Ahhh!

I'm finding it harder and harder to find time for blogging during these busy months. Our school just got done with parent conferences and I can't believe that Thanksgiving is only a week away! This year is flying by!

I wanted to share with you some of the apps that I have downloaded lately on my iphone. Our kinder team at my school has also put them on our team ipad. We are able to pass the ipad from class to class to use in small groups.

For Reading:

Magic Reading Preschool University (covers blending/segmenting and reading words)

Abatalk Fun Rhyming

Magic Sentences Preschool University

Tic Tac Toe Phonics

Sound Sorting Beginning Sounds

Letter of the Day

Spelling Magic Preschool University

For Math:

Find Sums

10 Frame Fill

Squeeze (Number Line Game)

Number Magic Preschool University

ALL OF THESE WERE FREE APPS!

Go download them! The kids will love them!

Also, in preparation for the upcoming holidays, I posted more things at my teacher store that are great resources for centers or other activities, such as math journals!

Busy week... busier weeks ahead!

I'm sure you are feeling just as busy as I am and it's only going to get worse! Last week, we had something everyday at school, what with Red Ribbon Week, Halloween activities, fall festivals and more!

Our class also had chicks in our room that have been in an incubator and hatched last Tuesday. The kids loved observing them hatch and it was really a great lesson to go through all of the steps of them hatching and why the process is the way it is. 

Oh... did I mention that we also had farm animals come for a petting zoo? Whew! It truly was a crazy busy week!

Here's what my door looked like for Red Ribbon Week.

 I was the (not so) grouchy ladybug for Book Character day at school on Friday!

My son and I at our church's fall festival!

I'm continuing our bats unit this week because our week was so busy last week AND because last week sort of turned into a "chick" unit. :)

I am already thinking ahead though and have begun creating things for Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday)!!

Purchase these and more at my teacher store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt

Pumpkin Patches... I LOVE FALL!

This week, my husband and I took our baby to the pumpkin patch in our town to take some pictures. He was so intrigued by all of the pumpkins and he especially liked the small ones that he could pick up and play with. :) 

This inspired me to do all sorts of fun activities in my classroom because we are learning about pumpkins. We are going to weigh pumpkins, measure them, even see if they float. 

We also make these really fun bracelets with beads and the kids go home and tell their parents, or anyone at home, the stages of the pumpkin's growth by looking at the beads. 

White: Seeds

Dark Green: Vine

Yellow: Flower

Light Green: Small Pumpkin

Orange: Large Pumpkin

Orange with Face: Jack-o-lantern

Here are some other things I do during pumpkin week.

Check out my teacher's store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt

Have Fun Teaching

I wanted to share this website that I use everyday!

http://havefunteaching.com/


There are many cute counting songs, like count by 10's, 5's and 1's. They are often a fun rap song or some other type of cute song.

We sing these everyday and the kids memorize the different ways to count!

There is also a song for every letter of the alphabet. We do one a day, according to the letter that we are learning that week! It really helps ingrain the letter sound, and also goes over which letters are vowels or consonants.

This is great for kinders!

Halloween is coming!

Since Halloween is approaching and my kids have been having so much fun with the spiders unit, I decided to do a bat unit the week of Halloween. We usually do Halloween safety, which I will still do, but I thought it would be fun do be able to compare and contrast spiders and bats. I LOVE teaching science units, because you can do so much with vocabulary words and the kids really pick it up, the more you use it. 

Our reading and math specialist came in and played a game with my students the other day and they absolutely LOVED it! It was called "Make a Five" and it was the easiest way to get them thinking about different ways to make five, but they really got into it. I decided to create a Halloween version and have been giving the game to partners to play when they finish their work early. Here are the instructions:

Directions:

The object of this game is to find the missing add-in pair to make a five. Using this activity will help promote students’ number sense, while learning about all of the ways to make five!

Students will find pairs in this matching game according to which add-in will help them to create a five. For instance, if the student draws a 4 from the pile, the object will be to look for the missing add-in, which would be a 1.

