Spelling- plurals and syllables

Another couple of worksheet freebies. They're simple, but sometimes it makes you so happy when you find a worksheet that you want so that it saves you from finding images and making your own. One of life's simple pleasures. 

Plurals

Syllables- cut and paste sorting activity
Understanding and identifying syllables is an important skill to assist in both reading and spelling. 
There are so many fun ways to work on syllables- jumping, clapping, robot voice and to check you're right, simply hold you hand under your chin and count the movements. 

Grammar Worksheets- conjunctions, an or a and copycat y

If the download isn't working properly, send me a message. I am having some trouble tonight! Grr...

I was just cleaning up my desktop, which was once again covered in documents that I should of just put in the right place to begin with. Maybe next year. Anyway, I found a few grammar worksheets which may come in handy so thought I'd share them. I do appreciate people saying thanks when they download things for free. Just a tip. Anyway, the document includes the following three worksheets:

1. Copycat Y- The text looks a little scary as I always make out that 'copycat y' is really mean and steals the sounds of 'e' and 'i'. 

2. a or an

3. conjunctions- because, and, so, or, but

For some reason, it is showing the three pages, but also reformatting them, so you get 6 pages, but only 3 are valid. Sorry.

Winter

Winter

Hattie and the Fox

Hattie and the Fox

by Mem Fox

Feathers for Phoebe

by Rod Clement

So the kids did not love the book quite as much as I hoped- they enjoyed it, but it won't be a class favourite, but oh how they loved this art lesson. Their birds are adorable. 

Learning the Alphabet

Well just like in all classes, I have such a variety of ability levels. Some children know all letter names and sounds, many know up to 12 letters and some known none; not even those in their names. I do all the normal stuff, such as a letter a day (4 letters per week), but I am always on the look out for new activities. Today I made some alphabet bingo cards, which are available here. You hand write the letters on before laminating so then you can add those you have studied so far, the letters in certain kids names if you have a small group who would benefit from this, or any of the 26 letters written in the font you follow. 

I am also adding another activity I made last year. It is for matching the lower case letters to capital letters. Look here to see the lower case letters are on ice cream and the capitals are on a cone. I also made a strip which shows both lower case and capital letters for the kids to refer to as they work with this activity. It's available here.  

That's all for today folks. It's a rainy day here so I might get my exercise out of the way and then snuggle up on the lounge.  :-)

First Day Of Kindergarten- fun ideas

This idea is not really related to the first day of kindergarten. Before we have our whole class we do a one-on-one assessment of Literacy and Maths skills and knowledge. As this is the first time I meet some kids, and the first time I see most since they were placed in my class, I like to give them a little welcome gift. Inside the goody bag this year, a crayon, rubber and note pad.
I did not come up with the idea for the crayons (http://www.sueniosencantados.com/blog/2010/08/make-your-own-crayons/), but I do love it. What better way to recycle all of the broken oil pastels or crayons which you would more than likely throw out soon if it wasn't for this idea. I used oil pastels and they tuned out well.

  

Now up to the good stuff- the first day of Kindergarten. 

The first day begins with some social play- cars, lego, threading, dolls, all of the good stuff. This is an easy way to entice the children into an environment which is comfortable and familiar. We usually have the play until about 9:45am. The kids start arriving at 8:30am, but school does not begin until 9:10.

Next, we have a toilet stop and crunch and sip (fresh fruit or veg and water), followed by a story. This year I am going to read 'My First Day of School' by P.K. Hallinan. I always am quick to discuss how normal it is to feel nervous, and how I too get anxious at the start of the year, but before we all know it we'll be having too much fun to notice.

Next, we will watch some nursery rhymes on the Smartboard and sing along. As most of the kids have never see a Smartboard before we'll do a few little interactive activities as this will seem rather magical. I will try and find a cute attendance interactive which only involves touching, as dragging can be a bit tough. 

Before morning tea, we will discuss the classroom rules:

1. We are nice to each other
2. We listen to our teacher and do what she says straight away
3. We put our hands up to speak
4. We keep our room nice and tidy
5. We always do our best work

Morning tea- 11.10- 11.30

11.30- toilet stop and story. During the 2012 orientation days the kids loved 'The Mixed-Up Chameleon' by Eric Carle so I think I will read it again. 

