End of the Year Bulletin Board Ideas

It is almost Open House, and I am strategically planning all of my bulletin boards for the big event!  I couldn't decide if I was going to do my whole room in one theme, or have it all random.  I couldn't seem to stick with the idea of a theme for Open House, so random it is!

I just finished my spaceship bulletin board today, titled: "Kindergarten Was A BLAST!"  This goes with my end of the year space themed writing responses that you can see HERE.

I also decided that I want to display my Watermelon Language Arts and Math Craftivity down low on my cupboards.  I never know how to use that space, and I think it will be cute if I make it look like they are on a vine!

Here is an idea for an open house bulletin board for an ocean theme...."Diving into Summer" with a Submarine Craftivity. :)

Last year I taught summer school, and made this Sandal Craft with my kids to get ready for summer!  They can't wear flip flops during the school day, so this was an exciting craft for them.

I am obsessed with owls, and my classroom is owl themed.  Here is a pack of end of the year writing, and a craft for the bulletin board, "This Year Was a Hoot!" 

I would love to hear how you decorate for Open House.  Do you do a theme or all random?

Also, tomorrow is our first #teachertalktuesday...so post a picture on your Instagram and in the comment write: #teachertalktuesday

That will turn into a link and we can see all of the photos that have that phrase in the caption!

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Instagram Linky Party!

Link up with myself and What The Teacher Wants to share the love on Instagram!  I have been obsessed with Instagram lately for a couple of reasons.  My favorite part is that you can interact with teachers all over the world to share ideas, comment back and forth, and as bloggers, promote your amazing ideas and TpT items.  

We are hosting a linky party to kick off our "Teacher Talk Tuesday!"  

Link up at the bottom-

Linky rules:

link up with a blog post,

 sharing this image 

link back to this linky party

  your user name

 and a couple of your favorite Instagram photos!  

(don't just link up to your instagram account)  ;)

Each Tuesday we want to invite teachers everywhere to Instagram a picture with the hashtag: 

#teachertalktuesday

The idea is, on Tuesdays, if we all all use this hashtag, we will be able to search teachers near and far, and create a community that can support and grow together.  For your picture each Tuesday, choose anything that you want to share with other teachers.  They will be able to see your picture when you click on the phrase: #teachertalktuesday

Here is a little Instagram 101:

1. It is like Facebook, but with only pictures

2. You can make your profile private if you want

3. You can make write a caption under your picture and comment or like photos

Here is my home page:

Here some of my favorite photos that I have posted...

Pig Craftivity.

It's so true, it hurts!

Fly swatter painting!

Dental Health Week

My favorite goldendoodle.

So join the party, and link up with us so we can easily search each other!  See you Tuesday on #teachertalktuesday!

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Lakeshore Language Lacers

I want to share this product from Lakeshore that helps the kids practice missing letter sounds.  My kids LOVED the hands on activity of lacing up the shoes!  I would highly suggest this product for 1st grade, or if you are teaching long vowel sounds. 

Lakeshore describes this product: "As students lace up our fun, shoe-shaped activity boards, they get hands-on phonics practice! The set includes 15 lacer boards and 15 plastic-tipped laces. Kids just lace up each shoe, building language skills as they match up words to the correct beginning, middle or ending sounds—with corresponding illustrations that ensure successful matching! 5" x 8" lacers come with an answer card for easy self-checking, plus an activity guide. "

 

What I really loved about the lacer kit, is that it came with some many different little shoes, that several kids could be doing the activity at once!  (aka: less arguing)  ;)

 

I am keeping this item on my shelf for "early finishers" and also using it during center time!  

Anyone else love goodies from Lakeshore?

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Kindergarten Graduation Photos...a trick to keep them quiet!

