I'm Joining the Rekenrek Fan Club

Last week, I went to professional development class on developing number sense in K-2. Before the class I had a vague familiarity with what a rekenrek was.   After the class, I knew I wanted to use them in my classroom next year.  I spent some time on Pinterest searching for ways teachers made them.  I thought THIS IDEA (free on TeachersPayTeachers) was great. Debi Goodman used two magnetic curtain rods (Walmart) for a demonstration rekenrek.

I tweaked her version a little putting mine on a cookie sheet and using wooden pieces from Hobby Lobby. The bag of 20 was around $3. (Sorry about the fuzzy photo.)

 I also plan to make a student set using pony beads.  I am still deciding whether to put them on foam bases or use something else as a frame.

Here are some more interesting links:
K-5 Math Teaching Resources
Mrs. Kurtas on YouTube

Hope you're enjoying your summer!

Eilis

New Catholic Printables

One of the wonderful things about teaching in a Catholic school is the freedom to include religion in my classroom.  This led me to create a new set of printables available in both my Teachers Notebook and TeachersPayTeachers shops.  All my proceeds from the sale of this religious printable will go to the school I teach at.  The needs there are great and I hope this will help.

Here's a little of what is included:

Here's the complete list:

27 Religion Word Wall Cards with pictures

11 Cut, Glue, and Write Sentences

Cut and Glue:  Sign of the Cross

Morning Offering

Our Father

Hail Mary (two versions)

Glory Be

John 3:14

St. Anthony

Holy Trinity

Grace Before Meal (two versions)

Quote from Mother Teresa

Why did God make Me?

Prayer of St. Francis

St. Rose of Lima

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Cover for Classroom Prayer Book

Cover for Classroom Saint Book

Liturgical Year signs for Prayer Table

Prayer quoted from  Pope Francis

The printable mini posters could be displayed on a prayer table, hung around the room, or made into a classroom book (covers included).  I plan to put the religion word wall words in a pocket chart near our prayer table.

Blessings,

Eilis

Mother'sDay

I was tickled by something one of my kindergarteners said today and had to share....

Background information:  in math we are learning to tell time to the hour.  We have not even touched half hours much less "quarter afters".

This afternoon, the children were supposed to be working on gift books for Mother's Day.  The children write and draw things that their moms cook, like, etc.

My student brought one of the plastic clocks up to me with the hands on 3:15.  He asked me if that is what time we go home from school at.  I was impressed that he knew this and told him so.  I bit my tongue and didn't point out that he was not doing what he was supposed to be doing.  Thank goodness I didn't say it.  His next words were priceless. "Good...'Cuz that's what my mom likes."

How absolutely wonderful that he feels that way.  Wow.

I have updated that printable if you would like to do it with your class in the next couple of days.

You can print it by clicking HERE.

The photo above was taken a couple of years ago when I taught Pre-K.  This year, my students did more writing.  We did the same cute fingerprint heart though.

Hugs,

Eilis

Sight word egg hunt

Happy Dance...
Love, love, love to find another way to use a printable that I have already created!   Today I borrowed the idea I have seen on other blogs for having students unscramble letter tiles to make spelling words, etc.  I printed a page from my Bunny and Egg Printables for Pre-K and K set and placed the appropriate letter tiles in plastic eggs.

Students will color the egg on the printable using the same color as the egg they found the sight word in.  (This will also give me a way to check that they did actually complete the activity and not just randomly color the eggs of sight words that they "found.")

Here are a few other items in the the printable set:

The adorable art in the printable set is by Kate Hadfield.

Hugs,
Eilis

Fun Science Friday - Learning About Motion

Our science lesson for the week was about motion.

We used a pulley:

I purchased it at a hardware store for a few dollars and tied it with rope to a crate.  We learned that a pulley is a wheel and can be used to move things.  We talked about elevators and water wells.

I tied a metal bucket to one end and used a metal key ring as a handle.  I taped it to the table, but this activity does need to be supervised since the crate can fall off the table if the kids pull too hard.

We also played with ramps/slides:

First we compared objects that slide and objects that roll.

Then we tried identical race cars on ramps made from two or three interlocking blocks.  We found that the car on the track with the steeper slope always moved further when we placed them on the track without pushing.  I was happy to discover how inexpensive some Hot Wheels tracks and two cars were in the toy department at Target.

And we saved the best for last...

I saw this great idea for using 10 feet of tubing from a hardware store with marbles to demonstrate gravity at Region 4 training in Houston last year.

Two kids holding the ends of the tube have to figure out how to move the marble(s) from one end to the other.  There is plastic wrap and a rubber band on each end to keep the marble in.  Again, this is an activity to be done under supervision.

It is a lot of fun though!

I wish I could show you all the smiles in this photo - but I'm sure you can imagine.

Hugs,
Eilis

My Class Just Can't Get Enough Mo Willems

Can yours?
I recently purchased these bath mitts at Walmart for about $4 each:

Are they perfect for Elephant and Piggie or what? !
Previously, I used some elephant and pig puppets, but I like these even better because the kids can "open and close" the mouths when the character speak.

I just love hearing my students realize that they can READ these books to themselves!

If you are not familiar with these fun easy readers, here are some affiliate links:


I have created a packet of printables to go along with both the Pigeon and the Elephant and Piggie books by Mo Willems.  The set is $2 at my TeachersPay Teachers store and my Teachers Notebook Shop.

Hugs,

Eilis

Food Drive

The theme of our religion lessons this week was that Jesus wants us to help other people.  To make the concept a reality, kindergarten held a school-wide canned food drive to benefit Catholic Charities.

The children made signs that we hung on each classroom door. The kids even spoke into the microphone to promote our food drive during the morning announcements!

We collected the donations in a box outside our classroom door.

Blessings,

Eilis