Day 2 of the 2014 NAEYC Conference

Today was another amazing experience!  There is no way that I can fit it all in one blog post....

It started with a great presentation called Scientific inquiry: Independent activities for science centers in early childhood classrooms by Robbie Polan.  One of my favorite ideas from this session was to send home a Scientist of the week kit (including lab coat) for each child in the class to do an experiment with their family.  We got to see and explore Robbie's wonderful assortment of science trays.  The great news is that she shared her Wiki which includes photos of each science center and all the information you need to put them together.  The Wiki is completely free. (Disregard the request for access- everything is available to anyone.)   Gotta love such a generous teacher! Here's the link: earlychildhoodscience.pbworks.com. Enjoy!

I'll be sharing more that I discovered today in future posts.  For now, I just want to share a photo that was taken of me with Vanessa Levin of Pre-K Pages at a blogger get-together this evening.

I got to meet the most amazing group of bloggers and take home some really sweet goodies.  And I get to go back to the convention again tomorrow!

Eilis

Free Printable Tally Race to 30

I was inspired to make this printable by a Roll and Tally to 100 that I saw on Tales from a K Classroom. Sara offers a treasure trove of free printables on her blog!  I was unable to print her "50" version, so I decided to create one for tallying to 30.  I will have two students take turns rolling a die or number cube.  Each player will draw the appropriate number of tally marks on his/her recording sheet after rolling the die.  The winner will be the first person to reach 30 (or more).  I will be laminating this for use over and over with dry erase markers.  I love simple math games.

Click HERE to print my free printable.

If you print this, please leave a comment.  Hope you are enjoying the rest of your summer!

Eilis

Free Printable Nonsense Words to Throw in the Trash

Walmart has these cute little trash cans in their Back to School section.  They are intended to be pencil holders and cost a dollar each.

I couldn't resist making some Real and Nonsense Words to use with them.  Just click the link if you would like the free printable words.  I printed mine on colored card stock. The kids will put the "real" cvc words in the pocket chart and the "nonsense" words in the trash can.

The Pocket Chart is from Target's Dollar Spot.

If you find this helpful, I'd love for you to comment here!  Facebook likes are also appreciated!

And. . . . Dr. Jean's Free Webinar is today.

Eilis

Happy Monday Freebie

I LOVE Mondays - during summer vacation...
Don't you? !

I've just finished a cute printable for my classroom and will be offering FREE in my Teachers Pay Teachers Shop until September 1.

If you print it, please follow my shop and/or like the GrowinginPreK Facebook page.  I have over 900 likes...please help me reach 1000.

I have long admired the "In our classroom ..," signs all over Pinterest, but wanted a version that my young students would be able to "read" early in the school year. As much as I love the "we do" phrase in many of these signs, I want to model correct grammar for my ESL learners.

I have included 5 of my classroom rules (We are good listeners; We try our best; We follow directions quickly; We are kind friends; We take turns) and two optional signs:  We pray together and We love books. I also couldn't decide between "In Our Class" or "In Our Classroom," so I included both.

Also, you may need to choose "landscape" when printing this file.  When I printed it without choosing landscape, I ended up with a small version on portrait.

I love to read your comments!

Hugs,
Eilis

Soccer Odd and Even Number Freebie

Do your students love soccer as much as mine do?  I hope they will enjoy this fun freebie. You can download it at my TPT store.
Two players take turns pulling the numbered soccer balls from a bag.  If the player needs the number, he places it on his mat.  If he does not need the number, he returns it to the bag and his turn is over.  The winner is the first player to fill all five spaces on his mat. There are also game mats without numbers for children who already know which numbers are odd/even. This could also be made into a file folder type activity for independent practice.

The cute clipart is by Kate Hadfield.

I am working on more soccer themed activities, so please follow me here, on TPT, or on Facebook for updates.

Happy Summer,

Eilis

Sight Word Game

I recently purchased a KiddoCube for sight word practice.  I made this free printable game to use with it.

