Teaching at the End of the Year

Hello teacher friends! This is Kelly from My Fabulous Class. Today, I am going to share some FUN teaching ideas to help you survive the last few weeks of school.

I try to maintain my classroom routine for as long as possible. I really feel it helps keep the kids STAY CALM if they know what to expect. My kids still do Literacy and Math Centers until the last week. Yes, they get interrupted by school musical and field days, but when we are in the room, we keep the routine.I did create a few extra fun games to share with you.

First up, Fly Swat – Missing Addends. You can get this game FREE in my store. I bought the fly swatters at the Dollar Tree. In a small group, lay out all of the flower cards. I made missing addend cards for making 5 and making 10. I put the fives on pink card stock and the tens on blue to easily differentiate. Flip over  a missing addend card. First student to swat the correct flower gets the point. Whoever has the most points at the end wins.

I made a similar game for CVC words. I put students in groups of four. Students take turns being the “word caller.” and the other students swat the correct word. You can grab this game FREE HERE. This game is great for a word work center.

At writing center, I just placed some stamps I found at Walmart and told students to make stories with them. They LOVED this simple activity. It kept students very engaged while I was completing my DRAs.

Another great math game were these sunglasses. I bought the sunglasses and stickers at Walmart. I placed different patterns on the stickers. Students wrote down the number equations. You can get the recording sheet FREE HERE.

Have you ever had your kids bowl to work on subtracting from ten? I LOVE this game…but it can get LOUD. I found this recording sheet at Mrs. Ricca’s Kindergarten.

Finally, I found these cute foam feet at the Dollar Tree. I wrote sight words and we played a version of musical chairs. I put the feet in a circle. When the music stopped, students had to read the word they were by. If they could read it, they got to keep it. If they couldn’t, they would sit down. This was so fun, I bought more feet to write letters on for next year.

I hope you found some great ideas to help you survive  teaching at the end of the year!

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. :)

An InLinkz Link-up

What Worked Well Wednesday: Splat- The Sight Word Game

Hey y'all! This is Lauren from Polka Dots and Pals! I am excited to share my "What Worked Well Wednesday" with you all!

I wanted to share a way that I review sight words before I quiz them each Friday. My kids love to play the game, SPLAT! It is a great way to review sight words, and the kids ask to play it all the time. When I was explaining to the kids that we were going to play games at our 50th Day Celebration, they all excitedly asked if we were going to play SPLAT! Kids LOVE this game.

On the activeboard, I have a slide that has nine sight words on it. The kids are put into two teams (I always have a yellow team and a red team). Then one person from each team comes and stands in front of the board (I have a line that they have to stay behind). Each child has a fly-swatter. When each child is standing and ready, I call out a sight word that is on the board. The kids have to swat the correct word. The child that swats the word first earns a point for their team. The players then rotate through each team. I usually go three complete rounds. Here are some pictures of my kiddos playing (sorry some of them were so blurry...they move really fast).

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Linking!