Happy Holidays Pre-K & K Style!

Happy holidays... happy holidays... let the merry bells keep ringing... happy holidays to you!  

Probably one of my favorite holiday songs!  Can't read it without singing!

Anyways... it's Jennifer with Simply Kinder!  Excited to be back in a flash and share some great holiday resources and ideas with you that will work great in your preschool and kindergarten classrooms!  

First is my most favorite... my parent gift!  I love making these scented ornaments and they are smell for years and years!  

Here's how to make them:

1.  Mix 3/4 cup apple sauce (plus a dash more) and 1 cup cinnamon with about two tablespoons of  glue.  I would suggest buying 2 of the tall Cinnamon's and 2 of the large jars of apple sauce.  That should get a classroom of about 30 very easily. 

2.  Knead the dough.  It's important that there is NO creases or folds in the dough.  You definitely have to work it.  In the picture to the right I would probably want to get those folds at the bottom worked out otherwise he may crack.  

3.  Roll it out onto wax paper. 

4. Then stamp with a gingerbread cookie cutter.  Poke a hole with a toothpick for the string.

5.  And lastly place to dry. They will have to dry for several days.  Turn them over every half day or so.  I would also suggest prewriting your students names on the wax paper so you know whose is whose!

6.  Decorate with students' faces, hot glue works best.  Ribbon hot glued through the ornament's hole, a sequence, and anything you want to add!  Make adorable holiday gifts that will smell delicious for years!  I like to use items I have in my classroom each year and so this year it was silvery sequence and red ribbons!

We will wrap them by putting them in brown paper bags with just regular old paper towels to keep them protected.  We will write on the backs of old Christmas cards I collected from last year, staple them together and they are ready to go!  (The trick is to ask for them now so no one throws them away before they return from break... and save them for next year!  The kids also love using these cards in the writing lab!)  To read more about my Christmas Card centers that kids will love click here!  Your students will love my fun and easy center!

We have always done these fun gingerbread houses and then the big push for rigor came around and "no more fun" seems to be the philosophy.  Well... don't tell me I can't do something!  So, in this fun activity students will create a graph using addition, subtraction, or counting and then use that graph to build their house!  {Stop by to see more pictures and read what's included!}

This is my most favorite addition to the holiday time of year!  I noticed on a trip that my own son could not sing Christmas carols on a family trip to the North Pole!  Saddened my hear to realize a lot of the kids on the bus weren't singing!  So... what does a rigor teacher do?  That's right.. we are using them for fluency and close reading!  We started these last week and let me tell you... I have never seen my kids so excited to read all year!  They are especially great for the more advanced kids!  Also, interactive as the kids can select the image to glue onto their carol!  You are sure to love these!

Check out this fun bulletin board we made!  Of course the faces are my own little magic elves for privacy issues!  These we so fun to make and are going to make great keepsakes for the families!  If only you could see their actual little bright shining faces behind!  Click the image for other elf antics in kindergarten (it has a freebie so be sure to do so!)

That's the holiday fun we have had so far!  Be sure to stop by and visit!  Tell me you found me from Pre K and K Sharing!

Free Writing Journals

That's right!  If you are looking for a journal to use for your kinders then this is the post for you!

I made this set last year because I always have such a hard time finding just the basic things online.  This year I went back and added a SUPER CUTE Melonheadz front and back cover.  I print those on card stock and just staple.  

This year I only did enough pages to get through until Christmas.  I find that with my Seat Sacks the covers get crinkled and bent a lot quicker than storing them in baskets or bins.  

Here are some other great fun writing activities you will also like!

This or That Writing Prompts.  I get really annoyed when students spend their ENTIRE writing block just perfecting a picture.  Yes there is value in drawing, loads of it, but they also need to write.  So I made these fun writing prompts to glue into the journals above!   Students can pick one (or both) pictures to glue into their journal.  They can add more detail to the picture and color them in.  This not only cuts the amount of time they are doing on the picture but also guides their topic to better fit the instruction!  I spiral these into my journals so they get a balance of more directed writing time and free writing! 

