The holidays officially begin once Halloween is over and Thanksgiving is upon us! Many of us are working toward the middle part of our school year at this point. Students are in a routine and have learned many things so far!
If you don’t know already, I absolutely LOVE celebrating holidays in my classroom. There’s something magical about this holiday season and getting to share it with your students.
When the excitement is high and teaching feels more like herding sheep, it can be a little hard to get students to focus on your regular academic schedule. This is why I love using book companions in my classroom! Book companions make it easy to incorporate the holiday into the classroom while still focusing on academic essentials.
Take a peek at what’s inside my Thanksgiving Book Companions!
Thanksgiving Book Companions
Bear Says Thanks
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
Problem and solution
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing Bear Graphic Organizer
Bear’s Verbs
Craftivity
The Night Before Thanksgiving
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
How the family prepared for Thanksgiving Graphic Organizer
Problem and solution
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing the Family Graphic Organizer
The Night Before Thanksgiving Verbs
Craftivity
Five Flying Turkeys
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing Turkeys Graphic Organizer
Five Flying Turkey’s Verbs
Craftivity
These book companions can be purchased in a bundle or individually depending on which story you’d like to incorporate or if you’d like to incorporate all! Using a book companion is a great way to sneak in some Thanksgiving fun while still learning or reviewing critical language arts skills.
What are your favorite ways to celebrate Thanksgiving in your classroom?
I love celebrating holidays in my classroom but sometimes it can get to be a little overwhelming with all the excitement and usually many sweet treats. That’s why I like to incorporate Halloween activities that are educational! Whether it be a center or a special project, I just love seeing what students can do when they’re excited about something. For Halloween, I’ll be celebrating with a book companion or a couple of book companions!
What’s a book companion?
Book companions are activities that go along with a particular book! They include multiple language arts activities that students can complete, reviewing a language arts skill or even learning a new skill! Some of the skills included are sequencing, problem and solution, and conventions. I always love to end with a craftivity as well. These make amazing bulletin boards to look at for the entire holiday season! See below for what’s included in my Halloween Book Companions.
Included in the Halloween Book Companions
I’ve created 3 Halloween Book Companions for you to celebrate Halloween in your classroom! In each, students practice a variety of language arts skills. I’ve also included at least one craftivity in each book companion set.
Little Boo – Book Companion
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
Problem and solution
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing the Seed Graphic Organizer
Describing the Jack-O-Lantern Graphic Organizer
Little Boo’s Verbs
Craftivity
Skeleton for Dinner – Book Companion
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
Problem and solution
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing the Skeleton Graphic Organizer
Describing the Witches Graphic Organizer
Skeleton’s Verbs
Witches Verbs
Two Craftivity Options
Ms. Broomstick’s School for Witches – Book Companion
Here’s a list of all that’s included in this book companion resource:
Sequencing the story
Problem and solution
My Favorite Part Writing
Additional Writing Prompt
Describing the Pandora Graphic Organizer
Describing the Ms. Broomstick Graphic Organizer
School of Witches Verbs
Craftivity
These book companions can be purchased in a bundle or individually depending on which story you’d like to incorporate or if you’d like to incorporate all! Using a book companion is a great way to sneak in some Halloween fun while still learning or reviewing critical language arts skills.
What type of teacher are you? Do you enjoy celebrating the holidays throughout the holiday season or do you stick to celebrating the holiday strictly on the day of the holiday only?
Kindergarten is a magical age where students walk into your classroom not having a clue what school is about and leaving knowing all the basics that will help them flourish in their next years. They come in maybe knowing one or two people and leave with a bunch of friends. They make leaps and bounds because they’ve had you as their teacher.
This year is my 4th year teaching kindergarten. Over these four years, I’ve found that I look forward to certain activities that I do consistently in my classroom. These activities are more than just teaching students the basics. They teach students to be kind, to celebrate milestones and to learn more about each other. Read what my 1o favorite activities are and let me know what your favorite activity is in the comments below!
