The Way I Teach: Freebie

Showing posts with label Freebie. Show all posts

Teacher friends, I hope I can be of help. My last day was yesterday so this morning I put together what has been an end of the year life saver for me for 2 years in a row now. It saves me money, time, and my sanity, Plus, it is still cute and meaningful.

I threw this together this morning in case you are still in school and could use it. I know how hectic those last weeks are and I was definitely in a frenzy for the last 6 days straight with field day, kindergarten performances, art portfolios, report cards, assessing, and on and on and on.

I know many teachers like to send their kids off to summer with something and with good intentions we send summer review packets in hopes that they will do it and not forget what we taught them. Here is an easy, inexpensive, solution for using what you have instead of buying things and copying packets that many kids never look at.

First, these toppers are editable so you can personalize it. I used freezer bags that I stole from home (of course). Why go to the store when you can just take it from your house? I had the children pass out the leftover paper books from class. they stacked them neatly and put them in the bag - NOT ME. They are kinder kids (I had them flip their chairs around and they each placed one book on each chair so they didn't get mixed with others on their tables). The bag above has crayons and a password booklet for the computer programs our school uses. The kids have access to them over the summer. Those are their crayon boxes from the year and the password booklets are too. So here is everything in one place so kids can just grab and go in the summer - HOPEFULLY.

We didn't use all the pages in our math notebooks this year so I ripped the used pages out, stapled them, and then the kids colored a "Summer Writing Journal" cover. After, They glued it on top of the the Math Notebook cover. They were so excited to have a writing journal to take home. Last year I had leftover writing journals that were stapled sheets of paper so the children glued the large journal cover right on top then put it in their bag.

Click on any of the pictures or click HERE to Download your topper and covers.

If you are looking for more End of the year Summer Projects here is a Reading and Science Project for kids to do over the summer:

Click on the picture or HERE

and HERE are the matching Bookmarks that are FREE for you!

If you need more end of the year easy to implement activities, check out this Summer Activities Post.

Happy Summer My Teacher Friends! I hope you found something useful to help you out at this time of the year!

Here are some pictures from our Valentines Day Activities. I know it won't help you right now but bookmark it for next year. The kids always have so much fun and in kinder it is especially sweet since it is their first experience with Valentines and giving out cards. We always talk about being kind to each other in class and building friendships because YES - children can be MEAN! I can't stand it when they are mean to each other! So I love the sweetness this holiday brings out in them.

Click Here or on the picture below to get this FREEBIE.

I made the number line activity to give children more practice with counting and seeing how many actually made the number.

I had plenty of 1st grade Valentine activities but had to go looking for graphing that was more suited for kindergarten. I downloaded the graphing activities from "Pocketful of Centers" HERE. The kids loved it. It was easy for them to do and it is FREE too.

BE Kind Be Kind Be Kind Be Kind

So, I could have swore I had posted the "Be Kind" Social Stories that I use in my class but I scrolled through this blog and NOPE - I DID NOT. OOPS. I had made these social stories to go with the most common behaviors we all have and I actually made them to use with my kiddos. I haven't used all of them but we but I did use the excluding, teasing, and poking, and pushing story. I also just project the cause and effect charts on the board and I add the causes and effects as the children come up with the times it has happened to them. So HERE are the social stories if you need help with specific issues in your class. I love the images in this unit. There are writing activities for each social story and a few extra. If you use these I would love to hear how your class responds to them! I am a true believer in teaching kids how to respond and behave in situations.

Tonight ends our 4 day weekend - BOO HOO :( but I am sure glad we had it. I have been forcefully making myself finish several on-line self paced professional development courses which are all due by March 3rd. I am the worlds worse procrastinator. I MEAN the WORSE! I will do everything but the thing that I am suppose to be doing but it does get done. That is - as long as I am given a deadline. So between modules I took a break and finished this unit.

These started as mini-units but as I make more they are not so mini but at least the unit gives you options for word-work. This unit has the variant vowels oo as in book and roof. You can take a look in the preview if you click on the picture or HERE.

Kindergarten, Kindergarten . . . I always admired how kinder teachers kept their sanity, kept organized, and taught successfully. It is not an easy task and even after 11 years of teaching - I feel like a brand new teacher with this being my 1st year in Kinder. There are some things I love and some things that just drive me absolutely I-N-S-A-N-E!

When something doesn't work, I start tweaking it, adjusting, reflecting, then changing until I find what works:

I found that most of my well oiled 1st grade classroom management tricks weren't working at the beginning of the year and I was finding myself in chaos the first month of school. I was exhausted from trying to manage student behaviors. First, I shouldn't be managing their behavior because if you are managing their behavior that means they are NOT. I really needed something positive and I needed a reward system. I absolutely DID NOT want to do the whole treasure chest thing with tangible prizes because I have done that in the past and it cost me a small fortune and then there were times I ran out. I am just done with the whole treasure box thing.

Here is where I merged 2 ideas

Idea 1: I purchased and used the reward cards from Melony at Seustastic when I taught 1st grade but a lot of time my students would ask me to read what it said to them the 1st half of the year. Though they loved the certificates dearly, I did not have the time to read them to them. I needed larger pictures, less choices, and less words. You can check out her blog for a more comprehensive list of reward cards. I wanted less choices to start and bigger pictures.

