Friendship writing {Valentines, MLK or just because you're special}

I knew I wanted something to start the new year on the right foot.  As tight as my class is this year, everyone can use a reminder of how awesome they are, right adults?  ;)  So I read "The Crayon Box That Talked" and we talked about how each of us is unique just like the crayons.  It was super fun this year because I have twins in my class.  I held up 2 blue crayons that looked the same on the outside but when I colored with them, they were different shades of blue.  The kids immediately pointed my twin girls out as those 2 colors.  So cute.

But instead of having the kids think about how themselves, I put everybody's name in a bowl and they picked one out.  We talked about how fun it can be to have a secret and be able to surprise a friend so most of them made the long 24 hours without telling.  We drew the names after reading the book but didn't write until the next day so they'd have plenty of time to watch their secret person and see what makes them really special.  The next day, they revealed their secret friend and wrote about what makes them special.

We used this as a class bonding activity but I'm going to keep them hanging up for a while because it goes along perfectly with Martin Luther King {and the spirit of getting along with everyone} as well as Valentine's Day and sharing the love.

We just wrote on notebook paper but if you prefer to have an outline, I have two free downloads for you.  One has a picture space and one is just lines.  You don't have to do anything as a trade, just sharing the love!

You are ALL special!  Thanks for reading & loving on your kiddos.

Cinco de Mayo

Cinco de Mayo!  Yes, it's partly my love of all Mexican yummies that make me love teaching about Cinco de Mayo but I also think it's a very festive holiday.  It's definitely one the kids get into.  It's even easier to teach now...with my 22 page Cinco de Mayo unit!

If you're not fluent in Spanish, don't worry, you don't need to be!  Especially in the lower grades, a basic intro to Spanish is enough to make them think they're bilingual.  ;)  My Cinco de Mayo unit introduces animals, body parts, colors, family members and numbers.  There are recipe cards, coloring pages, a fun hat to make {of course!} and even an easy reader to put together and color.  Here's a freebie download for you as well!

For a hands on idea, I always like to make salsa and guacamole right in my classroom with my students.  If you use a blender it is super simple.  Here's a tip: if you make the salsa first, just leave a little bit of it in the blender, add the avocados and the guacamole is done!  I guarantee you, if the kids get to help make it, they'll want to eat it.  {kid friendly recipes included in the unit}  And if you decide to cook while wearing a festive sombrero, even better!

While you're busy blog stalking & pinning festive Cinco de Mayo ideas, make sure you remember to enter the Origami Owl giveaway!!  And check out more freebies on TBA!

Chinese New Year.

Chinese New Year is coming up on February 10th.  I like to touch on it as a way of learning about other cultures and comparing customs.  Christmas Around the World is always popular, but then we tend to forget the rest of the world the rest of the year.  Here are a few super simple ways to celebrate if you're interested!

{dragon dance}
2013 is the year of the water snake but the dragon dance is a major part of the yearly celebration.  Show your students pictures like these or maybe even a video clip of the dragon dance.  The choreography shows a dragon chasing a pearl with the intention that if the dragon catches it, the pearl with bring him good fortune and prosperity.

{lion dance}
The lion dance is often confused with the dragon dance but is actually a little different.  The dragon requires multiple people and their faces are shown but the lion dance only uses 2 people {they only have 4 legs!} and their faces are covered by the costume.  You can see examples of the lion dance in this video.

{dragon crowns}
Then find a dragon or lion coloring page that you like, attach it to the front of a sentence strip crown, run streamers down the back {for the dragon} and let your students make their own celebration dance!

{fire breathing dragons}
Tell me this isn't the cutest thing you've ever seen.  KangarooBoo made them using paper cups, popsicle sticks & streamers.  The kids blow through the back to make the flames fly!

{pattern block dragons}
Use die cut pattern block pieces to let your students create their own dragons.  If you'd rather stick with the 2013 theme of the water snake, just don't add the legs!  ;)

Always extend by writing on the back, of course!  They flipped to write with a white colored pencil.  :)

{paper lanterns}
Show your students pictures of children in China just like them to compare celebration symbols.

Follow the DIY steps to make a simple paper lantern with streamers.


{Chinese New Year symbols}
Create a Bubble Map of celebration symbols using the vocab cards at Communication 4 All.  Or print the large vocab posters, put them in your writing center and let your students explain what each symbol means.

{history of the Chinese New Year}
While you're there, download the awesome powerpoint story about the history of Chinese New Year {perfectly acceptable for young children} by clicking on the image below.

