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!

The Differentiating Power of The Clipboard and Freebies

Hello Pk+K Sharing Friends! My name is Marsha McGuire.  I'm from a  blog called A Differentiated Kindergarten (come visit me sometime) and I am delighted to have been asked to sit in as a guest blogger today on this very fine blog.  While my own blog is "A Differentiated Kindergarten,", I would NEVER claim to be an expert on the subject.  I am, however, an active student of it. I feel it is important for me to keep working towards the goal of a differentiated classroom, and I carry the philosophy that every child in my class should experience success. 

For many teachers, differentiated instruction can be overwhelming.  There are so many aspects, strategies and tools to consider. 

The seeming enormity of it all, paralyzes them and they end up doing . . .well . . . nothing.  I am here to tell you,  differentiated instruction can be time consuming, it does take organization and routine and hard work . . . but you can get there by starting out slowly.  Pick one thing, just one, and start! 

Want to start by learning how to tier a lesson to address your students' readiness?  Great!  I just did a guest blog that will take you step by step through the process over at Mrs. Miner's Monkeys.  Just click the picture below and it will take you there and give you a freebie to boot.

Want to start smaller . . . that's fine too. The wonderful thing about differentiated instruction is that it addresses all kinds of student needs, not JUST readiness.

It allows you to consider student interests as well.  That's a biggy!  Interest is the HOOK!  If you want to find out how I 'hooked' my very first class of kindergarten boys into loving practice nonsense word fluency practice, click the picture below to find out . . . there's a freebie there too. 

But today I don't want to talk about addressing interest either.  Today lets just start by addressing  your students' needs in regard to their learning profile, your learning environment and the use on of one simple tool ---a clipboard!

By learning profile, of course, I mean the way in which students learn best. 

In addition to learning styles, learning profile also refers to a student's intelligences.  As we all know, Gardner believes that there isn't just one singular notion of intelligence, but in fact, there are as many as eight.  They represent not only how we acquire knowledge and information, but also how we represent what we know.

Just as a refresher take a look below:

Now if you're still with me I know what you're thinking . . .how does a clipboard have anything to do with multiple intelligences.  Hang on! I'm getting there . . .

A clipboard  . . . fancy, plain, plastic or particle board . . . can allow you to make adjustments to your classroom environment and offer activities that will address nearly every single one of these intelligences. And besides . . .  have you even seen a 5 year old with a clipboard?  They stand a little taller, they walk with a purpose . . . they feel IMPORTANT. There isn't a kindergartner alive that doesn't LOVE a clipboard. It is, sadly, an underrated learning tool.

And for your kinesthetic learner, it's like giving a 16 year old a license to drive. Suddenly they have permission to do what they do best . . . move!!!!!!!   To address my kinesthetic learners, I use clipboards for write the room activities in my classroom.

Here's a simple spring themed one you can pick up for free to use with your own little people. And because of the type of activity it is, it also addresses your linguistic students who like to read and spell and your intrapersonal intelligences who are content to work alone. 

Is a listening center part of your classroom?   With a small personal cd player and a clipboard, your listening center is now mobile.  Your student can choose whichever area of the room they feel most comfortable to work.  Here's great news! Listening centers are NOT only for taped stories with an accompanying book either.  Provide some great music or poetry for them to listen to instead. (I use nursery rhymes, kids favorite artists and even some ethnic music - Celtic is a class favorite) Grab up a copy of my music response sheet to use when addressing your students with musical intelligences.




Beginning of the year music/nursery rhyme response sheet.

 



End of year response sheet.



In some cases, a clipboard can give your interpersonal students an outlet for their social tendencies.  How about a math survey, where they interview their classmates and then analyze their findings. Here's one I'll be using for my dinosaur unit in the next couple weeks.  Click on it and it's yours. And because of the type of activity it is, it will also appeal to your logical/mathematical students.  If you want it, click on it and it's yours.

To address the naturalist among your students (by far one of the hardest one for me to do personally) why not take your work outside.  We do NOT have many beautiful days here in Northern Michigan in April, but I guarantee you, we take advantage of the ones we do have . . .

This fall my student teacher, Jennifer, had my kiddos outside using their senses to learn about trees and one of the assignments she gave them was to take the clipboards out and sketch a picture of the big tree on our playground. While they ALL loved it and needed to be exposed to it, my students with spatial and naturalist intelligences THRIVED.  

Differentiating CAN be time-consuming and over-whelming at first, but it can also be as simple as using a clipboard. Avoid doing NOTHING and start small . . . but please JUST START!!!

If you'd like to learn more about how I differentiate in my own classroom, please stop by my blog

Make sure you leave me a note so I knew you stopped by to look around.

****Note from the editor. We experienced some technological challenges with Marsha's brilliant post as it was first submitted. It had to be 're-published' and in the process the original 'pin' link was disrupted as well as the original comments that were posted were lost. 


We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused. If you can possibly edit your own personal pins to this corrected URL we will all be very grateful. 


--Debbie Clement --