A Little Fall Fun!

Hey Kinder Friends,

Fall is in the air and we are beginning to feel it. So, naturally we were excited to get busy with a little bit of fall fun. As the leaves begin to turn colors we were busy talking about Spookley the Square Pumpkin. I knew my class had not heard the story before so I was excited to get out the book and dig right in. It gave us a good reason to talk about how we are alike and different and begin the discussion about bullying.

You can still get this book from Amazon and if you want to get it on video that is available too. I like reading the book because I think it delivers the message better than a lengthy video. The kids were super excited to make Spookley and we will be writing about Spookley this coming week.

When I saw these counters I knew I had to have them for my class. I thought they would be perfect for the counting buckets we had in class already. As soon as I got them out the kids wanted to use them right away. I found them at Hobby Lobby and bought three bags but I really wish I had bought four!

We had been talking a lot about counting, counting strategies and organizing our count. These I knew would be perfect for practicing that skill. I knew we needed to review that before moving on to greater numbers. Once we were working with them we discovered that these could also be used for sorting by size, shape and color. And now I am wishing I had about five bags instead of three! As the children were counting the fall objects with the buckets, I was able to notice the different counting methods my class uses. Some children count and move the objects as they count. Some put everything in a row and then count. Some use the bucket and empty it and count as each one goes in. And a few had no method at all. These were perfect for a discussion about ways to count. As they went off to independent work they asked if they could use them on counting mats. Take it from me you will want more than three bags because three was not enough for our counting mats. We added apple counters and the problem was solved. But I still want...more!

A Is For Apple...

Hey Kinder Friends,

Let's just call the first few weeks...busy to say the least. I mean really the beginning is almost a distant memory for sure. And things were moving right along and then all of the sudden boom Open House. I honestly found myself a little frantic as the day approached. I had nothing to display and really nothing I could pull off with a very large class. We had been reading a lot of books about names and working hard to learn how to write names so somewhere in the middle of creating nameplates for each student and adding names to every book box and locker this idea just came to be.

Honestly, I love just about anything you can print and run with because time is so precious during the school year. I created these printable templates for this apple craft so that I would have something to use as we work on writing names and also use to hang in the hallway for Open House. I ended up just loving these because of their simplicity to prepare and pull off for a fast and fun Open House project.  

 I used the colored card stock I had on hand so there really was no rhyme or reason or even pattern to the colors but somehow that just came together for me this time. I decided that for this project I would cut the apple pieces because I wanted them to focus on their name and I had to get this project accomplished with 27 kids in one morning session and hung up even before the glue was dry.

When all was said and done and I turned to leave for the day, I looked back and saw the apples all hanging in a row it just looked like...Kindergarten. And I got so excited that I went home and made the templates for a P is for pumpkin craft. So, if you find yourself in a bind for a little apple or pumpkin craft and need more information just click on the images above!