Gingerbread Man Write the Room {Giveaway!}

Hi hi!!  I posted a new Write the Room activity to my TPT store last night....just in time to use it in December!  

I LOVE reading all the different variations of The Gingerbread Man with my class in December.  It's one of my favorite stories of the entire school year -- probably because my students always love it so much too!

This activity would be a perfect addition to your December literacy stations...or maybe for a word work or vocabulary center.

Head on over to my Facebook page for a chance to win!  I'll choose a winner this afternoon, so act quickly! :)

CLICK HERE TO HEAD OVER TO MY FACEBOOK PAGE

HAVE-TOs and CHOOSE-TOs {a post about literacy stations!}

I've written about my Literacy Stations routine before (CLICK HERE or HERE for more info), but I recently implemented something new and am loving it!!  I have to share here because it's so great and allows my kids to be so independent.  You probably have your own awesome ways of running literacy stations already.....but in case something about that time of your day just doesn't run as smoothly as you'd like, maybe this will work for you too!

The inspiration for my Literacy Stations originally came from this book by Debbie Diller.

I have taken Debbie's approach and tweaked it to make it work for me and my students.  And, after attending Kim Adsit's conference this Spring, I added one of her great ideas to make it work even better!

This actually had been on my to-do list for quite a while, but while I sat at Kim's conference, the pieces all came together in my mind, and I knew how to set it up to work for me in my classroom.

For this year, I decided to use Kim's wording of "HAVE-TOs" and "CHOOSE-TOs".  I might change that up next year, but maybe not.  It's working well for us this year!  This is what our literacy station tubs look like.  The green tubs have been there all year.  These are where the students find their main activity (the HAVE-TO).  They don't have a choice with this one.  Whatever is in their tub for the day is what they complete.

The bottom, clear tubs are the new CHOOSE-TO tubs.  These tubs are filled with activities -- books, puzzles, sight word cards, etc -- that students can choose from when they have completed the HAVE-TO.

Okay....can I just take a second to talk to you about these tubs?  They are the best.  They stack so easily and close up completely so that they look organized and neat!  A HUGE PLUS in a Kindergarten classroom!!  Click the photo for more info.

If you're ever in the market for some great tubs for organizing, I would highly recommend these!!

Anyway...back to lit stations. :)

Currently, I have eight literacy stations in my rotation (done in the morning), and four math stations (done in the afternoon).  This is my shelf.  (I know what you're thinking.  You are jealous of my awesome 1970's orange shelves.  I know.  They rock.  Hee hee.  But, seriously, they are made sooooo well and will be in my room forevermore.  Embrace the orange!  Ha!)

The routine for both literacy and math stations is the same, but my math station groups are larger since I only have four of them.  Again, something that I am thinking of changing for next year.

Here is an example of a literacy choose-to.

And here is a math choose-to.  Each of the choose-to tubs are a little bit different to keep them engaging for the students, but just filled with simple activities -- sight word cards, letter/word/number games, puzzles, books, etc.

Check out these choose-to tubs in use!  As with everything in Kindergarten, we've had to go over expectations many times - choose only one thing at a time, put things away as soon as you finish with it, etc.

The kids are doing great and really feel like the choose-to activities are a special treat!

This set-up allows me so much more time during literacy and math stations.  When the class begins working, I check in quickly with each group, have students read sight words for me, and make sure that everyone has the materials they need.  Then, I am open for the rest of the time to pull students (and next year I'll hopefully figure out how to tie reading groups into the time and pull them while the rest of the class is busy....one thing at a time!).  The kiddos know where to put their finished work for me to look over at a later time, and they get right to work on their choose-to.  Our literacy station block lasts anywhere from 25-40 minutes, depending on the day.  

This system will definitely stick around for me next year, and probably for many years to come after that!  It's by far the best approach I've found, and it runs so smoothly without anyone in the classroom except me and my students.  No para-pros or parent volunteers.  This is soooo nice because it makes it really flexible.  I can run them at any time of day and don't have to depend on someone else to be in the room for support.

I'd love to hear your thoughts!  Do you use a similar approach or something else that works great for you?  Please share!!

Five for Friday {September 27}

I'm a day late, but I'm linking up with Doodlebugs' Five for Friday to recap my week!