In no particular order…
My 10 Favorite Activities in Our Kindergarten Year
1. Nellie
Nellie is a stuffed cow that my students take turns bringing home for a week. During their week with her, they take pictures and write in a journal all that they did with her. When they bring her back, they share what they did, with their classmates. After they share, their classmates get to ask questions about their time together. Then, Nellie goes home with someone else. I love this activity because I get a glimpse into my student’s home life. I get to see what kinds of sports practices they go to or if they have movie nights with their family. Learning even just a little something about my students helps me connect with them on another level.
2. Field Trip to the Farm
Every October, I take my students to a local pumpkin farm. During this field trip, we get to ride a tractor, learn about a pumpkin life cycle and pick out our very own pumpkin to take home! This is always our first field trip of the year and students are so excited! For many, this is their first field trip ever. I love seeing their bright eyes as they hunt for the perfect pumpkin to take home.
In my class, I celebrate birthdays in a special way by reading an important moment that has happened each year they’ve been alive. You can read more about my birthday celebration in this post.
4. Guided Math Centers
Some of my favorite times in the classroom are when I’m meeting with a small group, helping them out however best fits their needs. If you’ve read any of my previous posts you’ll know how important guided math is to me. If you want to read more about how this looks in my classroom or how to get started in your own classroom, click the links below.
During Christmas time, I use Elf on the Shelf to encourage acts of kindness. Each day, Elfie, our classroom elf leaves us letters next to whatever crazy thing he’s doing! The letter gives us a challenge or task that we can do that day to spread kindness during the Christmas season.
6. 100th Day of School Celebration
I love having any excuse for a celebration and the 100th day of school is such a perfect day to celebrate your students! Every year, the first and second grade classes and I team up to have a huge 100th day celebration. We each have 3 centers in our room that go along with “100” and students rotate through each of our rooms. This is always a day where students feel so proud of all they’ve learned in the 100 days they’ve been in school.
7. Guided Reading Centers
Like guided math, I absolutely love my guided reading time where I get to meet with students at different reading levels. During this time, I get to really tailor the lessons to whatever support or challenge the students need. I love seeing the lightbulb go on during this time and being able to continually encourage growth no matter what level.
Each spring, as part of my animal unit, I hatch chicks in my classroom. This has become a huge tradition and something that kindergarteners hear about from siblings and friends long before they come to my class. It’s such an amazing experience for students as they get to learn all about the life cycle and what living things need and then get to witness a live chick hatching in their very own classroom.
This year, I gave my students a monthly project. These projects went along with some sort of theme for the month. For example, during their September project, students wrote an “All About Me” book. In April, our theme was culture so students learned about their culture and shared it with the class. These projects were so important because it got families involved in their child’s learning and through them, we were able to learn more about each other. Students were also able to show their creative sides and practice public speaking during their presentations.
Last but not least, our end of the year alphabet countdown is one of my favorite memories each year that I teach kindergarten. Each day, we do something that goes along with a letter of the alphabet. For example, for D we had Dino Day and made dinosaur fossils out of salt dough! This countdown is a perfect way to celebrate the end of kindergarten and the transition to first grade!
Disclosure: There are some affiliate links below, but I highly recommend these products. I won’t suggest anything on this page that I don’t support or haven’t personally used.
Who else loves teaching art? I don’t know what it is but kindergarten art is just so precious! They’re not worried about making things perfect, they’re just interested in getting it done and doing it their way. Even when I show them a model, they use their creativity to the max and I LOVE it!
Whoooo’s ready for fall?
I found this owl, fall themed art project on teacherspayteachers and I love how it turned out! This project is super easy to prep, has simple directions and the kids loved using feathers and googly eyes! If you’re in need of a fall themed art project, this one is for you!
Prep
Print out the master copies and pull the construction paper colors you need. I used brown, tan, yellow and orange.
Gather or purchase all materials. Here are some materials you may need.
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Directions
Students cut out owl outline, tummy, beak and feet. I gave every piece to my students at once and displayed my model so they could see what piece goes where.
Then, students glue their owl pieces together.
I had students come to my table when they were finished gluing and choose 5 feathers. They had the choice to use different colors or all the same color.
Students glue their feathers on and add googly eyes (use liquid glue).
