Mrs. B's Reading Room - Playing Outside

Hi everyone! I have a new week of Mrs. B's Reading Room! This week we are going to explore books about playing outside! Check it out!

Mrs. B's Reading Room

Mrs. B's Reading Room

Welcome to Mrs. B's Reading Room! This is my first digital classroom. I wanted it to be fun, bright, and full of books! Each week I will switch out the books for my students to access over the summer. Because Distance Learning is going to have a major effect on our students' learning, I wanted to create something light that will keep them reading through the summer.

Creating this room was so much fun. I googled how to make a 'Bitmoji Classroom' and found a lot of great resources. I have to say, https://www.remove.bg/upload was my biggest find. You can put any image in and it will remove the background so you can insert it into your room. It made it so easy!

Check it out!

How to Brush My Teeth FREEBIE

Freebie! How to Brush My Teeth Procedural Writing!

December Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale!

I am throwing a HUGE sale today and tomorrow, Dec 2-3! You can get 25% off!

Every file is on sale! Check it out! Click here for the sale!

Early Number and Counting

Making sure that Kinders have the kind of number sense they need to move onto first grade can be tricky. Some might assume that if they know their standards, then they are ready. In theory, you would be right. I mean, isn't that what the standards are for?

However, there are so many steps that need to happen in order for a child to have true number sense. This chart explains how children will learn numbers and counting. The hard part is, these steps have to happen in order. And if you have a child who is struggling, it is often because he or she is missing a step in the learning progression.

Graham Fletcher has a video that explains all of this in detail. This one isn't on YouTube, so you will have to go to his site to see it, or on Vimeo.

https://gfletchy.com/progression-videos/

I have heard Deanna Jump's, Deedee Will's, and several other speak about the learning progression in early math. And everyone agrees. We need to teach each step explicitly so that every student has the foundation for math that they deserve. While it might seem like it will take too long, especially if you are following a pacing guide, it is imperative that students have these skills under their belt. As Graham Fletcher says, "It's the tortoise who wins the race." 

 Grab your progression chart here.

How Big is your Problem?

Teaching little ones how to manage their emotions is HARD! To them, everything is important because it is about them. In my class we are working on identifying our problems so we know what kind of reaction we should have when we get these problems.

I use this chart to help my kiddos visualize how big a problem really is.

While the visual is great, they need to be TAUGHT what is tiny, what is medium, etc. We role play a lot of scenarios that I see in class. That way the lesson is meaningful. Once the lesson is taught, you can have your student refer to the chart when a problem arises. Every class is different, and we all handle our classroom management in our own ways, but here are a few examples of what these levels mean in my class.

1. Tiny might mean you can't find your pencil. It might mean your shoe keeps coming untied. You can handle it.
2. Small might mean you are in a group you don't want to be in or didn't get a turn on the swing.You can handle it.
3. Medium might mean your friend is bothering you, or you don't remember how to spell a certain word. You try to solve the problem yourself.
4. Big might mean someone is calling you names or bullying you. It might mean you lost a pet, or a family member is very sick. You tell an adult.
5. Emergency is, well, an emergency. A lock-down, a fire, earthquake. Or it might mean you really hurt yourself and are bleeding a lot. It might mean someone else is really hurt. It might mean an adult is hurting you or someone you know. You tell an adult right away.

The teaching is what matters. Giving kids the tools to access what problems are and how to react to them is so powerful. Especially when they need to be taught a papercut is not an emergency. 😉

You download this FREE resource here.

Need some Colorful Converse?

Here are some cute cut outs of Converse shoes to use with your Pete the Cat unit! You can have the kids match them, retell the story, do an art project, a writing project, or you can do what I do, which is to have two weeks of the year be color days. Each day the kiddos dress up in a different color and bring something small of that color into the classroom. Then, we discuss the color and put it in our Color Chart. I have a color chart for every color and the header is the Converse shoe. We make up silly stories about what we could have stepped in. The kids love it!

Download them here!