Uppercase Alphabet-Freebie

Click here for your Freebie!  Merry Christmas!  

 

Working with my remediation groups some of my kinders are  starting from the very beginning.  A few of them have had no experience with any letters or name recognition.   I can't stress enough the importance of children coming to school prepared with some knowledge of letters and their sounds.  Kindergarten is no longer what it used to be. 
  I wanted to start with the basics and created these cards for my kinders.  I printed them out on cardstock and laminated them. We used bingo markers to cover the circles but you could also use clothespins. 

 

My students are asked to tell me the letter and then what sound it makes.  Just a little side note...as we begin our lessons every time we meet we do our letter and sounds as review and practice. Head on over and pick up yours for free.   

 

 

 

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Elf on the Shelf classroom freebie

Hey everyone!!!!  Just stopping in to say how excited I am to be a part of Classroom Freebies.  If you haven't been over to Charity Preston's Classroom freebie page head on over to pick up tons of freebies.

I wanted to share a little freebie to celebrate .  Our Elf is going to make his appearance in our classroom this week and I created this handy little calendar of some ideas you can use with your students and your own elf.  Just simply print it out and place the Elf according to the directions.  They are all classroom friendly ideas and activities that can be easily and quickly done without spending a ton of money. 

I hope you like it. 

 

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Halloween Pumpkin Math rounding to the nearest 10

Freebie Found below...stay tuned! :)

We are using our pumpkins to have a little fun rounding numbers to the nearest 10.  Stay tuned a little freebie coming at the end. 

We have been working on learning how to round numbers to the nearest 10 .  I wanted to make it a little fun and go along with the season.  We talked about what we do to round numbers to the nearest 10.  We sang a little rhyme.  4,3,2,1 roll the pumpkin down.  5,6,7,8,9 roll the pumpkin up.  Of course we discussed that rolling the pumpkin down or up meant to the number below or above. 

So here is what we did to have a little pumpkin fun.  I printed out a number line and placed it on a table (or you could put it on the floor).  I found a little pumpkin that I picked up at Target dollar spot...don't you love that place...and we used it as our little manipulative to show those students who need a little hands out activity to help with their understanding.   Don't have time to make a trip to Target just grab some orange play

 
 
dough and roll away.     

We rolled the dice and looked at the number.  Next, we located it on the number line.  We placed the pumpkin on the number line and then sang our little rhyme.  Then, we rolled the pumpkin up the line to the next number or down to the number below.  The kids enjoyed rolling the pumpkins.  We did this several times and then....

Here comes the FREEBIE.  Everything you need is in there.  Here you go:  Enjoy ! 

 

 

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Animal Cell Project

Projects!!!!!  You either love them or hate them.  There is a definite love/hate relationship with them.  Can I just say how much I appreciate the clip artists on Teachers Pay Teachers.   You are making this teacher's job so much easier.  We have an animal cell project due and we decided to head on over to Pinterest and get some ideas.  We knew that animal cells were circular in shape and we immediately thought pizza.  Who doesn't like pizza?   We found some ideas and decided to make it our own. 

First , we ordered pizza.  Sounded good to me on a Friday night and got a box in return.  We then went over to Teachers Pay Teachers and purchased some clip art and went to work. 

We printed out pieces of the pizza crust in sections on cardstock.  We cut them out and put them together like a puzzle.  A little resizing and working it together is all it took.  It looked like this. 

Next, we decided what parts of the pizza would represent the nucleus, vacuole, chloroplast, and cytoplasm.  At this point in our science studies that as many parts as we needed to label.  Pepperoni became the nucleus and onions became the vacuoles.  We added the other elements we haven't been studying yet to the animal cell to make it look more authentic. 

Next, we added the fun pizza chef from Creative Clips and made a menu (key) of the parts we were required to do for this project. 

This is how it turned out.  We were very happy with the way it turned out.

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Teaching Kindergartners to create Sentences

In the past, teaching my kindergartners to write sentences was challenging.   You have little ones who can not quite read yet.  Often I heard I don't know what to write about or we would provide them a picture and some of them could write a sentence and others could not.  So this activity came to mind and it worked.   We used this over and over again before we turned them loose on their own sentence writing. 

First,  I modeled the activity and walked the students through each part step by step.  At this age that is critical to success.  I laminated all the pieces, just my preference, and then once it was modeled I had the students work with the one sentence collection with partners.  Each page has a different picture on it so the kids can see what their sentence is about.  It also helps them think about some other sentences they can add  to it later.  Each group was required to get their sentences put together correctly and then have me and my assistant to go around and check.  Then the children were given the recording sheet to write out the sentence they made.  The next day we used the same sentence sheets but they were switched among the groups so the kids did not receive the same one and asked the do the activity again. 

   For the first week or so, depending on my group, I had the first set of one sentence sheets placed in my writing center.  After they seemed to get it and we worked on additional sentence making activities I introduced the next set of two sentences and then finally the set of three sentences. 

The recording sheets that are included in the pack were turned in at the end of the center activity time and it let me assess to see who was struggling with forming sentences. 

After the kids worked for a while on these.  I also required them to come up with a sentence on their own and record it on the recording sheets as they progressively got better. 

 

 

 

 

If you like what you see you can pick it up here:
  

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

DOlch Sight Word Pencils Giveaway

O.k. , O.k, I have been just soaking up some summer fun and with all of this fun this poor blog has been neglected.  Well I left pool side and created a little project I plan on using these pencils with my small groups or in my centers for just one more learning tool for sight word recognition.




