Fall Teaching!

Fall is my absolute favorite time of the year to teach!! I LOVE being able to incorporate fun themes into my teaching to help students learn the Kindergarten standards! Students do not even realize sometimes all of the concepts they are learning while we are talking about spiders, bats, pumpkins.  

At the beginning of this week we started out learning with BATS! We read a nonfiction book about bats.

After reading we filled in a bat tree map with facts we learned from the book.

We used this later during writing to write informational pieces about bats. This 2nd 9 weeks our writing standard is writing informational pieces. We also made a bat out of a paper plate.

We practiced sounding out words by labeling a bat together as a class. 

We have been learning about rhyming words so we thought about all of the words that rhyme with BAT and sounded them out. 

We then read a fiction book about a bat.

We worked with a partner to sequence the story and then we came back together as a class to sequence it as a whole group!

The later part of the week we started learning with pumpkins! We started out again with a non-fiction book about pumpkins. 

We discussed why the book was non-fiction. We filled in a flow chart on how a pumpkin grows.

Then, students sequenced how a pumpkin grows by their self. 

We later made a tree map together with pumpkin facts. We filled in our own tree maps too.

We then made used the tree maps to write informational pieces about pumpkins.

We also read a fiction book about a pumpkin.

We compared the 2 pumpkin books using a Venn diagram listing similarities and differences. (I forgot to take a picture

of it!) 

MATH:

We started new math tubs this week! We have some fun "Halloween" themed tubs. 

Counting Jars- students count the number of cubes in their jars and then show it on their paper. Each child's amount is based on what they know both with counting and writing numbers. 

Numeral to quantity- Trick or Treat candy bags. Students count the candy and match the number.

Counting- students practice 1-1 correspondence with counting pumpkin seeds

Race to Trace- students role a dice and count the amount. They trace the number they counted. They try to be the first to trace all of the numbers in their row.

Pumpkin glyphs- students use a key to draw "carve" their Jack-o-lantern.

10s frame monsters- students choose a number card and write the number inside a monster. They then show the number on the 10s frames. (This game is found in my Monster game set on Teachers Pay Teachers.)

Story Problems

We have been working to solve some Halloween themed story problems in our math journals! We are learning new strategies to solve problems! Some drew a picture, some used their fingers, and some used 10s sticks!

ARRGH MATEY!!

On Wednesday it was "Teach Like A Pirate Day!" We have been reading the book "Teach Like A Pirate" as a faculty and doing a book study together. All of the teachers dressed as pirates! The students thought it was funny! 

....and finally, on Friday, all of kindergarten worked to put up our bulletin board for Red Ribbon Week next week! 

As you can see it was another busy week in our room!!