Make it Yourself - Watercolors!

Hi there, it is Robin from Class of Kinders. I love being able to create in the classroom. I only wish there was more time to do it. The creations we make in my room are usually tied to a standard ...but that is always easy to do. Teachers can be creative too, right? (wink)

I am here to share a super easy tip on how to make your very own watercolors for your students. No need to buy those wimpy store bought watercolors anymore! This tip is one that my teaching partner (Elaine, from Kitty Kitty Kindergarten) introduced me. I am here to pass it on, because after all, isn't that what being a teacher is all about? ….sharing ideas and making them available to help others. I love these watercolors for two reasons.  One, I can recycle those old, dried out Crayola markers and two, I never have to ask for, buy or replace those expensive small rectangle trays of oval watercolors that seem to run out overnight. Not to mention these "DIY" watercolor are just. plain. better!!

Here is what to do:

First, buy some containers, I got these at my local Dollar Tree. They come in a 2 pack, keep them both and double your stock or pass one along to a teacher friend and teach them how to make their own watercolors too.

Next, open them up. Notice they have this perfect little white stopper in them…no lid to pry off 

and cause a big spill in the process!

After that, grab that tub of old, dried out markers that you have hidden, stored, or tucked away. You know you have them. We keep them. Why? Because tossing them in the trash just somehow seems wrong. Find the colors that you want to make…decisions, decisions!

Then, place them in the cups filled with water and walk away…forget about them for the day. 

When you go back, test the color. If you want a more darker hue, add more old markers

from your tub and plop them in! Just play with it. It is trial and error, but at some point you will get 

the color  that is just right. You can always add more water if it is too dark.

While you are waiting…consider doing a directed drawing with your students. There are so many ones out there on pinterest. A robot, a pilgrim, a raccoon, how about a cow? Here is one we did from Millie Waits for the Mail. Super, super cute story. What a character Millie is!

We used our green and blue watercolors for this one. It adds that special touch and the watercolors move so nicely on just a plain ol' piece of construction paper. So go ahead….pull out those old, dried out markers and give it a whirl. You will be glad you did.

DID YOU KNOW:

Crayola.com has a new recycling program for markers? Yes, they do! It is called Crayola ColorCycle and you can read about it here. Kuddos to Crayola for offer a recycling program!

Thanks for stopping by…and Happy Creating!

Math Center Ideas - Compare and Sort Shapes

Hello everyone!  It's Greg Coleman from Mr Elementary Math and I wanted to share a fun math center Kindergarten.  This focus of this center is comparing and sorting shapes.

Center Name:  Shape Sorting

Purpose: Students will sort shapes into different categories based on their attributes.

Materials Needed:

- Shapes (Ex. circles, squares, triangles, etc.)

- Index Cards with Attributes Labels (Ex. 3 sides, straight sides, more than 3 sides, etc)

- Recording Sheet

What Do Students Do?

Students sort shapes under the correct index cards.  Students explain to each other how they sorted their shapes.  Students write/draw their findings on a recording sheet.

Center Name:  Shape Comparing

Purpose: Students will compare shapes using a Venn diagram.

Materials Needed:

- Shapes (Ex. circles, squares, triangles, etc.)

- Venn diagram

- Recording Sheet

What Do Students Do?

Students compare and contrast different shapes and then place the shapes in the appropriate area of a Venn diagram .  Students explain why they placed certain shapes into the different sections (different, the same) of the Venn diagram.  Students write/draw their findings on a recording sheet.

I hope you enjoyed these ideas.  Happy sorting!!!

Alphabet Must-Haves for Little Learners

There are so many resources for little ones who are learning their alphabet, but which activities are best for your kindergartners or even as a gift to a little learners you know.  Here are my TOP 12 Alphabet Must-Haves for little learners.

Find out how to use these resources in your classroom...

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set	Learning Resources Alphabet Soup Sorters	Grandma's Trunk Alphabet Game	Alphabet Bingo Game
Alphabet Go Fish Matching Card Game	Wikki Stix Alphabet Fun Cards for Learning	LeapFrog: Letter Factory	LeapFrog Scribble and Write
See-Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle	Deluxe Alphabet Stamp Set	Tub Of Letter Tiles	Hot Dots Jr. The Alphabet Card Set

InLinkz.com

LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set

This resource is great for an alphabet mini-lesson.  Attach the bus to your white board and sing along together to learn or review the alphabet.

Learning Resources Alphabet Soup Sorters

Need a fun alphabet center or small group activity to use with your little learners...these soup sorters are an awesome choice.  Add them to your home center for some engaging and fun learning.