{fortune cookies}

Tell me you haven't been sitting there thinking of orange chicken as you read this.  Or beef and broccoli?  Whatever your preference, Chinese food meals always end the same...fortune cookies!  Kids loooove cookies.  Make these cute ones out of cupcake liners then serve a real one for a snack.

{ni hao kai-lan}

Nick Jr.'s special friend Kai-Lan can also tell you a lot about China, their culture and the Chinese New Year.  Click on the picture of her below to be taken to a video clip of her explanations and maybe even learn a few Chinese phrases!  :)

Happy Chinese New Year!

top tips from an O.T.

You know those teachers who really love their job?  I mean the ones who love kids so much they'll help students who aren't even in their classrooms?  Or on their caseloads?  Or kids they've never even met?

I know one.  And I can't tell you who she is because it's a secret.  ;)  But I picked her O.T. brain to get some help for a few of my students who are really struggling.  I knew from the 1st week of school that these were special cases and extra practice wasn't going to be enough to help them out.  But while I wait to jump through the hoops of proper paperwork, timing and interventions {force smile here} I slyly took matters into my own hands.

And I'm bringing my new knowledge to you!  If you have a student who struggles with any fine motor grips, cutting with scissors, copying from the board, writing letters, coloring a picture, picking things up, zipping zippers or even tracing...tune in!

Some of the activities you're going to see are from Handwriting Without Tears.  But fear not if this program is not available to you.  I will also provide ways to DIY HWT.  {how's that for a teaching acronym?!}

{2 inch binder}
Or an easel...or taping the paper to the wall or a cabinet.  The idea here is to focus more energy on the muscles.  The binder helps with pencil grip because it forces their wrist back and they can't be so loosey goosey or it'll slide.  Using an easel or writing on the wall {or the board!} builds muscle strength.

{playdoh mats}
Be sure they understand proper letter formation even if they can't actually write them yet. Previously I've used any laminated letter card {bubble letters work best} and the tiny tubs of playdoh.  These are larger but what I really like are the arrows to provide some direction.  You could also use a smiley face, star or sticker to show your students where to start.

This alphabet set from 1+1+1= 1 is fabulous and here's a {free} Sight Word set so all your kids can choose this activity or you can make a differentiated playdoh center!

{silly putty}
Silly putty, slime, anything gooey will do, you just want to make sure it isn't too liquidy.  It appears to be regular silly putty but...

A-ha!  It is actually a {pinching practice} treasure hunt!  Your kids use their finger tips to dig {and pinch} and use their fine motor muscles to dig out the gems, fish, jewels...whatever little plastic pieces you choose to hide.

{pop toobs}
Sometimes you can find these at the dollar store or in random toy sections.  They're basically just pieces of plastic that you can stretch out {build shoulder and bicep muscles} then squeeze back together.  They also make a whistling noise if you swing them around your head...but maybe don't tell your kids that while you're working.  ;)

{note: when searching for this item please type "Slinky Pop Toobs" and be aware of Google images.}

{tweezers}
Tweezers & tongs of various sizes are great for fine motor practice.  They can pick up beads, crayons, pop cubes...virtually anything.  I start with bigger tongs and bigger objects then move to smaller tongs or tweezers and smaller objects as the kids improve.  The spots at the ends are for finger placement guidance.

{big dots}

This is a strategy you can use quickly & easily.  Some kids just have trouble staying on a line whether it's walking, tracing or cutting.  You can trace over the lines with a thick marker or add big dots along the way.  When I wanted my student to cut out the Native American headband we made for Thanksgiving, just colored some black dots along the line I wanted cut.  You will be shocked how such a simple, 2 second modification better directs scissors.

{wiki sticks}
Wiki Sticks are basically wax coated pipe cleaners.  The wax allows them to stick together or stick to plastic but not be so gooey that they make a big mess.  I use glossy letter cards but you can print any letter card and laminate them.  It will work just as well.  Bend the wiki sticks to lay on top of the letter then use your finger to practice tracing over the wiki stick for extra directional practice {which is important for letter writing if that skill isn't strong yet}.

{magna doodles}
This is my favorite trick and I don't know how it didn't come to me any sooner!  HWT has these awesome wooden pieces {lines and curves} that you can put together to make capital letters.  They have magnets on the back so you can use them on the board.  Super bonus: if you lay them on a magna doodle like this...

and then take off the pieces...THE LETTER IS MAGICALLY FORMED!!!  Okay, I get it...Magna {like magnets} and doodle...the magnet in the "pen" makes the marks.  But I really never thought it through before and now I am soooo stoked!

