Write the Room

Write the room is a favorite center in my classroom. It gives students the opportunity to move around, use an array of props, gives them the opportunity to interact with text found within our classroom, challenges their hand-eye coordination, and practice handwriting.


Students use a clipboard and may choose to use colored pencils, regular pencils, or markers. I also have a variety of props they can choose from including; hats and glasses. I try to stick with foam hats to make them easy to clean. I can usually find them cheap at Michaels. I buy glasses from the Dollar Tree and pop out the lenses.
     

I try to change up my Write the Room sheets throughout the year to keep my Kinder-Hoppers challenged. I usually begin with simple sheets that have lines and progress through the year. If you go to my first Work Centers post http://kinder-pond.blogspot.com/2011/01/work-centers.html, you can find my Write the Room sheets that are for the beginning of the year, as well as, thematic ones. 


Here are the sheets that keep students focused on beginning letter and sheets that have students searching for words that don't have a certain letter.

Don't feel like downloading? Available for purchase at TPT for $2

All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.
Beginning Letter Write the Room Sheets

Missing Letter Write the Room Sheets

Download Problems

I got a comment about documents being private, I apologize! Everything should be fixed now! Enjoy your Sunday!

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Poetry Journals: Making them Matter (February Edition)

Here are some of our themes...Groundhog's Day, 100th Day, Valentine's Day, and President's Day. The order I have each poem is, classroom poster (except I can't seem to find my pic of the Groundhog one), old versions (student copy and classroom binder copy), old homework labels, and ends with next years version of the student copy. 


Enjoy!
Shannon


All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.

All of my Poetry Journals can now be found on TPT, as well.



Groundhog's Day
Here's a Little Groundhog

Groundhog Homework

Here's a Little Groundhog

100th Day!

Valentines For You!

100 Little Valentines Homework

Valentines for You

I Like Money (by Dr. Jean)

I Like Money

I Like Money Homework
I Like Money

Sometimes I throw in Yankee Doodle and skip The Groundhog one...I will upload it later :)

Poetry Journals: Making them Matter (January Edition)

During the month of January, we work on several themes; Winter, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and Transportation.

All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.

All of my Poetry Journals can now be found on TPT, as well.

The Chubby Little Snowman
Here is the poster. 

Here is the older version of the student copy and classroom book copy.
Chubby Little Snowman

Homework Labels for current version...
Chubby Little Snowman Homework

New version (I love the new ones! The homework is already on it!)
New Chubby Little Snowman

I'm a Little Snowman

I'm a Little Snowman
I'm a Little Snowman Homework

I'm a Little Snowman

Dr. King's Dream

Dr. King's Dream
Dr. King's Dream Homework
Dr. King's Dream

Traffic Light

Traffic Light
Traffic Light Homework
Traffic Light

Poetry Journals: Making them matter (Introduction)

I started doing Poetry Journals quite a few years ago and like a great many others, it was just a poem/song/fingerplay on a sheet of paper that I put into a 3 prong folder and sent home, in hope that the parents would have their child work on it. My idea of work was clearly different from their idea of work. I am fairly certain that most parents just had their child leave the folder in their backpack or just practice saying it. My idea of working on it...have your child read it and track the print, find the sight words, practice sounding out simple words, practice reading with expression...my list would go on and on.


I did not do enough enough with them in my classroom. My expectations of the parents weren't too high, but lacked direction and focus. 


I have been working on re-doing my journals for the last four years. My poems/song/fingerplays, my sheets, my posters, my routines, and my homework are far from perfect but each year, I improve upon the process. I have made my classroom Poetry Journals matter in my classroom. My students love having a folder of poems that they can read with confidence beginning the first week. I think they also love going back to poems that we read during exciting times throughout the year.

1. The first thing I had to do...I had to choose poems that I enjoy and that the students would enjoy. I had to throw out poems that lacked sight words, that were too long, and that no longer fit into themes that I enjoy doing in my room. This was difficult. I did not want to be completely different than my Kindergarten team, but the first year when I just did the same poems...it did not go well.
2. I had to re-type the poems and make them cuter. I've got this thing, I really want things to be copied straight, to lack black edges, and to look like they all came from the same designer. One of my team members always said, "Shannon, you don't need to re-design the wheel." My reply then, now, and always, "You're right, but I do need to make it cuter." I am in the process of re-doing them again, LOL.
3. I wrote out all my poems on sentence strips for a pocket chart. This has never felt right. First, my room is just not big enough for a bunch of pocket chart stands. It doesn't help that student's always seem to be tripping on them. Also, I was horrible about taking them down and putting the new ones up. Finally, the students wanted to be able to revisit older poems throughout the year. So, I began the process of creating posters. They are half sheets of poster board. All the poems are typed. They are in a basket on my large carpet area, so students always have access.
4. I went through each poem and created a homework label. This was a bit of a pain, but parents need direction on what to do...and so do I!
5. Routines, routines, routines! I established daily routines. 
6. I am open to adding new things!

