A Beachy Five for Friday & a Freebie!

This was the highlight of my week.  :)

This little sweetie was in my class last year, but her family moved out of the district. :(  {Teachers aren't supposed to have favorites, but this girl totally captured my heart}

Imagine my surprise to see her while out picking up a few items in an area I don't normally frequent.  I was thrilled beyond words.  I am not going to lose touch with her or her family again.

We began a beach theme this week.  One of the books we read was 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell'  My class loves all the old lady books.  Here are a few things we did to go along with this particular book.

 We colored and read a simpler version emergent reader to help us retell the story later at home.

We learned new vocabulary words.  For my younger students this helps with language skills.  My older pre-k's have to pick a different word everyday and try to write it in their journals, as well as work on their illustrating skills.  You can find these activities and many more in my 'Old Lady Who Swallowed a Shell Retelling Pack.  It's available at TpT and TN.

We also read 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed the Sea'.  This allowed us to compare and contrast the two stories.  We then glued pictures in a venn diagram to show what was the same and different in each story.

You can pick up your own copy of it HERE.

We also read 'Splish, Splat, Splat' and then put together this Splat creativity by listening to teacher given directions.  

They crack me up.

To go along with the beach theme, I introduced fractions.  Depending on the skill of my learner, they then put together these beach balls for Splat to hold.  

Of course with a beach theme you have to fish!

Each fish had a different activity written on each side.  This worked great for working on and following two step unrelated directions. They loved it!

What was your week like?  Link up and read lots of other blogs by going to Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)

Easter, a Freebie and 5 for Friday!

Here's my latest Five for Friday offerd by Doodle Bugs Teaching.

To help prepare my sweeties going to kindergarten in the fall, I am slowly introducing illustration/writing into the curriculum.  This week we discussed having an opinion by taste testing marshmallow Peeps.

 With my population of students, it can be tricky to get them to try new things.  I was pleasantly surprised at how willing they were to taste the Peeps.

 They then formed an opinion on whether they like it or not.  For my morning ones I had them glue on the strip that matched their opinion.

We tallied up our votes.  Most of them liked Peeps.

For my afternoon class of older pre-k's, I had them try to write their opinion statement.  I also had them try to sequence the taste testing activity into a 'first, then, last' book.  I have all levels.  Some were able to draw and write some letters/words, while others mainly drew the pictures.  I was proud of how hard they worked.

If you are interested in having your own copy of the Peeps activities click HERE or on the picture above.

Another activity we did this week involved having to really focus on our listening skills.

We filled eggs with items that made different sounds.  There were two eggs that made the same noise.

We took turns picking one egg and then shaking the rest until we found the one that matched the sound.

They were so in to it and asked to keep playing.  We then divided the class up into equal groups and had them fill eggs with matching items of the other group.  Everyone came back to the circle and we took turns shaking our eggs.  One group then got up while the other stayed seated.  The group that got up then had to find the person that had an egg that made the same sound.  They LOVED it and I feel like it really helped them with auditory discrimination skills!

This next activity combined working on fine motor skills, as well as sequencing the letters in our names.

 First, we glued eggs that spelled our names on construction paper.

 Then, we glued a strip of green paper at the bottom.

Last, we snipped the green paper to make it look like the eggs were hiding in the grass.  My little ones always love activities that include their names.  They also love scissors, so this was a big hit!

We made bunny bags to use during our egg hunt.

Each little one got to choose the pattern to go inside the ears.  I had picked up different kinds of scrapbook paper for that part.  They then added eyes, node, and whiskers.

I saw the original idea somewhere on Pinterest.

 They were pretty easy to put together, which is always a bonus!  

I think they are pretty darn adorable.

 

Finally, the day of our egg hunt arrived!  

Everyone had to find an egg of a particular color then wait for the next color to be named.

This allowed me to make sure everyone got the same number of eggs.

They did a great job of listening and waiting until it was time to find the next color egg.

We went inside, opened our eggs, and discovered what kind of loot was inside.  :)

Our week was busy, but fun!

Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching to link up your Five for Friday!

Thanks for reading!  Have a great weekend.  :)

Bunnies, Chicks, Freebie and Five!

 It's time for another Five for Friday offered by Doodle Bugs Teaching.  This week our theme was chicks and bunnies.

We read 'There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick'. We retold the story with a puppet and props.

We then used the retelling sheet to sequence the events from my Old Lady Who Swallowed a Chick Retelling Pack.  You can find it on TpT an TN.

Speaking of chicks, we sorted baby chicks by color and put them in their matching color egg.  Of course we had to use tongs to pick them up.  {Everybody knows we can't let the mama smell us} :)

 We then made this chick by painting a paper plate yellow and adding eyes, beak, feet, and feathers.

The Easter bunny came to visit us this week.  To get ready we made bunny ear headbands.

We pulled apart pink cotton balls

then, glued them on ears,

added a sentence strip, 

and voila!  We loved our visit!

We made these adorable bunnies by listening and following directions.  I think they turned out pretty darn cute.  :)

Here's a freebie for you!  I use it at table time to work on fine motor and color recognition for my littlest ones.  For my sweeties going on to kindergarten who are ready, I use the sheet that allows them to try to read color words.  

Click HERE or on the picture to download.

Link up your Five for Friday with Doodle Bugs Teaching.

Sunday Funday!

I am linking up with Molly from Lucky to Be in First for Sunday Funday to share some happenings from the past week {or two}.

My boy plays baseball in college and I was able to catch some games this weekend.

I love that boy.  :)

Speaking of love, this little cutie patootie has stolen my heart. Her mommy and I were supposed to have brunch this weekend.  We try to do that once a month.  I consider Sarah to be a combination of a daughter and amazing friend.  We can talk for hours about everything.

 I love this picture because these two special people actually share the same first name.  This was the first time they met.  So sweet!

Here she is with her handsome daddy.  That girl adores him.  She can't keep her eyes off him when he is around.  It is so stinkin' cute!

Thanks for letting me share some non-school related fun!  Link up with Molly from Lucky to Be in First to share your fun. 

Thanks for reading!  Have a great day.  :)