Happy New Year

Have a fabulous 2015!

Childhood Memories

These are adorable.

A Very Thought-Provoking Photograph

This is a photo taken during the Great Depression, showing four children celebrating Christmas with a dinner of turnips and cabbage. This could start a discussion among your students about how children celebrated the holidays then, and compare them with the way they celebrate today.

Don't Forget to Leave Santa a Treat

Believe

Wishing You the Warmth of Family This Christmas

A Teacher Would Understand

Using Pinterest Pictures in the Classroom - Balls

1. What do these look like to you?
2. What else could they be?
3. If they were larger than your hand, what could they be?
4. If they were smaller than a penny, what could they be?
5. What do you notice about their shape?
6. How do you think they would feel?
7. What can you tell me about how they are arranged in this picture?
8. Where do you think you would be able to find them?
9. Guess how many are in this picture without actually counting them.

Fivesies, a Quick and Easy Math Game

This is a fast-paced game that reinforces counting and instant recognition of numbers up to 6. More than that, it's a ton of fun. Plus, if you're needing a filler for your centers, or a way to pass the time when the weather is too bad to go outside, this fits the bill.

It's called "Fivesies", and you can play it in four different ways.
Also, it's important that each student needs their own set of 5 dice.

Basically, to begin, each child rolls all five dice at once (or dump from a cup). They look to see what number repeated. Ex: if they have 3 threes. Then that's the number they aim for. Their goal is to be the first person to end up with 5 of the same number. Or in this case, 5 threes.

The first child rolls, puts aside those repeated dice, and the next child rolls. When it's Child #1's turn again, he rolls only the dice that didn't turn up the repeated number. So if he got 3 threes the first time around, he only rolls the 2 dice that weren't a three. If he gets another three, he puts that die aside, and next time he rolls the single leftover die.

Each child gets one roll per turn. The winner is the student who is first to get all their dice with the same number.

Variation #2
Give them a specific number to aim for. Ex: the number six. Again, each child rolls their dice, saving the ones that show a six and re-rolling the dice that didn't. Winner is the first one to get 5 sixes.

Variation #3
Play 1-6. In other words, they have to end up with their dice in numeric order, showing the numbers one through six to win.

Variation #4
This is a quickie game. Each child gets One Roll of the dice. The winner is the student with the most repeated number. In case of a tie, just those students re-roll their dice to determine the winner.

Reading Chart - Week 16

The Value of Little Golden Books

"Simply put, no modern activity book could compare."

The Paris Review digs up and extols a vintage children’s book titled McCall’s Giant Golden Make-it Book, which looks like the best thing since the 1958 gem How to Do Nothing with Nobody All Alone by Yourself.

Also: Everything I Need To Know I Learned From a Little Golden Book.

Innocence

Reading Chart - Week 15

Bowling For Words

This is a representation of a bowling game I created for one of my centers. I call it BOWLING FOR WORDS. I used the following letters for the ten pins: A, E, R, M, C, P, N, D, B, T

* Each student in the group gets a piece of paper and writes their name on it.
* They get to roll the ball two times.
* Using the pins they knock down, they try to write down all the words they can make using the letters on the knocked-down pins.
* When everyone has had a turn, the person with the most words wins!

For a variation, they can work in teams (ex: 2 teams of 2 students in each).