In case you don't have the HWT pieces, you can do the same thing on any type of magna doodle board.  This one with lines on it is from Lakeshore and I pulled any random magnet to see if it works.  And it DOES.  Now, a lot of plastic magnet letters only have one little magnet on the back so you'll only get one little mark on the board but it is totally worth it to either add a full magnet backing or {easier option} purchase another set like these.  Then students can trace over the marks to practice letter writing.

{lines & curves}
Love those line and curve pieces, right?!  Well...DIY it!  We actually added extra pieces so we could make both capital and lowercase letters.  It's just 2 regular size popsicle sticks, 2 mini popsicle sticks {from any craft store}, 1 full size pipe cleaner and 2 pipe cleaner halves.

Voila!  Capital A & lowercase a, perfectly formed and in proportion.  :)

I do encourage you to check out the HWT website and see about getting a kit for your school.  {no, I am not an affiliate for HWT nor am I getting paid for this post as a promotional supporter, just giving credit where credit is due.}  Start with the free downloads to check it out.  Maybe grant money or Donors Choose could be an option!

I hope these are new tips for you and that you see some improvement in your classrooms!  Feel free to pin this post for future reference and follow my blog so you don't miss a thing!  I'm always searching out secret tricks of the trade!  ;)

Martin Luther King Jr.

Yay!  It's Monday and I'm not at school...I'm blogging!!!!  :)

Last year my class created an awesome collage to celebrate diversity and show how we can all be friends with people who are different.  I just had to laminate it and save it to hang up again.  Instead of sharing the same "I have a dream writing" again I thought I'd post something I can actually share!

We made these cute peace doves as a symbol of bringing peace into our classroom family.  They're so so easy.  Cut a paper plate in half and use one half for the body.  Fold the other half in half {ha!} and glue it down for the wings.  Trace something round for a construction paper head.  Add a beak and eyes and you're done!

Then my kids wrote a sentence {of course} to tell how they would bring peace into our classroom.  I tried to encourage them to explain their thinking from "I will be friends" to "I will be friends with everyone" or "I will be friends with people who are new"...that kind of thing.

If you'd like to see the writing that I can't share {dang copyrights!} it's here.  It's from an old Mailbox magazine so if anyone finds it already online, let me know!!  :)

Enjoy your day!!

global communication.

So the last objective we needed to cover for our state Social Studies standards was a hodgepodge of randomness...transportation, communication and technology...across the world.  We were struggling to put all of these together into something cohesive so I created this:

After a few mini-lessons on each topic, this will be our wrap-up activity to bring it all around together.  You can get ah-dorable graphics of people from each country from Lettering Delights but I've taken down the original file because I'm afraid it went into the gray area of Terms of Use and I'd rather be safe than sorry.  However!  You can get them by clicking on the Lettering Delights button to the left.

We will locate each country on the world map so they know what type of transportation to choose {land, water or sea} but any acceptable answer will do.  If they want to fly to Switzerland in a hot air balloon or a rocket ship...fine by me!

We've started talking about what technology is and isn't so they might say a GPS will help them get there, the internet might help them figure out what to do while they're there or {knowing my kids} that playing Angry Birds on their cell phones will give them something to do while they're traveling.

For the communication piece we covered facial expressions, body language, foreign languages and sign language.  I'd also accept answers of drawing pictures or acting things out.

If you're interested, click on the picture above for a FREE download.  Enjoy!  {Disfrutar!  Profiter!  Geniessen!  Godere!  楽しむ!}

Staggered Entry.

That's what we call the beginning of our school year when the students ease into the full-time school schedule.  And that's how I feel about this post.  :)  Staggered....random...entry.  Just a few pics I snapped today at school to get some topics started.

This is our diversity display that we made for MLK this year.  In years past I'd gone into the whole race thing, but I really started to feel like kindergarteners didn't see color in themselves until we pointed it out to them in this lesson.  (Not quite the point that Dr. King was trying to make, I'm pretty sure.)  So this year I focused a lot less on how things used to be and a lot more on what the kids could do to make their world a better place.  They created this "Celebrate Diversity" poster by cutting out pictures from magazines.  We talked about diversity not only in skin color but also hair color, age, etc.  I think it turned out pretty well!

