ABC Action & Musical Learners

I'm thinking about the beginning of the year, and starting right at the basics....well, just beyond singing the alphabet song! My Pre-K friends love to move around and use up as much space as they can. It's amazing how far they can stretch the block area, and inch their way around every possible point in my room. Luckily, I have the space! 

Here's a great ABC sequencing activity in which your little ones will need A LOT of space! These BIG circles can be put in order from A-Z, or a-z ---but tell them to "take it to the floor!". Work on the floor? YUP---it's right where they want to be...where everything is accessible, at their level, and they can crawl, walk, or scoot to grab their letters and put them in their place. 

This is activity is great for your visual / kinesthetic learner. But what about some of those other types of learners? You can set up the circles cake walk style----add some music---and voila! Your musical and auditory learners are intrigued as well. When the music stops...some or all of the children say the letter that they are standing on (or next to---if you don't want little shoes/feet all over your new game!). 

It may not always be easy to find an activity that focuses on a certain concept and includes a musical element for those who learn musically. That is the hardest learning style for me to incorporate into my classroom. I have no musical skill whatsoever---and it's definitely not MY learning style. But if you are stumped...here's at least one way (besides all those great music/movement Cd's) that you can incorporate letter/sound identification in your centers/stations: 

Find a xylophone & add letter stickers to it!  You can only fit so many letters on each xylophone...so you may want to pick up a few of them! (you could also use these for number recognition!)

Have a musical day!! 

ABC Baseball

Here's a really fun game you can play at the end of the year with your preschoolers, or any time of the year with older students (the big Kindergarteners!). When I taught Kindergarten, I used to play this game with one of my grade level teachers, and our classes loved the friendly competition, socialization, and added physical activity during the school day.

We all know that if there is a way to make a game out of learning, your students will buy into it---creating a highly engaged group of students with a high interest activity. All you need is the baseball letter match game (which is a complete set of upper and lowercase letters), a dry erase board & marker (or something to keep score), bases/home plate and an excited group of students!

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So....once you have printed the baseballs, you will want to put a number (1, 2, or 3--to represent the value and what base they could run to) on the back BEFORE you laminate. It's up to you, but I put a 1 on easy letters, a 2 on more difficult letters, and a 3 on the letters that are typically most difficult for students to identify. Then, laminate & cut out.

Now, you are ready to take your students to the gym or outside for a game of ABC baseball! I found some great bases and a home plate at the Dollar Tree, but I've only seen them there twice in the Spring over the paste few years. You could always make your own, or borrow from your P.E. teacher!

Set up your bases and divide your class into 2 teams, or bring another class to play against you! You will not need any players in the field. Simply have your students sit on the baseline until it is their turn to "bat" (no bat needed, though!). The teacher is the pitcher! :)

Have your baseballs in hand, and call one student up to bat. They stand at home plate and you tell them if it's a single (1--1st base), a double (2--2nd base), or a triple hit (3---3rd base). Then, "pitch" the ball (show them the ball with the letter on it). If they identify it, they run to their designated base. Next batter, do it all again. Every time a player crosses home plate, make a tally mark for a run for your team.

The team with the most runs at the end is the winning team!!

Shake it up! How to vary the game depending on each child's needs. When you pitch you can:

* show only uppercase

* show only lowercase

* mix it: sometimes show a capital letter, sometimes show a lowercase letter 

* ask for letter sound

* ask for a word that starts with that letter

* ask for a word that ends with that letter

* only use the letters in the child's first name



I hope this game is a HOME RUN for your class!

Have FUN!

Lemonade Stand!!

Photo source (above): http://www.exkalibur.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Lemonade-Stand.jpg

We are having lemonade stand for our ENTIRE SCHOOL on Wednesday! I am so excited---and so are our students! You could have a lemonade stand in your classroom/school for a variety of reasons, most obviously - a fundraiser.

We are having a lemonade stand as a service project for other students and teachers in our school. We have been working SO HARD this year as preschool students to share, be kind, develop friendships, interact with our peers, communicate effectively, and build a sense of community. As the newest members of our school, our students will be in our building for up to 5 more years---our preschoolers are getting a head start on all that they have to offer Lincoln Elementary!

This project also serves a variety of other objectives and goals:
1. To make a plan and put it into action. One student told me as we were brainstorming, "Mrs. Powell, we need a blueprint for how to run a lemonade stand!"...that pretty much sums up my lesson in which I gathered their background information, and brainstormed how to make this happen!

2. Literacy: practice writing for a purpose, emergent writing---student centered---we own our work!

 3. Fine motor!!

(4. We will also be using gross motor/coordination skills when we pour the cups of lemonade

 for our customers!)