1. The story for my reading curriculum this week was Plaidypus Lost.  

You know how some books just grow on you over time?  This is one of those books for me.  I didn't love it when I first read it a few years ago, but I've grown to really enjoy this story, and the kids always love it.  The skill for this book was SEQUENCE, so completed this page from Kim Adsit's Reading is Fun comprehension pack together.  

This little one's drawings of Plaidypus were so sweet!

2. Literacy Stations are up and running!  I was anxious and feeling unprepared to start this week, but I knew it was time.  I thought that I'd have to take things really slowly and would pull my hair out for the first couple of days getting everyone used to it, but it actually went sooooo smoothly this week!  I remembered right away why I LOVE literacy stations so much.  Head back over to this post if you want to know how I run my lit stations.

 

 

3. The Young Fives/Kindergarten team for our district uses a program called Project 64 to focus on things like pencil grip, handwriting, following step-by-step directions, etc.  We use a box of 64 crayons and really celebrate the art of drawing!  It's so fun to see these ideas and skills spill over into their writing!  We are really talking about adding details and telling stories with our drawings right now, so focusing on the details of drawing during Project 64 ties in perfectly!  Check out these dogs we drew last week!  Adorable!

 

 

 

4. We are learning about our five senses in Science.  This week, we went for a walk outside and each student found a treasure to bring back inside with them.  We drew the items, then used magnifying glasses to look for details!

The kids were soooo excited when I introduced the magnifying glasses!  They were ooohing and aaahing.  It was hilarious!

 Science is so fun.  When we finished this page, each student ran back outside to put their "treasure" right back where they found it.  They loved this lesson!

5. We have about 10 minutes of quiet time every afternoon where I turn down the lights and play soft music.  The students can read a book, color a picture, or just rest quietly.  This little guy has fallen asleep a few times.  He is just so sweet wrapped up in his frog towel.  He's just a baby at 4 years old, and gets so sleepy!  I have let him stay sleeping a couple of times, and he'll sleep for over an hour!  Sweet boy!

Hoping I can rest up this weekend too.  YAY for weekends!!

This week's literacy stations

I'm finally feeling organized enough again to post about this week's literacy stations.  They will run through next week as well.  I am wrapping up a few winter activities that we hadn't gotten to yet, and I included one of my new "Three Cheers for BOOKS" activities along with our usuals.

"Snowman Noun Hunt" 

(from Rowdy in Room 300's winter pack)

 The instructions for this activity say to have students find the words around the classroom, but I am just having them sort the words into a pocket chart and record them onto their pages.

"Roll a Sight Word"

"Word Bookends"

Beginning and ending sounds

(from my "Three Cheers for BOOKS!" pack)

When I was over by the two girl who were working on this activity, I overheard the sweetest conversation they were having about how "this bird is a blue jay and did you know that there are red birds too?  And I think they are called red jays.  Isn't that cool?"  heehee :)

Our reading curriculum story last week was "If You Could Go to Antarctica".  I love that kids this age love non-fiction so much.  They ate that book up and wanted to know everything about Antarctica.  They loved even just looking at the pictures in the book....so interested in what Antarctica is really like! In this station, they have to list four things that they would need if they were a scientist living in Antarctica, and then draw pictures to match.  Some of the lists have been pretty adorable!  And all of them have had great ideas!

"Pencil, Marker, Glue" page to practice this week's sight words

"Word Build and Write" page to practice this week's sight words

"Sight Word Stamp and Write" -- again, reviewing this week's sight words and also a few we've already covered

"Silly Nilly or Real Deal"

Real and nonsense words

(from Rowdy in Room 300's winter pack)

 This is a fun one!

My students are having lots of fun with these stations.  I hope to be back sharing our current math stations tomorrow!

Literacy and Math Stations - to answer your questions! :)

 Since I posted about literacy and math work stations last week, I have had a few people ask questions regarding what my exact set-up looks like.  I shared that I have based my stations around Debbie Diller's model for literacy work stations, and then I tweaked it a bit more to make it work for math. (I recommend her books, Literacy Work Stations and Math Work Stations, highly!)

