Thanksgiving Freebie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Click the link below to download this FREEBIE as a thank you for your support!

Thanksgiving FREEBIE

Be sure to check out my full Thanksgiving unit with lots of great activities to make these next few weeks a little easier!

Thanksgiving Unit TPT

Start preparing for the holiday season with one of my best sellers!

NEW update with even more holidays and adorable clipart from melonheadz.

Christmas Around the World

Autumn Fun

I hope everyone has been enjoying Autumn! 

Here are some fun projects we have been doing in our classroom:

Apple Activities

We started our Autumn Unit learning about apples. We read some great nonfiction stories and practiced labeling. Then we did an apple taste test and created a graph of our favorite apples. 

One of my favorite activities that I have done every year are these fall trees. Children decorate their page and then use Q-tips to paint the leaves.

These activities along with other fun ones can be found in my autumn unit plan:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Autumn-Unit-Plan-208108

Each month we make different sun catchers to hang on our windows. For the month of October we made Jack O'Lanterns:

We will be starting our leaf sun catchers this week! Pictures to follow soon!

One of my favorite Halloween projects goes along with the story "Go Away Big Green monster". I had the kids draw the monster from the story to recall details. Then they cut and rearranged the sentence to spell the story title. So fun and they all came out so unique!

One of our favorite stories this year was Spookely the Square Pumpkin. Since we were learning about shapes in math, I came up with this fun idea. Children created their own shape pumpkin, then cut and built the sentence about their pumpkin. 

The week before Halloween we read the story "Room On The Broom" and then did a draw and write about our favorite part of the story. At the end of the week we watched the movie to go along with the story. It's available on Netflix!

This was a child led lesson that happened at recess last week. After a story, our playground was covered with beautiful leaves. A few kids got the idea to collect and sort them by color. Before long most of the class was helping. It was a lot of fun and they were so proud they wanted a photo!

Happy Fall!

Please share any fun ideas you do in your classroom. 

If you use any of these activities or any activities from my units please tag @kindergartenlife123 on instagram or facebook!

I am working on new ways to give special freebies to my followers! So stay tuned and thank you for your support!

Classroom Supply Organization - FREEBIE!

I've been back in the classroom for two days organizing and getting things ready! Definitely overwhelming at first, but once you get started it gets easier. I wanted to share how I organize the classroom supplies for the children.

We have tables instead of desks, so it is hard to have each child have their own supplies. What I started last year was giving each table a color and bins with the supplies they need. I have upgraded this year and changed some things based on what worked and what did not last year. Here are some photos:

I have five tables. Each group has a bin for pencils, markers, crayons and scissors & glue. Before we begin a project the "Table Leaders" are told what their group will need. They are responsible for getting the buckets and bring them back to the table. I found that making this one of the weekly class jobs avoided arguing and children racing to the supply shelf. 

Last year I filled those caddies with pencils and the big slot with crayons. I found it was difficult for the kids to share the crayons when they were kept in one bin. It often led to arguing or someone 'hogging' the bucket. So I searched pinterest for some ideas and here is what I found:

I got these great little bins at the dollar tree. They came in packs of 2 or 3 for a dollar! They fit crayons PERFECTLY! It's like thats what they were made for. So I bought enough for each child to have their own and a bin to keep them in for each table. Each child will have a labeled crayon box of their own!

I'm still trying to think of some other things I can keep in the caddies besides pencils and colored pencils. Any ideas? Feel free to share!

I am so happy with the way this turned out and can't wait to start using them with my new class! I hope you will find them helpful as well. I posted the labels in my Teachers Pay Teachers store for FREE! Click on the link below to get your own labels!

School Supply Labels - FREEBIE!

World Traveler Unit - NEW!

I've been spending the last few weeks updating one of my most popular units, World Travelers. The unit plan explores 22 countries! Each country has a fact page and a journal page. There are also literacy, writing and math activities included! Here is a preview of what is included:

Each country has a cute character that teaches about each culture. Then there is a journal page to go along with it. 

There is a journal page for each continent as well. 

There are three class book ideas that come with color cover and journal pages. This is one of my favorites. It is by the author Karen Katz and it is based on a story called "The Color of Us". It is a great story that teaches children about different skin colors.  

   

Click on the books above to see the books on Amazon.

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store to purchase this unit. Over 100 pages of activities!

All About ME!

I've spent the past few days updating this unit. I am in LOVE with the way it came out and I can't wait to use it this year. There is a great book for the kids to create all about themselves. The pages are so cute and fun! It makes a great keepsake!

All About ME!

There are also a bunch of great graphing activities included. There is a fun Eye Color Graph and Pie Chart to make with your class. It was tricky to make, but it hung in our room all year!

Visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store and download the preview for a FREE birthday graphing activity!

TPT Sale

Be sure to check out Teachers Pay Teachers on Monday 8/3 and Tuesday 8/4 for the sale! Everything in my store will be an additional 20% off. Use the code: BTS15 at checkout!

The Daily 5

This school year I will have 30 children in my class! This will be the largest class I have had so far. Last year was the first year at my new school and I had 22 in my class. When the year ended, I started thinking about what worked well and what I would need to change to meet the needs of more kids. So, I went to pinterest and started to do some research on small group ideas. I stumbled upon the Daily 5 and I was very interested to learn more. I ordered the book from amazon and read it in two days. I really like a lot of their ideas and I am very eager to try them out this year.

For those of you who have not heard of the Daily 5, it is basically a way to get your class reading and writing and being independent while they do it. It is broken up into 5 activities:

1. Read to Self

2. Read to Someone

3. Listen to Reading

4. Word Work

5. Work on Writing

The book is an explanation of how to introduce the daily 5 to your class and what to expect. I like a lot of the ideas and my plan is to tweak it and use parts. I would love to hear about other Kindergarten teachers experiences with the Daily 5 and how they use it in their classroom! Please feel free to share in the comments.

Click on the photos below to see the books on Amazon. 

    

Word Work

I have found so many great ideas for this part of the Daily 5 on Pinterest. From Wikki Sticks to Letter Stamps, the possibilities are endless! I have some great stuff in my TPT store that I think will work well with the Word Work part of the Daily 5. I am working on designing more things and would love your input!

Coming Soon

Thanks for reading and I hope you share some ideas from your experience with the Daily 5!

Communities Big & Small

A popular Social Studies unit in Kindergarten is learning about community helpers. This unit that I designed teaches children about different jobs that people in the community do and why they are important. It also teaches children about their own community.  Here are some sample pages from the unit:

Children can create their own community helper book with these journal pages. There are pages for Police Officers, Fire Fighters, Mail Carriers, Teachers, Doctors, Trash Collectors, Farmers, and Bakers. 

There are also writing pages for children to learn about their own community:

With this unit I also included some fun literacy and math community helper themed activities. 

Check out your local library for great books about your community and community helpers. 

Visit my store to purchase this fun unit to use with your class:

Communities Big & Small

Back to School

I have been working on updating my Back to School unit on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

The updated version is available now!

It is filled with great activities for the first few days of school and useful classroom materials. Here are some examples of what's included:

Class Job Cards

Class Rules

Daily Schedule Cards

How Do You Get Home?

Click on the photos to check out the full unit in my TPT store. 

And download the preview for these great shoe tie and zip & button FREEBIES!

Print and laminate these signs and children’s name tags. Once the child has become successful with the skill, move it over to the Yes! side. It is a great motivator! 

I'm always looking to add and update new things to this unit. 

If you have any ideas or things you would like to see leave a comment below.

Thanks!