Five for Friday!

Happy Friday! Time for my favorite linky. Thanks Kacey at Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting!

There are many perks of working at a K-12 school:

1) I have an amazing high school student who comes in for one period a day to help out in the classroom.
And...
2) They always have left over pie each year when they celebrate "pi" day.
(You should have seen how excited all of those math fanatics were this year since the date for pi day  had "15" [the next 2 numbers after 3.14 in pi].... 3.14.15) Hey, I'll be that excited if it involves pie :)

We continued on with our plant unit this week. Our focus when reading about sunflowers was describing words. After reading about sunflowers, each student wrote one word on a post-it and stuck it to our chart.
These words made a reappearance in our journals.

I was impressed that one of my students knew that these words were called "adjectives". When I asked how she knew that, she replied "My family plays a lot of MadLibs".

"Beautiful, Humungous, Pretty"

Flip 10

If you are working on sums of 10, your kids will love this game! Students play in pairs a game similar to memory. Player 1 flips over 2 cards. If the sum = 10, they keep the cards. Whoever has the most combinations of 10 at the end wins! It's great practice to help get sums of 10 automatic.

I encouraged them to go beyond counting their fingers: "Try saying the biggest number and then counting on: 8....and 2 more.... 8.... 9, 10!"

Subtraction Stories

Last week we read Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar and made a class book. This week used the Five Little Monkeys to help us practice subtraction sentences.

First, we got out our individual whiteboards to write the subtraction sentences as we read Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree by Eileen Christelow

Then, we made our own stories!

Thanks Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten for the resources! (Click HERE to get your own FREE copy of the Five Little Monkeys subtraction story booklet.)

Each student created their own book featuring 3 different subtraction sentences.

Mr. Bones visited our class this week to teach us about our skeletons. He even brought X-rays of different people and animal bones! He was a hit!

Mr. Bones taught us that our bones: 1) Give us support, 2) Help us move, and 3) Protect important organs.

He even taught us 10 different bone names. (I laughed when a student said "Patella rhymes with Nutella!" Yes, yes it does!)

Click on the picture below to dance along to Dem Bones School Tube video.

These guided drawing skeleton paper dolls turned out adorable!

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: Chapter 4....GAME ON!

I'm linking up with Katie from Queen of the First Grade Jungle to discuss how to enhance learning through GAMES! Come joins us for this book study as we learn about 20 instruction strategies that engage the brain. (This Saturday stop by Fabulous in First for Chapter 5: Graphic Organizers, Semantic Maps, and Word Webs.)

Kids enjoy games. We don't need any convincing on that! As far as Kindergarten goes... we teachers can turn anything - I mean ANYTHING into a game ("Let's see if you can clean up and be on the rug in 1 song?") Sound familiar?
This chapter pointed out WHY games are an effective teaching strategy. My favorite quote from this chapter stated that when you are engrossed in game playing "stress is lessened and memory for content is increased!" 
 

Here are a few learning games my kids ask to play! (If you want a full description of the game and how to play... just click on each picture.)

Fishy Words

This is a version of Hangman that we frequently play during snack time. My kids LOVE it!

Headbanz - Math Edition!

This game is a great way to grow critical thinking skills and reinforce math vocabulary and concepts:
"Your number is the sum of 3 + 4."
"It's 2 more than 5." 
"It's 3 less than 10."

Star Words
I love seeing my students' eyes light up when they spot a star I've hidden somewhere in our classroom. They quickly (and quietly) get to work finding are recording them. Last time I really got tricky and taped a word to the ceiling! Hehe!

Games are not only beneficial for increasing motivation and academic learning... but for developing social skills as well. All throughout the year I model how to be a gracious looser AND winner. I praise students when I catch them saying "good game", "thanks for playing", or "that was fun even though I didn't win".

Today it made me glow with pride as I saw 4 of my student cooperatively taking turns (and practicing their addition facts) while playing Countdown during free choice time. I was on standby... but they didn't come to me to settle a dispute or talk to someone about a "ha, ha, I'm winning" comment.... NOT EVEN ONCE! *teacher happy dance* (We have come a long way since September!)

Research from this book pointed out that games encourage cooperation and problem solving. Talk about important building blocks for academic success!!

Games = Learning Disguised as FUN!

Five for Friday!

I'm linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to highlight our happenings this week.

It was tea time in our classroom today! We celebrated our Moms with a special Valentine's Tea Party.
We had drinks and treats following a short program. Each student wrote a valentine note of appreciation for their mom.

Love that my class spent their play time to create a welcome sign!

Basket of Valentine letters to read to our moms

Before the guests arrived!

It's always a good day when you don't need to pack a lunch. Today the 5th grade class took orders and made each teacher/staff member a delicious waffle platter - complete with....bacon!!!
As for the picture.... you'll have to use your imagination. You know how it is on a teacher's lunch break! Take a bite. Pee while you chew. Make a quick copy. Shovel the rest in while writing an email.....Who has time to take a picture?!?

We've been talking a lot about inferring during our literacy lessons. This week I decided to make it Valentine themed.... I had a tote full of items about things I love. As I pulled out each "clue" the students had to infer what it was that I loved. I described inferring as using what you see and what you already know to make a good guess. I then had them draw and label some things they love.

 Addition, addition, addition! We are rockin' it! Thanks Mrs. Ricca for the awesome Ten Frame Toss activity idea and printable! It was a great hands on activity and the kiddos loved it!

I just can't resist an art project with pink and purple hearts! Especially one that integrates addition sentences! We created these after reading The Day it Rained Hearts by Felicia Bond. We showed all the different ways to make 10 with two different colored hearts.

Ever wonder what to do with that junk drawer? You know, the one with random puzzle pieces, confiscated toys from "no sharing" standstills, and trinkets you think you "just might be glad you saved one day"? Well, put them to good use - instead of desk drawer purgatory. Toss them in a two bags labeled "statement" and "question". We take turns pulling out items out of each bag and either make a statement or ask a question about it. I've then been modeling their sentences with proper ending marks on chart paper. Yesterday, I had each student write me a question in their journals. Most popular questions: "Can we have more play time?" "Can we have cookies?" Love it!

Now... to reward myself for a busy week with my valentine stash of candy!! Oh, yeah!
Happy Weekend!