Picking Positively Perfect Partners!!!

Hi Everyone!  Just one more day until I am back to teaching kindergarten with my 25 kiddos.  Spring Break was wonderful and although it is really hard to go back, I am thankful for this amazing job that is so rewarding.  It does make it easier to return.

Now, onto the purpose of this post...I am going to share more of my journey into Partner Work.

 I am having my students get into partners at the very start of the day almost every day.  It is a random pairing and here are some of the ways I am having students become pairs. I have a special red heart bucket where I put the item for the day.  I greet each child at the door and then give them one item.  They now quickly start looking for their partner and sit down next to them.  Anyone who cannot find a partner stands up near the front and I help them.  Sometimes I call each team up to say their match and other times I just have them return the items to the bucket.

Here are some fun ways to become pairs:

Here are some of the activities my students did in pairs recently:

They loved playing a game where they said a word and the partner said another word that came to mind.

Sharing what they did over the weekend or talking about a topic we are studying

Playing a game like this one where they roll the dice and color an egg with that number

We have played lots of games, read books and have completed worksheets together about a wide variety of skills.

Another favorite activity is to "quiz" their partner about sight words, spelling, addition etc...

After we are done I try to ask them what they liked about working with their partner. I love hearing them tell me that working with a partner is lots more fun than doing it alone!  They also give a compliment and an appreciation to their partner before heading back to their regular spot. 

I am going to have my students do some physical skill practice together soon too. Beanbag or ball tossing would be fun!

Do you do Partner Work on a regular basis?  How do you choose partners?  What do you have them do together?  I'd love to hear what you are doing if you don't mind sharing!

Crazy for TpT units!

Just a quick post about some of the amazing TpT units/activities I have purchased lately. I will admit that I am obsessed with all of the wonderful products being made and sold on TpT.  My poor husband will agree that I am "out of control" and so will my printer and school laminator!  I am however having a great time with these new ideas and activities that are keeping my students learning and excited!  They are learning and practicing skills so much more this year and in so many cute an creative ways.

Anyway...here are the units that I have recently purchased and I am prepping for my class.  I just thought this might help someone else who is overwhelmed with all of the amazing blogs and materials being shared/sold out there.


Bugs Galore



Beginning Sounds Scoot Game

Adding Bunches of Carrots

Word Family Short A sort

Addition Flashcards

Insects Math and Literacy

Number pages 11-30

Blends and Digraphs Sorting

It's A Bugs Life

Bee on the Look Out For Sight Words


I told you I was out of control!  Thank Goodness TpT started letting me use some credit points.


All of these units offer some great activities and I am so thankful for the amazingly creative people who have made them available.  I hope you will go and check out some of them for yourself.

Later this weekend I will post about how I am using some of these activities this coming week! 

I go back to work on Monday after a restful and fun Spring Break (I finished books 2 and 3 of The Hunger Games)  

Hope you are all well! 

This Week in Pictures and Links 3/26-3/30

Hi Everyone!  This past weekend I changed the Post Office into The Pet Shop! Students will get to "adopt" a pet and take it to the vet for a check-up.  I know they will really love playing here!  Now I just need to get through the work I have planned so they can get some Free Choice time to play in it!  This will be up until the end of April.

Centers this week are about plants (continued) addition, blends and digraphs and the sight word are.

                                                                              
 This is a fun activity, but after one day of centers, I can see that it is challenging for a few.  They have to write the blend and copy the rest of the word.  12 words is a lot for a few of my young ones, but they sure love trying!  I let a couple of kids work as a team and that helped.  It was perfect for quite a few kids! This is from Pam at CanDoKinders  Thank you Pam for the freebie!

This week we are only doing the Sh book.  The students have to write the word and can color.  These great books are from Camp Kindergarten

      My students are getting a lot of addition practice with this activity!  They have to pour out 10 beans, color the red beans and then write the equation to match. This is from Kindergarten is a Hoot

I bought some cute felt flowers at Michael's.  The students roll two dice and build the equation.  Then they record it on a little whiteboard.  No paper involved! 

This is a great activity about addition and fact families.  It definitely required an adult there to help students with the format and the beads. ( I also need to explain it a bit better so it goes smoother.)
This is free from Deanna at Golden Gang Kindergarten

This is an awesome activity for students to work on counting tallies, reading number words, counting base ten blocks, counting objects and numeral recognition. Click Here to purchase it

I will be reading Jack and the Beanstalk (our listening center is being repaired!) and students will be sequencing the story. 

First seed exploring and matching and then cutting and gluing pictures of seeds to the correct fruit/veggie

Our final "Short Book" that includes many of the sight words we have learned this year.  Now I add "bonus" words and use more trade books for reading practice.  They continue to write the word in our sight word writing book and we played a fluency game.


I forgot to take a picture, but my students are using a tree map for writing about planst.  Last week we filled in the map and know the kids are writing 3 sentences about plants.  This is the first time they have used a map for writing sentences, so it is hard for some of my lower students.  I'll add some pictures if I remember!

We are doing several other activities in whole group.  I will add to this post with those later!

Have a super week! 

"Partner of the Day" and Spring Behavior Management

I am really loving my "Partner of the Day" activities and so are my students!  We have done a lot of fun games and skill practice and they are learning a lot of wonderful social skills too! I never really thought working in teams could be so powerful. I just love the sweet comments they make and the smiles, hugs and high fives they give each other.  Below are a few of my kiddos working on a great "I-Spy" sight words activity.  This has been a true favorite!

