Favorite Authors of Kindergarteners

My students have a variety of authors that they enjoy reading. Here are some of their favorites:

1. Eric Carle- He is known for vivid illustrations and books about animals. His books really hold the students attention and they enjoy them. For a list of his books go here: http://www.eric-carle.com/home.html
2. Laura Numeroff-Her books are always fun to read and my students love the characters. You can find a list of her books on this site: http://www.lauranumeroff.com/
3. Kevin Henkes-He is my favorite! I love his characters and his books always have a good lesson for students to learn. My kids enjoy the stories and want to read them over and over. You can find out more about Kevin here: http://www.kevinhenkes.com/
4. Jan Brett-Her books are a little more detailed for kindergarten but my students enjoy hearing them. Her books have wonderfully illustrations and details on the border that usually help with making predictions.You can learn more about Jan Brett here: http://www.janbrett.com/
5. Bill Martin- His books are great for beginning readers because of the repetitiveness in the story. My students can independently read his stories early which helps them gain confidence as readers.You can read more about Martin here: http://www.billmartinjr.com/bill_martin
6. Pat Hutchins- She writes books that are easy to incorporate into lesson for students. Her books can also be used with a variety of subjects. To learn more about Pat go here: http://www.carolhurst.com/authors/hutchins.html
7. Don Freeman-He is most famous for his Corduroy books. These are books that my students can relate to because most of them love their stuffed animals. They enjoy reading about Corduroy's adventures. Freeman's site is here: http://donfreeman.info/
8. Doreen Cronin-She writes very entertaining books for students. They enjoy her stories and the characters are fun and interesting. Her most favorite book of my class is Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type. If you want to learn more about her books go here: http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/contributor.jsp?id=2887
9. Robert Munsch-His books are wacky and silly but my students love them. Our favorite is Purple, Green and Yellow. His books will keep the kids laughing. His site is also great because you can click on the books and Robert Munsch himself will read the book aloud. It is a great site here: http://robertmunsch.com/books/#
10. Dr. Seuss-Of course Dr. Seuss is one of our favorite authors my kids love to have me read the longer ones with the most tongue twisters to see if I can get through it. For fun games and activities with Dr. Seuss books go here: http://www.seussville.com/

These are our favorites but I am an avid children's book reader so please share your favorites!

Word Wall Activities

My students work on high frequency or word wall words everyday. We usually have 4 to 6 words a week we focus on. The students work on these words during workshops. Here are a few of my favorite word wall activities:

1. Stamp a word-Students use letter stamps and ink pads to stamp the words of the week.
2. Play-doh words-Students use play-doh and cookie cutters to build the words of the week.
3. Shaving Cream-Students write their words on the table using shaving cream.
4. Watercolor Words-Students use watercolors to paint the words of the week.
5. Chalk it Up-Students write their word wall words using sidewalk chalk. Since I have an assistant and a small patio and outdoor area we can do this easily during workshops but it could be done at recess!
6. Magnetic Letters- Students use magnetic letters and metal cookie sheets to build word wall words.Caution the non stick pans won't work.
7. Letter Tiles-Students use small letter tiles to build words.
8. String a Word-Using letter beads and string students string their word wall words. This is a good fine motor skill as well.
9. Rainbow words- Students write the word wall word in one color crayon and continue to trace over it in multiply colors to make a rainbow word.
10. Bang! This is a whole group activity that my students love to play! Place all the word wall words on cards into a jar and the word Bang! on several cards. Students draw out a card and read the word. If they get it right they keep the word. If they miss it then it goes back in the jar. If the student draws out Bang! then they lose all their cards.

These are some of our favorie word wall activities in my room. I would love to hear some new and fresh ideas is you have any to share!

Math Activities

Math is a great subject to use hands-on materials with students. Math allows students to learn through exploration. I use a variety of items for math depending on the subjects we are learning. Here are some of my favorites to use and some activities that I find my students not only enjoy doing but benefit from.

• Graphing-we do graphing throughout the year in kindergarten.We do lots of hands on graphing revolving around seasonal and holiday items. Some examples include February-conversation hearts, March-Lucky Charms April-Jelly beans.
• Sorting-for sorting activities we use the above items before we graph them and many more. I use novelty erasers a lot to sort as well as blocks, plastic bugs, animals, beads, and money (this is a great for sorting by size, color and value which also teaches the basics of identifying money).
• One to One corresponding-in the beginning of kindergarten we work on matching the correct number of items to a number. I use a variety of techniques to help students learn this skill. One activity is using an ice cube tray write a numerals inside the tray and have students put that many beads, beans or other item into each compartment. This can also be done with egg cartons.
• Patterns-my students enjoy creating patterns with uni fix cubes and pattern blocks but I like to add in other items to extend their skills. I use plastic beads and strings to allow students to create pattern necklaces, fruit loops strung on yarn into patterns and dyed pasta strung on yarn. These also help with fine motor skills for students.
• Shapes-most students come to kindergarten able to recognize basic 2-D shapes. In order to get them to be able to describe and identify the shapes we do several activities. Some of those are creating shapes with toothpicks and marshmallows, creating shapes on geoboards with rubber bands or using straws and pipe cleaners to create shapes.

These are just some of the activities I do with my students to reinforce their math skills. I try to use a variety of hands on materials to keep them interested and motivated to learn.

