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!

Retelling and Reader's Theater FREEBIE!!

The last couple of weeks we have been focusing in on what a good retelling looks and sounds like.  As a K team we wanted to create a way to help the kiddos see this. A colleague of mine created some great bookmarks that the kiddos use to help them remember what "retelling" should include and with her permission we are giving them to you for FREE! So Thanks R.G.! If you are wondering what the characters are, the idea for them come from another colleague of ours Andrea Knight. (Yay for teamwork!). They are made to help K kiddos remember the important parts of retelling.  You can get more info about those characters over at her blog "Creating Readers and Writers". She also has a TpT store. You can click Questioning Lessons for Younger Kiddos to get more info on using her characters in your classroom! (This is my first attempt at using google docs so bare with me! IF you can't get it, just leave a comment and I will work on getting it to you!)

Okay, so click Retelling Bookmarks to download this freebie from google docs.  Here is a quick look at them.

After learning how to use these awesome retelling bookmarks we gradually try retelling on our own.  It is a wonderful progression to watch happen as the kiddos start to understand the stories they are reading simply by talking about who, what, where, how, and why things happened in their story.  The conversations they are having with their partners are truly remarkable.  After we move through retelling I introduce the concept of Reader's theater.  This week was our first try.  I believe the kiddos did FABULOUS! (Especially since I was out with that nasty infection going around for half the time! Ugh!)  I use the book You Noisy Monkey by Michael Coleman.  We read the story, then retell the story, then make masks and read/practice the reader's theater, then put on a show.  It is amazing to watch the characters from his story come to life through the eyes of my kinders!  (We also invite our parents in watch the show and by this time they have their parts down so well they do not even need the reader's theater booklets.) Here are a few cute picks of our masks.

You can get the lesson to use with the book by clicking Noisy Monkey Retelling and Reader's Theater

Now on to the coolest thing ever and its FREE!! I found an ap for the IPad/Ipod that allows the kiddos to create their own characters or choose some, create their own settings or choose some, and (here is the best part.......wait for it.......) they can record their own story with a beginning, middle, end, happy music, sad music, etc.  It walks them through the whole process!  Then they can play their story over and over.  It is perfect for a center time. (or if you are lucky enough to have enough ipads for your classroom) it is perfect for a lesson!  It is called Toontastic.  If you don't have it....get it! The kiddos love using it! You can click Toontastic to download it from the itunes store!

What are some ways you teach retelling or readers theater in your classroom?  Have you found much technology to support it?

Have a fabulous week!

A Sweet Freebie!

Here is a writing mini lesson I use every year.  I have cutened (yes, I made up a word) it up a placed it here for you to use.  After we finish the mind map, we write our letters.  Then we build a class book out of the letters.  We take turns taking the class book home to read to our parents! 

Enjoy this Sweet Freebie! Click here to download!

Hip Hip Horray! It's 100 Day!

We had our 100th day of school this week.  We did several lessons focused on the number 100.  We dressed like 100 year old people, we found and wrote 100 words in a word hunt, we read "If I Had Add", we counted, dotted, described, and imagined what it would be like to be 100 or to spend 100 dollars.  We had so much fun!  Here are some photos of our day. (There are quite a few pics, I couldn't resist!)

100 year old golfer! Too Cute

Love the "Tacky" 100 Day glasses.

Can you believe her mom knitted this wig the night before??? I told her I had to have one!

Our 100 day hats.

All day the kiddos had to walk through the giant 100 covering our door.

His mom picked up this cute old man costume from a party store.

Love the curlers and look at the lips!  The outline goes all the way around her mouth! HA!

"Old" buddies.  Love the bow tie and the suspenders!

These are some of our old people from Deanna Jump's 1ooth Day unit.  After making pictures of how we will look when we are 100, we wrote about what we thought we would do when we are 100 years old.

 Here is the 100 Day Emergent Reader that we read. You can get it from my store by clicking here! 

Enough of our fun......  I would love to hear how you spent (or plan on spending) your 100th day of school.

Wow! A Big Thanks! (and change)

I just want to take a moment to say THANK YOU to all of those who participated in the TpT sale.  I was able to get some items that I have had my eye on and I hope you were able to do the same.  Here are a few of my great finds:

A great set of graphics from Mel!

This is an awesome pack from Tara West.

Another great font from Mel!

Once again, thank you for your support in my store!

Also, before you say anything, no I am not crazy........just undecided. I have been working on the look of  blog for awhile and I couldn't quite get exactly what I wanted.  Well, here it is!  I love this new look from Dream Like Magic designs.  They did a fabulous job and I couldn't be more pleased.  Thank you so much Dream Team!

Super Sale!

I am having a Super Sale on the same day as TpT's Super Sunday Sale.  You can get up to 28% off of all of my products! Head to my store to shop till you drop!
                             Click Here to visit my store!