Friday, October 18, 2013

Kicking Off Halloween!

Here's a quick look at what Colby's been up to this week!


These super cute spider themed number matching cards are from a great activity packet that we'll be using a lot this month.


There was also a third set of cards with twenty frames that we haven't worked in yet.  Colby is still getting used to ten frames, and I figured recognizing numbers up to 20 would be enough of a challenge for right now.


These awesome spider counting worksheets are from the same packet: Spiders! Interactive Playdoh Mats, Counting Centers and Games, and Printables by Differentiation Station.  


Another amazing packet we'll be using this month is Halloween Math Art Activities in Printable Worksheets, from the Constant Kindergartener.


I love these cut-and-paste addition problems.  Colby does too!  He puts so much effort into it.


Here he is, working hard!


He especially likes to color them when he's done pasting.


We'll be doing one activity from this packet every day until Halloween.  There are 90 pages of activities (lots of different kinds!) and it covers subtraction as well as addition.  I'm sure we'll be able to use it next year as well!


Here's my proud little man with his "S is for Seeds" project!


We found this idea on Pinterest - you can check it out here.  It was a great way to use up some of our leftover garden seeds.  


Both of the boys love this spooky Halloween number train from Sister Prints by the Prince Sisters!  Colby uses the pointer (found at the Dollar Tree) as he counts to twenty.  At the end of the month I'll take it off the wall and he can practice putting the cars in order!


I printed the cars out half-sized because I didn't have enough wall space for the full-sized train.  I wish I did! 


Here's a closer look at some of the train cars.  Cool, right?  You can buy a copy here: Halloween Train Number Set.


Colban worked really hard on this autumn themed Write the Room.  Instead of sending him around the room with a clipboard, I hide the word cards throughout the classroom.  He likes hunting for and collecting them!  Then he brings them back to the table and completes the recording sheets.


Here's a look at the word cards and recording sheets.  This activity is from Rakin' in the Learning {Fall Themed Kindergarten Literacy & Math Centers} by The Printable Princess.  It is 174 pages of AWESOME!  We'll be using activities from this packet every week until Thanksgiving break!


Colby put these great harvest themed alphabet cards (also from Rakin' in the Learning) in order.  He was so proud of himself!


He's also going to be practicing this with the matching lower case cards.


After writing out the alphabet on the practice sheet, he insisted on coloring in all the details.  It took a while, but it came out great!


Colban really likes measuring, and he really, really likes candy corn.  This FREE activity from K. Kindergarten was perfect for him!


He was able to measure the Halloween objects with candy corn and record the results on the worksheet without any help!


Click here to grab your own free copy: Candy Corn Measuring


Luckily we had some candy corn left over the next day!  Colby counted the correct number of candy corn "fangs" onto these Halloween characters!  The card numbers go all the way up to 20.


Make sure to get a copy of this fun activity from Teaching Preschoolers while it's still FREE!  


This activity wasn't on the schedule for this week, but Colby was so pumped about it we went ahead anyway.  Each parking lot is numbered.  Colby loved counting out his matchbox cars and parking them.


When he was done, he continued to play with them for a long time.  Such a great freebie, that can be used in so many ways!  We found it here.


And finally, here's a really fun file folder game for practicing the five senses!


Here are the playing pieces.  Just slip them into the pockets!  For example, Colby put a nose (for smell) and a mouth (for taste) into the "pizza" pocket.


You can find the printable pockets and pieces here.  It's free!

For more ideas and links to freebies, try these Pinterest boards:


TpT Shops and Blogs mentioned in this post:




Sunday, October 13, 2013

T is for Train



Here's Colban's alphabet craftivity for the letter 'T'!  Didn't it come out great?  The inspiration (found on Pinterest, of course) came from this blog post.  He really liked this one - you can see that after he was done pasting the pieces, he added details with a colored pencil.


Here's a fun activity we've been doing to reinforce letter recognition and beginning sounds: Beginning Sound Trains! from Kindergarten Smorgasboard.  The pack includes a train engine for each letter of the alphabet, three picture sound cars for each engine, and ten practice pages.  I give Colby three or four letters at a time and let him sort the cars onto the correct engines.  It's such a fun way to practice! 

For more alphabet ideas, including links to lots of free printables, try our Pinterest board:

To visit Kindergarten Smorgasboard's TpT store, click here!




Kindergarten Apple Mania Part 3

Well, we're finally done with our apple theme!  (We were actually done almost a week ago, but I've been very slow in getting this post up.)  Thanks to a nasty little virus that circulated through the whole family, we lost a couple days of school and didn't complete all of the apple activities I'd had planned, but it's time to move on.  Here's a look at some of the fun we had:


This cut-and-paste apple tree sequencing activity is from the FREE 20-page Applelicious Activities packet by Sarah Paul.  As you can see in our other Kindergarten Apple Mania posts, we had a blast with this packet. 


These apple tree ten frame mats are from the Applelicious Ten Frame Activities pack by Teaching With Nancy.  The pack includes mats for numbers 1-10, a mat with no number, and sheet of apple counters.  (Colby loves his magnetic bingo counters, so that's what we used.)  We also used these last week.