The owls are complete!
Bulletin Board
When your students are all finished with the project put their cute owls up on your bulletin board. Here is some inspiration!
You might like to read about another art project I do in the beginning of the school year: tissue art.
Back to School Night is an important night because it’s one of the only times you have all parents (or most) in one place. Although I dread talking in front of an adult crowd, I’m appreciative we have this night so we can give all information out at once and don’t have to repeat the info to each parent. Here’s how I set myself up for Back to School Night success!
Look the Part (both you and the room)
You – Wear something comfortable that makes you feel confident!
I like to dress up more than normal because Back to School Night is an important night where you get to give parents essential information about the upcoming year. It’s also one of the first times you’re meeting parents and dressing up will portray professionalism.
Room – Make sure your classroom is tidy and presentable!
The day of Back to School Night, I have my students help me clean the room by ending our free play a little sooner than normal. I tell students that they’ve magically become vacuum cleaners and their job is to clean every speck from the carpet. Students love this idea (who knows why?) and crawl around on the carpet and sometimes even make a vacuum noise (tell them they’re quiet vacuums).
Once the room is clean, get it ready with any information or work you want to display. I like to put a blank paper out for parents to write or draw something for their kids that I leave for the students to find the next day. This is nice to have out as parents walk in because it gives them something to do while you wait for all the other parents. I also put an information packet and birthday form on each child’s table spot. Parents can take this home for their reference and return the form once completed.
I prepare a Back to School Night powerpoint as a guide to what I want to cover with the parents. I start out by telling parents my background and schooling and then move into curriculum. Next, I discuss each subject and a brief overview of what students will learn in kindergarten. Other topics I include are homework, projects, field trips, star of the week and Nellie. Nellie is a stuffed cow that students will get to take home for a week during our school year.
After I give my spiel, my room parents talk about volunteer opportunities for our school and classroom.
Once this night is over, I take a big breathe of relief. It’s one of the most exhausting, long (12 hour) days but with these tips it’ll be amazing! Good luck!
Resources
Check out my Back to School Night resources by clicking the pictures below.
This name tissue art project is hands down my absolute FAVORITE! It is a perfect beginning of the year art project and looks fantastic all year long. Each year, during our first art period, I show my students how to complete this tissue art and it hangs in my windows until the end of the year.
Materials
– 11 x 18 white or nude construction paper
– various colors of tissue paper
– glue
– dixie cups (or something to hold the glue) I like these because you can just throw them away when finished
– Q-tip
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Prep
This project is pretty low prep which is nice because sometimes art projects take longer to set up than for students to actually do. All you need to prep for this project is the papers with their names and tissue squares. I write the students’ names in sharpie but you could use anything because it gets covered up by the tissue in the end. You also need to cut squares of tissue about 1 inch by 1 inch. This prep could be done days before so you’re ready the day of. The day of, you’ll need to pour glue into dixie cups and put a Q-tip in each of the cups for students to use to spread the glue.
Directions
I write my own name on one of these papers so I can model the art to my students. I start by showing them how to spread a section of glue on one of the letters in their name. Since I teach kindergarten, I mention that if you put too much glue on, it might dry before you can stick the tissue paper on. I tell them that they should only glue a little section, not the whole letter. Then, I show students how to crumple the paper and stick it on the letter. I really emphasize that the smaller they squish the tissue paper, the better it will look. I also tell my kids that they need to use the same color on the whole letter. Then, they must use a different color on the next letter. In the past, I’ve let students do multi-colored letters but it ends up looking a little bit jumbled and less like a name.
After my students are finished, I trim the outside of the paper and glue a colored piece of construction paper as a background. I hang them in the window all year-long! Look at how beautiful this art is!
Guided reading is one of my favorite subjects to teach because I love that I can differentiate for each student to truly give them what they need to succeed. In order to have a smoothly run guided reading time, you must set up your guided reading groups for success. Groups are set up so that students with similar needs are put together.
Assess What They Know
Before you can put students in groups, you need to assess what they know and what they struggle with. In kindergarten, it can be hard to assess students on reading because most likely, they do not read yet.