The kids worked in partner teams.  One person looked for the teeny-tiny sight word with a magnifying glass and then spelled it for the other person who wrote it on the form.  I told them it was a race and they LOVED it!  Of course I let everyone work long enough to do most of the words and there was no prize for the first team finished. They were so engaged and worked so hard!  This awesome activity came from Marsha at A Differentiated Kindergarten Click Here to see it  She has an Easter one too and I already have it ready to go for next week!

I am using this for a behavior management tool (yes, I am bribing them!)  Each day students are able to earn a punch on their own card.  10 punches = a trip to the Treasure Box. That is for individual behavior.  This lovely flower pot is for whole class behavior. When I feel the class is working well, listening, lining up quietly, treating each other well etc...I put up a flower.  When the pot is full, they will vote for a class prize.  Last week they earned a popsicle party because they filled the pot of gold! Just a fun way to encourage good behavior since we are still waiting for our Spring Break!!!

I hope to post my centers/activities of the week on Monday evening. 

Please leave me a comment.  I get lonely without them! jk

I have finally joined the party!

Click Here to Link up

I finally looked into this whole K-2 party thing and decided to link-up too! 

I love this kind of party because I don't have to get dressed up, or bring a hostess gift or worry about small talk and fitting in.  I already feel at home with all of the wonderful bloggers out there.  Thanks for the invite and I hope more blogs will join in the fun before this party is over!

These Projects are Better Than Gold!

This adorable project is from

The Teacher Wife and it's for FREE!

Get it here

I was home with my sick daughter, so a substitute teacher did this project with my class and I think she did a fantastic job and so did the kids!  They are so sweet and I am also impressed with their spelling and drawing!  They made me proud!  Here are a few that touched my heart:

"My sister and my mom and my dad because they are really, really special to me.  I love them."
(gotta love the spelling of really:wile, wile)

"I love my mom and dad and my sister because they are so nice."

 "My mom and dad.  They are nice and special to me."

 

"My dad is so big and I am five and my brother is seven and my mom is sixteen" (she will LOVE that!)

"Mom I love you very much and I love my dad very much too."

"My mom and dad because I can play with them."

 "I like my cousin sister.  She is my best sister in the world."

 "My baby sister sweetheart because she is cute"

 "My brother is great!" 

"I love my mommy and daddy because they play games"

I am so glad that I found this project! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Remember to leave a comment if you have a second!! 

Luck O' The Irish Fun: Pictures, Links and a Shadow Writing Freebie!

Last week was busy, fun and frustrating!  My centers were a little too much for my kids and me.    The activities were not too hard and I had adequate help, but I made a mistake in letting students ask survey questions during centers.  It got too loud! Lots of teachers talked about their kids having trouble staying on task(Spring Fever)  I just think I over planned and lots of little things added up to a very hectic center time on Thursday.  I am hoping things go smoother this week. It happens! 

"Partner of the Day"  went really well however!  I am finding new ways to partner the kids up and they come in excited to see who they will work with. Lots of smiles and talking with each other.  I love it!  These are the tasks we did this week:

• sharing what you did on the weekend
• saying a word and the partner making a connection by saying another word (ex. "apple"-"pie") This was really fun and the kids came up with some great things!
• reading sight word/short vowel books from Starfall
• giving each other a quiz on sight words with whiteboards
• matching base tens blocks and numeral cards

Here you go!

Here is a freebie for Shadow Writing 

I am using this cute little Leprechaun named "Lucky" of course.  Each day he does something a little "naughty" and the kids have to figure out what it is.  So fun! 

Here are some of the fun/academic things we are doing this week:

Finish dictation sentences about rainbows and add them to the bulletin board

Use this spinner throughout the week and change the activities as they are completed

Short U work with Gus The Duck from Starfall

Great classic story!  The students will write in their journals following the story.

Our Sight Word/Reading Group

They will "warm-up" with blend and digraph practice and sight word reading

This great Write the Room for CVC words is from

Here

Here is a free activity from Mrs. Ricca  Grab it Here

 An awesome center on larger numbers Grab it Here

This is an excellent addition activity at a super price

See it here

  Another addition practice with "Golden Coins"

from the FabulousMrs. Ricca's Kindergarten

and it is FREE!

 

Here is a hands on way to practice addition in a strip book freebie from

Fran at Kindergarten Crayons

Here is a wonderful activity for students who are having trouble with segmenting and blending sounds.  This is from Julie Van Alst and I have recently discovered her.  She has a great website and blog plus a new TpT store.  She is an RTI expert and she has quality activities for students who need intervention and extra practice.  I have bought almost everything she has and I am making them to use.  Please check her out!  You won't be sorry!  Here is a link to the above activity

I am also having my students make an adorable Leprechaun hat Found Here   and "Lucky" will fill it with golden coins and candy on Friday. 

Plus we will be doing a few fun activities for St. Patty's Day.  Skittles math (taste the rainbow), an art project and a writing page.  I also often have rainbow sherbet floats (rainbow sherbet = lemon lime soda with rainbow colored straws)

I hope you enjoyed this look at my week and find something useful.  Please leave me a comment and
thanks for visiting my blog!