Kindergarten Math - Common Core

From my Presentation at SDE (Staff Development for Educators) National I Teach K conference
July 11th - 14th  2013  Las Vegas Nevada

Kindergarten Math Common Core: Standard One - Counting and Cardinality

Know Number Names and the Count Sequence

 

 

 

 

 

  

  



Explore Galore! Observing Color in the Discovery Station

As promised, more posts from my presentations at SDE (Staff Development for Educators)
I Teach K national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, July 11th - 14th.  This activity comes from the session I presented - Explore Galore: Setting Up a Science Discovery Station.

What does the teaching of Science bring to your curriculum? 

Color Bottles

Color Mixing

 

Save those empty plastic water bottles! Use the plastic bottles for this effective demonstration of primary color mixing resulting in secondary colors. Use food coloring to color the water in one bottle yellow, one red, and one blue. Students place the bottles of colored water on a sunny windowsill.  They move the bottles in front of each other to create secondary colors (green, purple and orange). Students then illustrate and write about their findings in Discovery Journals - a great way to connect Science and Literacy.  This activity is included (along with a recording sheet) in an exciting new unit - Color - at my Teachers pay Teachers store.  www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/kt-education

 

Color Spin

Changing Colors

 

Spin the circle and watch the colors mix and change. Draw circles on cardstock and divide into 3 equal parts. This activity, along with a blackline for color circles, is included in my new Teachers pay Teachers unit -Color - www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/kt-education  Have each child cut out the circle and heavily color one section red, one yellow and one blue. Help push a sharpened golf pencil (This size pencil works the best.) through the middle of the colored circle. Students spin it like a "top" and observe what happens. Always remember to connect Science to Literacy by having students draw and write about their findings in their Discovery Journals.

 

Make a Rainbow

Simple Experiment

 

This simple Science experiment projects a real rainbow image on the wall. Fill a shallow glass baking dish with water. Tilt a small mirror in the water and shine a flashlight in the center of the mirror. A rainbow will appear as if by magic.  Only you know it's not magic, it's just the reflected light. 
 

Color Sorting Small Station

 

Small Stations are independent learning stations designed for one or two students. They require very limited teacher/student directions and take up very little space. Perfect for early finishers and ideal for differentiating instruction.  All small stations are just $5.50 each.  To order go to www.kteducation.com and click on products. 

First Week of School Booklet - September Activities

NEW PRODUCTS:
Assessment/Keepsake Booklet                                                                                September Activities

 

If you start teaching school tomorrow (That's right, today IS Labor Day) you'll want this inexpensive reproducible from my Teachers pay Teachers store. 5 pages in 5 days makes this a great keepsake booklet from the First Week in Kindergarten plus it gives teachers a quick assessment about the skills of their incoming students.
 Go to www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/kt-education

 

 

There's also a great new packet filled with September Activities that will help you work "Smarter, NOT Harder."  This can be found at www.teacherspayteachers.com/store/kt-education   

 



Comprehension Strategies - Pretelling and Retelling

Here's an idea from:
Assessing Comprehension: Creative, Engaging and Meaningful Activities for Kindergartners
Presented by Trish Saccomano at SDE (Staff Development for Educators) National I Teach K conference, July 11th - 14th, Las Vegas, Nevada

It's difficult to assess a non or beginning reader's comprehension skills, but it can be done through pretelling and retelling stories.  To retell a story successfully, a child must be able to think in a sequential manner.  So before children begin retelling a story, have them think backwards in order to recall events in sequential order.  Then students are ready to think forward in order to put the steps in the proper order. After practicing this skill, students are ready to begin retelling stories.  More about that later!

Use simple classroom routines, games or projects with your students to practice these pretelling skills.

 

Storytelling Cards Small Station

People, Places and Things

 

Storytelling cards are a set of cards that include people, places and things.  Have students pick one of each color card - blue are the people cards, green are the places cards and red are the things cards - and use the what's on the card to create a story.  The storyteller MUST include all three cards in their story.
Small Stations are independent learning stations designed for one or two students. They require limited teacher/student directions and take up very little space.  perfect for early finishers and ideal for differentiating instruction.  All small stations are just $5.50 each.  To order go to www.kteducation.com and click on products.