I cut up the six sight words (there are three different sets in this printable), put them in the clear pockets, and then I show the words (directly from the pdf file)  on the Smart Board. Of course you could also write the words on a dry erase board for the students to see.  The students copy the words as many times as they wish to to fill in their own game boards.  Once everyone has filled up the fifteen blank spaces with sight words from the list, I start rolling the cube.  Students cross out one sight word each time it is rolled.  I like the fact that students practice both writing and reading the words.  I may try putting the sheets in write and wipe pockets to save paper.





I'd love to hear about any sight word games that are working in your classroom.

Eilis

Working on Rhyming Words

Today we cooked green eggs and ham in honor of Dr. Seuss.  Yes, I know his birthday was March 2nd.  We had a surprise day off yesterday due to the severe cold temperature and ice.  So, today ended up being Fat Tuesday and Green Eggs and Ham day all rolled in one.  We used this free printable from A to Z Teacher Stuff for our before and after pocket chart graphs.  The kids also enjoyed a word search that I printed from Seussville.  We watched Green Eggs and Ham on dvd.  The classic cartoon is available at this Amazon affiliate link:



Before the green egg activities, the kids took an assessment from our reading series.  I thought my students had a good understanding of rhyming words, but the format of this assessment confused a few of them.  So, I have created a printable in a similar format for practice.  You can print it HERE.

My students are also really enjoying Dr. Jean's Rime Time at the moment.  How can you go wrong with any song to the tune of the Addams Family?!  I "typed out" the lyrics so we know the words to say along with the CD.  Here's the Amazon affiliate link to the CD:



The lyrics are available at http://www.drjean.org, but they are condensed.  If you want to have words for your students to follow along, you will need to expand them.

Hugs,
Eilis

Come Along on my Search for Free Math Centers and Activities

I have a large block of time for math each day and I am on the look out for new activities to add that will help my students develop number basics.  Here are some great freebies:

I found this colorful printable  1-20 Number Train at Kidsparkz.com

These Woodland Animal trains start at different numbers.  There are several sets free at  Karen Hill's TeachersPayTeachers shop.

This free I Have, Who Has Numbers 1-30  game can be found at  Thinking Out Loud on TPT.  I love that the kids have to figure out the number they have by looking at ten rods and units.

There is also a free printable 1-30 Number Bingo at Allison Covington's TPT shop.

I love Kinder-craze's free printable interactive number line.  I have it in my classroom twice.  Once as a reference on the wall for the kids to look at, and again on my metal desk as an interactive center.  (I don't have a white board in this classroom to use it on the way Maria does...).  Here's the link to her free printable,  but be sure to visit her blog to see it in use!

And finally, here's an almost-free Pinterest inspired manipulative I made.  I used a 39 cent 5 gallon paint stick from Wal-mart, 25 clothespins, and a Sharpie marker.

 I'd love to hear about your math center finds!

Eilis

A Peek into my New Classroom (and a FREEBIE)

I've been in my new classroom for two weeks now.  At the end of last week, our math program jumped into the numbers twenty to thirty.  Many of my students speak English as a second language and were not grasping the idea of ten unit cubes being equal to one ten rod, etc.  I LOVE math games, but couldn't find one to help us through this.  So, I came up with this one:  Race to 30.

The kids loved trading in ten unit cubes for one ten rod.  The goal of the dice game is to be the first player to  accumulate three ten rods.  It is free to print at both my Teachers Notebook and TeachersPayTeachers shops.  I'd love to hear if you find it useful.

I am working on lots of fun math songs and activities.  I hope to have them available at both shops soon.

I have also been very busy nesting in my new classroom.  It looked pretty sad when the last teacher moved out and the Christmas bulletin board was down...

There were boxes of wonderful manipulatives, but.... they had all been dumped in together!

After some organizing...

It is coming together :)

The Math Center

The ABC/Word Work Center

The New Word Wall

Colorful Storage in the Cubbies (This is the area above the part the students use)

Many of the printables are from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten.  I was inspired to add the cloth boxes from Target after drooling over Kinder-Craze.  I have lots more to share, but that's it for now.

Hugs,
Eilis

Free Printable Classroom Suppy Labels

I have added a FREE printable file to my TeachersPayTeachers store.  It is a set of 18 printable labels to identify the school supplies in your classroom. 

 

Enjoy!