Saturday, October 19, 2013

Time Flies

I can't believe we are already in the middle of October!  Boy, this year is flying by!  My class has been very busy.  We just started our second nine weeks.  I feel like there is too much to do and not enough time.  What happened to kids being allowed to be kids?

Anyways...

We had a super busy week (like every week).  We learned numbers 0 through 5.  We got out manipulatives to help the students better understand the numbers.  I love seeing the students' faces when I get out manipulatives.  They think they are so cool.

Photo of Wolfelicious Math counting

This year I have noticed my students have more trouble than usual with sight words.  I keep coming up with more and more ways to help them learn them.  One of my new things to do is have a code word for my door.  Every time throughout the day we come into class the students give the word a high five and say the word.  (I hope this helps them).

Photo of Wolfelicious Code Word

This year in order to be highly effective we have to have our objectives posted.  I have went round and round with how I want to do this.  I have looked and looked at Pinterest but I think I have been doing the easiest way for me to get them posted.  I go over what we are doing every morning with the students.  This is how I decided to post my objectives.  Super easy and quick! 

Wolfelicious Photo of objective board

This week we went over the Noun PowerPix.  It was so cool to see the students understanding what a noun is.  I did this activity over two days with the post it notes.  The students really had a great time using the post it notes and posting them on our poster.  I know we still have some work to do on getting all students to know what a noun is, but lots of students are comprehending it.  I am hoping this will help the students make sentences too.

photo of nouns

Another way I am trying to help my students learn their sight words.  We did this activity every day this week.  We read the sight words first.  Then I would have the students get out a certain color and then color the sight word that I told them to color.  On Friday, I gave the students the words again, but this day was the full page.  The students were so excited for this whole page.

Photo of Sight Words

This week I changed up my Scoreboard.  It seemed like the students were getting a little bored with it so I decided to add the Turtles to it.  I know my son likes the Turtles so I figured my class would too.  I also added the level so it would seem more like a game.  Also, I decided to count the tallies each day instead of using it the whole week.  I think for my kinders the whole week was too long for them to really get excited about.  I told them that if the turtles won we would take time to dance in the afternoon.  Although Shredder kept winning this week, I hope they earn their dance party next week. (hopefully they will since the full moon will be over).

Photo of Wolfelicious Scoreboard


This week my kiddos were very talkative.  To help with them talking so much we had to go over the classroom rules.  Everyday we practiced them.




Thanks for stopping by!!  Have a Wolfelicious day!


Tuesday, October 1, 2013

The Brothers, W, and Sight Words

It was another busy week here at Wolfelicious!  We learned about my favorite letter.  Can you guess what letter it is?

Yeppers, its letter W.

We made 'wigs' for the letter w.  Aren't they adorable. 


In Social Studies we learned about the Wright Brothers.  I always enjoy teaching about the Wright Brothers since I am from Ohio!  I think it is important for the students to know where the Wright Brothers were from.  

This year I taught about the Brothers a little differently than other years.  This year we read a few stories about the Wright Brothers and then we completed a couple writing about them.  We also watched the Peanuts movie "The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk" which is about the Wright Brothers and the perfect way for my kiddos to learn more about the Wright Brothers, since Snoopy is my favorite character.  

Look at how focused all my kiddos were during the movie. I think they love Snoopy too. 

Here is the writing we completed after coloring an airplane on the other side.  I wrote this out under the document camera.  I asked the kiddos to tell me what they knew about the Wright Brothers .  These are the things they knew about them. 

I was really impressed at how well their writing was when completing this.  I guess our practice at our handwriting has been paying off. 


I have noticed my students having a very difficult time with their sight words this year.  We practice them every single day. We always cheer them, sing them, and use flash cards to practice them.  Then also they are in a couple of the centers I have.  I feel like I am doing so much to help them learn the words.  This past week I added sight word sheets to help them too.  You can check out the sheets. 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Wolfelicious-Aka-April-Kreitzer-Wolfe


This week we practiced our words by partnering up and going on a reading trail.  I laid the words in a trail around the classroom.  I partnered the kiddos up. (High student with a low student).  Then I showed them what I wanted them to do. One student jump and read and the other student is the coach.  Helping the student, not telling them the answer. The students really enjoyed doing this.  



I added two new centers to our reading centers.  I add the Smartboard sight word game and then a letter game.  Both seemed like big hits.  With the Smartboard game the student taps the circle and a sight word comes up. Then they tap the back circle and pick out a new word. 


The letter center the students had to put the letter in order on the blue board.  

It was another amazing week!  Next week I have to assess my students for grade cards.  I can't wait to see their progress.