These awesome clip cards are also from Applelicious Ten Frame Activities.


Colby is just getting the hang of ten frames, and really likes clip cards, so this activity was perfect for him.


I downloaded the free template for this apple addition craftivity from Fun, Fabulous Firsties!  Click the link to check out the blog post and download a copy.


I wanted to use red pom-poms or buttons for the apples, but Colby insisted on using leftover punched apples from our earlier patterning activity. Whatever works! 


This is A Bushel of Numbers, a fantastic and FREE activity from Teaching with Nancy.


Colban matched the ten-frame bushel to the corresponding apples.  One set of apples has the numeral, another has the number of seeds, and a third has tally marks.


To visit Teaching With Nancy and get your own copy, click here.


And another great activity from Teaching With Nancy's Applelicious Ten Frame Activities!


The pack has 46 pages of super-cute apple-themed ten frame activities and worksheets, and it's only $3.50!  (At the time of this posting, it's on sale for $2.80!  Go get a copy!!)  Check out the pack here.


This drawing and counting activity is from Miss Kindergarten Love's Print and Go! Printables For Fall packet.  This is the first activity we've done using dice, and Colban had a lot of fun.


This cut-and-paste apple counting activity is also from Print and Go! Printables for Fall. We've used lots of other sheets from this packet, and will be using more as autumn continues!


After cutting and gluing, Colby colored the apples.  He was so happy with the finished product!

For loads of apple, pumpkin, and other autumn-themed freebies on all grade levels, check out our Pinterest Board, FREE Autumn Printables {Educational}.  

For more of the apple activities we did this year, visit our other blog posts:


TpT stores and blogs mentioned in this post:

Teaching With Nancy (TpT shop)




Thursday, October 10, 2013

Matter Flaps and Foldables

Hunter has recently completed a couple of very cool projects to review his study of matter:


This flip-flap book from Simply Skilled in Second was a lot of fun, and a fantastic way to review the three states of matter that we've studied so far!  It's recommended for grades 2-5.


Here's a look at the completed book.  


Underneath each flap there's space for information.  This flap asks "What is matter?" and "What are the three states of matter?"  (I asked Hunter if he remembered how many states of matter there are, and he promptly answered "five".  I was surprised considering we only went over this once, quite a long time ago!)


This flap has an awesome flask on which to label the states of matter.


On this flap, Hunter wrote about the properties of a gas and drew four examples, as well as illustrations of the particles in a solid, a liquid, and a gas.


Here he wrote about the properties of a liquid and drew examples, and also an explanation and illustration of how a liquid can change it state.


On the final page, he did the same for solids.  

I loved this resource.  Not only is it an impressive-looking finished product that my son is very proud of, it's packed with great information and opportunities for Hunter to really show what he knows.  (Check it out here!)

Another great activity he completed was this States of Matter lapbook from Lita Lita:


I liked that it shows so clearly how one state of matter can change to another, and reviews the associated vocabulary.  It really helped Hunter commit some of the tougher words to memory.


Each miniature flap book opens up into thirds.  Underneath the first flap are an example of a solid, liquid, or gas, and a place for the child to illustrate the particles.


Underneath that flap are some notes about the properties, and another example.

This product came with options to differentiate and make it a little more challenging, as well as a Spanish version!  Take a look!


Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Kindergarten Apple Mania Part 2

The apple fun continues!  I was aiming for two weeks worth of apple activities to supplement our regular curriculum, but I ended up with three!  I wasn't able to get pictures of everything as we did it, but I did my best!  Here's a peek at our second week of apples:


Colban predicted that an apple would float if he put it in the water.  We tested his prediction, and recorded the results on this worksheet:


He drew a picture of his apple,




and then we measured it with a piece of ribbon. As you can see, he really enjoyed this activity!


He measured the length of the ribbon with unifix cubes,


and recorded his findings on the worksheet.

Finally, we weighed the apple using a pan balance and bear counters:



It ended up taking 48 bears to match the weight of the apple.  We only had 50 bears to work with; I was starting to worry that we wouldn't have enough!  Colban recorded his results:


All of the above activity sheets (and a whole lot more!) are from Sarah Paul's awesome, FREE Apple-licious Activities Pack.




Then we did this great, FREE Ten Frame Apples Up On Top activity from Amber Monroe!


Colby used Q-tips and poster paint to complete the accompanying worksheet.  He had a blast!  Click the link above to grab a copy of this activity.


These cut-and-paste patterning pages are from First Grade Parade.  They're part of an AMAZING 35-page freebie pack.  To see more of the activities and download a copy, check out her blog post here!


A peek at a couple of the patterns Colby has completed thus far.


We did this super cute apple-themed Count the Room activity from Differentiation Station.  Can you believe it's free?!


These beautiful ten frame math mats are from the Applelicious Ten Frame Activities pack from Teaching With Nancy.  


I'm so happy with this purchase!  There are so many activities in the (very inexpensive) packet, and Colby has enjoyed all of them.


For more free apple-themed activities and printables, try my Pinterest board:

Blogs and TpT stores included in this post:


For the bear counters we used: