.

Word Work is essential in developing phonetics and decoding skills.  This CVC activity focuses on finding and sorting vowel sounds.  This is the short A section.

Last but CERTAINLY not least, I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE {and yes it's valentines day} mini books.  I use them all. the. time.  I use them in guided reading, supportive writing, or for a whole group supportive read/write.  We write, identify sight words, sound out words, and identify end marks.  My kinders love them, maybe more than me but probably not.

This is my entire unit if you are interested.

Until next time lovies....

The Tortilla Factory

We are immersed in our Food Unit and I thought The Tortilla Factory by Gary Paulsen would be a great addition this year.

Tortillas are a delicious part of all of our lives here in Southern California, and for many of you all over the world, so it was a no-brainer.

The book shows how corn seeds planted in the ground, grow into tall corn stalks.  How the corn is dried and ground into flour.  How it is made into masa dough and then into tortillas.  How the tortillas are taken to stores, purchased, and brought to our kitchens.

After reading, we discussed food that we like to eat with tortillas.  And of course, we created a circle map!

Then we used a sentence starter, I like tortillas and ______ , to create sentences.

Food is such a popular topic in my classroom!  You can see more of what we have done with food {HERE}.

And more Thinking Maps {HERE}.

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites, Ah HA!

Hi Everyone!  It's Kimberly from Loving Kinders.  I am so happy to be guest blogging this weekend.  It's my birthday weekend! YAY!

Worksheet’s Don’t Grow Dendrites

AH, HA Moments!

 Book Study-ish

This summer there was a HUGE influx of amazing teacher author/bloggers that used this book for a book study.  So… I thought it would be a good idea to get it and read it!

I read the posts and I read the book.  These are my take-aways and AH HA moments!

1 “You don’t stop playing because you get old.  You get old because you stop playing.”

Play games, use humor, and always remember to have fun.  These simple truths are important and will motivate your children to learn.

2 Think. Pair. Share.

This easy adaptable activity will engage students, promote collaboration, and practice working together.

Pose a question.  Pair students up.  Share their thinking.

3 Artwork and Drawing

Using artwork to front load schema, connect to a text or scaffold concepts will not only boost creativity it will lead to higher level thinking that will transcend into higher level writing.

Never underestimate the power of ART.

These 3 BIG ideas are only snippets of what is inside the book.  These are just the big ideas that I gained from the first couple instructional strategies in the book.  

Until Next Time lovies.