Of course, when it comes to how I set up my day, I do what every teacher does....try something, tweak it, try something new.  Over and over and over.  I'll probably tweak my literacy stations next year too, but for now, I'm loving it more than any other approach I've taken for lit stations in my 10 years of teaching.  So, who knows?  It might stick around for a while!

This is my lit station board.  Each day, I rotate the letters to match the activity each group will complete.  My activities are located in tubs labeled with the same letters, and the letters are also placed around the classroom, so that each activity has it's own space.  By this point in the year, the students are awesome about knowing exactly where to find everything they need for lit stations.

The highlighted names represent the "team leader" for each group.  This person is in charge of getting the tub, answering whatever questions their team members have during the activity (the team leaders know that if they don't know the answer, they should come ask me for help), and cleaning up the station when all group members are finished.

My groups have remained very fluid this year.  They are set for two weeks at a time, but I think I have changed groups almost every single rotation this year.  It helps to freshen it up for the students, and allows me to arrange personalities and ability levels in ways that I feel will promote the best learning.

I try to have the station activities differentiated whenever I can.  If the students with a red dot on their name see a "red dot page" in a tub, they know to complete that page.  They are just slight variations on the exact same activity.  That way, the students can all work together on the activity, but can also still be challenged in different ways.

Here is an example of a "red dot" page versus a page with no red dot.

There are eight total activities in our literacy station rotation.  We do lit stations for 30 minutes a day, four days a week (Tuesday-Friday).  The students complete one activity each day.  When they finish, they spend some one-on-one time with me while I check their work.  We talk about their work and review any sight words or other literacy skills that were practiced (rhyming, word families, beginning/middle/ending sounds, etc).  I enjoy this time of being able to connect with each student individually.

If they finish early, the remainder of the time is filled with their choice of reading books from our reading corner or playing games from a designated basket of literacy activities.

Math Stations are set up similarly, except the groups are larger because we only do them two days a week.  Instead of eight activities, there are four.  There are six students in each group, instead of three.  Again, math stations fill a 30-minute block, and there is a specific "early finisher" activity for each group.  

I have a para-pro in the room with me during math stations, which makes the larger groups manageable.  I'm not sure it would run as smoothy without that extra support.  

Hopefully this helps give you a better picture of how my literacy and math stations are organized.  I know that I always love hearing about how things are done in other classrooms.  My literacy station block has become one of my favorite parts of my day!

Do you run your stations similarly?

Winter literacy stations

I love literacy work station time in my classroom.  To see my students so engaged in meaningful activities, working together and being problem-solvers.....it warms my heart!  This year, I implemented Debbie Diller's style of literacy work stations and I was completely sold in the first few weeks.  I LOVE this approach!  My students work in groups of 3.  I have 24 students so that gives me 8 total groups.  Each group has a designated "team leader".  This person is in charge of the materials, as well as answering the questions of his or her team members.  If someone in a "team" has a question, they first ask the team leader.  If the leader doesn't know the answer, they come to ask me.  Because the groups are so small, I can arrange them in a way that minimizes distractions for everyone.  That is a big LOVE!!  Debbie Diller's vision includes the teacher pulling small groups while the rest of the students work.  I haven't implemented that this year -- instead, I make myself available to answer questions, and spend some quality time with each student as they bring their completed work to get checked by me.

You can check out the book for yourself by clicking here.

ANYWAY.....here are the stations that my students will be working through for the next two weeks.

"Mitten Rhymes"

See how this little guy has "boat" and "rope" as rhyming words?  We took care of that once I noticed it. :)

(This rhyme supply activity can be found in my Snowy Stations pack.)

"Sight Word Stamp and Write"

"Snowman Word Stretchers"

(Sounding out and writing CVC words - Snowy Stations)

"Word Build and Write"

(focus on this week's sight words)

"My Little Penguin"

(Sight words and color words - Snowy Stations)

"What Sound is at the End?"

(Ending sounds - Snowy Stations)

"Winter Write the Room"

(This activity can be found here.)

"Pencil, Marker, Glue - sight word practice"

We also began new math stations this week that I'll post about later.  You can grab my Snowy Stations pack for $5.00 until the end of the week!

Have you heard of Debbie Diller or do you use her approach for your literacy or math work stations?