Kahoot!!

Kahoot!! 

I may be a little behind on this but I recently discovered a website that can be used as and replace a poll response system in your classroom. 

Visit getkahoot.com to create your FREE account and then you can create quizzes or surveys for your students (or potentially parents) to do. I'd stick to 8-10 questions because beyond that it can get kind if boring. After you make a Kahoot you will get a code to share with your audience. 

Next they visit Kahoot.it and enter the code. This works for any device that has internet.... iPad, iPhone, android, laptop, anything really. Once people have entered the code you can start by projecting it on your smart board and having them enter their choices. 

It is pretty awesome and hope this helps you in your classroom. You can use it in any grade level really. In kindergarten I would use it for --

Review, word recognition, number recognition, colors, shapes, sight words. 

On Fridays a teacher friend of mine allowed her kids to bring their tablets or devices to school and she used them in her classroom and then let them have free time to use them as a reward if they had good behavior or completed work and the like. Shout out to Courtney Ewing, a fabulous teacher!! Anywho, I will probably do that this year, with my kids. There are so many kids that have tablets and I really want to find ways to incorporate those in my classroom the best I can. The possibilities are endless and I am so excited to try it out this year. 

The game of power!

This week I am at NCCAT for a workshop by the Institute of Play, called TeacherQuest. We played a game that is really awesome to play as an adult and I am positive it can be used in middle and high school classrooms. It might be modified to lower grades but I am finding it easier to incorporate with upper grade standards right now. So enough talking... This is how you play....

Put students into groups. We had a group of six. One person is the ruler and the other five are citizens. Each person gets three blocks-- one red, one yellow and one green. The ruler gets the same but they also get a bank of blue blocks. (We used a basket). The goal of the game is to get the most blue wealth blocks.

Now you flip one card that explains the green block. The green cubes- wealth! one blue wealth block per green block shown is given. Citizens show the green block and five blue wealth blocks are distributed as the ruler sees fit. Play a few rounds with the ruler distributing wealth.


Now, explain the yellow block. Yellow blocks- STRIKE! No wealth is given for yellow blocks but the ruler loses 2 wealth blocks if majority of citizens strike. Some people may still show a green and for those wealth is given.

Now, the citizens have two options- green and yellow. Play some more rounds and the ruler distributes wealth again and citizens may negotiate and strategize ways to get more wealth.

Finally, reveal the red block purpose- rebellion! If the majority rebels a new ruler is chosen and the ruler loses a quarter of their wealth.

This is a great game to teach government, power, economics, socials skills, economics, etc.

Thematic word charts

Writing is something that is really encouraged at my school and I am always trying to find things that can help facilitate that, even in my kindergarten classroom. well over at the Busy Teacher's Cafe I found a list of thematic word charts. They are sorted by month and best of all...they are FREE!!

Click here to visit the page and download your own set!  There are also links there to download pre-writing activities and venn diagrams too!

Calling All Volunteers

Volunteers are hard to come by sometimes but I really don't think it is because parents jus don't want to help. I have never met a parent hat didn't want what was best for their child. And so, here is an easy way to help parents get involved...

I am confident that this document is one of he best hints I have downloaded from Teachers Pay Teachers. I have used it several years to get parents to volunteer in and for my classroom. It is a very simple, one page file that you download. I send it home with my students and the parents send it back letting me know how they would like to help out in our classroom! I know a lot of parents work during the day and can't physically come to the school but are all for helping out. This is a great way for them to do that! Go to Teachers Pay Teachers and search for "Calling All Volunteers." It is a FREEBIE from Sarah Shelton or click here.

No desks this year!

Two fellow teachers have implements a NO DESKS policy in their classroom and I m really excited to try it out this year!

From what I know it is great for the kids, especially those in primary grades (k-2). Benefits include- better handwriting, more participation, independence, and more creativity. I got the idea from Greg Smedley, over at Kindergarten Smorgasboard. He has videos and pictures me and all sorts of tips on how he started it and implemented it in his classroom. So if you're considering it you should definitely go check it out. Even if you're not, just go read his blog because there is a smorgasbord of ideas on his page.

