Fun in PreK-1 & Kinder

I can't believe I'm back and posting somewhat regularly!  (We'll see for how long...) Totally missed my Bloggiversary AND my birthday though.  Sorry guys!  BUT I can promise a good long post with some fun ideas and freebies ahead.  :) Here's what we've been up to in Kinder Krazy Week Before Thanksgiving Land... Turkey Hand Prints and Picture Frame Gifts Aren't these adorable?!  And they were super easy to make.  I picked up the unfinished wooden frames at Michael's for only $1 (I also saw Walmart has some).  The buttons were ridiculously expensive though.  Why are buttons so expensive?!?! Pilgrim Craftivity I can't believe how many craftivities we completed this week!  I go back and forth with these things.  On the one hand I'd rather we be making something authentic, like a class book.  On the other hand I need cute things for our hallway.  Hence these paper plate pilgrim cutie pies (which ...

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're all having a good, relaxing weekend... (with Thanksgiving just around the corner, yeah right!) Last week was seriously the BEST week ever.  We were grooving, that's for sure!  Here's some fun stuff we got up to... Five Fat Turkeys Poem This poem was AWESOME because we returned to it for a writing mini-lesson on periods (notice how the period goes at the end of the sentence, not at the end of every line).   Five Senses Books Every day we learned about a new sense and took a sense-specific walk.  On our Touching Walk we brought back in one object and wrote to describe it.  (I LOVE how this little girl put periods at the end of her sentences and not at the end of each line.  Yay!) 5 Senses Science: Writing to Describe Popcorn (Freebie!) 5 Senses and Science: Mystery Scent Bottles I love, love, love this activity!  The kiddos had to use their sense of smell to predict what was inside eac...

Where did the weekend go?  How can it seriously almost be Thanksgiving?  (And our JK/K Info Night... and our belated Grandparent's Day Celebration... EEK!) So naturally I should be spending my time blogging about all the awesome fun we're having.  :)  Here's some of what we got up to last week learning about elections! We spent a lot of time learning about what elections are and why they are fair.  We also talked a little bit about the President and what we think they should do... If I Am the President Flag Writing Craftivity Too cute!  I think this next one is my favorite... (shhh!) We also voted on our favorite snack and tallied/graphed the results, but I forgot to snag a picture!  Darn. Turkeys started creeping in to our math stations... Click on the pictures to be taken to the awesome products! Feast Flip Five Addition Game Turkey Hunt Number Recognition Game Roll a Turkey Shape Game (FREEBIE in the preview...

Happy Friday  Saturday!  Sorry this post is late, but I got my laptop in the mail yesterday!  Yay!  I couldn't wait to turn it on and start to learn how to use the new Windows 8, which (as you could have predicted) was an exercise in utter frustration.  Why are you only able to properly install Google Chrome through the desktop rather than the Start Screen?  Why isn't there a Facebook or Pinterest app for Windows 8?  And why is Google Chrome insisting that the Forever 21 website is in Dutch?  :) Anyways, this week our theme was Week in Review.  I decided we were going to carry on with Thanksgiving a bit, rather than spend one day for each theme we had this month.  I had several kids absent last week due to sickness or vacation, so it worked out pretty well.  I also integrated nutrition and the five senses back in, but in the context of Thanksgiving dinner! We started the week by sharing our Thanksgivings (which was a lengthy pro...

Hooray for the four day weekend!  Wednesday has finally rolled around and here is a look at the art, literacy, art, math and art activities we did this week.  Did I mention that we did lots of art?  :) As mentioned Monday, we made these cute Turkey Hand Print cards.  You can find the free craftivity with cute poem insert here if you missed it earlier! We finished our Thankful Hands Turkey Bulletin Board!  First, we read Thanks for Thanksgiving by Julie Markes (which my kiddos were able to identify as a list book instead of a story book!  Gotta love writer's workshop in PreK!)   Then, they traced their own hand prints and wrote on the inside what they were thankful for.  Some of my more "ambitious" students wanted help sounding out the whole word, others only the beginning letter.  I have to say that I LOVE our environmental print word wall.  I have several new students (4 in the past 4 weeks!) who missed t...