I like to assess my students on the following to get a good understanding of their overall reading and letter skills:
Letter recognition
Letter sound
Sight Word recognition
Reading and Reading Comprehension
I assess students in this order and move them on according to how they do in the previous assessment.
Letter Recognition
For example, I assess all students on letter recognition. If they miss only a few, I move on to letter sounds. If they miss half or more than half, I stop there and make a note that these students need to work on letter recognition.
Letter Sound
Next, I assess if students know their letter sounds. Again, if they know most, I move them on to sight word recognition and if they know half or less, I make a note that the focus for this group should be letter sounds.
Sight Word Recognition and Reading Comprehension
For my sight word recognition and reading/reading comprehension assessments, I use a program called Fountas and Pinnel. This program sets it all up for you which makes it easy on me. I have a set of 5sight word lists and I start by asking the student if they know any of the words on the list. If a student knows most of the words on a list, they move on to the next list. When we reach a point where they no longer know majority of the words, I stop them and make a note. The program then tells me which guided reading level they should begin at according to how many sight words they know.
If a student makes it to the point where they should begin reading at a certain level in the program, I assess them with a running record. Most kindergarteners in the beginning of the year do not make it to this point because they are pre-readers but I do usually have a handful that are ready.
After all my assessments are finished, I look over my notes of which students need support in certain areas and I group them by similar needs. I try to keep my groups to 5 students or less so they’re getting a lot of individualized attention during our guided reading groups.
Click the picture to check out some of my Guided Reading Resources.
Welcome to my classroom reveal! I am currently going into my 4th year teaching so I’ve had a few years to figure out exactly how I want my classroom. I’ve learned what works and what doesn’t and I’ve arranged and rearranged countless times. I’m at the point where I am so happy with how my room is set up and organized and I cannot wait to share it with you!
Welcome to the Jungle
When you walk in my room, I want it to feel welcoming with bright colors and obvious organization. I want my students to feel invited, like their classroom is their second home and structured so they can be successful. I chose a jungle theme because I personally love animals and it’s a very gender neutral theme. Plus, there’s a lot you can do creatively with this theme.
Student Tables
My students work mainly in two spots: their tables and the carpet. At their tables, they have everything they need in their chair pouch. I recommend the chair pouch because students can keep their supplies separate and they look a lot neater than the communal table caddies (personal preference).
Rug Area – Circle Time
Our rug area is where students sit for circle time, whole group lessons or introductions and read alouds. We also use this area to use the SmartBoard and Elmo. I love that my carpet has individual squares because if I notice students spreading out or getting too close to their neighbor, I tell them to “tuck into their square” and everyone can check their bodies.
Library
My library is one of my favorite spots in my classroom! I made it a little bigger this year because as years go on I accumulate books upon books. Everyone wants to donate their old books to the kindergarten class and I can never say no to books! Doesn’t this area look so comfy?! I love the miniature couches and book buddies to read with.
Listening Center
The listening center is where my students take their iPads during Listen to Reading of our literacy centers. Here, students find their headphones, any passwords they might need and the listen to reading response sheet. This year, I’m organizing my students headphones in over the door shoe organizers! I just cut one in half and taped it on the wall – no more tangled mess!
Writing Center
My writing center holds everything students may need during writing time. They have their pencils, colored pencils, crayons and writing folders in their chair pouch but this area holds all the extras. Behind this center I display my writing posters. I got these freebie posters here! As we work on a step in the writing process, I put up the poster.
I am so fortunate to have a full time assistant teacher so when we do guided reading, two groups of students get to meet with a teacher while the rest are doing independent stations. My students meet at either my guided reading table or my assistant teachers. This summer, I DIYed some crate seats for my table! I also put together some guided reading caddies for maximum organization for our guided reading time.
Free Play
The free play area is the space that I just can’t seem to get right. It is always a mess! This year, I bought new containers that fit better in the bookcase and labeled each lid. No matter what I do, students just don’t clean up the way I want… I guess that’s what I get for teaching kindergarteners! Any kindergarten teachers have a fabulous way to organize free play things?