I plan on having a series of blogs devoted to Poetry Journals. I will share pictures of my posters, the sheets I currently send home, and my current homework labels. I will also include next years version of my Poetry Journals.

All of my Poetry Journals can now be found on TPT, as well.

Hoppy 100th Day!

The 100th Day of School is one of the most exciting days in any Kindergarten classroom. It's funny how many activities we seem to cram into one day, but that is the joy of making the day so special. Here are a few of my favorites. Enjoy!


All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.


Books
      


100th Day Snack


I ask for parents to send in special items for our snack that day. Students take 10 of each and put them into their snack bag. They really enjoy this activity!
        


Hunting for Kisses
I buy 100 Hershey Kisses and number them (I use little sticker dots and place them on the bottom). While my students are at lunch, I hide them throughout the classroom. Depending on how many students are present, I tell students how many kisses they are allowed to find and put into their baggie. The baggie is important because little hands and chocolate = a melty mess! Once students find the specified number, they return to the carpet area and begin matching their kisses to the matching poster.

100 Little Valentines
This is a class book we make. It's a song, too. I have students decorate hearts to glue into the book. I bind it and place it on our reading shelf.
100 Little Valentines Class Book



Hundred Day Headbands
We glue the labels (below) to sentence strips and each student gets 100 Carson Dellosa frog stickers and places them on the headband. It takes a while for them to get all their stickers off, so we start a few days before our actual 100th Day.
Hundred Day Headbands


Froot Loop Necklaces


Exercise to 100



Journal Page & Self Portrait
100th Day Self Portrait

If I Had $100 Journal

Other Great Resources (that are free!)
http://larremoreteachertips.blogspot.com/2011/01/hip-hip-hooray-its-100th-day.html
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B1Nqou3fOm91ZDAxMTMwYTMtMThkYy00YTU5LWJmNzEtZTYyMGUyNTQ2NGQy&hl=en&authkey=CMDr3cwM
http://www.fun-in-first.blogspot.com/

To Gobbler's Knob. It's Groundhog Day!

Groundhog Day, such a silly little tradition but nonetheless it is fun! I started to think about all my traditional stuff and decided I need to do/make more. I know it's just one day, but I figure...might as well make it count!

All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.

**All the documents can now be found in one easy to download file on TPT, it's still a freebie :)

I cannot say how much I LOVE this book. I ordered it in the Scholastic SeeSaw January book order. Two words...SUPER CUTE!

The day before we make a graph as to whether or not the we think the groundhog will see his shadow. A very traditional activity. Here's my a picture of my graph.

Here is a new math activity. I based it on graphing heads or tails. I plan on copying the coin part on cardstock to make it a little heavier. Have students color and cut out the circle groundhogs. Tape or glue them together. Have them flip it and graph the results.
Shadow or No Shadow

A groundhog puzzle. It's pretty basic.
Groundhog Puzzle

The final activity is a book...I use this term loosely. It's a "cheesetastic" book! The goals are for students to track the words, read the sight words, use the pictures for unfamiliar text, and to notice the silly rhyming. The book is simple and a bit silly :)

**Please note, if you copy it...the last two pages are not supposed to be used together. I plan on using the page that actually matches the outcome of whether or not our friend the Groundhog saw his shadow.
Groundhog Book

President's Day

I am working on jazzing up my President's Day Unit; however, there are so many other fun things coming up, I am struggling to keep the ball moving. I'm just going to post what I have so far. :)

Looking for all the printables in one file...

Looking for a great game?

All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.

Books
     

Activities and Worksheets
Presidents Day Spinner


Presidents Day Spin & Tally Sheet

If I Were President Journal Paper

Probability Coin Flip

Penny Nickel Discrimination

Money Worksheet

President's Day Go Fish. I made these cards using cut-outs that I got from the local Teachers Store...I glued them onto blank index cards and added uppercase letter stickers.

More Winter Activities (again)

I forgot I even had these! Just some additional things you can make.

Great for number identification and one-to-one correspondence.

 

Mitten concentration and Snowman Pattern Strips. I used Carson-Dellosa stickers.