I am still working out some kinks, like how my classroom will actually be laid out or how my students work and supplies will be stored and organized. If there are any other teachers that are doing this or have done it recently any advice or tips would be helpful. I will keep yall updated on how it goes.

Crate turned into a seat

All over Pinterest I see teachers taking crates and turning them into chairs. For the last two years I have said "I am going to do that!" Or I tell my husband "you need to make these for me..." Needless to say nothing has happened. BUT this year I have done it! I got three crates from my mom, who is a Teacher assistant and went to Wal-mart and bought some cushions! They were only $7 for a pack of 4, which was even better. The cushions have strings on the ends so that they can be tied to chairs but I am going to tie them to the crates. They are red and black, bulldog colors, which make them even better!!

QR codes for your class site

Each year we have parents come in at Open House and PTO wanting to know how they can get more involved in their child's education and how they can help from home. Well, I created a QR code with a link to my classroom website and it also has my contact info (email, school phone number, etc). Parents can just scan it with their phone and then get my contact info and also be connected to the classroom website. I am not the most tech savvy person so this is a big accomplishment for me!

If you want to make a QR code just go here: https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com

The more info you add the more complicated the code becomes and it also can be difficult to scan so it's best to keep it simple.

easy to remember

I put a small critter/stuffed animal up on the side of the white board. Beside it I draw a speech bubble and put reminders. He helps kids remember things like when field trip money is due or help me remember that we have an assembly coming up. I got the idea off of Pinterest, which is also whe this image came from. I personally use one of the little monsters from the book "where the wild things are!" And my kids loved it!

Nonsense words

In our state we have a new reading assessment for K-3 students called Reading 3D. One of the goals students must complete is to read "nonsense words." The idea behind it is that if a student can read a "nonsense word" with a CVC pattern they will be able to sound out larger words and break them down into chunks easier. One way I have helped my kids do this is use paint strips with word families and letters on them.

FIRST you take the regular paint strips and write one consonant on each square in the strip. You will need about 5-6 strips, depending on how many squares there are on a strip.

I use colors from the same family for this part and colors from another family for the second so my kids can identify which batch they go with easily.

SECOND you will need paint strips with holes in one end. Beside the hole you will write word family endings such as "ack" or "ag" or "eb"  or "ug" on them. You can write as many or as little as you want on these.

NOW you will take the long paint strips with the consonants on them and slide them under the holes to make new words. Students will read the nonsense words as they slide the cards!

I got this idea from Pink and Green Mama (http://pinkandgreenmama.blogspot.com/2009/11/preschool-first-grade-at-home-paint.html).

Color code books in the desk

When you look inside a students' desk it's easy to get overwhelmed. For me it drives me nuts sometimes to see all of the JUNK and disorganization in there. It's a jungle. Soooooo, when a teacher says its time to take out a math book there's no wonder kids say "Which one is that?" or "The red one?" Use a colored marker to mark the ends of the books with a different color. Now when your kids look inside of their desks for "the red math book" or "green social studies book" they can find it so much more easily!!

Working in chunks- kids with ADHD

Sometimes kids need tasks to be broken down into smaller tasks. This is a great idea for kids who have a short attention span, are autistic or have ADHD. Cut a file folder into strips. The shorter the attention span, the smaller you will cut the strips. This one is cut into 3 parts. Students open 1 flap at a time and always begin at the top and work their way down. Students complete the work that they can see when a flap is open. This is brilliant!

This image was from Pinterest, but I have done this in my classroom and it has made a world of difference for some kids. 

Shhh! Don't bounce the balls

I'm telling y'all whoever came up with this idea is a genius... If you go to this website and turn on your microphone this screen will pop up:

 I have found it worked best with upper grades (3-5)...

When the microphone picks up noise the balls will bounce. Whenever it is quite they will be still. I tell my kids they have to keep the balls still and cannot make them bounce. They work so quietly because they are scared the balls will go bouncy crazy.

