September 17, 2022

All About the Money - US Coins

 


In kindergarten this week we've been focusing on U.S. coins! Students spent time exploring the penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. We discussed the characteristics of each as well as matched the value to each coin. We also enjoyed hands on activities, incorporated technology with Seesaw, and practiced working in our math workbooks!


M.A.T.H. Workshop

This year, I wanted to change up the framework to my math block time. I'm trying out the M.A.T.H. workshop approach created by Laura Santos from her blog Core Inspiration. I love that each letter of the word MATH represents a center during rotations (keeps it super simple for my kinders): 


M- meet with teacher (teacher small groups)

A- at your seat (review or independent worksheet)

T- technology (Seesaw or other app)

H- hands on (centers activities)


It's my first time with this new approach to our math block, but so far I'm really enjoying it. We're still in the beginning stages where we're spending a lot of time with whole group practice of each type of center. So, this week we were focusing on the technology piece; utilizing Seesaw and practicing how to use the tools to complete the assignments.


At Your Seat

As a part of practicing center procedures we spent quite some time practicing how to work at the "at your seat" center. For this, students are to complete a quick review page where they either turn their work into me or it's a page to glue into their math notebooks. This page will act as the independent practice component of my math mini-lesson and the exit ticket to their centers. 

This week, I modeled how to complete each page for each coin and how to glue their work in. I use the phrase: "x marks the spot" when it comes to using glue sticks to glue their work in. Oftentimes my kinders will waste time/glue gluing their work in. So, by giving them the prompt "x marks the spot" they know to make one big "x" and to place their paper on top. Done!



Here, students are working to identify each coin then sort the coins depending on if it is that specific coin or not. These photos are when we worked on the penny. 

You can find this unit about coins (as well as the year-long math curriculum for kindergarten!) in my resource here.


Technology: Seesaw

Like I mentioned, this week I really wanted to focus our attention to how to complete assignments via Seesaw. I love using Seesaw as a means for students to demonstrate their learning because of the technology component, but also because the iPad is highly engaging for this generation of kids. Seesaw is a great platform for students to use because there are a variety of tools they can use to demonstrate their understanding of a concept!

For our study of U.S. coins, I gave students a virtual sorting mat and they had to sort 2 types of coins at a time. There were six pages total for them to complete where the types of coins to sort changed. They had a lot of success with this activity and it required them to use the hand tool to drag and drop as well as know that some activities have multiple slides, or pages, to complete. 

Here are a few of my kinders engaging with their sorting activity on Seesaw...




Hands On

This week I took the opportunity to practice sorting with actual play coins using my set of coins and this free printable sorting mat created by Sweet Firsties. We first practiced whole group where I gave each student a coin and they had to come up to the document camera and sort it in the correct spot. We discussed how sorting helps us group objects (in this case our coins) by something they have in common and tied it to our study of coins.

Then, once students began to finish their Seesaw assignment I pulled them to the back table with me so I could work with them on sorting actual coins. I plan to place this activity as an independent "hands on" center, but wanted the time to work with various students first. 




Supplemental Resources

There are a variety of resources my team and I used this week for our mini-lessons about coins. 

Here are a few!

Anchor Chart: I created a similar anchor chart with the basics of what we taught for the week. I made the 4 quadrants and filled them as we learned about each coin. By the end of the week our chart looked similar to this:


Videos: To supplement our lessons here are a few videos the kids watched.

For each coin study we used these videos (although kind of slow, but has good info): penny, nickel, dime, quarter. By Friday we reviewed the coins we learned by watching these videos:






And that's about it for this week in math! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and here's to another week of fun learning!

See what our class is up to as we learn about the U.S. coins!


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September 11, 2022

Preparing for a Substitute

 


It was the first week of school and those back-to-school-germs were no joke. Typically I feel pretty good, maybe a sniffle here and there, but I was so surprised to feel feverish within the first couple of days! Definitely a career first! By the third day of school I was in need of a sub because I couldn't get my fever to go away. Thank goodness a sub picked up my posting (our district is low on subs as I'm sure all districts are), but it was a mad dash at 5am to make sure I had everything she may need for the day.


One thing I made sure to add to my classroom was an Emergency Sub Tub - as many teachers do. Previously I spent a lot of time having to write out plans and prep all the things, but many times I need a sub it's because of an unexpected illness or circumstance. This means little time to actually prep anything and therefore a lot of the effort gets put on my team. I don't like how unfair this can be, so I've made the switch to a Sub Tub.


The Emergency Sub Tub

Making the official switch to the tub has been a game changer for me!
I love that it just sits, with copies and class info ready to go, near my desk and ready for whenever I have a guest teacher in my room. 

Here's a peek at what I've put in mine...





I created this resource as a foundation for my sub tub. Each page is a template where I simply add in my info year after year and print. From there, I have hanging file folders for each subject where I place ahead of time a class set of copies for various activities. I also stick in some read aloud books and for-fun activities. My goal is to make everything easy for my sub and feel as though I'm prepared to be out...

Sub Activities

This is where each teacher at different grade levels can differentiate their tubs. 

