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Feature Friday 12/11: Big Ideas for Little Hands



Hey guys! Julie here from Big Ideas for Little Hands. We love using technology in our classroom and I am always looking for fun new ways to incorporate technology into the classroom. 

It's been pretty easy to incorporate technology into Math and Reading with fun apps and online games. The struggle was how do I get technology into my writing time. The answer was this amazing app that I found, ChatterPix Kid.



We have been practicing writing stories during Writer's Workshop. Once the kids were done with their stories, I had them draw a picture of the main "character" of their story. These stories were information stories so they drew a picture of what they were inform the readers about. 

Once they drew their picture, I quickly snapped a picture of their drawing using the app. Then, on the app, you draw a small line where the mouth is. This will allow the picture "to talk." 

Once you have a mouth, the app will count down and the students will record their stories when it says "Go." Then you hit save and you are done. This app makes it so easy to create a talking picture. Once I showed my kids how to use it, they were able to do it on their own without my help! Perfect!


Come take a look at a few of our stories my kids created!





So simple to incorporate and a great way to motivate students to write. At the end of each week, the students that have finished their stories and created a video have a chance to share their video with the class. Definitely a highlight of the week! Head over to download the free app and let your kids' imagination run wild while they write and create!

~*~Julie~*~


 






What Worked Well Wednesday: December 9th

Hi friends!

This is Yukari from A Pinch of Kinder.


I'm excited to be here to share my first ever What Worked Well Wednesday post!


I'm going to keep this super short and sweet because I know a close third to back to school teacher tired and end of the year school tired is right before Christmas break teacher tired.  Am I right!?

Since my kids are in full on holiday mode I threw together this holiday themed sensory tub with a task.

The students are instructed to

1. Find a sand timer.
2. Start the sand timer.
3. Tweeze as many peppermint candy erasers out as they can before the timer runs out.
4. Count how many erasers they tweezed out and record their answer in the correct column.
5. Repeat until they have filled out all 3 columns.


My kids work on counting strategies, identifying and writing numbers, fine motor skills and develop an awareness of standard measurement tools (sand timer) all while playing and having fun!

If you would like to do the same activity in your class and would like the recording sheet I made up you can click here to grab it!

Any fun activities you tried out that worked well in your classroom this past week? Link up below with your What Worked Well Wednesday post below!

Linky Guidelines:

1. Grab the W.W.W.Wednesday image from above (the 2nd image from the top in this post) and include it in your post

2. Link back to this blog post (you can link the WWWW image that you included in your post)

3. Optional, but we highly recommend visiting the two posts before you and leaving a meaningful comment on their post.  Nice comments make the blog world go around! :)

Feature Friday: Sarah from Kindergarten Alphabet Soup

Yeah, friends! We have made it to the end of another week! Let's celebrate by having another Feature Friday!


Today we are featuring Sarah from Kindergarten Alphabet Soup! She has some great ideas on how to set-up your elf on the shelf! Take it away, Sarah...


Hi all! I am Sarah from Kindergarten Alphabet Soup. December is my favorite month at school because it is full of Holiday fun, and who doesn't love a good holiday! I wanted to piggy-back on the previous post that Molly from Miss K's Little Rays did on introducing the elf, and show you some ideas for what to do with your elf in the classroom!

 

I want to preface by saying that I teach in a private, Christian school, therefore Holiday time around here is very Christmas oriented. However, many of the ideas that I have used for the elf antics are very universal and can be used in public or private schools, as well as at home!

The following are some of my favorite ideas:
1. Zip-lining on the Christmas lights.
2. Sleeping in a tissue box.
3. A Marshmallow fight with some buddies.
4. Fishing for Goldfish.
5. Hiding in classroom decorations.
6. Kindness Challenge Day!

  
     
 
The following are some more ideas that can be used in a private school classroom:
1. Shepherd Elf
2. Elf and the Advent wreath.
3. Elf admiring the angel.

  


The elf really helps to motivate students to come in to school in the morning excited and curious about what we're going to learn about that day! I try to always utilize what we are learning about during the day in the elf's activity, as well. (i.e. this week we're talking all about angels therefore a lot of Elfie's antics involve angels.)

Where are you and your class finding your elf in your classroom? Have a happy Holidays! :)
xoxo,
Sarah

What Worked Well Wednesday: Staying Organized

Hello again, teachers!!! I hope you're having a fantastic week!

I'm Emily, from Carnes Corner, and I'm SO GLAD to be popping in again today, for this week's What Worked Well Wednesday link up.  I've definitely missed you!


I've been known to be a bit OCD, and that tends to overflow in to my classroom and the way I "try" to stay organized.  I wanted to share with you how I keep all of my center materials organized.

I have tubs (from Target, similar to these) for each month/or two months that hold all of the center materials for that time frame. (Of course, they're a teeny bit of an investment, but it's SO worth it!)


 Within each tub, I have the center materials divided by week...in a big ziploc baggie if they'll fit.  So, for example, in my November tub I've got three big ziploc bags with all of the smaller things inside for each of the weekly themes: Community Helpers, Scarecrows, and Thanksgiving.  December is a bit of a different month for me, since it's basically one big theme.  (Plus, I've got some of the center materials for this week already out).  Here's a peek inside December...


As I mentioned previously, when it's time for that center, I just pull out that baggie, make the necessary copies that I need to, and stick the individual centers in my FABULOUS rainbow tubs.  

We call these our "center tubs" in the classroom.  The first four (red and orange) are my literacy centers, and the next four (green and blue) are my math centers.  All of the materials they'll need for that particular center is in the coordinating tub, so the group can just grab and go.


This makes it easy, because I can just say "group one, grab the circle tub and take it to the carpet."

The bottom two drawers (purple) are my Word Work and Work on Writing material tubs for Daily 5 rotations.  


I've found its easier to take my Daily Five materials/centers and keep them in a storage bin all on its own because not all of my Daily Five items follow along with our weekly themes.

So, how do you organize your centers? Have I given you any ideas?? I'd love to hear!!

Oh, and make sure to link up below with what's working well in your room. :)

Monthly Freebie Linky Party: December 2015

Hi everyone!

This is Yukari and on behalf of the admin team I'm here to bring you another Monthly Freebie Linky Party!


Each linky will be open for a month and the the linky for the new month will be posted on the 1st of each month.  If you have freebies that you have made this month that you would like to share with the Kinder Tribe members please do so here! 

If you are in the Facebook group please refrain from posting freebies there and post your freebies here! You can post more than one freebie a month!

Guidelines:

1. You can either link to a TPT product that is free or a blog post but please make sure it is going to a specific product or a specific blog post.  Your link will be deleted if it goes to your TPT store front or your blog homepage.

2. Please ensure you only post freebies that you have posted this month.  That means for this post you can only post freebies that you have posted in November 2015. (Nothing from December 2014, October 2015 etc. pretty please! Again links that do not follow this guideline will be deleted!)

3. You can link-up more than once a month but again please make sure that you are providing a link to your newest freebie and not just your generic blog or store address.

4. Links to blog posts with paid posts are ok as long as there is a freebie in the post as well.  If your post only contains paid products it will be deleted.



Happy sharing Kinder Tribe!