Idea 2: The kinder teachers at my former school gave out a bear buck at the end of each day for students who had a good day and those students could pick out a prize from a prize drawer/chest when they had 10. I needed this so students would have an immediate consequence when "misbehaving." They owe me a class buck when they interrupt, restroom break, out of seat, etc. They get to choose a reward card when they get 10 class bucks.

Here is what I did

1. I made class bucks for my class and printed them on blue paper to match our school colors.

2. I incorporated the pillars of character to help connect the class bucks with the school wide Code of Conduct.

3. I made simple large picture reward cards based off the list the class came up with.

4. I showed the children the pictures. We talked about what each one was.

5. I started handing out a lot of class bucks on purpose especially to the kids who gave me issues with specific classroom procedures and expectations. I caught them the second I could and verbally praised what they were doing and gave them a class buck.

6. I needed to get those class bucks in those students hands who were having issues so I could take them back. I know that doesn't sound good but here is why. When my frequent flyers asked to go to the restrooms during lessons or right after recess - I told them they owed me a class buck. When a student blurted out - they owed me a class buck. When a student was talking in line, they owed me a class buck. Most behaviors stopped immediately or were curved to less times!
*You should know I already had implemented handing out stickers and a form of the clip chart (I am not a fan) but had to due to uniformity across kinder classes.

IT IS WORKING! IT IS W-O-R-K-I-N-G!

Now I shared this with my new colleagues and they were skeptical. They had lots of questions. So I am going to answer some of those questions here.

Question: It seems like a lot of keeping track.

Answer: I spend very little time using this system. The kids keep track. I just always have to make sure I have class bucks all the time and keep them with me wherever I go.

Question: Where do the kids keep them. I can see these class bucks everywhere.

Answer: I use the poly folders with prongs as homework folders. I had purchased inexpensive pencil pouches to put in these. The children place their class bucks in there.

Comment: I don't want to purchase pencil pouches.

Responses: Get clear baggies. Duct tape the edge. Hole punch then insert in folder.

(If your students have toolboxes they could put them in there)

Question: How do they put them away? Won't they always be up and down and walking around?

Answer: My student have seat pouches and they keep their poly folders in them. We went over the procedure for putting away class bucks when I first start handing them out.

Procedure: If I am teaching and you receive a class buck you hold on to it until we are done. When we go back to our tables you put them away then or you put them away on our way to an activity/center/rotation.

Question: I don't know. I can just see them fighting and arguing over finding one or losing one.

Answer: We went over the rules for this. I am not the keeper of your class bucks. It is your responsibility to put them away. If I find one laying around, I add it back to my pile. If you find one laying around you can not keep it because class bucks are earned and you did not earn that class buck. It is not yours you need to give it back.

Question: How do they turn them in?

Answer: You have to have a routine and procedure for this and stick to it. I told my kids when they have ten they can exchange them for a certificate card during morning circle time. My reasoning for this is it allows for all other kids to see the student count the class bucks and see them pick their certificate card so they are fully aware of their classmates priviledge. It helps build desire to earn class bucks.

If you think this may help you, click HERE or on the picture below 0 It is FREE!

I Went Walking Sequencing and color words

Click on the picture or HERE to get your free copy. Yes - FREE. It will take you to Google Docs. Keep on reading for more FREE activities!

11/7/21 UPDATE:

If you found this post, I made it the first year of this blog - year 2013/2014. I recently started receiving a lot of emails to share the FREE "I Went Walking" document. The one above is still FREE. Google updated security settings which blocked it. I have fixed the sharing settings so it should work properly now. If you would like to be added to my email list and get updates on other FREE resources like this along with other preschool and kinder activities, you can subscribe by clicking on the button below.

I wanted to bring it to your attention that since 2014 I have an updated, "I Went Walking" resource with lesson plans and more activities. Below are pictures of what is included in that resource. You can click HERE or on the picture to purchase the updated resource below.

CONTINUATION of ORIGINAL POST (2014):

I am starting to get into the groove of things in my new grade in my new school in my new home in my new city. It has been a lot of adjusting and and I am still trying to get the hang of how the grade level does things and what is mandated and what is not so I am trying to keep a balance with what I make, what I have, what makes sense, my time with my family and my copy count!

Ya - My COPY COUNT!

Actually it has been a good thing. When you are limited you definitely pay attention to what is necessary and what is not and improvise from there on out. I will be back with pictures of my copyless apple activities that I had to modify to limit my copies. It has been an eye opener to my own creativity and student creativity. It's amazing what they will produce when everything is not given to them. Anyhow, I was needing a sequencing, characters and setting, and color word activity to go with the story, Ï Went Walking," but couldn't quite find what I was looking for. I hope you can use these and I will post pictures after next week. I will be having the children draw or cut the barn out of construction paper to get practice with cutting or seeing shapes in real objects.

UPDATE: I made 6 sets of the animal color word cards, divided children in groups of 4, they worked together to sequence the characters in the order they were introduced in the story (after several readings). I don't have a magnetic board so I put removable hooks on my board and attach twine to create a rope. I taped the same pictures to plain paper folded like a tent then the children took turns sequencing the animals in the story on the rope. Then we checked using the story. I repeat this pattern often with sentences and then they write the sentence in their journals. Sorry, I didn't get pictures. I haven't learned to manage picture taking and teaching in Kinder yet.

If you are working on color words you can visit this post on COLOR words and grab a few more FREE activities!