Grandma's Trunk Alphabet Game

This trunk is an adorable mini-lesson activity to do with your whole class or intervention group.  Extend the activity by creating a chart with their predictions of what they think is in Grandma's trunk.

Alphabet Bingo Game

My students do a lot of bingo in the classroom and having an alphabet bingo game available in their literacy centers is definitely a must-have.  Play the game together a couple times, then place it in a center for your little ones to enjoy.

Alphabet Go Fish Matching Card Game

Card games are a hit with little learners and providing them with alphabet cards to play with combine play with learning.  This game is adorable (seriously...I LOVE the images) and ready to go!

Wikki Stix Alphabet Fun Cards for Learning

Letter formation at its finest...with Wikki Stix!  My kiddos love 'playing' with Wikki Stix and these cards make it easy to practice their letters in our writing center.

LeapFrog: Letter Factory

Indoor recess, assessment time, rowdy class that needs a cool-down...time to put on the Letter Factory.  This video is great for teaching little ones their letters and sounds.  Add the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics Magnetic Letter Set...PERFECTION!!!

LeapFrog Scribble and Write

This resource is another one I love for a writing center.  Technology with a stylus...can you say professional learner?  At least, that's what your students will be!

See-Inside Alphabet Peg Puzzle

There are bound to be a few puzzle lovers in your class and adding an alphabet puzzle to your puzzle center is hands-down a necessity.  This one is my favorite because of the keyword or initial sound pictures under each letter.

Deluxe Alphabet Stamp Set

Whether your learners are matching capital and lowercase letters, making their name or segmenting CVC words, this stamp set is perfect for a literacy center.

Tub Of Letter Tiles

Yep, thats it, a tub of letter tiles!  These tiles are perfect for sorting letters by capital and lowercase or for an in my name not in my name sorting chart and segmenting or blending CVC words.  If you don't have a tub of letter tiles in your room...get some NOW!

Hot Dots Jr. The Alphabet Card Set

I love me some Hot Dots and so do my learners.  This card set is perfect for you little ones and there are even more to choice from on their website!  Grab some pens and you can start a Hot Dots center in your classroom.

Need some more ideas for your classroom or little learner, head over to my blog, Mrs. Jones' Creation Station.

Awesome Counting Songs and Videos

Hi Friends! It's Alex from The Kindergarten Connection. 

My students LOVE to sing! I love how engaged they are with learning when I can incorporate songs and movement. 

One thing we work hard on in Kindergarten is counting. Counting takes practice and repetition, and I need to keep it engaging for them. 

Here are some of our favorite counting songs and videos! 

Counting Together by The Learning Station

This one is perfect for the beginning of the year and counting/recognizing numbers to 10. It has a catchy chorus and also practices counting objects! I like how they show the numbers while they count the objects to really make them stick! 

Count to 20 by Harry Kindergarten 

This song has a catchy beat (like most from Harry Kindergarten!) and I also like how near the end it counts backwards from 20, which can be a tricky concept! 

Counting down from 20 by Have Fun Teaching

Speaking of counting backwards, this song is super fun for that concept! It's catchy and gets kids up and moving. It is great for getting them thinking about what numbers come before! 

Counting Superhero by Harry Kindergarten

Kids love superheroes! In this, THEY are the superheroes who can count to 100! I like how appealing it is to young learners, as well as how it shows the numbers while it counts. I also like how it highlights the 10's! 

The Big Numbers Song by KidsTV123

This song is a little slower, but I think it is great for a few minutes of calm or transition. I like how it shows the number as well as the number words all the way to 100. Plus, sometimes, it is helpful to count a little slower so that they can really hear each number! 

I Can Count to 100 by Mark D. Pencil and Harry Kindergarten

This is super upbeat and a great one to get up and move to! It also shows the numbers as they count, so that kids are seeing them while they say them! 

Let's Get Fit/Count to 100 by Jack Hartmann

This is easily my kindergarteners' favorite counting song! They love to get up, do the exercises, and count! This is a pretty popular one. If you haven't tried it - you definitely should! 

Climbing up this Mountain by Harry Kindergarten

This is a great video for counting by 10's! It is engaging because it also incorporates other things into the video (you are on a hike) which gives kids a little break from the counting. 

Counting by Tens Song by Have Fun Teaching

This song does a great job at getting kids to count by 10's multiple times by doing it different ways. You start out near the ground quietly, then you are standing up and being loud! This keeps them engaged with it for longer, which is great! 

What are your favorite counting songs? I would love to add more to my collection for my class! 

If you are looking for more great songs and videos, hop over and check out my favorite alphabet ones! 

