Valentine Centers

I wanted to share 2 Valentine Themed centers that I use in my classroom.  The first is a sensory bin sight word hunt.  I created some hearts in powerpoint and wrote our latest 10 sight words on them.  I then hid them in a bin of flower petals that I purchased from the dollar store.

The second activity was an addition to my writing center.  This simple activity comes from Teaching Little Learners and you can find it here for free.  This activity allowed my students to draw 3 things they love and then label it.

Growing your Classroom Library

 5 years ago I made the switch from teaching 4th grade to Kindergarten.  I packed up my classroom library full of chapter books and non fiction books and stored them in boxes where they have sat till this summer when I started selling them off online.  Which got me to thinking about the hundreds and hundreds of dollars I spent on growing my library.  

5 years ago I took the 10 Kindergarten appropriate books I had from my collection and started to grow my classroom library for much cheaper.  I maybe spent $25 total on my Kindergarten library...$50 tops.  So how did I do it for such a cheap amount the second time?  Here are my 7 tips:

 

 

1.     Check out Garage Sales.  

        There are many teachers that have garage sales after they retire and are selling off their books.  Families with children are another great stop. You can often find books for 25 or 50 cents.

 

2.     Check out Online Garage Sales via Facebook

I love this option because I don’t need to leave my house.  About once a week someone is selling books for pretty cheap.  I am a member of teacher garage sale group that has some good finds of other teacher items too.  I am also a member of online garage sales in the town I live in and our neighboring towns to give me a few more options.

 

 

3.      Visit Library Book Sales

A couple times of a year libraries tend to have sales where they sell off used books for under $1.  If your town library doesn’t have one check other libraries.  I love to get hardcover books here because they tend to last longer.  Check out your local library's website for details.

 

4.     Become friends with retiring teachers

After my first couple of years I became friends with teachers that were in their last year of teaching.  On several occasions they just gave me boxes of books they didn’t want to save.  I also had teachers that changed grade levels that gave me some of their books.  This is a great free way to get books.

 

5.     Use Scholastic Book Orders in your classroom

            Here is a great way to get free and cheap new books for your room and a great way to get books  into your student's homes.  When parents purchase books through your classroom flyer, you earn bonus points to spend on books for your class library. The more parents order, the more free books you receive. The flyer even features a $1 book each month.  You can also ask Parents to donate books through Scholastic’s wish list.

 

6.     Visit used bookstores like Half Price Books

This is not the cheapest way to buy books, but it is an easy way to get titles you may need for cheaper prices.  I like this option because their books are organized, and it is easy to see if they have the title you are looking for.  I often used this option when I need a picture book or some chapter books for guided reading.  They also have a clearance section and sometimes you can find some good treasures there.  As a bonus, teachers get 10% off.  Half Price Books will also consider donation requests for educators.  You can find the form here.

7.    Simply Ask.

        Sometimes it pays to just ask. Your friends may have books at home they would be happy to donate. Be sure to be specific of what grade level you are looking for.   Be sure to emphasize that they should be gently used.   

What are some other ways you acquire books for your classroom library?  Leave your suggestions below.

Simple Science Color Experiment

I love this science experiment because it combines art and science.  In this experiment will explore a chemical reaction and as a bonus they get to explore color mixing.

Materials Needed:

A Foil Tray or any shallow container

Baking Soda

White Vinegar

Food Coloring

Eye Droppers or Pipettes

Directions:

1. Fill each foil tray with baking soda.  You want to make sure the whole bottom of the tray is covered.

2. Fill small cups with vinegar and a couple of drops food coloring .

3. Then pass out the tray and the cups of colored vinegar and give each child an eye dropper and let them explore and observe.  I always tell the children to go slow so that they can observe what is happening.

4. I find the children will happily do this for 20-25 minutes.  I always stop them when the tray starts to have more vinegar than baking soda.

