Happy Halloween!

Reading Chart - Week 11

7 Ways to Use Stamps (That You Probably Never Thought Of)

Sharing some ways to use stamps that you may not have thought of (other than putting it on paper for a completed assignment, etc.).

1. Using tempera paint or watercolor, so it washes off, stamp the backs of students' hands for job well done, good behavior, and so forth.

2. Put on folded cardstock or construction paper to have them color and create a birthday/holiday card.

3. Create a scene on paper from a story or song they've heard/read/sung.

4. Put on a piece of paper and have them try to re-draw an identical figure beside it.

5. Put on paper and have them label with the name.

6. Create patterns (ex: AB, AAB, ABB) 

7. Alphabetize using the first letter they begin with (ex: E- elf, P - pumpkin, O - owl)

If you have another idea, please add it in the comments section! Thanks!

Coins, Part One: A Penny = 1 Cent

Although teaching money value isn't part of our curriculum, it may be in yours. Either way, teaching about it is helpful in many ways, including creating sets, re-grouping, counting, one-to-one correspondence, and addition.

This is the initial worksheet I created. If you click on it, you'll get a full 8.5x11 in. version you can print out.

After you introduce the penny as equaling one cent, you have the children color the pennies.

Next, have them write 1 cent on each coin, using the cent symbol.

Finally, explain to them that 5 pennies equal 5 cents, which is the same thing as a nickel. Have them draw circles around each group of 5. There are 40 pennies on this sheet, so they'll end up with 8 groups. (If you have gifted children who need the challenge, let them use a different color marker to group them in sets of 10 to equal dimes.)

Don't forget to bring in several versions of the coin so they can see that the penny differs slightly, and isn't one set picture. Or, better yet, tell everyone that for their homework assignment, the day before you plan to introduce this concept, they each need to bring a penny.

Reading Chart - Week 10

Tips and Tricks - Laminate!

If you're like me, you have the children circle certain words or letters that they're studying. I've done this, and found it pays to laminate the chart paper before you hand them a vis-a-vis marker. That way you can always wipe off the paper to reuse again, and you don't have to worry about rewriting the sentences/words/letters.

Using Pinterest Pictures in the Classroom - Squirrel

1. Do you know what this is?

2. What is it doing?

3. What makes you think it's doing that?

4. Why do you think it's doing that?

5. Where do you think this picture was taken? Why there?

6. Pretend this squirrel can talk. What do you think it would say?

Reading Chart - Week 9

Columbus Day Activity and Song

Here's a quick and easy Columbus Day handprint activity and song to celebrate!

In 1492

(Tune: "The Worms Crawl In, the Worms Crawl Out")

In fourteen hundred ninety-two
Columbus sailed the ocean blue.
Columbus sailed the ocean blue

In fourteen hundred ninety-two.

(If you don't know the song, you can hear a children's version of the original tune here.)

Rainbows in the Room

Half a paper plate and tissue paper (or crepe streamers, or even strips of construction paper) make these cute rainbows.

Reading Chart - Week 8

Ping Pong Alphabet Game

I bought a box of ping pong balls, which were relatively cheap. Using a Sharpie, I marked each of them with an alphabetical letter, then put them in a tub, along with a fish net.

The object is to scoop them up in the net in alphabetical order, and drop each ball into the egg carton in the slot with the corresponding letter. (Ex: I put upper case on the balls, and lower case in the cartons.) Note: They could not touch the ball with their fingers at any time. Net only!

What made this exciting for the children is they would time each other (using my timer) to see who could do it the fastest.

A Note From "Mom"

Reading Chart - Week 7