And my spelling program will also greatly help with journals!  I don't start this right away because they are so young when we get them.  

ABC's of Our Class Freebie

Anyone thinking back to school yet? I admit I have for about a month now but now that school is finally done I have some time to actually act on it!

So here's a fun freebie to get you started.  It's the ABC's of Our Class!  A fun way to get all the info to your families kindergarten or preschool style!  Stop by for your free download!  Great for any grade level and every teacher!

Click here to get your freebie!

So what are you working on this summer?  My goal is to get my alphabet resources organized!  I don't know about you but I actually teach from all these great blog posts everyone does!  So I am going to be working on getting 26 good alphabet posts together - one for every letter.  I know... sounds annoying but think about it... when you teach the letter S wouldn't it be nice to have quick, easy access to these fun resources and more!  

Have Fun Teaching!  Need I say more?

Quick poem and hand motions.  

Blending with -op!  Super fun music video!

Fun Alphabet Hats:

Alphabet Snap Cubes:

And so much more!  I am really excited to get everything organized and posted into one giant post per letter so I am ready to go!    They will be starting soon.  So be sure to follow along at Simply Kinder so you are ready to teach those little ones the letters when it's time!

We are off to camp for the next week!  (I am exhausted already just packing!)  Hope everyone has a great week!

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End of Year Writing Freebie

That's right!  The end is close enough that we can start prepping our kids for the big transition to first grade!  I am ready, are you?  (Well sort of ready!)

Recently we wrote stories about why we are ready for first grade.  Focused on what we know and of course how we are acting.  Here's the page we used for free:

This is what I got... funny what kids are proud of.  (I had a student say he learned how to stack blocks on his hand - which we did as a follow direction and team building activity!  Funny... but I told him to focus more on what we learned!)  

(He thought it was really cool that phone had no F in it... told me about it almost every day!)

I did these with little to no reminders. My kids are usually expected to write about 3/4 of a page for their writing but today I wanted them really to just be to the point and really narrow down something they were proud they did or learned!

We also did another writing assessment and this is more characteristic of what I would expect of my students for this point in the year.  

(Hahaha - had to share!  I think this little one is tired of doing artsy stuff while learning!)

(Can you read it?  I love it!)

Common Core of course samples a 4 sentence story - but remember I took over mid year and when they came in a good chunk of them could not even write one sentence.

So this activity served another purpose beyond the bulletin board.

I love making art with the black lines. I am sure it has some sort of technical name, but look at these great pictures the kids did!  They truly are amazing!

We also made a great class book that each student will get to take home.  The parents love these books for many reasons - a great keepsake, to see how their students compare with others, and to give their students something exciting to read that they made with their friends.

The way we do this is we all write our stories, then do the pictures only with black outlines.  I will run and copy it together into books for the kids and then we go back and color the original for a book for class.  Click the image below for your free class book!

Head on over to Simply Kinder to see how I created each student their very own book & grab the freebie!  

Click any image above or copy and paste this thread:   
http://www.simplykinder.com/2013/05/look-out-first-grade-here-we-come.html

Butterflies for the Littles!

What's more fun to do in the spring than butterflies?  Nothing of course!  It's so engaging and so full of opportunities for reading and writing that it really makes for a favorite unit amongst teachers and students!

If you have never done butterflies before than this is the post for you because I am going to share my experiences with our butterfly garden this year and at the very end there is a really fun giveaway!

Let's start by them arriving.   If you use Insect Lore they will arrive in a white envelop and be wrapped in bubble wrap.  We checked the mail for DAYS and when they finally came we were so excited!  They looked dead when they arrived, but they were actually just dormant (which they go in and out of apparently.)

They come in a cup.  Within the cup is everything they need and so there is no need to touch or open the cup.  On the bottom is the food and on the lid is a piece of white paper.  This white paper is where they will attach to when they become chrysalises.  It's very nice that it's on paper because it makes transferring them to your garden super easy!