We also made flyers and distributed them to each classroom! My 4-5 year olds did an AWESOME job talking to the other teachers and even some students announced our event to entire classes over the classroom speaker system. One kind 4th grade class even cheered for my little friends!! My students were so proud!

So----whether it's for a fundraiser, a service project, or a fun way to work on fine motor, gross motor, and communication skills---you may want to consider having a lemonade stand inside your school, too!

We've done some of the leg work for you---just click on the links below for your FREE printables!!!

ENJOY! 

Spelling Center

Do you have a spelling center in your classroom? In Pre-K, I have an ABC Center---same thing, but leveled for my LITTLE friends and based on the alphabetic principle. I'm not sure how many upper elementary classrooms have a spelling center, but I sure would hope so! BIG kids like to move around and learn, too! Get your students out from behind those desks/tables and interacting with a peer, moving letters around, AND working on weekly spelling lists! Your kinesthetic/visual learners will be grateful!

This center can be a permanent station in your room, interchangeable with a cookie sheet, oil drip pan as a magnetic work space, on the side of a file cabinet, or in a little box that can be pulled off a shelf and taken to a comfy spot on the floor, etc. I made a spelling center for a fourth grade teacher last year, and was later told how much the students LOVED IT!

Here's some pics of how you can easily create an ABC Center activity or fun and cute spelling center, in which students can be social, free to move letters around and play with them, produce a product (recording sheet of their words that they made), and work on weekly spelling lists.

Here's the recording form that students can use to write the words that they have spelled! 

Younger students can practice spelling basic CVC words that they might be familiar with: mom, dad, cat, dog. They can also spell their friends' names. 

I have vocabulary cards in pocket charts in my ABC Center for such words so students can copy and re-create with magnetic letters. I'm sure you do, too! This activity is the same concept, but with different visuals---change it up! With your older students, replace simple CVC words or names of classmates with vocabulary or spelling lists! 

Here, I've put this activity/station on a oil drip pan. You could use space on your wall, back of a bookshelf, cookie sheet----or anywhere, really! I love magnetic items compared to velcro. :) 

Here, only a few of the letters are shown---but with this activity you will get a large selection of uppercase, lowercase, and lots of vowels in order to spell a variety of words. 

Look! One of my preschool students has spelled "car"! Too cute!

I hope you can find this activity useful---and if you do not yet have an ABC or spelling center in your classroom---grab and oil pan and lots of magnetic stuff---it's an easy way to get started! You can build up from there!! Want it? Click HERE (or--see below for ways to get it FREE!)

**If you are a current follower, or a new follower, invite a friend to join/follow my blog, and you BOTH get this activity FREE! Just comment/E-mail me to let me know who you are and who you invited (or who invited you!).

Thank you for stopping by!! I'd love to hear about some upper elementary spelling centers/stations if there are any out there!! :)

Hatch!

Well, today I bought a new incubator for our chick hatching project at school. I've always borrowed one, but after a few years of doing this project, I decided I might as well invest in it. I am super excited!! Who knew I'd be a girl to own an egg incubator?! Ha---I never would have guessed it! 

So....in thinking about hatching chicks....I've hatched yet another chick theme activity! This one can be used for many games: memory, Go Fish, letter matching, and a game rightfully, titled, "Hatch!". Ever heard of Crash? It plays just the same! :) 

Click HERE to peep a look at this new game! If you decide to grab it for yourself, please leave me some comment love to let me know! :) 

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Click HERE for the sight words version - Dolch Lists 1-3

THANKS! And---Happy Easter to you all! 

Put Me In Coach - I'm Ready to Play!

As I was looking through my Easter totes in the basement, taking inventory of what's in stock for the big arrival of the E.B (that's Easter Bunny), I couldn't help but browse through my old Kindergarten totes as well. Even though I currently don't teach Kindergarten, there's always some items that I can tweak to fit the levels of my Pre-K friends....it's just a matter of taking the time to do so.

Here's an old game that I used to have available during Literacy Stations in my K class. It includes Dolch word lists 1-3. I've tweaked it to include the alphabet and numbers so that PreK kids can use it as well.

You will need these great little sports Easter eggs. HURRY---go grab some before the stores are out! The great thing about these eggs are that you can use them at any time of year. They don't seem a bit "Easterish" and your sports enthusiasts will love them! 

You will also need a basket of some kind. These sport themed Easter baskets do the trick, too! 

Inside each egg, hide a little letter of the alphabet, number, or Dolch word. Students can record their findings on the Score! sheet. Some PreK kids may be ready to write their findings, others may just want to say the letter or number. Older students, or those that are ready, can definitely find it, read it, and write it! 

It's soccer season - and baseball season is right around the corner! Gear up!

Get your FREE game HERE!

Get lists 4-11 HERE!