March Crafts

I wanted to share two art projects we did this week.  The first were these rainbows that are are now hanging in our hallway.  I cut 1 inch by 12 inch  strips of the 6 colors of the rainbow.  Then as a class we cut each color a little shorter than the previous strip in rainbow order.  We left the red strip alone, picked up the orange strip and I modeled cutting off about an inch.  Then we picked up the yellow strip, compared it to the orange strip and then cut the yellow strip so that it was shorter than the orange and so on.  I modeled the whole thing and the kids did great.  Since the kids did the cutting every rainbow is a little different.  When everyone was done, my assistant and I went around and stapled the strips together.  Then the kids glued on cotton balls.  It was a perfect craft to review measurement and colors.

This week we did Leprechaun Directed Drawings.  First and Kinder Blue Skies has these amazing directed drawings for teachers to use and are perfect for me since I can't draw, but I can follow directions.   You can find this freebie here.  Here are a few of the examples from my class.

They did such a great job and their drawing skills have vastly improved since August.

Read Across America Week

I love being a kindergarten teacher.  One of my favorite things is taking a break from the curriculum and doing an Author's study. March 2nd is Dr. Seuss's birthday and always lines up with Read Across America Day.  I love that this day is such a simple reminder of how important reading is.   During Read Across America Week I always pick a Dr. Seuss book for each day and then we do a dress up according to the book and do an activity to go with each book. This week I am reading the following books.

I change it up every year.  Last year I read the stories One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and The Sleep Book.  When we read The Sleep Book we wear our pajamas and spend some time reading around the room.  

When we read One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish we wear red or blue to school and we do activities with fish.  One activity we do during math is make a goldfish counting book.  There are two options to this book.  You can either count and color the fish on each page or count and place a goldfish on each page on the book.

During Reading Centers I put out this sensory bin.  The students match the uppercase letter fish to the lowercase letter fish bowl.  You can place them in a sensory bin or have the students simply make matches. 

You can find these 2 products here in my TPT store.

Teacher Survival Kit

On my desk at school I have some of my favorite things.  I have this super cute mug I got at Target that holds my pens and pencils, I have a ceramic apple a student gave me and a picture from my wedding day.  But some of the most valuable things are inside my desk, my teacher survival kit.  It contains:

1.  Band Aids
At the beginning of each year I got a bag of band aids from the nurse to keep in my desk.  It cuts down on the trips to the nurses office.

2. Deodorant
I can't tell you how many times I would get to school and realize I had forgotten to put some on that morning.  Much needed life savor.

3. Water Bottle
I always have a spare in my room because at some point during the year I forget mine at home...usually it's filled and ready to go on the kitchen counter.

4. Hair Bands
For those days where it is hot or windy and you have to go to recess duty.

5. Chap Stick
You know why.

6. Nail Kit
Why do my nails always seem to break at work?

7. Mints
For coffee breath, meetings with the principal or for after lunch.  Children are honest and will tell you if your breath stinks.

8. Lotion
I live in the Midwest and dry skin is a very real thing here in the winter.

9. Hand Sanitizer
For all the germs.  Why do they always sneeze and cough on me?

10.  Disinfectant Spray
For flu season

11.  Headache Medicine
You never know when you or a colleague will need some.

What do you keep in your kit?

Valentine's Day Crafts

When I switched to teach Kindergarten a fellow Kindergarten teacher gave me advice to do crafts and art projects that don't require a lot of prep.  So with Valentine's this week I wanted to fill my room with some art work and I did 3 art projects that involved easy prep work on my part.

For the first art project I cut out some different size hearts our of card stock and I grabbed some black paper and some pastels.  I then let the kids trace the hearts and smudge the lines with a Q tip to add a cool effect.  The kids loved using the pastels for the first time and I loved that each one was different.

The second craft we did was heart people.  I made some heart patterns for each table group on card stock and I had the kids trace the heart onto red or pink paper.  I then cut one inch strips of paper and I taught the kids how to accordion fold the arms and legs.  Most got it pretty quickly and I only had to help 2 of my students fold the arms and legs.  I then gave them googly eyes and let them put it all together.  The hands and feet are from left over punched out hearts for Valentine's Day boxes. 

Our last art project was the easiest.  This week in Bible we have been learning how Jesus loves children so this was perfect.  I took the lyrics from Jesus loves me and typed them up in word and printed them.  The students then used heart stamps, heart stickers and paper hearts to decorate.  Easy and adorable.

So there you have it.  Simple and easy Valentine's Day crafts.  What do you do in your classroom?