Behavior Calendars 2014-2015

Behavior Calendars 2014-2015

 

Here are the 2014-2015 Behavior Calendars. I use these as my way to communicate to parents how their child is behaving in class each day. This pack includes August 2014 - July 2015. There are two versions of these calendars. One is a Happy Face/Sad Face form and the other is the Green/Yellow/Red Color form. You can choose which works for you in your classroom. I use the happy face form because it is easier for me to draw happy faces than color in squares. But, some teachers at my school have students color in the squares (this happens in 1st grade). Also included in this pack is my strategy for dealing with exceptionally difficult behavior with my "Star Sheets" and letters to go home explaining the child's behavior for the day. There are letters for sad faces, uh-oh faces and even for happy faces!

I want students to be rewarded for doing a good job. This does not mean I need to let them win a prize or even get a sticker. Just knowing that I appreciate their good day and their parents will see how great (or not so great) their day was can be reward enough. It definitely keeps my students aware of their actions. No one wants to go home with an uh-oh face. 

If you think you could use this in your classroom (and who can't?) go check it out in my TpT store.

Thanks! And I hope your classroom behavior is great! (Or at least better than before!)

DonorsChoose: Organize My Kindergarten!

I have a DonorsChoose item up! If anyone is able to donate, I am asking for chair pockets for my Kindergarten class. I would like to be able to have my students keep all of these Common Core materials they will need for the coming school year ready and available at all times. I know it will help me save time when it comes to passing things out and teach my students personal responsibility. Take a look at my project!

http://www.donorschoose.org/colorsandkindergarten

 

Thank you to all who support education. 

Kindergarten Shapes

I have a new shape unit for this coming school year. This unit can be used in both Kindergarten and Transitional Kindergarten! Every year I am frustrated with the type of activities I have for teaching flat and solid shapes. I never have everything I want to teach all on one page. So, I made some! Each shape study page has a sentence, a tracing element, a picture element and a writing element. It is my hope that by using all of these elements together in one lesson the information will sink in faster and make more sense in comparison with solid shapes.

Each shape has it's own shape study page. There are also several bonus activities throughout the unit. There are posters for each flat and solid shape and a fun shape cracker mini booklet at the end. Yum!

Grab My Kindergarten Shape unit at TpT!

Enjoy!

Journal Assembly

Bug journals are assembled and ready for kids! I took a couple of pics because I thought it might give my amazing audience a better understanding of what I mean by "journal."

Supplies: 

1. My Science Journal - copied and ready. (Remember, you can use any of the animals in the journal...or all of them.)

2. 12x18 construction paper

3. Stapler

4. White Glue

Gather your stuff

 

Directions: 
Folder 12x18 construction paper in half.
Insert journal pages
Staple 3 times along the edge
Use the white glue to adhere the cover. (Make sure you really get the edges.)

Done!

Ocean Classroom

Well, we are almost done with our ocean unit. We are going on a field trip to the Aquarium on Wednesday and finally get to see the animals we have learned about. Here are some pictures of the classroom:

 This what our classroom looks like from the outside. There is blue cellophane on the window, but it is kind of hard to see. It makes the whole room look blue on the inside, which is kind of fun and oddly calming for the kids. A lot of our animals are "swimming" in the window.

 Here are the seashells I put out for observation during this unit. These are my shells and I tell the kids that they are special to me and that I need them to take care of them. They can use the magnifying glasses to get a closer look. This is something they look at during free time.

 Our ocean animal word wall.

Here is a poster that shows the zones of the ocean. the kids are fascinated by how dark and weird it gets the deeper you go down. The clams on the top come from

search.theeducationcenter.com 

The Deep, Deep. Deeper activity in the word wall picture also comes from their site.

We have had a great time studying the ocean. Can't wait to actually take them there!

Sea Turtles and Sea Horses!

Sea Turtles!

We have been enjoying our sea turtle day! Kids think sea turtles are incredible and we actually read a sea turtle book as part of our curriculum, so it works out really great. 

Sea Turtle page from My Science Journal: Ocean

Check out my Ocean Journal on TpT!!

Sea Turtle Paper Plate Craft

This craft is from Sea Turtle, Inc. They have such a great site to show your students about how sea turtles live and what people can do to take care of them. Go check them out!

 We painted the paper plate with watercolor to give it some depth. I ran the turtle head and flippers on green cardstock. The kids cut them out and colored the spots brown. Then we made (well, I made) hexagons out of white glue and the kids got to glitter them up!

The turtles look amazing hanging in our classroom!

Seahorses!

Seahorses are also a big hit. We began by reading Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle. 

This is a beautiful book with pictures hidden throughout. Kids LOVE this book!

 

We wrote in our ocean journal about the seahorse.

Then we made our own versions of Eric Carle's seahorse.

 I traced the seahorse template onto a 6 inch paper plate (the small ones). I figured since they were so small we would each make two. Students then sponge painted the back. Once it was dry we cut them out and drew on an eye. Super simple and super cute!

I have never really found a seahorse craft I liked until I made this one. They always turned out too big, or not the right shape. This craft is so simple that we did the whole thing in an hour!

Have fun!

My Science Journal: Bugs

I have finished my second My Science Journal! This one is all about BUGS!

I have had so much success with my Ocean Journal that I knew right away that I had to make one for bugs. My students learned so much and have even improved their writing. They are writing on their own, using their imaginations and the words they know or can sound out. This has been the best year of Kindergarten writing I have ever had!

This unit includes:
1. ants
2. butterflies
3. worms
4. honey bees
5. ladybugs
6. grasshoppers
7. snails

Life cycles include: ant, butterfly, worm, honey bee, and ladybugs.

Labeling the parts of an ant.

 

 Life cycle of a butterfly and the parts of a butterfly.

 

 

Sample of Bonus Activities:

 

 

 

These are few sample pages of My Science Journal: Bugs.

 

Please take a look at them at TpT. Your students will be writing in no time and have so many interesting facts to share about bugs.