Learning Landforms

We are about half way through our study of the different types of landforms.  We made these cute little flip books and I love them so much I just had to share!  For each landform we added details (with chalk, paint, torn paper, and whatever else their little minds decided to use) to represent trees, flowers, waves, shells, etc.  After their books were made the kiddos added little cards to each landform.  The cards had descriptions of each landform.  The students glued the cards on so that you could lift it like a flap and see the name of the landform it was describing.  Below are some photos of the day we worked on hills.  The other completed parts of the book that you will see in the photos are: Mountains, Volcanoes, and Canyons. The last photo is a completed book.

The landform riddles on the front came from a fabulous first grade blog called First Grade Wow and I just "tweeked" them a bit to suit my Kindergarten needs.  Nancy has a wonderful landform unit available there.  It goes across the curriculum in several ways. Totally worth looking into if you are a K, 1, or 2 teacher!  I just love Nancy!

The completed books go on to show: Plains, Islands, and the Ocean. Next week we are going to focus on the types of landforms that we see where we live.  At the end, the students built a 3-D landform model to represent what they have learned about the landforms. Here are so photos of their creations!

How do you teach landforms?  How do you assess the kiddos at the end of your landform unit?

Comparing Numbers 0-20 FREEBIE

We have been working with the teen numbers.  We LOVE using the songs by Harry Kindergarten to introduce, learn how to write them and to learn that a number in the teens is a set of ten and some ones. Here are some links to these songs if you haven't already found them! These songs (which are videos also) are FABULOUS for introducing and reviewing teen number concepts.

Numbers In The Teens Start With A One

Numbers In The Teens Have A Group Of Ten

Now for your freebie!  I made this to use with my kiddos with the Easter theme.  It is a math center game.  The students pull a number from the stack of number cards then record that number on the Easter Bunny's sign (on the recording sheet).  Next they have to draw that number of Easter Eggs on the double ten frames.  Finally they have to decide if the first numbers is greater or less than the second number.

Click here to download this freebie!

I love reading your comments and thoughts.  How do you incorporate technology into your Math block? Do you have any handy tricks up your sleeves to get the kiddos comparing teen numbers? I hope you enjoy this FREEBIE and have a fabulous rest of the week!

St. Patty's Day Sale

To join the sale click here!!

K Brain Breaks

Brain breaks are so important to incorporate throughout your day.  I use some strategies like the Kagan Formations game. (You can learn more about Kagan Strategies for your classroom by clicking Kagan Online.) A formation game is where the kiddos are split into two groups (or you can do whole class) and then they work with that group to create shapes and words.  They do this holding hands and standing. When introducing the formation activity I start off by asking the kids to make a shape such as; circle, square, triangle.  When they have the concept down I make it a little tougher. I ask them to build a letter that represents a sound.  For example, I might say build the beginning sound for the word dog.  Of course the groups would have to work together to build a "d".  Did I mention they have to do all of this WITHOUT talking!  We do beginning, middle, and ending sounds.  (I took photos of this on Friday but wouldn't you know that I left my camera at school! Ugh!) My next move is going to be having the whole class work together to build sight words.  I can't wait to see them try that.

Another type of brain break that my class LOVES is dancing.  We dance often.  Below is a clickable link to You Tube that I have recently found.  The kiddos love to dance with Sid from Ice Age, copy the movements of the dog and the hippo.  Click Sid Shuffle and Dog and Hippo to see these great brain break activities.

(Word to the wise: There is also a Gummy Bear song on this link. DON'T play the Gummy Bear song until you have seen it.  I do not think it is appropriate for K.)

Well, I guess that is enough from me tonight! I hope you enjoy the Sid Shuffle!
I would love to hear how you use brain breaks in your classroom?

MEGA Giveaway!!!

My newest blogging friend Tracey from The Teacher's Chair is hosting a fantastic giveaway.  There are seventeen generous bloggers linked up to this give away. So that's seventeen fabulous gifts you could be getting plus an awesome teacher's bag (see the pic below) large enough for your laptop and other essentials!!    One of the gifts you could be receiving is your choice from any item at my TpT store.  So hurry up and click the picture below to head over and enter the Rafflecopter for your chance to win.

If for some reason the button above doesn't work, I did include a link back to Tracey's blog above!! Good Luck!