First, I printed them all out on cardstock and laminated each of them.

Next, I decided these could be used two different ways.  One way is to place them at a table inside a container and students could pull a pencil and write the words they solve right on the pencils with a dry erase marker or an alternative is record their answers on a separate sheet of paper.






The other way they could be used is punch the holes out and place them on a ring or use a brad and take them to use in small groups.  I have also found them a great tool to take with me here at home for "entertainment" at a restaurant while waiting for our meal.  Hey , I will grab any time to fit in some learning. :) 


                                                                 Giveaway!!!!!!

Click picture to  see preview!

For being a reader on my blog let's do a summer giveaway:  I will send two of my Pre-Primer sight word pencils to two readers who share /pin/blog/Facebook and leave as many links inside their comments.  So easy to share on Pinterest just choose a picture right here on my blog and you can pin it that way.  The more you share the better :)   I hope you will share.  Grab this packet on sale for  TpT's Huge back to school sale. 

Thanks,

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Lowercase b,d,p,and q part two

We are continuing our study of lowercase p,d,q,and b.  After making our fun little masks here is something else I created to do with my little kinders this week.  If you want to pick up the lowercase masks head on over here.

                                              Stay tuned for another freebie!!! 
                                                                  ***Freebie alert****


I created these little dice for the kids to roll.  Very quick and easy to make .  Grab some cardstock and print.  Cut out and tape together. 

Next, we took our game boards that were printed out and laminated for longer lasting  .  My kinders took their favorite little fuzzies and used them as game markers and began making their way around the game board. 

After they played a couple rounds, I passed out this little handout and the dice rolling continued.  My kinders took their dice and colored the gumballs based on their dice  roll.  They were able to color inside the gumball machine or the kids blowing bubbles. 

We had a blast!  The kids had a great time rolling the dice and learning the recognize their lowercase letters . 


                                        Here is the freebie that was promised!!  Click on picture to head on over to get it. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Lowercase-letters-bdpand-q-game-1845212

I hope you enjoy it! 

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Sight Words-Dolch Primer

Throughout the year we work on sight words and I have found the best system that works for me .  This packet was created just for that purpose.  I evaluate my students at the beginning of the year and decide which level they are at.  We of course begin with the Pre-Primer word list and then move onto Primer if my kinders are ready for it.  Of course each child is at a different place or pace.  This packet allows me to differentiate to my little learners.

                            *** Free sample-stay tuned****

Before school begins in the summer, I would print out on cardstock these sets of letters and laminate.  Quick simple and ready to go with a metal ring.  These are used to evaluate my kiddos. 

Next, I use this sheet to mark off what words they know.  If you have an eager parent volunteer or a teacher assistant then this is a great task to give them to help you out. 

After everything is complete, I decide if I can group my students together based on their performances and then assign them their packets.  Parents get a letter sent home telling them what is expected by the end of two weeks (great topic to discuss at open house).  Then we get out packets and the children are assessed on the words.


Since teacher appreciation week is coming so soon.  I thought I would share the first portion of the packet.  Try it out .  If you like it then head on over and pick up my Pre-Primer set and the Primer Set.  First grade, Second Grade ,etc.  coming soon.  Just a little appreciation for my followers and great teachers out there. 

      Click on here for your freebie. 

 

 

Click on this picture to head on over to my store and pick up the whole pack. 

 

 

 

I would love to hear some feedback . 

 

 

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Lowercase Letter b,d,p,and q masks

Working with my sweet little kinders this year has been a real treat for me.  One of the areas we are struggling with is lowercase letter b, p, d, and q.  None of this is unusual for this age.  So, my little sweeties gave me an idea as we were looking at the differences between b and d.  We held up our fingers in the shape of letter b and d .

Next, I used that Ellison machine and punched out some letter l and o and we made a visual of our letter b,d,p,and q. 

One of my kinders said "they look like masks "  Well I said alright let's create some masks

 So here is what we did. 

Freebie for you coming:  Stay tuned.  :) 


I created and printed out this paper with the lowercase letters of b and d.  All you will need is this print out and some popsicle sticks.  For my students, to save a little time and help, they cut around the letters and then gave me the center to cut out the inside.


Next, we took popsicle sticks and placed a piece of  tape between the two letters and created our glasses. 

We turned them one way to see the letter b and d.  Then we flipped them over and made a p and q.  They were a hit. 

                                                      *****Freebie*****


Grab your freebie here:  (Click on picture below)

Read more »

The Teaching Bug

Egg-cellent Number stories

Spring has sprung inside and outside of the classroom.  We just had a great egg hunt on the last day before Spring Break.  Well we have a TON of eggs left over so I snagged a few and figured out a way to use them to work on our NUMBER STORIES .  My littlest is working on this skill here at home so I figured I would make it fun.

                                            ****  Keep reading FREEBIE coming*****
Here is what we did. 

 

I took 10 eggs.  Split them apart and numbered them 1-10  . 

I set them on the table like this....

We pulled one of the cards out and read the simple number story.  (FREEBIE ALERT)  We read the number story and grabbed the large part of the egg for the first number we read in the story and then continued to read and grabbed the smallest number and put the egg together.

                                      **Click on here

                                           for your freebie**

                                           This freebie covers Common Core

                                           and Virginia SOL 1.6

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Free-Math-Number-Stories-1813481

Read more »

The Teaching Bug