For me in kinder I have a lot of review pages that are cut/glue, drawing pictures to respond, and activities that they've already done. I also include coloring pages and other fun things that can act as fillers or simply just 'for fun.' I take a peek at my filing cabinet and grab worksheets we've worked on before and are great review. Some of these activities include: handwriting/tracing letters/name work, alphabet/letter sounds, simple math activities like number work/counting, and science/social studies I typically include a behavior sort (i.e. kind/unkind sort).

Here are a few other ideas you could add to your tub:





For older students (and back when I taught 2nd grade) I created this resource based on the famous story Miss Nelson is Missing. It's a popular download over at my shop and I'm glad that so many teachers have found it helpful. This could be something you simply print and have on-hand in your own sub tub. You can read all about this resource over on this blog post.


Freebie Sub Plan Resources


Paid Sub Plan Resources

Although you'd have to invest in these resources, they are among my favorite to have on hand!


Be ready with a split-list

One aspect to calling out is the event that a sub does not pick up your posting. In that event, be sure that you have communicated a split-list with your team. For my campus and grade level team, we have pre-made lists where we split our students evenly among the other kinder classes. Whenever this has happened, we each get 3-4 additional students. Having a split-list ready to go (with medical/behavioral/dismissal info included) will help your team ensure your class is ready to go!


I wish you all a healthy school year! I know with these ever present germs it'll be a good idea to prep a sub tub in the event you're having to call out unexpectedly. I know that ever since I made the switch it's been less pressure to get plans ready - with a sub tub it's all sitting and ready to go! 






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September 3, 2022

The First 2 Weeks - A Round Up


We're here! The kindergarten year has begun and looking back over the course of these two weeks I'm so proud of the work we've begun doing! I have to admit, those first few days were among the most exhausting - from the back to school germs (even knocking me out and needing a sub on day 3!) to training my little kinders to attend to a lesson for longer than 3 minutes...it was a doozy for sure.

However, we kept at it with community building lessons, lots of discussions about being kind kindergartners, and establishing those ever important routines and procedures. Now, as we're heading into week 3 after the Labor Day weekend I'm confident we can achieve even more in our days together. My class are such rockstars!

So, what were we up to these last couple of weeks? Let's take a peek!

Handwriting & Fine Motor

At the beginning of every year I love introducing handwriting activities just to get a feel for where my new students' fine motor control lies. Last year I was very surprised to see that many of them could not hold a pencil correctly or manage with scissors. So, this year I went into it with a similar mindset and prepared for my kiddos to be about the same...and they were. By preparing for this I was able to anticipate the needs of my class and really target those skills early on.


I love Natalie Lynn's resource for names which autofills the names for you! I printed a class set for each type of activity ahead of time and every day I just pull from the stack. I love introducing these handouts as a whole group first because the kids will already know how to complete them when I place them in centers later on.

Oral Language Storytelling

During our writing block we've launched our writers workshop with oral language storytelling. Another great resource my team and I are using from Natalie Lynn is her writing curriculum. I love the pacing and the bundle comes with lessons and resources all done for you! I love that she begins with oral language and walks students into the writing process first by being inspired about stories and how we can best share them (i.e. using details, BME, etc.). It's especially perfect for my kinders at the beginning of the year because they're not yet ready to put pencil to paper.


These are my kinders learning to share stories by turning and talking. We've been practicing all week on what the behaviors look and sound like. So proud of the conversations I overhear when it's their share time.

Basic Math Concepts & Review



These last two weeks in math have been review of concepts such as patterns and a lot of exploration with math manipulatives. We make sure to discuss the ground rules for using the manipulatives and how they'll be used in their learning throughout the year. So far we've introduced snap cubes (seen above), counting bears, links, and pattern blocks. Giving students the opportunity to explore and play with these items up front acts as a way to "get it out of their system" in terms of playing with them. After these first moments, we then discuss how they become "tools" for learning.

Here you'll see my students practicing their cutting and gluing to sort everyday objects and their matching shape. I love finding ways to sneak more fine motor practice in with the other subjects we're learning.

Pencil box name plates can be found here.


I can't wait to introduce their math interactive journals next week! I want to do more with their notebooks and I have always found success with interactive style notebooks for their learning. They will begin to complete activities that will be glued into their journals vs handing them in. 

Dramatic Play/Purposeful Play

I love that my district really values the importance of play as a part of the kindergarten curriculum. We have a designated time (almost 40-50 mins a day!) dedicated to play and this is where you see a lot of really great things happening. From the oral language development to learning to problem solve on their own, students really have an opportunity to utilize all that they're learning in this play time.


This year I brought in my own collection of cars from when I was a kid into the classroom. I purchased the rug from Ikea and every single day both girls and boys enjoying playing here. I'm so glad I put my old cars to good use (instead of donating them...)!


Another popular play area is, of course, the play kitchen. I plan to change up the kitchen periodically and transform it into various things such as a farmers market, ice cream shop, and even a Starbucks. But, for now it's just a kitchen. But I'm already seeing that students are making it a restaurant...so it gives me the perfect idea for the first dramatic play theme!

"Amazing Work Coming Soon" signs are found here.

It's been a real hustle these last couple of weeks but I'm excited about what's to come! Check back for more adventures with me and my class!

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