I'm moving to Kindergarten & Free Letter Cards!

Yep.  Kindergarten.  If you've been reading my blog, you know that I've taught a few years of first grade, am currently teaching second grade, and now I will be teaching Kindergarten next year.  That's what happens when you have a large group of students in one specific grade, and you are the last teacher hired at your school.  You move around.  But, don't get me wrong.  I am grateful to have a job. And I am excited to see what Kindergarten has in store for me!

Being the planner that I am, I have been Pinning and researching since the day I was officially asked told I was moving.  Actually, I knew it was coming, so I was preparing even before that.  I've found some great ideas already and I started a new board on Pinterest.  Check it out here if interested!

When I taught first grade at my last district, we started using a Phonemic Awareness book by Michael Heggerty named the "Yellow Book."  Last year, when I taught first grade in my current district, we purchased the "Yellow Book" to use the following year (this year), and then I later found out I was teaching second grade.  So, I didn't get to use it this year.  But we are now going to use the "Blue Book" for Kindergarten next year.  I really like it.  I'm especially looking forward to using it as it will be my first year in Kindergarten.

For part of the daily lessons, you need letter cards.  So I whipped some up last weekend, and thought I'd share!  Even if you don't use the Phonemic Awareness curriculum, there are so many things you can use the letter cards for.  Enjoy!  If you grab a copy, I'd love to hear what you'll use them for!

Uppercase Alphabet  - black with red vowels

Lowercase Alphabet - black with red vowels 

Lowercase Alphabet - blue with red vowels 

Uppercase Alphabet - all black

Uppercase Alphabet - black with red vowels

Lowercase Alphabet - all black

Lowercase Alphabet - black with red vowels

I plan on making more, so check back soon! I'm not completely satisfied with those lowercase a's!

Animal Life Cycles

Over the last few weeks, we have been working on animal life cycles.  We learned about a butterfly's and frog's life cycle.  And we are now learning about a chicken's life cycle by hatching chicks!  I'm not really a pet person, nor do I like the thought of dealing with these little furry creatures breaking out from shells and having to take care of them.  BUT I know that it will be a great learning experience for my little second graders.

Here are some of the activities we did in our class for a frog's life cycle!

Sorry for the picture quality... I've been using my phone a lot.

Here's an activity I found on Pinterest for the butterfly's life cycle.

Finished product

Materials needed

I put the food on a plate on each student table for them to choose from when completing the activity

Brainpop Jr. also has some great quick videos on life cycles.

Best Party Punch Ever & "brownies"

First off, I saw this funny April Fool's joke on Pinterest and just HAD to try it with my kiddos last week.

Of course I forgot my brownie pan, but I made do with a paper plate and paper towels to cover it.  We have a snack time, so when we came back into our class for snack, I told my kids that I brought a snack for them... brownies!  They were excited, until I started passing them out.  I kept saying, "Mmm, brownies" and "See, these are brownies."  It took some of them a few minutes to get that they were brown e's and understand the joke.  It was cute.  I let them take the brown e's home to try out on a family member.

I also wanted to share a quick punch recipe.  I'm really not a punch drinker but I found this recipe on Pinterest and have LOVED it ever since.  The first time I made it, I didn't have some of the ingredients (like pineapple juice), so I substituted something here and there and like the way I make it.  I also halved the recipe because the original recipe makes two large pitchers/punch bowls and I usually don't need that much.  Check out the picture below for the recipe that I use.

Back on the Grid & Popplet

Yes, I know I have been MIA for a few weeks month, but I have a good reason.  A really good reason.  I went on two... yes, two... vacations!  My hubby and I went to Jamaica and then on a Caribbean Cruise!  Here are a few pictures to make you jealous....

Both trips were AMAZING and I plan on posting more about them later.

But for now, I need to post something useful to regain my blogger status.  My last post was about Glogster.  It's a great site for students to create online bulletin boards.  I also mentioned that I have used Wallwisher and Popplet this year in my classroom.  So I thought I'd share more about Popplet if you haven't heard about it.

Popplet is basically an online organizer, or as they say "a place for your ideas."  It seems like you can really do a lot with it.  I have only used it for one activity, but I am interested in trying it out for different purposes.  You can sign up for free for limited access.  I think you can create up to five popplets for free.

I used Popplet during our Solar System unit... which I'm planning on posting more about also.  After learning about different parts of the Solar System, we created a Popplet that shows what we learned.  My students told me what to write, and I typed it all on my laptop while it was reflected onto the SmartBoard.

I think it would also be great for students to use as an online graphic organizer for writing or research projects.

If you haven't heard of it, it's definitely worth taking a look at!  If you use it in your classroom, I'd love to hear about how you use it!

Glogster - Integrating Technology

Ever heard of Glogster?  Yeah, me either... until I went to a district PD.  This was way back in the fall, but I knew I wanted to try some things out that I had earned on how to integrate technology into the classroom and into the units I was already planning on teaching.

Glogster is basically an online poster board.  Students can choose from various backgrounds, graphics, images, everything.  Or they can choose a pre-made template.  They can add text boxes and change the font, color, size, etc.  I used Glogster for our States of Matter unit.  I put my students in groups of three and four.  Our tech coach created accounts for each of our groups and gave them a little intro.  Then the kids went to town!  I did create a checklist for them so they would include the necessities for showing me what they learned about the states of matter; it included things like: create a background, create a tile, include 3-6 graphics, included three text boxes, etc.

And voila!

The projects took a little longer than anticipated, but isn't that how it always happens?!  These are two of the five projects my students created.  I was really impressed.  You can click the play buttons to hear the students talking.  I also got a lot of great feedback from parents saying they were impressed as well.

Here are a few other pieces of technology that I've been trying out this year.  These are free!

Wallwisher/Padlet

Popplet