Story Retelling Braclet

Here is a simple and fun way to reinforce comprehension - a story retelling bracelet. The child slides one bead over at a time beginning with red to help retell the story he/she just listened to or read on her own.

Story Retelling Bracelet

Taken from Growing Book by Book

Materials for 1 bracelet: 

string or plastic lacing and 6 stringing beads (red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple)

Directions:

1.  Measure a piece of string for the correct size to fit on the child’s wrist.

2.  String the beads  by placing the colors in this order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue and purple.

3.  Tie the string ends together with a knot.

The retelling bracelet is ready to wear and use.

Rainbow Retelling Stem Prompts:

Red- Ready to hear a retelling of the story? The characters in the story are…

Orange- On to where this story took place…

Yellow- You have to hear the problem in the story…

Green- Get ready for a few more details…

Blue- Better start bringing it to a close and telling you how the problem was solved…

Purple- Picking my favorite party is easy, it was when…

All About Me Books

Today's' feature is coming from one of our own - Natalie Melton. As I walked down the hall this morning, Natalie was sharing her "All About Me" book with a few staff members.

She wrote the book about herself and placed it in the reading center. The students literally fight over who is going to read it first. It' simple to make and a great way for the students to get to know you better.

Here's what's inside:

1. Cover introducing self

2. Birthday

3. Picture of self in school

4. Pictures of family (pets included)

5.Fun facts about self (We all now Ms. Melton LOVES polka dots!)

6. Favorite books

Pretty much you can add anything about your self you would like!

Thanks for sharing Natalie Melton!

Guided Math

Taken from Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits

If you are thinking about jumping into guided math this is a great place to start. The teacher explains the components of guided math, group rotations, materials, and reflection strategies. ENJOY!

Guided Math

St. Patrick's Day Activities

Want some FREE activities for next week. Check these out from The Printable Princess.

St. Patrick's Day Freebies

Vowel Game & Assessment

Taken from Printable Princess

Here's a quick and easy vowel game. Give each student a laminated strip of vowels and a clothespin. Say a CVC word like "cat". Invite the students to put their clothespin on the vowel they hear in the CVC word. Have the students hold up their strips for a quick assessment! Not only will you reinforce and assess vowel sounds but also motor skills!!

Silly McGilly

Meet Silly McGilly, the newest way to bring fun, excitement and learning to your classroom during the month of March!  Silly McGilly is a friendly leprechaun who loves visiting classrooms to play fun little tricks on children throughout the St. Patrick's Day season.  

Here’s how Silly McGilly’s magic works:  read his story, then place his doll in the window on the night your classroom is ready for a trick to be played. This is the invitation for the “real” Silly McGilly to come and visit you.  The next morning, your students will delight in seeing what shenanigans Silly McGilly has been up to while they were home! The magic of Silly McGilly is as limitless as your imagination!! 

You can purchase your own copy of Silly McGilly HERE..

QR Code Sight Word Activity

I LOVE my iPad. One thing I really think is cool is the ability to scan a funny little black and white box and get information!! Yes, a Quick Response code, better known as QR code. A QR Code is a square grid of smaller black and white squares containing encoded data that is designed to be optically scanned, as to provide information about a product or service. Qrafter (Crafter) is a two-dimensional barcode scanner for iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch. Its main purpose is to scan and parse the contents of QR Codes.

(Don't you love it when I talk technical! LOL)

Taken from Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together

I came across this sight word activity using QR Codes. They are so easy. The kids love them. And they are a great technology teaching tool to use in your classroom, or even to send home for students to use at home.

Below is the link to a QR Code Sight Word Video Read the Room Packet. It's free and a fun way to review those sight words.

The packet contains:

• 36 sight word cards, each with a QR code that links to a video to go with that word. Each of the YouTube videos is on ViewPure, so that there are no ads, comments, or distractions.
• 12 cards with QR codes that link to sight word songs which have lots of sight words. 
• A recording sheet to use if you want, that you can print front/back to make it easier to manage for the children.
• Directions for using the sight words.

QR Codes Freebie

Green & Gold Shimmery Playdough

Recipe:

2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup salt
3 small packages of Kool Aid drink mix (Lemon-lime)
3 TBSP oil
2 cups boiling water

Lots of gold glitter

Mix together flour, salt, Kool Aid, glitter, and oil.

Add boiling water and mix until the dough is cool enough to touch. (I cooked on low heat until I got the right consistency.)

Knead until smooth.

Store in a Ziploc bag in the fridge!