Storage
My room used to be the library in our school so my room is the only room that does not have a full wall of amazing storage. I do have three cabinets but I’ve had to be creative with this storage space as it is pretty small. One thing I’ve changed this year is making use of the space above my cabinets. I’ve used this space in the past, but usually I just shove things above it and it looks like a hot mess. This year, I decided the organize materials by season and cleaning supplies. I love how organized it looks (at least right now)!
Teacher Desk
This is my little home in the classroom to keep all my teacher things!
Thank you for stopping by my jungle theme classroom! What’s your favorite part about your classroom?
Each morning after circle time, my students go to their tables for morning work. I believe making time for morning work each day is so important in kindergarten because it serves as routine, reinforces weekly learning and promotes independence.
1. Routine
Having a solid routine gives students the ability to be successful because they know what to expect. Every single day, students in my room know that we will begin at the carpet for our morning circle, then we’ll go to our tables and complete the morning work. Our morning work focuses on language arts and math skills that we have learned earlier in the week or in the prior week. Although the worksheets and skills change, the directions and activities stay the same. This creates routine in the worksheet and promotes independence.
2. Independence
Believe it or not, kindergarten students can be independent. By creating an expected routine and modeling the different activities on the morning work, students learn exactly what they need to do. Before you know it, they don’t need you to model or read the directions! Morning work can give students the confidence to feel independent in other subjects and in other areas of the classroom.
3. Reinforce Learning
The biggest and most important aspect of morning work is that it reinforces weekly learning. The morning work that my students complete follow along with the skills we learn in our language arts program as well as skills learned in math. In the beginning of the year, students work on finding and matching letters, sounding out words and counting. By the end of the year, they are circling nouns, correcting sentences and adding and subtracting. Morning work is a great opportunity to see how your students are retaining the skills learned in language arts and math.
Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle
Check out my Kindergarten Morning Work Bundle that you can use for your entire school year! This bundle comes with six units, which is broken down into six-weeks per unit, one sheet of morning work per day.
What benefits do you find in having students begin the day with morning work?
Each morning, the first thing we do is come to the rug for circle time. I find that starting with circle is a great way to start the day because it is a routine that students know well and sets our day up right away for the learning ahead.
Circle Time Routine:
As students come into the classroom and put their stuff away, I play a good morning song. Students know that once the song ends, they need to be at the carpet ready for circle.
Calendar
To begin, we start with the months of the year song. We discuss what month we are currently in, which month it was before and what month it will be after.
Then, we sing the days of the week song. After the song ends, I choose a student to tell us what day it is today. Next, we discuss the date and I put the calendar piece on the calendar. Students repeat the full date (example: Today is January 25, 2017).
The calendar helper comes up and moves around the days of the week cards. The calendar helper is the leader during this part of circle and says what day it is, what yesterday was and what tomorrow will be. The rest of the class repeats after the calendar helper.
Example:
Calendar Helper: “Today is Wednesday”
Class Repeats: “Today is Wednesday”
Calendar Helper: “Yesterday was Tuesday”
Class Repeats: “Yesterday was Tuesday”
Calendar Helper: “Tomorrow will be Thursday”
Class Repeats: “Tomorrow will be Thursday”
Place Value
After calendar is over, our place value helper comes up and adds one straw to our place value chart. This helper also changes the days in school card and announces what day we are on in kindergarten. I love this portion of circle because it reinforces place value and we discuss making bundles. Students love when we get to make a BIG bundle on the 100th day of school!
Weather
Once we’ve discussed what day of school it is, we sing a weather song. After the song is over, the weather monitor comes up and changes the weather and temperature cards. They announce to the class what the weather is today.
Letter of the Day (Beginning of the year)
In the beginning of the year, we have a letter of the day. During this time, I introduce the letter and we watch the Zoophonics video (just that letter and the previous letters we’ve learned). I like the Zoophonics program because it discusses the letter, sound and makes a movement for students to kinesthetically connect to the letter.
Circle Time Materials
Songs
In the above sections, I’ve linked the songs I play. I put these on a SmartBoard lesson with a picture and we sing them as we get to that part in our circle time.