Then they each expanded a standard worksheet (not originally mine) where the instructions were to draw a picture of their dream for making a difference.  I had them cut off the border and add a sentence as well.

These are our "Heart People" that we made using a glyph.  It took me a while to buy into glyphs and how they're actually an academic task, but I'm really starting to see them as a way to display information instead of just an isolated craft, especially when we use the directions to read information from each others' projects!

Here's a closer shot of one of the Heart People.  My kids also wrote sentences using "Sparkle Words" (details) so the Sparkle Fairy would come and visit them.

These winter friends contained facts we learned while researching polar bears and penguins.  The polar bears are actually books that have pages underneath.  We created a class chart as we read about polar bears and students used those vocabulary terms to write fact sentences.

After we read about penguins, I showed my students March of the Penguins in short snippets throughout the course of the week.  I've used this video for 3 years now and my kids are amazed every time that these are "REAL LIFE" penguins!!!  As they watched the video, they took notes in a Circle Map, a graphic organizer from Thinking Maps Inc which we use in our classroom regularly.

Each student then chose 1, 2 or 3 words from their Circle Map to write about (assigned by me, based on ability) and then put those words or ideas into full sentences.  Students who were assigned multiple sentences had extra bellies pre-stapled to their penguins, making it into a flip book.  We then painted the penguins using Q-tip dots.

These are snowpeople we created after reading Lois Ehlert's Snowballs.  I got this idea from my neighbor, Mrs. Love, whose done it for years.  Although I will admit that the project itself was a bit of a headache (I may get out less items to choose from next year!) the projects in the end were adorable.  Like always, I also extended the project with writing.  The kids wrote what kind of snowperson they'd made and what materials they'd used to create the clothing and accessories.  We also use "snow paint" to make the fluffy snow around the snowpeople.  My dear friend Mrs. Sink taught it to me and I love love love it!  You mix Elmer's glue with shaving cream so it's sticky but still nice and fluffy and then...voila!  Snow paint that literally fluffs in 3-D from your artwork!

One of my beginning of the year activities is - like most kindergarten teachers! - to read Chica Chica Boom Boom by Bill Martin.  The students tear paper strips to make the trunks, cut slits in the leaves to have that palm tree fringe and write their name dancing up the tree using different colors of crayon.  I used to keep this display up inside my classroom only until our Curriculum Night, but I decided I love it so much that this year I put it in the hallway and am leaving it up all year!

I also wrote each students' name on a coconut when I got my original class list so they'd see it on Open House night while trying to find their classroom for the first time!  The flowers hanging from my doorway also help and have become my definitive decoration.  You can get them at Party City and it's the whole rod is just hot glued above the door!

This is another beginning of the year projects that I keep up all year.  We read a lot of stories about starting school, making new friends and being a good friend.  We also talk a lot about being yourself and accepting people who they are.  Then we read A rainbow of friends by P.K. Hallinan and create our own rainbow of friends!  The t-shirt is a reproducible (not originally mine) that I cut out and help students glue under their heads.  I provide circles of various colors and allow the students to choose whichever color they think best represents their skin tone.  Sometimes they choose accurately and sometimes they couldn't be farther from reality...but I let them choose whatever they want!  Then I help them glue down their yarn hair.  We keep the display up all year and refer to it in our weekly class meetings.  We also read our answers aloud to help get to know each other before I hang them up.

 This is my discovery table.  It's part of our provided school furniture for kindergarten and I haven't really used it much in years past (mostly because I didn't know how!).  The sand was too messy, the rice had a weird smell, the pasta was too noisy...I couldn't get past the items IN the discovery table!  Then I had an epiphany...pom poms!!  They are quiet, soft and make zero noise.  I bought the shovels at the dollar store and my students love visiting this literacy center.  At the beginning of the year, they just had to scoop a letter and name it.  As we progessed, they named the letter and the sound.  At this point, the students name the letter, say the sound and write down a word that begins with the word on a piece of paper to hold them accountable for their learning while at that center.  I also have this table near the Word Wall for students who may still struggle with coming up with a word for some letters.  I think I got the letters from my friend Mrs. Belk when she moved away (we miss you, Friday DJ!!) but I'm sure you can find them at any teacher store or probably even the dollar store.

As Harry Wong said, "Effective teachers can be defined with a single word...they steal!  Those who beg, borrow and steal good techniques are teachers whose students will achieve."  Happy looting.  ;)