Summertime! Relaxation, Reflection, and Prep

Happy summer y'all!

I love summer break.  I try to balance recharging my batteries with getting stuff done.  I'm lucky in that I live in California just minutes from the beaches.  Every Wednesday I meet a group of people at the beach- toes in the sand... that's how I recharge.

During summer break I also reflect upon the previous school year and spend one day a week over the summer planning and prepping for next year.  This gives me the piece of mind to enjoy my other days yet continue to grow as an educator.   Reflecting on the past school year is one of the BEST things I do over the summer.

In the spirit of sharing (which is one of the big things we practice in kindergarten),  I'm sharing one of my favorite letter activities with you.

To prep it, simply print, laminate and cut apart.  Done.  

To pay it, I like to play this in small groups.  Pass out the cards and have the kids arrange them face up on the table.  Begin with the first card.  The student reads the card, "I have a... who has t?"  Students look for the card with the t and then that student reads his card.  I have the students turn the cards over after they read them.   You can play this two ways,  by having them say the name of the letter or the sound the letter makes.  By having the cards face up,  you can see who has the letter and help them if they need it.  I like to give clues like, "One of my boys has this letter."

I hope you enjoy using this activity with your kids.  Don't forget to take time for yourself this summer (teachers need that), spend a little bit of time preparing for next year (you'll be glad you did),  and take a few minutes to reflect on the things that worked well (or didn't) and mentally make adjustments.

Grab the letter activity here!  It's free!  Enjoy!!

Cheryl

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.

You can purchase my Sea Life Unit at my TpT store by clicking here.

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