Word Wall

Everyone does their word wall a little differently. I seem to move mine around every year. This past year I put my word wall on the cabinet doors where my students put their backpacks. This put all the words at their eye level. This helped with my word work during centers. I used it as a teaching tool prior to packing up for the day too. Using words on multi-colored paper was to much for my students. I have since printed the words onto white cardstock. However, I did leave students' names colorful.

In the past I have taught my students Dolch Pre-Primer and Primer sight words. This past year my district switched to Reading 3D program using guided reading and Daily 5. I have already made sight words for my new word wall. Click on the picture below to see it. I am also working on a pack for number and colored words too. 

Subtraction

I am finally getting around to sharing my subtraction unit. I was not very happy with the lessons in the math workbooks. They led up to subtraction without actually discussing it. I searched my favorite blogs and loved Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten subtraction lessons. Here is a second link to read more: Fun with Subtraction.

My class read Five Green and Speckled Frogs by Constanza Basaluzzo and we had to sing the song too. We ended up singing this song all day! Afterwards, we used frog pictures and as a class we created subtraction problems on the board. I do not have any pictures of this lesson. Click here for the pictures I used.

Next, we read Who Stole the Cookies from the Cookie Jar by Margaret Wang. Using Cookie Crisp cereal, my students created their own subtraction problems. The activity was a big hit! My kiddos loved it! However, there was some concern that the cereal did not taste like their mother's cookies.

 

The third day we read Five Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed by Eileen Christelow. We used puppets and as a class wrote some subtraction problems. My kiddos went back to their seats and started creating their own subtraction problem that would later become part of a class book. The book was inspired by Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten class book Five Little Monkeys Sitting in a Tree. Click here for my version.

 

 

Finally, we read Monster Musical Chairs by Stuart J. Murphy. Then we played musical chairs while writing subtraction problems on the board. The game was such a hit that we ended up playing it during rainy day recesses.

 

 

I created a subtraction pack to help supplement what was missing from our math curriculum. It contains guided subtraction problems, subtraction problems with pictures, practice subtraction problems, story problems, and color by number using subtraction pages. It was a big help to use in my classroom and I hope it help you too. Click on the picture to follow the link.

 

 

 

 

 



Eggs to Chicks in the Classroom

Getting the classroom and kiddos ready for our chicks has been fun. We have an egg calendar where we put up facts about the egg each day. Also, we have a countdown until the chicks arrive.

The picture below is the incubator with our chick eggs inside. They were smaller than I expected. They have dirt on them and my kiddos were concerned that someone wrote all over them. So cute!

 

The typical incubation period for chicken eggs is 21 days. Our chicks came a day early! We kept the chicks in the incubator for 2 days to let the other chicks hatch too. It is ok to leave the chicks in the incubator for 2 days because they still have the yolk from the egg in their bellies to keep them feeling full.

 

 

 

The chicks who hatched helped those still trying to hatch! When they were not stepping on other eggs, they used their beaks to help crack the eggs open. I recorded it with my iPad and used my Apple TV to stream it. The children loved it!

 

 

All but one of my eggs hatched. Prior to hatching, I discussed to the children that there is a good chance some of our eggs will not be fertilized. Unfortunately, our last one was fertilized but the chick was not strong enough to hatch. A chick hatching pro (another kindergarten teacher) said to leave those chicks to try it on their own. She said usually the ones that struggle do not live very long. She set up a rehabilitation center "a box" for those chicks that hatched and had problems. One chick went into the box because it could not move its legs. It was very hard for the children to see. The chick lived for 2 days.

 

Next we moved the chicks into a box with a lamp to keep them warm. I added 2 small stuffed animals into the box and the chicks cuddled up to them instantly. The first picture is the box in my room. Our chick expert, Ms. Rumph, box is below. I will make my box like hers next year.

 

I bought a kiddie pool at Walmart for $9.99 and let the chicks run around while I cleaned their box. During this time the children were allowed to watch. They were fascinated by their feces! I recommend putting newspaper down in the kiddie pool. It makes clean up much easier. They really do go a lot.

After 2 weeks it was time to go back to the farm. The chicks were starting to get their feathers and flying out of the pool onto the carpet. It was a great experience and I look forward to doing it again next year.