The pairs will include:

5 and 0

4 and 1

3 and 2

You will notice that there are two set of each number. This is to reinforce with the students that there is also more ways to make five by switching the numbers.

0 and 5

1 and 4

2 and 3

This game should be played whole group for a few days before it is placed in a center.

Another game can be played with these five frames. The number cards can be placed in a pile and the five frames placed in a separate pile, each upside down. The object will be for the students to find the equal or equivalent five frame that matches the number card. The student will turn over one number card and one five frame and see if it is a match. If it is a match, they get to keep the pair.

Cut each five frame into strips and laminate. Cut the number cards into squares and laminate. Place in a center, after enough modeiing has been done!        

Go to my teacher's store to see that and more!

My Teacher Store

Eek!

This week in preparation for Halloween, we will be learning about spiders. I use the terms arachnid and exoskeleton a lot throughout the week, and the parents are super impressed when the kids go home and use these vocabulary words. 

When we do a great science unit like this, I like to use many kinds of graphic organizers.

I also make a spider word wall in front of them by writing important words and drawing pictures to go with them on chart paper. We keep this up in the room all week, so that the kids can write about spiders in their journals. I put out lined paper for the writing center of 3 different ability levels and the kids can choose which one best suits them. 

Check out my Eek! Spiders! packet at my Teachers Pay Teachers store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt

Fire Truck... Fire Truck...

Every year, I read this book to my class called Fire Truck by Ivan Ulz. The book came with a cd that sings a song as the pages go along. The kids absolutely LOVE this song and end up singing it all week, and sometimes for the rest of the year. :)

I've been doing this every year, and didn't realize that it's on youtube with the pictures from the book and the song! I'm so excited to use this in my class!

Fire Truck Song

I also created another sound box lesson to go with the last one I posted. This time, the kids have to look at Halloween picture cards and move candy corn pieces into the spots as they hear the sounds. 

Here are the directions:

1.          Print the sound boxes into strips (5 boxes per strip) and laminate.

2.          Print the candy corn pieces and cut into individual pieces (each piece only containing 1 candy corn). Laminate pieces.

3.          Print the picture cards and laminate.

4.          Each child will get a baggie with a sound box strip and five candy corn pieces.

5.          The teacher will hold up the picture cards.

6.          Each child will move a candy corn piece into each spot for every sound that they hear, starting from the left. (Ex. cat has three sounds/phonemes= /c//a//t/, so the child will put three candy corn pieces in starting from the left side and filling in each spot next to it until three spots have been filled.

7.          Show each picture card and have the students listen for the sound and fill in the appropriate number of boxes.

8.          This can be used in small group, as a whole group lesson in a pocket chart and then placed in a center!

Fire Safety Week

This week, we will be learning about fire safety and fire prevention.  I love this unit! On Friday, fire fighters will be coming to show the kids how the fire truck works and to show them how to put on their fire suits. 

I made some sight word reading cards for this week that the kids love! The red words are the sight words we have gone over so far, and they should be able to read these. Then I teach them that they can use the clues in the illustrations to figure out the rest of the sentence. 

I have also posted some more things to my TpT store that I have used in the past and plan on using this week in my classroom.

This sound box activity is really great to get them to start listening to the sounds in the words in preparation for writing. I give each child their own sound box and manipulatives so that they can participate with me as the powerpoint goes.

Check out these and the other new fall activities I've posted at my TpT store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt

More Apples and... Fall!

This week, we have continued apples and the kids are having so much fun! Today, we graphed our favorite apples: red, green or yellow. We posted our results on the bulletin board outside our room. After they voted on their favorite ones, the kids went back to their seats and wrote and drew pictures of the apples they liked best!

We have been doing apple activities all week and the kids are seeming to really enjoy them. Here are some sample sorting mats that have been placed in centers. 

We also have begun to incorporate "fall" into our theme as well. It's still in the high 90's here in Texas but we are sending out positive vibes in hopes of fall coming soon!

Check out these items and more at my Teachers Pay Teachers Store:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Mrs-Proffitt