Alfonzo the Christmas Elf

It's that time of year....Christmas!! Yes, I absolutely love the holidays. Not only have I been getting ready for Christmas in my classroom, but also in our newly renovated house. 




 Luckily, my hubby loves the holidays as much as I do. He has bent over backwards to help transform our home into a rustic Christmas getaway. (Yep, the hubby rocks!) Please try to over look my blank wall going up the stairs. I'm still trying to collect all the decor that I have planned for that needy, needy wall.

A few exciting events has taken place in our kinder classroom. Most importantly (wink, wink), our Elf has arrived! He came to us a day early....maybe I was a little excited too:) 

Our elf left his very own book for us to read and a nice letter from Santa himself. Well, Cara Carroll actually had something to do with the Santa letter. You can find her awesome Elf on the shelf packet HERE. After reading The Elf on the Shelf, we voted on a name. After discussing names, we voted on Alfonzo. Alfonzo it is! 

Even though our little Alfonzo hasn't been too mischievous, he has the kinders on their very best behavior. (Thank you Alfonzo!!) 

Each day we are recording where Alfonzo is now "hiding" and what mess he made. We write in our journals at least 4 times a week, but Alfonzo has definitely inspired a few of my kinder authors who were struggling to put any thoughts down on paper.

Alfonzo will be inspiring our writing for the next 2 weeks of school. Look out for his mischievous ways! 

Teen Numbers

Teen Numbers can be extremley tricky for our little kinders. It can also be a tricky topic to teach. I know it was tricky for me when I first started teaching. I have read countless blogs, searched up and down on TPT, watched teaching videos, and I have finally found a way that I now love to teach those pesky TEEN NUMBERS!!

To begin with, we started by counting out 11 counters on a single ten frame. You can use any type of manipulative. (I have been preparing for our Fall fundraiser so I didn't get to creative. Insert sad face!!) After counting out 11 counters we realized that creating 11 means we will have one full ten frame and one extra counter.

At that point, I generated an idea into my kinders little minds....How does the number 11 resemble our ONE full ten frame and the ONE extra counter? I am not going to fib...Some students did not catch on as fast, but as soon as the did....BAM! The light switch had been turned on.

We were successfully on our way to discovering how teen numbers work (and place value)! We focused on one number a day. I have included the schedule that we used in our classroom.

This is only a suggested schedule. Depending on your learners, you could stretch this schedule out or compress it. 

Week 1: 11, 12, 13, & review
Week 2: 14, 15, 16, & review 11-16
Week 3: 17, 18, 19, 20, & review
Week 4: Review of numbers 1-20

Resources that my Kindergarten team and I used:
Moffatt Girls - Numbers 1-20
Latoya Reed - This packet is wonderful to attach to morning work or a dry erase center
Miss Campos - This is a wonderful resource to assess students. Students could use stamps, bingo "dabbers", stickers, dry erase sleeve, etc.
Kindergarten Smarts - I used this in dry erase sleeves & students created numbers using play dough (yes, play dough!!) They absolutely loved it!!
Bama Girl in a Kinder World - This is my very own packet in a Christmas theme! :)

These are only a few of the resources that my kinders used to practice number recognition, identification, and one-to-one correspondence. I hope my insight can assist you in your Kindergarten classroom:) Please leave any suggestions, I am open to any new ideas!!

Apples and Johnny Appleseed

Who doesn't love Johnny Appleseed? My kinders and myself love learning about Johnny Appleseed and exploring apples! This year, I have decided to completely ditch the reading series (shhhh!!) and create my own Johnny Appleseed unit. I also went a little crazy on Amazon and order lots of books! Honestly, I'm not sure who is more excited the kids or me!! Here is a outline of what our week will look like. 

You can buy my Johnny Appleseed packet on my TPT store HERE.

Day 1: 

 -Read "Johnny Appleseed" by Jodie Shepherd

-Labeling Johnny Appleseed.

-Sight Word Recognition Worksheet (I put this with morning work.)

 

-Number Recognition & Counting Seeds worksheet. I am letting students use dried black beans for the "seeds".

-Apple Investigation (yay!!) We will answer the following questions about our apples: weight, height (using linking cubes), etc. Here is a link to download for FREE on TPT. Apple Investigation-

Day 2:

-Read "How Do Apples Grow". This book is more difficult and meant for the older grades, but I am going to read selected passages not the entire book.

-Sight Word Recognition

Writing: We will construct a sentence (or 2) on how apples grow. 

Math: We will be tasting apples and picking our favorite apple. Then, we will graph the results.  
-Labeling an apple

Day 3: 

 Read "Apples, Apples, Apples" by Nancy Wallace

Sink or Float Activity this is a great FREE resource and students will graph predictions.

Day 4:

 Read "The Apple Pie Tree" by Zoe Hall

Writing: Steps to making an apple pie. 

Math: FREE Counting Flip Book

Day 5:

All kindergarten teachers and myself switch classes for 30 minute intervals. Each teacher does a different craft or activity with students that involves apples. 

Also, each student brings an "apple" food on day 5. We have an apple buffet. The kids LOVE this part, and so do the teachers. WE have a great time tasting different foods that contain apples.

Last but not least...we bring in DECORATED apples!! The kiddos love disguising their apples, and showing them off to our school. We sit them in the hallway for everyone to see.

 

Aren't our apples adorable?!!!

Number Recognition

Counting/Ordering Numbers to 100

This is a small center that students can go to if they finish their work early. I also make this a part of a math center for those who may not finish their work early. I copied my owl numbers on card stock (each interval of 10 was a different color). Also, for the first attempt at this center, I kept it simple. 

First Row: 0-10

Second Row: 11- 20

Third Row: 21-30

I continued this same process all the way to 100. However, I mixed the numbers up within the row (I just didn't mix up the rows). I hope that makes sense....I'm trying to be detailed:)

FREE 0-100 OWL NUMBER CARDS

Zero through Ten Number Recognition

This is another [FREEBIE] at my TPT store. Students work on counting, writing the number, writing the number word, and number order. Click on the link above to get yours!

Ocean Theme zero through ten number word recognition 

is another [FREEBIE] at my TPT store. Students will use a key to determine which number word should be colored. I use these worksheets on the back of my morning work pages (that I hope to be posting soon!). 

Making 10

Making 10 can always be a tricky concept for students to understand. So after following the basal and finding pieces off the internet to use last year, I decided to work on making my own Making Ten packet.

To begin with, we started by finding the different ways to make 10. I would suggest making a 0 to 10 rainbow from The Littlest Scholars Blog.

Then, you should be well on your way with incorporating my Making Ten packet in your classroom.

I started with the "Ways to Make 10" sheet first. Students were able to draw a number (1-10). Then, students would make that number on their sheet using a crayon. I would ask "have we made ten?" If the reply was "no", we used a different color crayon to fill in the 10 frame until we got to ten. After coloring in the two different numbers that made 10. We wrote the corresponding number sentence. Students really enjoyed this activity. There are several spins and twists you could put on this activity to make it your own.

"Fishin' for 10" allows the student to determine if the sum is 10. If not, students used a crayon to make 10 and fill in the blank in the number sentence. This ended up being independent work, & the kiddos loved it! (Clip art is included to print off and laminate in the packet!)

 

Looking for a way to make 10 without 10 frames? Here is your way to go!

 I must talk about this worksheet! My students absolutely loved making the number sentences on the ten frame, and determining if it was true or false!

There are many more worksheets included in this Making 10 packet in my Teachers Pay Teachers store. I hope your students enjoy this packet as much as mine did!:)