Saturday, May 14, 2016

Summer Fun

Hi Everyone, It's Cheryl.

As the school year ends, I'm always looking for ways to keep my kiddos entertained during the summer.  A fun activity to do with your kids is to make this Summer Fun Countdown Rings Activity.  Just run these off on different colored construction paper and cut into strips.  Kids assemble the rings and then take them home on the last day of school.




Parents will LOVE you because they won't hear "I'm bored," from their kids at all during the summer.  These rings have lots of creative things to do that will keep the kids entertained and stretch their imaginations.

Click on this link or the photo to grab these from Tracy's store.

Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl

Saturday, April 2, 2016

Bulletin Boards


I love my classroom bulletin boards.  They really set the tone for the learning that is happening in the room.  They make the room come alive with the work that the kids are doing.  My kids LOVE to find their work on the wall.

When I teach my ocean unit, the bulletin board becomes part of the instruction.  As we learn about different parts of the ocean, from the water, to the plants, to the coral and other sea life, we add the elements to the bulletin board.

We start by painting the ocean together.  I give the kids sponges and we paint away dabbing turquoise, blue, green and purple paint onto butcher paper.  After that we add the coral reef
and the kelp.  From there we learn about the different ocean animals and add those to the habitat as we go discussing where each one should be placed. 

So as you can see, the bulletin board grows as we learn about sea life and the kids refer back to it throughout the entire unit.




Another way that I get my kids to revisit the bulletin boards is by hanging the book that inspired the lesson right under the bulletin board.  Kids love to unclip the book and reread it as they look at all the projects that are displayed.


Just push a clear push pin into the wall and hang a binder clip on it.  The kids can easily remove the clip, read the book, then replace the book on the wall.


I also like to put up information next to an art project.  Here the kids drew Abraham Lincoln and George Washington.  We did a Venn diagram sorting facts about both of the presidents.  Kids love to reread the facts and look at their presidents.



I hope you got some inspiration and some good ideas for your own classroom bulletin boards.  

Thanks for stopping by!
                                         Cheryl


Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fun and Easy Valentines

It's Cheryl again,

I like to give my kids a Valentine that isn't candy and won't be thrown away at the end of the day so I make them each a heart shaped crayon.  It's really easy to do and it recycles our old and broken crayons.
Make your own Valentine Crayons this year.

Simple remove the crayon wrappers, break into small pieces and then melt the crayons in the oven just until liquid.  You will need to use a silicone baking tray for this project.  Once the crayons are cooled, then you can pop them out of the baking tray.

Valentine Heart Crayons

I let the kids choose their own crayon Valentine.  I like to make them with lots of different colors, but you could make them with just one or two colors if you prefer.

Happy Valentine's Day!
Have fun making these!
Cheryl

Saturday, January 23, 2016

Graphing

Hi there,
Cheryl here.  I want to show you how I use strips of paper to make graphs.

Friday was Pajama Day at my school.  The kids come to school in their pajamas and we do lots of fun things to make the day special.  One of the things that I do in my room is to make pancakes with the kids.  After making pancakes (math and science) we graphed how we like to eat our pancakes.  This was the first experience making a graph for my kiddos.

To make the graph, I wrote their name on a paper pancake.  They attached that to the end of a 3x9 strip of paper.  The color of the paper was determined by their answer to the question, "How do you like your pancakes the best?"  Light brown= plain, yellow= with butter only, dark brown= with syrup only, and dark brown with a yellow stripe= with both syrup and butter.

We used the strips to look at the data in two different ways.  The first was by laying the strips out in columns to make a simple bar graph.  This is one of the most common ways to look at data.  (One of my kiddos moved the butter only strip when I was getting my camera- little stinker).

Pajama Day Fun- Pancake Graph

After we discussed the results of our bar graph, I then changed it up by arranging the strips into a circle.  This created a pie chart that allowed us a chance to look at the data in a different way.  We could figure out the percentage of the class that likes their pancakes in different ways.  

Pie chart graphing

The kids immediately noticed that half of the class liked both syrup and butter on their pancakes.  Since I teach TK, we didn't bother going into the exact percentages, but if you had older kids, then that would be an appropriate thing to do.

You don't have to do this with pancakes, but think about all the different things that you could do it with.  It's a great way to show kids how, by displaying the data in different ways, you get different information about it.  Using strips of paper to make graphs is my new favorite way to display data.  I hope you find it useful and inspiring as well.



Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl





Monday, January 18, 2016

Celebrating Diversity

Hi there!

It's Cheryl and I just started a new school year with a new group of kids.  I'm teaching EAK (Early Admission Kindergarten) to a group of kids who are just turning 5 now or in the next couple of months.  My class is filled with bubbly, bright, energetic and sweet kids.  We are having THE BEST time getting to know each other.  Our first day together was January 4th.

And what better way to learn about us and celebrate our diversity, than by learning about Martin Luther King Jr.  It's a weighty topic for 4 and 5 year olds so I make sure to introduce it in a way that they can relate more easily.  I read the book The Crayon Box That Talked by Shane DeRolf.


If you haven't read this book yet, it's a great real aloud for your class.
I shared this cute poster with them and we talked about how every color is important and all are needed to make the world a better place.

The Crayon Box That Talked Diversity Lesson

After we read the book and talked about how important every color is, I had my kids write their favorite color on the line and then using their crayons, color in 4 other colors that they like.

 The Crayon Box That Talked Freebie for PreK

This activity was very manageable for my little kids.  We aren't writers yet, in fact we are still learning how to write our names.  All they had to do on this paper was to write just two words, the first being their name and the second being a color word.  

I showed them how to locate and then write their favorite color word on the wall.  Then after they wrote their words, they had fun reading each other's words by using the wall again.
It was great watching them realize that they are becoming readers and writers.





Thanks for stopping by!
Cheryl