Listening Center Organization

I just introduced Listen to Reading today, and here is how it looks:

I got the idea from Mrs. McDavid's class website. If you click the link and scroll down to listening center, you can see where it came from.

I purchased the shower caddies at Hobby Lobby for under $2 each. Inside of each caddy is the book, headphones and an iPod Shuffle with that book loaded on it. I like the Shuffles for kindergarten because they are mostly indestructible. The only downfall is that it is difficult to pick a specific track when there are multiple tracks on it. So, to fix that, I just have one track on each shuffle. My kiddos really enjoyed this today!

By the way, I did not record myself reading these books. I just loaded the CDs that come with scholastic books when you order them in the package.

As a side note, if you are someone who expressed interest in using Skype with my class, don't worry I haven't counted you out. I just haven't gotten to the emailing part yet because I'm not sure how I want it to look exactly. You should be hearing from me in the next week or so!

Word Walls

One of my favorite things in my room is my word wall. I love it because every word is on a magnet and the kids can easily grab a word and put it back. They really love it! I've also backed words with different scrapbook paper to help kids differentiate between math words, high frequency words, holiday words, etc. Here is a picture of my board with and without the words:

If you would like the FREE download of my word wall words, you can find it at my Teachers Pay Teachers store or my Teachers Notebook store. I would love to offer it on DocStoc for you, but the embed code isn't working for me today. Sorry!

Enjoy!

Scholastic 10 FREE eBooks!

I just came across an AMAZING deal via My Dallas Mommy. Scholastic is having a sale on their eBooks so they are all only $1 through 9/20/11. Here's the best part... there is a coupon code you can enter at checkout... 10THANKS to get $10 off your order. That means that you can get 10 eBooks for FREE! I already downloaded my ten and am finding so many great ideas and printables to use in my classroom. Go check it out by clicking here!

Want to win?

Do you want to win my newest Teachers Pay Teachers creation?

Head on over to Teaching Happily Ever After, and you could win my Letter Sound Awareness Pack along with other great items from fellow bloggers. Check it out soon!

Fun, Free, Easy Technology!

Fun, free, easy technology... sounds good, huh? Wish it was all free!

A few weeks ago I told you about Vokis. I learned about them from my principal during our beginning of the year professional development. Well, another tool she told us about was Xtranormal Videos. These are really fun. You can pick the characters, the background, the motions they do, and you get to type the text. Here is one I just made:

Thomas and Olivia-Shapes
    by: caf0117

I can't wait to show this to my kids. We are talking about shapes, and this is just another way to get them excited about it!

Leave me your email address in the comment box if you'd like me to invite you to create an account. Although this site is free, you have to get points to make moves. You can get points by inviting people to create an account. (I was able to make 2 movies before I needed more points)

Happy movie making!

Mini-Lesson and Small Group Ideas

I wanted to share this book with you that I have been using to help plan my math. 

It's called Hands-On Standards, and it has different versions for your grade level. I believe it goes all the way up to grade 5. The one I have been using is for PreK-K and it has made me think about teaching certain concepts in different ways. If you are looking for help planning math mini-lessons or small group ideas, this could be a great resource for you!

Beginning of the Year Team Banner

In the last 3 years, one of the activities I have done with my class is picked a team name and created a team banner. My sweet first grade team has always done this, and it is such a fun project!

This year, I decided I would do it with my kindergartners, too, but I decided just to pick our team name. We are Mrs. Patton's Ladybugs. I just couldn't think of any other animal besides a praying mantis or a porcupine starting with the letter P that might be found in "Mrs. Patton's Patch". So... we are the ladybugs!

We created this banner:

I decided to do a directed drawing, so we each made a ladybug to stick on the banner. Some added lots of details, and others did not. I love seeing their creativity, though!

I also made this sign from a popsicle stick and a paper plate. When we go out to recess, they can see exactly where to line up amidst the other 6 classes!

My kids were so excited to be the ladybugs! They even wanted to make a cheer. 1-2-3-Go, Ladybugs! How cute are they? :)

One more perk about the banner is that it doubles as the sign for our class on field day in May. Each class marches down the hall with a banner to go outside to start the games. When May comes around, the first grade teachers and I will not have to worry about making a banner because we already did! Wahoo!

Wanted: A Kindergarten Class to Skype with Us!

 I have been thinking a lot about teaching to this new generation, and I am trying to incorporate technology in as many authentic ways as possible. When I think about the future, I imagine there will be even more collaboration across cities, states and countries than there is right now. How better to prepare my kids for this than to collaborate with another Kindergarten class in another city, state, or country?

I don't know the details now, but I am definitely open to lots of ideas of what learning our classes could share with each other. If you are interested in sharing your learning with my class, please email me at colleen.patton115@gmail.com.

I can't wait to see what an awesome learning venture this will be!

Let's Celebrate... $3.00 or less sale!

With all the interest in my new Letter-Sound Awareness Pack and the Labor Day holiday, I thought it was a good time to celebrate! Click the button below or on the sidebar to check out the sale. Everything is $3.00 or less, but only until 3:00 PM Central Time. Hurry on over!

Psst... by the way... if you didn't hear yet, there is a flash sale going on at Teachers Pay Teachers. You get an extra 5% off today only by typing in the code FLASH. If you use that promo code, everything will now be $2.85 or less! :)

Student-Generated ABC Chart

With my recent switch to Kindergarten I am finally feeling like I have a handle on things... only took a couple of weeks!!!

One of the activities I just finished with my students was creating a student-generated ABC chart. For the first 2 weeks of school, I felt kind of funny because I didn't have my store bought ABC chart above my board. The space was left empty for THEIR work. I had my students work in partners or on their own (whichever they preferred) to create an ABC chart for above the board. I already had typed up the letters so they were big enough to see. The students decided what picture they could draw that started with the letter of their page, then I wrote the word below it.

Here are a couple of samples of my students' work:

This is so powerful because it really means something to them. I never would have thought of "tornado siren" for the t, but one of my kindergartners did!

If you are interested in the materials for this activity, they are available in my Letter-Sound Awareness Pack on Teachers Pay Teachers. It is packed with different kinds of cards and activities for introducing or reinforcing letters and their sounds. In fact... I'm so excited about this pack that I'd love to give it to the first 5 people for free. Leave me a comment with your email, and I'd be glad to send it to you!

Launching the LINK Math Workshop- I Can Lists

I am so excited to fully launch the LINK Math Workshop in my Kindergarten classroom this year. So far, I have pictures and freebies to share from launching the L- Learning with Manipulatives. At this point in the year, it is mainly exploration, but with I Can Lists, I am starting to guide my kindergartners towards doing specific tasks.

Here are a few pictures of things they have figured out that they can do with snap cubes and pattern blocks:

I was so proud that someone decided to create our word of the week... the!

Then, I took their pictures and created I Can Lists. You can download them below if you'd like them. I try to do as much with real pictures of them as possible. They really enjoy seeing pictures of things that mean something to them, and I believe real pictures helps them to really "get it".

Snap Cubes and Pattern Blocks I Can Lists

I printed these out a fourth of the size of a full page and laminated them to put in the Learning with Manipulatives Buckets.

If you would like more information on my LINK Math Workshop Management System, download the free preview at my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I am LOVING teaching this way!