Free Halloween Activity: Fruit Snack Mini-Book

Hello there!  It's Katie from Resources by Mrs. Roltgen, and I've got a fun, quick little freebie for all of you!

I found these fun Halloween fruit snacks at the grocery store and I knew they would make a fun Halloween activity.  I've done fruit snack sorting with kids before, but I wanted to go beyond basic sorting and incorporate more math skills.  Therefore, I made a mini-book that has students practice a variety of math skills using these Halloween fruit snacks.

Tip:  Plan to give each student two bags of fruit snacks in order to make the activity a little easier.  Some of the packs I opened only have five, some had eight.  Each student needs at least 10 to do the activities.

Here are a few of the pages:

Counting and writing "how many"

A sorting page

Non-standard measurement

Ten frames

...and MORE!  There are also pages for estimation, comparing sets (greater/less than/equal to), and adding more to make five.

I didn't put numbers on the pages, so you can feel free to omit or rearrange the pages as you wish.

To download this FREEBIE, click on the picture below.

Enjoy, and Happy Fall!

DIY Relaxation Station & Freebies

Hey guys! It's Julie from Big Ideas For Little Hands! The beginning of the school year is always crazy and hectic but I wouldn't trade it for the world! We have been very busy reviewing, practicing, and modeling those rules and procedures every day in our classroom. You can never practice them enough in Kindergarten. Even after you model and review those rules to death, you still sometimes have those one or two little sweeties that need just a little more than the others. Sometimes those behavior charts, clip charts, or any other system that you have in place is just not enough.

I wanted to tell you about a little area in my room that I started this year, the Relaxation Station! I have a few little sweeties this year that just need some alone time to regroup and calm down before they are able to work again. Come on, who doesn't need a few minute break occasionally. I know that I do!

I set up this small little area in the corner of my room out of the way of the chaos to allow students to go and sit and calm down and regroup before beginning their work again. This allows the students time to relax and think about their choices before going back and working with the other students. 

I start with these Calm Down Cards. I wear a set on my lanyard and my para does also for those moments when we are not in the classroom and a kiddo needs a little reminder. These have become my new best friend this year! My principal even wears a set :) I also hang up a visual poster in the room so the kiddos can use the cards independently.

First, the student will stop whatever they are doing. They will then smell the flower (take a deep breath in) and blow out the candle (blow the breath out). Next, they will slowly count to 10. If they are ready to rejoin the class at this point then they may go right ahead. If not, they have the choice of taking a break in the relaxation station, reading a book, or hugging a stuffed animal. Let me tell you guys, these cards are a miracle! They have stopped many many tantrums in my room this year. Click below to download a set of these cards.

While they are in the relaxation station, there is a variety of options they can do to help calm down. One option is a calm down bottle. They will shake the bottle and watch the glitter swirl around and settle to the bottom. When the glitter has settled, they rejoin the class. These are so simple to make! All you need is a water bottle and glitter glue.

First make sure the water bottle is about 3/4 filled with water. 

Then add about 2/3 of the bottle of glitter glue. You may also add beads or other small objects to the bottle if you wish. 

I figured out that it went much faster if you took the top off when putting the glitter glue into the bottle.

Hot glue the top on and then go to town shaking and mixing everything together.

The kids love these!

Another option is for the students to draw how they feel. I have a chart hanging that show students different emotions. The students can pick with emotion best fits them and they may draw them with that emotion. You can click below to download a copy of the emotion chart and the face for the students to draw.

Graphics from Educlips & Font from Hello Literacy

The last few options is the students may pick a book from the box to read or pick a stuffed animal to hold and cuddle with while they calm down.

Hopefully these few tips will help you throughout your school year! Have a great week and hope you are enjoying this beautiful fall weather!

~*~Julie~*~

World Teacher Day

We hope your school year is off to a great start this fall. We know most teachers celebrate “Teacher Appreciation Week” in May, but did you know that there is also a “World Teachers’ Day” in October? 

To celebrate this special day, several of the teacher-author bloggers here at “I Teach Kinders” have teamed up for a collaborative sale on TpT. That means that today, Monday, October 5^th you can save up to 20% in our shops. Check out the following participating shops for some great deals: 

• Nicole andEliceo
• SamanthaKelly
• KelliBollman
• My HeartBelongs in Kindergarten
• KinderKay
• Mrs Roltgen
• Bilingual Scrapbook
• ChristineMaxwell
• TrilliumMontessori
• Julie Davis
• Amy Biddison

Also, to sweeten the day, we’d like to give away a $25 gift card to a place of your choice. To enter, just fill out the rafflecopter below. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Happy World Teachers’ Day!

The “I Teach Kinder” Team