We took Kindergarten graduation photos last week!  I still can't believe the end of the year is near, it seems like just yesterday we were learning how to pull the sleeves of our jackets inside out to put the jacket on correctly... (anyone else have to teach this??)  And now we are reading and writing sentences! Kindergarten is such a magical year, I feel honored to watch the growth process of little ones.  :)  I want to show you some photos from our graduation pictures, but more importantly, a trick to keep them quiet while they wait their turn!!!

Here is the trick...

Maybe I am the only one that would normally just take their class to the photo area, make all of the kids sit on the floor (while they crawl around and annoy each other), take their picture, and then sit in a line waiting for their classmates to finish.  

This time I had an idea!  "Let's take their white boards with us, and they can DRAW while they wait!" This was genius for a couple of reasons:  

1.  They are normally ONLY allowed to write words, numbers, or letters...NO PICTURES

2.  It kept them occupied while they waited for the class to finish.

It actually when pretty smoothly!  Do you have any strategies for keeping your kids organized and quiet during photo days?

I started using this new app called "Vine" (user name: Michelle Griffo).  It's like Instagram, but with 7 second video clips.  You can stop and play it, but there is no editing.  I am going to try to use little clips in my posts so you can see a glimpse of real life in my kinder world!

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5 For Friday

It is Saturday...but I want to post some pictures from my week!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs for the Five for Friday Linky Party!  We post five pictures of our week...here they are!  Some are from my Instagram (@applesandabcs)...

 

#BestWayToStartTheDay  #SummerIsAlmostHere

#MightBeACallerIDforOneOfMyBesties

#KindergartenGraduationPhotoDay  #OneOfMyStudentsPukedOnTheCarpetThisDay

#OurGarden

 

#TooBright?  #LittleGnomeHat  #TargetShoes

I would love it if you leave me a #hashtag comment! 

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Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type

Happy friday everyone!  I am still focusing on the farm, over here in kinder-land!  I have to share with you this cute little project we did with the book, Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type!  

I started by reading the book to the students.  It's an adorable farm book about cows that type letters to the farmer.

{Click here to buy on Amazon}

Once we read the story, we pretended we were a group of farm animals writing a letter to the farmer.  Check out this cute one....

My favorite thing we did was we finished the sentences in the emergent reader, to show what each animal wanted!  The kids got really creative with this!   

After reading the book, we continued our day talking about different crops that grow on the farm.  I used different resources from my Crop Literacy Unit to help teach about carrots.  The kids did a great job at labeling the carrot and writing a sentence!

I was able to use two different printables to differentiate sentence writing.  The students could either cut and paste the sentence or print it.  They loved having the choice.  Most chose to write it, so I was happy about that!

During center time, we did two different sorting activities.  For language arts, they sorted the CVC words by short vowel sound.

For math, they sorted the addition sentences according to their sums.

After they sorted the number sentence, they wrote it on their white board.

Here is a little video to see us doing the math centers during class...

 

And of course, we had to make a vegetable craft to go with our crop unit!

Thanks for reading about my Crop Unit!  Here is the freebie for the Click Clack Moo book!

{you can click on the image to download the freebie!}

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Down on the Farm!

I am having a BLAST learning about the farm with my class.  They are obsessed with animals, and we are focusing on a couple of different animals each week.  The past two weeks, we have learned about cows and pigs.  Take a look at some of the photos of my kids using printables, centers, and crafts from my Welcome to the Farm Unit and Crop Unit.

I think my favorite center in the Farm Unit is the "Pigs in the Mud Addition."  The kids pick two cards, add the mud spots, and fill in the addition sentence.

Of course, we had to make muddy pigs to keep true to our farm theme!  

I gathered the students on the rug, and we brainstormed what different animals live on the farm.  They drew the pictures in the circle map, and wrote the names around the animals.

When they finished their work early, they could complete a "read and write the room" activity, where they hunted for different farm animals around the room.  

This week, we focused on learning about cows.  Check out this tree map...

And my favorite part of the day was making this cow craftivity.  Check out the little video below...

For more details on this unit, click HERE.

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