2013 Calendar-family portrait and send home with poem on magnet so that it can be displayed on the fridge at home. Kids can write their name at the top or trace over dots if needed. 

Outdoor rules- staying on the footpath near the staff car park, observation of the pedestrian crossings near the school and discussion of the rules when eating lunch and playing in the playground
Toilet break

Lunch 1- 1.50pm

My favourite! I did not come up with this idea, I found it on Pinterest last year, but don't remember the source. MAGIC PLAY DOUGH. This is the most fantastic idea. You simply read the magic poem and then hand out the ziplock bags to children with individual poems. Inside is a small ball of play dough, it appears to be white but inside another colour is hidden. As the kids begin to play with the dough the other colour begins to appear in streaks and will then mix with the white to form a new colour. The kids loved this last year.

Afterwards, the kids can relax with some play foam- I love this stuff. It does not dry out or rub into carpet.

And this will conclude the first day. Pretty easy going, but hopefully fun and settling. In the next few days I will add more activities for the next few days.

Nursery Rhyme Unit

Incy Wincy Spider Art Lesson
Water colour resist web using colours to portray sunshine or rain. Extra effects added by use of salt.

As  I am teaching Nursery rhymes in term one, I thought why not make our drama unit all about puppetry- it was a good thought to voice in front of my mum because she then suggested that she make a load of finger puppets for me. They're so cute! I helped a bit, but she had the sewing machine license and is really good at sewing and creating the ideas and patterns for the characters. Poor Mum is still busy, but here is what we have so far.

Incy Wincy Spider

Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star

Humpty Dumpty

Baa Baa Black Sheep

Hickory Dickory Dock

I know an Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly

I love this one. Not only does she look fantastic, but the kids can add the animals into her clear belly as they recite the rhyme. 

Setting up for Kindergarten 2013

I love to have my room organised and ready to go before the children arrive. I find the kids (along with their family) love to see their name already placed around the room, giving them some ownership immediately. It's also much more inviting for an excited, yet anxious, little person to enter a bright and light room, free of clutter. I can't wait to start putting their work up for them!

Firstly, I'll show my door display- this door faces out to the area where all Kindergarten parents drop their children off and pick them up. It's also where the children wait before they come in for the assessment appointments with me, so I have noticed they like to find their names and look for friends names. I bought the little bear stencils and then I made the one with my name out of felt. I also made the letters for the welcome sign out of felt because anything made of card fades from the sunlight very quickly. 

Below, showing off my new rug. It is thin because it was cheap, but it'll do the job. One of the best things I have done in Kindergarten is to use mats with clearly defined spaces and write the children's names on a spot. This means that they never fight over whom they will sit beside, waste time looking for a spot, move around whilst you're teaching, or most importantly it means they are always carefully placed beside children which they remain calm and on task beside- even when you're away and a casual teacher is in. And once again it offers ownership from day one. I mentioned to my mum how by the end of last year the kids were obviously taking up so much more space on the mat and she suggested I take a photo at the beginning and end of the year- that'll be cute!

   

We're starting the year with Nursery Rhymes and Fairy tales, so why not build a castle. I hope the kids love it. I'm not using this space as a familiar reading area as I often have adult helpers come in for that and they may not appreciate sitting on the floor in a small area so the castle is going to be my listening post area. Perfect for listening to nursery rhymes and fairy tales to start off the year. I think I might add a bright green dragon to the front just to cheer it up a little. 

I love my Fido the Dog homework box!

Bright and cheerful reward pockets to accommodate the schools commendation program.

Number posters which I made years ago and now offer on my blog for free, hope you like them. 

Our class word wall- it's set out alphabetically, which of course works really well. I always start the year off with the word wall blank as I think this is better practise. The words printed on the white are the first 18 words we teach children to write. As I cover them with the class I'll add them to the wall on yellow paper- nice and big. I hate word walls where you can't read the words unless you're standing right next to it. 

Class birthday display. I think it is adorable- I made these using Clipart a few years ago, and they're also offered for free on my blog.

The wall above the Smartboard it very damaged and hideous due to a past teacher using industrial glue (and probably many years since a paint job) so I had to cover it in paper. Last year I stuck art works up there, but this year I am adding all of the units and areas being covered each term so that family can easily see what we're covering in each key learning area. 

I hope you like my classroom!