Dollar Deal!

I have an unhealthy obsession with the dollar spot at a certain store.  I can't walk into that store without browsing the dollar section for goodies for the classroom.  It is crazy because I seem to ALWAYS find something that can I need for my classroom.

Well, I found myself at that store AGAIN this week and was so excited to see my favorite product back!  I bought these little guys two summers ago.  I used them in my classroom for the past two years and they are one of my favorite things to use in the classroom!  I had to stock up on some more because we use them CONSTANTLY and when they are not being used by my students, another teacher is borrowing them to use with her students!

You are probably looking at these and thinking what is so great about whiteboards?!  Everyone has whiteboards in their classroom.  They have been around forever.  Well, yes. That is correct, but there is something so great about these little ones.

Things I LOVE about these mini-whiteboards:

•  Kids only have a limited space to write = no crazy drawings and scribbles all over the board
• Primary lines = perfect for practicing letter formation
• Two sided = we don't worry about erasing until the end {does anyone else find the transition from writing to erasing and back to writing to be the biggest headache?!}
• 4 whiteboards for $1 = SUPER FABULOUS DEAL!
• Tiny boards = perfect for tiny hands!

 Ideas for use:

• Name practice - at the beginning of the year, some kinders need the extra practice writing their name!  Here is a great way to practice!
• Letter practice - I say a letter sound and kids write the letter that goes with the sound.  They hold it up and it is a quick way to check to see where the kiddos are
• Letter names - Same as above, just say a letter name and see if kids are capable of writing it
• Sight words - writing the sight words for the week, practicing spelling, etc.
• Sentence formation - I give the kiddos one word and they take that word and turn it into a sentence {ex: I say "pig" and students responses may vary from "Pigs are pink" to "I saw a pink pig rolling in mud at the farm" - it differentiates itself!}
• Math equations - students write and solve equations on the board
• Math equations (again) - I give students an answer and they come up with as many equations as they can that equal that number

[Who has used these in the classroom?  What other ways can you see this tool working in your classroom?]

100th Day Fun!

Here are some quick pictures from our 100th day of school - just a couple of the craftivities that we did!

Our 100th day hat!  Last year we tried 100 stickers and it was a mess!  It took so long for the kiddos to pick and place 100 stickers that most of them ended up with 37 or 64 stickers on their hat.  This year, we went with tally marks!  It was a great way to practice making our groups of 5 and counting to 100 by 5s.  It also was much more time efficient (the 100th day of school seems to go by soooo fast).

100 Gumballs for the 100th day!!  Paint was too messy - so we went with dot markers.  Kiddos were supposed to pick 5 colors and do 20 dots with each color...

Did they do it right?  Probably not...but they practiced counting and they turned out cute anyway :)

Hip Hip Hooray!  We are 100 days smarter!

Teen Numbers!

Daily 3 Math works GRRRREAT for teen numbers!  I have a pack for Daily 3 Math - Teen Numbers that you can check out if you are interested.

I just wanted to share one of the activities from Daily 3 Math - Math Writing that my kiddos have been working on.

They fill in the missing number.  There are a few different sets so that it is easy to differentiate!  WOO!  Some kids might fill in one missing number, while others may only be given one number.  Below are two of the different sets that my kiddos have worked on.

The girl who was working on the pink set did figure out the correct numbers to put in the blank, but I love that it shows how the different sets really reach different levels of learning! 

You can check out this product here!

Have a grrreat day!

All About Shapes!

We have wrapped up our shape unit in Kindergarten this year and I just had to share one of my kiddos FAVORITE activities that we did.

They LOVE working with our interactive board.  These sheets that I have in my Daily 3: Math By Myself - Unit 3: Shapes packet worked wonders with my class this year.

We practiced a few of the sheets on the board and then they were able to practice on the board during center time.  There were hard copies for them to complete after as well.  They just LOVED it!

You can check out my Daily 3 Shapes Packet here!

100th Day!

So this is just a little overdue but I wanted to share with you the WONDERFUL door decoration that my teacher helper made for our class this year.  I found this idea on pinterest and showed it to her and TAAADAAA!  She made a masterpiece.

The kids LOVED it.  Some staff members had to come and crawl through it just to say they did throughout the day.  It was a huge hit and helped to make our 100th day even more memorable!

Hip Hip Hooray!  We are 100 days smarter!