Teaching Cause and Effect

If You Give a Mouse a Cookie Craftivity

Click on the photo to download the writing assignment

I am always looking for fun and creative ways to teach story elements. We love making foldables in our class so we decided to make an If You Give a Mouse a Cookie craftivity to reinforce the comprehension skill of the week, cause and effect. Students made their mouse/cookie and glued it to the foldable next to the milk. We labeled it cause and effect. Students drew a picture of their favorite part in the story, then they drew a picture explaining why that even happened. I included and writing activity FREEBIE to accompany the project. 

Don't forget that you can easily do this for any story. Simply fold a piece of construction paper in half, then print coloring pictures that go with the story for the front. Cut and label 'cause' and 'effect' in the appropriate place. Students create their own images inside!

Enjoy!

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Ocean Commotion

Ocean Science, Literacy and Math Investigation 

We've been very busy over the past few days learning about the ocean. I included a freebie from my ocean bundle and I'll be adding more pictures from out projects over the next few weeks.  Check out my entire bundle below! 

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Here is a quick preview of my ocean bundle! Tons of fun activities! My students wanted to learn more about sharks, so I made a printable shark book for them.

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Addition Game FREEBIE

I LOVE being a Kindergarten Teacher. I honestly think it is the best grade to teach. Kindergarteners are so excited about learning and they lack a certain learned helplessness that I find in older students. Their curiosity and inquisitiveness make it easy to develop exciting units around their interests and brings a special enthusiasm that older students sometimes get 'too cool' for later in life. Kindergarten teachers can turn ANYTHING into a game. And I mean... everything! Although challenging, I find that my weekly trips to my local Dollar Tree result in buying many manipulatives to try to teach in new and exciting ways.  If you're a Kindergarten Teacher you know those strange looks you receive when you're at check out purchasing a large amount of some random objects simply to make a new center for your little friends. I also know the frustration you feel when your significant other throws away a paper towel or toilet paper roll. I mean, don't they have how precious those are?!??! But hey, it's all part of the fun.

My school district just started using a new math curriculum so I find that my lunch, preps, and even 'date nights' have been spent making new games for the children to play in small groups. I'll admit that it has been very hard finding exciting new ways to meet the Common Core and keep my students engaged, but I think that this new program cold be very beneficial for my students once we get the ball rolling a little bit. Anyway, I thought it would be nice to share a game that my students LOVE that reinforces simple addition skills.

Addition Word Center Game

 Download the work mats by clicking HERE

 Materials:

- coffee stirrers/straws

- assorted beads

- work mats

- carpet tape

With the help of my teaching assistant, I made about 10 sets of addition beads using the straws and beads. I color-coded mine. I put 5 pink beads on one straw, 6 orange beads on another, as so on. 

Then I laminated the work mats and my students matched the color of the mats with the color of the beads. I also included a key for students to use. Using dry-erase markers, my students moved the beads across the straw to show different ways to make the numbers 5-10 and recorded the answers on the work mats.

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Spring is in the Air

Springing into Kindergarten

I cannot wait for spring! The warm weather, baseball, sunroofs, and most importantly.... OUTSIDE RECESS! We had a rough winter here in New Jersey and I honestly cannot remember the last time my little cuties got outside to play. I have a small classroom with a lot of kids. needless to say, inside recess is no fun! 

I put together a few spring work stations. They include math, literacy and science! I love teaching about seeds and plants in kindergarten and I cannot wait to plant with my little kinders. Last year, we grew different herbs and discussed eating healthy and exercising. Hopefully, we can do it again this year! 

Hope you all enjoy my spring unit and more importantly, the spring sunshine! 

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