SHAPE It Off!

We are getting geared up for learning about 2D and 3D shapes in my classroom! Let's keep this low-prep, rigorous, and FUN! These activities are from my NO-PREP Shapes Printables and also my Common Core Math Centers Bundle. Here are a few examples from these packets!

     

     

     

And a few centers from my Common Core Math Centers...

     

Download them HERE!

   

Close Reading Math Word Problems

Get it HERE!

I'll admit when I was first told that my kindergarten students should be doing close reading I was a little skeptical. I just knew that my little kindergarteners could not complete these higher-order thinking tasks. I mean, they're just babies right? But hey, I gave it my best shot. I' admit we started off a little... shaky to say the least. As we reread texts throughout the week I fielded questions like, "Didn't we do this yesterday?", but we powered through. I started by setting daily objectives during my read aloud. One day we'd discuss unknown vocabulary, the next we'd discuss story structure and retelling, and so on. As we head into the second half of the year, I'm happy to say that they're doing great. It's a beautiful sound to a teacher's ears when you hear them explain to me that they're "finding evidence in the text". Winning! Now, I'm not saying that this comes easily to all of my students, but it's worth modeling for our kindergarteners. 

The success I had this year with close reading inspired me to use this skill to help my 1st grade math tutoring group. Why not apply those same reading skills to help students read and solve math word problems? 

I made an easy 3-step process for close reading in math. These help students learn to determine whether to add or subtract, find important details in the problem, and find the question. What makes this more fun is that it involves highlighters! Check it out!

Get it HERE!

Happy Birthday George Washington

A George Washington Close Read and SO Much More!

I know I'm a little late, but I wanted to share some fun things I did with my 2nd grade tutoring group for George Washington's birthday! Close reading is something I like to work with this group on. We spend the first few times reading a passage working on decoding strategies and then we move on to find the important information in the text. I do this by having students locate answers to questions by highlighting the evidence in the text. 

We also had some fun making a Facebook profile for him as well! Check it out here!

Download the Washington Bundle HERE!

Winter CVC Center

I've been so excited to share my new CVC center I added to my Winter Math & Literacy Centers BUNDLE! Anyone who knows me can tell you that I'm a BIG fan of glitter, especially my custodian. I think it's a great way to make learning more fun for my students. Since my class is in the beginning stages of spelling CVC words, I've been using a lot of CVC matching games. This week we tried this glittery activity out and it was a hit!  Check it out!

First, I wrote the CVC words on ping pong balls. I added them to cotton balls, glitter, and fake snow. I suggest putting it into a shallow, long bin of box. I ended up using the lid to a paper box.

Once students start picking 'snowballs', they find the matching picture on this page. They write the correct spelling under the picture. 

Here are some other fun activities from my Winter Math & Literacy Centers BUNDLE!

GET IT HERE!

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A Picture Perfect Giveaway!

I'm excited to announce another fantastic giveaway with some of my bloggy friends! We're giving away a Fujifilm Instax Mini 8 Instant Camera to 1 winner! It's super simple to enter. Just follow us on Instagram (see below).

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Kindergarten Winter Math & Literacy Centers

Download this bundle in my TPT store!

Here are some centers from my Winter Math & Literacy Centers Bundle! Click on the images to download them in my TPT store. Enjoy!

1. Winter Words: Students read simple CVC words and determine if they are real or nonsense words (Includes a b&w version).

2. Penguin Sounds: Students identify beginning sounds with this cute penguin activity (b&w version included). 

3. Let it Snow Snowball Stamp: Students use these activity cards to count and identify teen numbers (b&w version included). 

4. Winter Wonderland Ways to Make 10: Students find ways to make 10 with this fun wipe and write activity with recording sheet (b&w version included). 

5. Winter Roll & Write: Students practice graphing winter pictures (b&w version included). 

6. Snow Day Vowels: Students match and identify simple cvc words using the activity cards and stamping the correct spelling (b&w version included). 

7. Snowy Spins: Students use the snowman spinner to create simple CVC words. They determine if it is a real or nonsense word by coloring them blue or purple (b&w version included). 

 8. Sight Word Snowballs: Students spell sight words using snowballs (b&w version included).

9. Let it Snow Teen Number Addition: Students use the winter activity cards to represent teen numbers at 10 and some more ones (includes b&w version). 

FLASH Freebie: January 7th

Flash Freebie Blog Hop is a weekly collaborative linky party for Teachers Pay Teachers sellers. Each week, TPT sellers will be offering 1 usually paid for product for FREE for 24 hours. If you download a product, be a sweetie and provide feedback on it! It really helps little TPT sellers and makes us able to provide more awesome FREE products to our followers weekly. 

Here's my freebie! I hope you enjoy!

This fun rainbow writing paper is perfect for any early childhood classroom! 

Download it HERE (Free January 7th ONLY)

An InLinkz Link-up