That's pretty much it.  So we wait for 7-10 days.  With us it took the full 10 this year!  A caterpillar's job is to eat.  He will eat, and eat, and eat just like the book says (except it eats caterpillar food.)  Here is a picture of about 6 days.  You can see just from the picture above they are getting fatter and fatter! 

Once they are super fat they will make their way to the top of the cup.  This is where they will become chrysalises.  They will hang here for about 7-10 days again.  This one was about 8 days for us this year.    At this point you will want to take them off the lid of the cup and transfer them to the butterfly garden.  You just take that white piece of paper and attach it to the lid of the garden.  I like to use velcro with the sticky backs because I am afraid that tape won't hold the weight but Insect Lore suggests tape.  

One might think watching chrysalises is boring but it can actually be very exciting. One of their defense mechanisms is to shake.  Here is a little video I took of our chrysalises!  

So 7-10 days later your butterflies hatch!  It's very exciting!  It can be a little messy though, don't be alarmed if there is blood that appears on your net as they open their wings.  (You can see it on some of the floral print.)  To care for your butterflies you can put in water and I like to put a piece of fruit or flowers.  I like to put a plate at the bottom or a lit to put the water in. Something shallow for them be able to reach.  

That's pretty much it!  Literally anyone can do it because there is not a whole lot of touching things involved.  (Last year I ordered the frog kit... read that you had to give them live crickets after the purchase.  Needless to say I was happy they came dead (but a little sad for them and my own kinder who was looking forward to it.)

I made this Butterfly Lifecycle Interactive Learning Journal to go along with it.  It takes the kids through the process with activities and then has a journal at the end to record what exactly is happening day by day.  Click here to check it out.  

I also made a fun freebie to go along with it for you.  So download the preview for your Parts of a Butterfly activity!

And now for the Giveaway!  I am going to giveaway one Insect Lore Butterfly Garden so you can do this with your little learners!  

Please head on over to enter to win your very own Butterfly Garden!   Click here!

Snap Cube and Lego Centers!

It's so hard to find good, engaging centers to keep the kids moving and working!  So I wanted to share with you some fun centers I created that involve developmentally appropriate practice and the academic rigor your administrators require!

Snap Cube Centers

These are fun centers using those snap cubes that sit in a bin in the corner of your room!  You know... those blocks that every time they get brought out get turned into snap cube guns.. I HATE that sound - kids playing guns!  

So how it works is the kids get a card with an image on it.  They have to count how many blocks it took to make the pieces to those images to recreate it.  You are given several recording options for the kids to be held accountable!  I have them in all sorts of topics - sight words, letters, numbers, and even a monthly set with themes to make what's going on! 

Here is a little freebie for you to try them out! 

Lego Centers

Now that we have those snap cubes working let's get the Lego's out!  These fun and engaging centers get kids creating sight words with Legos and counting how many it took to make them.  They can even record the colors they used if you give them their own print out of the word.  

These are done to scale and you have two options to differentiate for the time of year or for students.  

These are currently only available in PrePrimer and Primer lists!  So not as many options but SUPER fun!  I get lots of comments that the boys will love them BUT my entire class really loves going to the Lego center!  

What centers do you love?  I have found that I put the MOST work into prepping and planning my centers each week!  Am I alone here?  

Class Books & Take Home Backpacks

Becoming a kinder parent has really opened my eyes to the love of learning our little ones have!

One of my son's favorite projects he did at the start of the year was bringing the Brown Bear home for the evening in his teacher' Take Home Backpack that rotated through the class.

So... I have started to create those sets as well so that my students (and you) can enjoy them!  You really have two options with these projects depending on your time and your resources.

Option One - Just make the class books because they are here, easy, and fun!
Option Two - Assemble a full Take Home Backpack to rotate through your class!

I have two set's done already:

One additional step I do is to copy the books for my parents so they have a keepsake!  I will usually do this back to back and even shrink two pages to one page to save paper!  Be sure to copy before you send home the backpack with the original if you do!

Click all the images above to get your FREEBIES!  Hope everyone has a great holiday season!

Jennifer