Here is the website: http://bouncyballs.org

No more flying dice

Place your dice in small tupperware to keep them from rolling off the desks and all over the floor. You can put just one die in the container or multiple dice in there depending on what activity you are doing. They are really good for centers.

Absent students

When students are put one of the hardest things is to get their work together for them to make up, especially if they are out of school for a couple of days. The easiest thing I have found to do is place a folder at their desk and put their missing work in it through the day. I printed this sheet out and put it on a manilla folder. Next I laminate it and whenever a student is out this folder goes on their desk. When papers are passed out I just place one in the folder. Everything is there for them when they return!!

You can download one at Teachers Pay Teachers

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/FREE-We-Missed-You-Folder-173724

Valentine's Day fun

Valentines day was fabulous in our class!
Love was in bloom! We talked about flowers and how they grow and what helps them grow big and tall. We "planted" valentines in pots and they were really cute. 

We collected candy hearts and dropped them into coca cola, peroxide, alcohol and water to see what would happen to them. This was a good time to discuss chemical safety. 

We used candy hearts to sort (not pictured) and then we counted the colors to practice one-to-one correspondence. It was a great week and I'm excited for next week to do dental health!! 

w. 

Subtraction is SMASHING fun!

I definitely stole this idea from Mr. Greg over at Kindergarten Smorgasboard. My kids are working in subtraction this week and to practice we used marshmallows. I gave them the problem on a heart cut out. They counted out the marshmallows and then "Linus the minus" came along and took some away. He loves smashing the marshmallows and they loved smashing the marshmallows too!
For example: if given he problem 4-2 they counted out four marshmallows. Then they would smash two. Then count the ones left over.
It was a lot of fun. I think I may do it again later at Easter with Peeps marshmallows to review! 

Patterning with Popsicle sticks!

I put those cubes to good use this afternoon in our math centers. I colored Popsicle sticks with different patterns and my kids copied them to make patterns with the stacking cubes. They loved it! I will definitely be using this during our math center times more often. It was really easy too. I just colored the Popsicle sticks in AB or ABB patterns. I will add some ABC patterns next week probably. 

I am so stinkin excited about the 100th day of school coming up!! We will be dressing up like 100 year olds and a fellow teacher of mine found a letter that is super cute to send home to parents so that our kids can dress up like old people too! We are going to have a ball. I have lots of ideas and things planned. If you are getting ready for the 100th day and would like to do this here is a letter you can send home to your parents, just fill in the date at the top and sign it at the bottom!

100th day letter to parents

Who's Who and Who's New has lots of really good ideas for the 100th day of school. Go to her TpT store and download these items for the 100th day of school. I think the best thing is an app called oldster.  It is awesome. You take a picture and it makes you look OLD!  If you're planning on celebrating the 100th day you should try this app! You can download a template for your students' pictures here

100th day freebie

Here is a book I made for us to make the day after our 100th day of school. We will draw pictures to retell about our day.

100 day book

I am planning to make a hat like this one that I found on Pinterest! Here is a picture of the one on pinterest...

I opened a Word Document and made 5 columns with one row for their hats. It was really simple to do! I will print them on colored paper to make their hats!

I will definitely be uploading pictures and other things for the 100th day as they come! Leave a comment letting me know what you like to do in your class to celebrate 100 days!!!!

My banner for my door is complete!! 

Sight word search in real text

Putting your sight words to use is one of the greatest things you can do for your kids. Flash cards and repetition can be good but kindergarteners get tired of it. Honestly, I do too. We receive these magazines at our school each month. They are themed and tell about events at schools in the area. We reviewed some words today and then I had my kids find them in the newspaper and circle them! So simple. So awesome!

Shaving cream- number practice, clean desks

Kindergarten babies get real excited really quick but they also get really bored really quick too... Writing numbers to fun songs and poems but hey like it even more when they get to write it in shaving cream! I may do this again with sight words!!