Word Family Flowers

I was searching for ways to have children generate word family words.  I found this cute idea from Playdough to Plato http://www.playdoughtoplato.com/a-word-family-garden/ 

 But,  I am working with a whole class of kindergartners, instead of a small home setting.  So, I made a flower template and copied the flowers on bright colors.  We completed a lesson on word families, then I let them make their own word family flowers on their own.  This was a big task for some, but all children were successful.  I differentiated by the number of flowers and word families each child completed.

Here's a flower template if you'd like to try with your class too, feel free to copy it.

Enjoy!  Molly

Rainy Day Drip Art

Oh, rainy April Days!  No outside recess?  Here's what I did yesterday afternoon --drip painting.

I simply made up some thin paint by adding water to tempera and adding some to liquid watercolors to apply with droppers.  Then, I offered a padded tray and white construction paper to drip on.

They loved the break and our room came back to the excited hum of working kindergartners.

As we picked up each drip page, we sang "It's Raining, it's Pouring".  At another table, some children even used watercolor paints to try their own drips and one child made a page illustrating the song!

Over the next few days we'll cut large raindrops from the pages, write sound words, and perform some rain songs.

This lesson and many, many more is available in our Spring Weather lesson pack.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spring-Weather-Kindergarten-Literacy-Activities-1141255

Enjoy!  Molly

Working with Peers - Math

     We are continuously trying to set up opportunities for children to work with each other.  I took a little look at how I am encouraging peer sharing in math lately.  Here's what I found:

This time of year, we are working on adding iconic or symbolic symbols to math thinking.  Each day, I ask children to share how they thought about a problem and to show their thinking.  In my classroom, this is usually done at the white board or easel with classmates sitting at carpet or at the document camera where all children have a white board or their journal to share.  With practice, we are getting better at listening to other's share and at sharing our thoughts.  I like to add a little more to think about to their work.  

We also try to work on problems together at our tables.  After writing or drawing, I sometimes ask them to take a moment to share their thoughts with someone sitting next to them.

After playing a game during math instruction time, I often leave the play materials for them to play more or develop new ways to play with each other.  Here children are trying out subtraction bowling and writing number sentences on their own!

These activities and more are available in our Understanding Addition and Subtraction Book.  Click on the caption for more information.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Year-Full-of-Kindergarten-Lessons-for-Understanding-Addition-and-Subtraction-1617989

Enjoy!   Molly