Butterflies

From Caterpillar to Butterfly!

We started our caterpillar unit this week!  I ordered caterpillars from www.insectlore.com.  They are awesome!  The caterpillars come in the mail in a little jar that has food in it for them.  Then, you get to watch them form into a J while they make their cocoon.  Ours are currently in their cocoons and we are waiting for them to hatch into butterflies.  I am so fascinated by this!  I think it is so neat! 

So, we wrote about the caterpillars in our science journals.  We wrote down observations and predicted when we thought they might become butterflies.  The students cannot wait for them to hatch and they look at the caterpillars any free chance they can get!  

We read the Very Hungry Caterpillar (one of my favorites!) and made a caterpillar to retell the story.  The students did a great job of retelling and using the transition words, first, next, then, and last.  

We also made the life cycle of a butterfly by using pasta noodles.  This is such a great visual for the students, as well as the food life cycle.  The food one is my favorite because then we get to eat it! I am always crazy about anything that has to do with food!  My kids enjoy it too!

We ended our butterfly unit by making our 3-D caterpillar book.  The book is in a shape of a leaf/cocoon.  So the front we use tissue paper to make it look like a leaf, and we add our caterpillar on top.  Then, when you open the book the left side has the cocoon and the ride side has pages that describe the life cycle.  Then, when you close the book there is a butterfly on the back!  It is a great way to describe the life cycle of a butterfly.  I feel confident that my students understand this process and learned new vocabulary words this week!

Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!

Goin' Buggy in Kindergarten

Do you love learning about bugs?  I sure do!  I find them so fascinating, and the kids of course love bugs!  I wanted to know what my kids knew about bugs, so we made a KWL chart to write what we know, what we wanted to learn, and then at the end of the week we would write what we learned.  It was fun to see what they wanted to learn about.  My kids were very interested in bugs and couldn't wait to go on a bug hunt!  

Before going on a bug hunt, we graphed what bug was our favorite to hunt for!  I was amazing to see that the worm won!  I am more of a caterpillar kind of girl. :]  We then compared the bugs on the graph.  We found which one had the most, which the least, and the difference between the two.  It is always difficult to find the difference, so we practice this whenever we can!  

After our bug hunt, we made an entomologist!  This is someone that studies insects.  Each student picked an insect to study and wrote about the insect.  My favorite part was seeing what they would name their bug!

For our writing, we made an All About Insects book.  It even had a Table of Contents!  The book gave facts about bumblebees, ladybugs, dragonflies, and praying mantis'.  The kids did a great job of finding details from the book to state facts about each animal.  This was great practice and followed the Common Core Standards!  We even practiced labeling bugs!  Check out our book!

We ended our week making a ladybug (one of my favorite bugs, since I was an Alpha Sig in college and that was our mascot!) and we wrote about why ladybugs are important for plants.  We also talked about different things that "bug" us.  That was one of my most favorite conversations with my students because the things that "bug" them are so funny!  Look at our cute ladybugs!

Foodie Friday treat = Ladybug!  ADORABLE!   

What do you do for Bugs in your classroom?? I'd love to hear about it!

Spelling Bee 2014

Spelling Bee 2014

We had a very exciting Spelling Bee with our Kindergarten Reading Group.  I am teaching the enrichment group this year, and I thought it would be fun to push my students to learn how to not only read the sight words, but spell them also!  I was so impressed with how hard the students studied.  They were given a month to study.  I gave them a list of all the Dolch words from pre-primer to third grade.  I also gave them a list of word family words to practice. 

Click on the photo for your copy of the Dolch words!

After a month of studying, we had our spelling bee at school for families and other kindergarten students to come and watch!  We had a great turn out.  There were 30 students participating in the spelling bee (yes, I have 30 students in my reading group...ALL ALONE!).  We had them all set up, and they took turns coming to the microphone to spell their words.  They even said the word, spelling it, and said the word again.  They were professional spellers!  I was SO proud of them!  There were a few tears from students that did not make it, but they were all good sports.  I even gave each student a cookie at the end!  That is better than a trophy any day!  Check out our pictures of the event and the trophy.  Our winner and runner-up were from the same homeroom.  Congratulations to Mrs. Austin from Kooky Kinders!  Thank you to everyone that came and for all the parents' support!

Spring Clean Up Blog

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In my classroom I have worked hard to organize my files and make it easy for me to find where things are located.  I use these large tubs from Wal-Mart to organize my monthly activities.  I keep each activity that I place in the tubs in a large gallon Ziploc Bag.  These are like gold to me!  I use them for everything! 

I also use these tubs from Wal-Mart to organize my reading and math center activities.  I sort them based on skill.  For example, I place all the telling time activities, graphing activities, and tally mark activities together.  Each tub contains certain activities, depending on how many I have for that specific topic.  Some tubs contain only one type of activity because I have so many items for that one skill.  I just use sentence strips to write what activities are in each tub, and I tape it on the outside.

I also use my filing cabinets to sort various math, literacy, and writing activities.  Each file folder is titled a different topic, such as;  fluency, comprehension, digraphs, addition, subtraction, money, etc.  I then use these file folders to copy worksheets for my students  to practice the skills.  This helps them practice what they are struggling with.

I use skill boxes in my classroom.  Each child has a red box in their cubby and this is where they keep their personal activities.  I believe differentiating is very important.  Therefore, each student has their own box where they keep activities that meet their educational needs. 

Each box also contains various resources to help them while working on Kindergarten skills that match the Common Core Standards.  Here is a resource folder students can refer to.  They do this often throughout the day.  I love that they can look at this before they ask me questions.  I think it is important for students to work independently.  

Each child is given an index card.  This card shows them what skills they are practicing.  I pick out the skills based on classroom observations and objective checks.  Students then have to complete at least 5 activities on one skill in order to move on to the next skill.  Each time they complete one activity, they have to show that they understood it - then they will receive 1 tally mark.  Once a child receives at least 5 tally marks, they can move to the next skill.  If a student needs to continue practicing, they will continue practicing and receive more tally marks until they have "mastered" the skill.  My students LOVE this!  They get so excited to finish a card and get a new one.  I keep all of their cards in their data notebooks to track their progress throughout the year.

I use a filing bin to sort file folders in.  Each student has a tan folder and an orange folder.  The tan folder contains reading activities, and the orange folder contains math activities.  I then place worksheets that match the skills on their index card in their filing folder.  I keep the papers in order to match their index card.  The students are great at getting out the next paper that they need to work on.  This allows me to prepare activities for them in advance, and they don't keep 20 pieces of paper in their red box.  Each student keeps one paper in their box at a time, and once it is completed and checked, they get the next paper from the appropriate folder.  I always tell them what color folder to get their work from depending on what skills are on their index card.  This is the best way I have organized my skill boxes, and I find that it is very productive!  

Check out some of my student work from their Red Skill Boxes.  My students work on their skill boxes in the morning when they come in the classroom (this is their morning work), and they also work on during our Intervention and Enrichment time.

Thanks for visiting!  I hope you enjoyed learning about one way I differentiate in my classroom.

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