Workshop Ideas

In my classroom we do workshops twice a day. We do literature workshops when I do Guided Reading groups and we do math workshops. I have some go to workshops that I are easy to set up and that my students enjoy. Here are a few of my go to workshops:

Reading Workshops

1. Word Wall Workshop-this a set workshop everyday. Students do a variety of activities with their word wall words of the week. Some examples are:stamping words, using letter cookie cutters and play-doh, putting words in ABC order.
2. Computer-I try to vary the activity on the computer for students but their favorite is www.starfall.com and Bailey's Bookhouse.
3. Letter-students will do some type of letter or letter sound activity. This will vary depending on what we are doing in our lessons. Some examples are: sorting words by beginning letter sounds, focusing on beginning, middle or end sounds, letter puzzles and word games.
4. Listening-students listen to books on tape and respond to the stories they hear. After hearing the stories students may do a Thinking Map on characters, draw or write about favorite part or do a book review on the story.

Math

1. Pattern blocks-students can use pattern blocks for so many things. They can explore them by creating different things, make patterns, sort and complete pattern block puzzles.
2. Seasonal Number games-I create different number activities based on season and the skills we are learning. Some examples include: small plastic pumpkin with numbers on them-students have to put the correct number of candy corns to match the number, plastic hearts with numbers written on them-students have to count out that many candy hearts and add them together. This can be done with other items throughout year-snowmen, butterflies, eggs.
3. Sorting Activities-Students practice sorting based on a set attribute. I use a variety of items such as-small seasonal erasers, plastic bugs, for Halloween we do skeletons, bugs and bats. Depending on the time of year the students will have to show their work on work mats or write out the rule they used to sort.
4. Computer-Students in enjoy Millie's Mathhouse and Starfall math activities. These are great because I can set them on specific games that match what we are doing in our classroom.

These are just some examples of the workshops used in my classroom. I am always looking for new ideas! Please share if you have any good ideas!

Websites for Teachers

I use a variety of sites for resources for my classroom. Below are my top 5 websites:

1. Hubbards Cupard http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/index.html - This site is a great resource for kindergarten and preschool teachers. It provides many theme ideas, workshop ideas and links to other resources. I use their ideas a lot. One helpful addition is they have lots of photos of products they make which makes it easier for you to reproduce.
2. Mrs. Meacham's Classroom Snapshots http://www.jmeacham.com/ -This site is a school teacher who post great information. She shares tons of activities and ideas.She also provides lots of photos of her projects so it is helpful to create on your own. Mrs. Meacham's ideas expand into all types of themes and subjects. I have just recently come across her site and I love her ideas!
3. Teachers Net http://teachers.net/- I have joined a chat board on this site. I get daily emails with the topics that are discussed. You can join chats based on subjects, grade levels or state. I get lots of ideas just from reading the chats that come across. The site also has lesson plans and projects that I have used. The only con of this site is that it has ads running around it that can sometimes be a pain to avoid but it has lots of good ideas.
4. The K-Crew http://www.thekcrew.net/index.html- This site is a great resource. They have tons of ideas for kindergarten teachers. They do have some items available for purchase but they still have plenty that is free on the site.
5. We Give Books http://www.wegivebooks.org/- This site is a way to not only get your hands on some great literature but to also help others get free books. The way the site works is your register for an account (it's Free!) and then pick an organization you would like a book donated to. You can pick from a variety of books on line and then share the books with your students. They can be shared with a smart board or projector so the students can all see the books. Once your class reads the book then a copy of that book is donated to the organization you picked. I have found they have some great books to choose from and my students love reading them off the big screen!

These are my top five sites. Please let me know if you have some more sources! I am always looking to add to my resources.

Websites for Kindergarten Students

I like to use different websites for my students to practice skills in the classroom. These are my top 5 sites that I like to use with my students and a little about them:

1. Starfall www.starfall.com -This is a great site for kids to work on early letter sounds and phonic skills. My students love this site and it is easy for them to navigate.
2. ICT Resources http://ngfl.northumberland.gov.uk/ict/default.htm -This is a site I use at the beginning of the year to help students with mouse skills.The cons of this site are you have to click on the mouse practice activities and set it up for students. I also found students often can get lost on the site and have to be redirected. However, there are some great practice activities for those students who need help with learning how to use a mouse.
3. Clifford Interactive Storybook-  http://teacher.scholastic.com/clifford1/index.htmThis is a site on  the Scholastic page that has one of my kids favorite characters, Clifford. They can work on letter sounds, making words, listen to stories and play games. One great thing about the site is you can choose English or Spanish for students. My kids love it and it is easy for them to navigate.
4. ABCya! http://www.abcya.com/ This site has some great activities on it for students. The con about this site is it is not easily navigate independently by my students. I have to set up the game for them.It also has lots of ads on the sidebar that can be difficult for students to avoid.
5. Storyline Online http://www.storylineonline.net/ This site is one of my favorites for students. They can choose books and listen to them beginning read by a variety of actors. There are a many books available on the site and students enjoy listening to them over and over!

The above sites are some of my go to sites for students. My students love computer time and the opportunity to learn something new from them in a fun way. I hope these sites are helpful to you and your students. I am always looking for more sites to expose them to! If you know of some more good sites then leave a comment so I can add to my collection!

The Purpose of This Blog

The purpose of this blog is provide kindergarten teachers and parents with ideas for activities and lessons. I will be posting my personal experiences within my classroom on things that worked and activities that my students enjoyed. A few of the subjects I will highlight are:

1. Websites for Kindergartners
2. Workshop Ideas
3. Math Activities
4. Word Wall Activities
5. Websites for Teachers
6. Favorite authors for Kindergartners

I am open for suggestions so feel free to leave a comment with your questions or subjects you would like answered about the wonderful world of kindergarten!