The Crazy Pre-K Classroom

Hello All, This first year teaching Kindergarten has been amazing! I love it more and more each day. This month we are studying the ocean. We are using each day to study a different creature that the children want to learn about. We start by watching a youtube video and completing a KWL (know, want to know, learned) chart and a Can, have are chart. Once we record our information in our science notebook we draw, paint, create each creature. Today we had fun making an egg carton jellyfish. This was so simple yet fun. It took some fine motor skills and a few supplies but the kids were having so much fun swimming their jellyfish throughout the room, they even took a little time to "sting" each other. Not maliciously of course! It was great fun, I hope you find time to make some of your own!

This week has been a whirlwind of fun apple activities. I think my favorite new apple activity is the apple fraction stamping we did on Tuesday. I sat everyone down at the table and showed them whole, half, fourths and eigths. They were amazed that you could cut and apple like that and put it back together. After each cut I had the children stamp that section on a piece of construction paper where I had written the different fractions. I was amazed at the amount of critical thinking this activity produced. My four year olds had the best questions like, "So if you cut it again what do you get?" and "Why does the apple have a stem and 5 points on the bottom?" Our last stamp was the 5 points at the bottom because it looks cool and reinforces the 5 section "star" in the middle of the apple that holds the seeds. One little one asked me, "Mrs. O'Donnell if the seeds are stuck inside the apple how do we get more apples?" So then we had a talk about ...

Have you ever looked through your curriculum and thought an activity would be great for learning but really boring? Sometimes I wonder who is thinking some of this stuff up? For instance I had an activity to do today to teach positional words where the children were supposed to use a plastic cup and a bottle cap to show me they understood my directions. I just couldn't do it! How boring to sit on the carpet and move around a bottle cap so........I changed it! I happen to have a class set of small bug jars and plastic spiders. Well, my kiddos know I am totally afraid of spiders so I told them that at the end of the activity they could "attack" me with the spiders. This made the boys especially happy! The class loved using their bug jars and spiders to complete the same objective. Here are some other ideas to help engage 4 year old minds with fun in mind: (1)Add a song: the best songs for learning involve movement and are ideally written on large chart paper for tracking wh...

I have to admit I love Read the Room! This activity is so popular in my classroom, my kiddos beg me for it every week! I love it because it allows children to move and experience writing in different positions. I especially love what my children are learning through this activity: (1)Visual Discrimination: Having to find each card and match the picture on the card to the picture on the recording sheet then write the word on the correct line. (2) Letter/Sound Recognition: Associating the letters and sounds in each word associated with a picture.(3)Handwriting Practice: Writing each letter on a line, practicing proper strokes and letter formation. (4)Self-Control: Being able to move around the room as instructed completing the activity without getting out of control.(5)Vocabulary: Identifying the common objects that go with your teaching. When I realized this week that I had 26 different sets of Read the Room I thought it was time to share! So, I have placed all 26 sets in one mega pack ...

Hello All, I am trying my hand at my first linky party! YEAH! Since fall is my favorite season I thought I would highlight it with links to fall themed freebies for our fellow teachers. Please link directly to your free item description on your blog or directly to your free item on TpT! To participate link up and please take a moment to place my linky party button with a short comment on your blog. I would sure appreciate you following me here at the crazy pre-k classroom and in my store on TpT. Here is my freebie for you: Corn themed mini unit I will be choosing a linky party participant at the end of the linky party (Oct. 13) to recieve my Fun in the Pumpkin Patch Math and Literacy Unit Have fun exploring some free fall fun! Link up below! You won't regret it! Till next time, Christine

After having a super fun week with my kiddos studying corn I decided to put everything we did down on paper and give it away for free! It all started with a pesky common core objective involving measurement but turned out to be so much more! My teacher freind Bev Fleming and I decided that our Autumn theme would be best served by studying fall veggies, which eventually lead us to corn. We decided to create a cornstalk that would "grow" all week long. I made a base out of wood and used an old lightbulb holder to place pvc pipe in. I bought 4 couplers to attach the pvc pipe together as it grew. Here is a picture of our cornstalk on day 3. It grew from 1 foot all the way to 9 feet, with 5 ears of corn on it. (this is my little boy, Collin) I used butcher paper and green paint to decorate the pvc pipe in sections so it could be easily assembled each day. I attached the paper with hot glue. For the ears of corn I glued 2 pieces cut into corn shape leaving a hole large enough t...

Hello All, I had so much fun with my 5 senses unit this week at school that I decided to create a whole unit around it. I included some items that I have been using in my classroom such as the vocabulary building cards and the word wall/pocket chart vocabulary cards. Use this link to see the entire unit: My 5 Senses Unit I have also written a teacher big book, created a few worksheets and given my ideas for centers/activities that I have been doing for years with this unit. My favorite part though has to be the treasure hunt that I posted about a couple of days ago. My freind, Bev Fleming and I came up with this and it was so much fun! Check out the past post and get the recording sheet for free by scrolling down past this post. This unit also has a freebie of its own, I am giving away my hearing worksheet, you can find the freebie by clicking on the following link: 5 Senses Hearing Worksheet Freebie

This past week we studied the 5 senses. I was eager for something new to do that wasn't the same old lesson. My teacher friend, Bev Fleming, and I came up with an idea. We decided to create a 5 senses treasure hunt. We started with a plan to create 5 stations that the children would visit, each one dedicated to one of the 5 senses: 1. Hearing: We used a sound CD that came with an ABC sound bingo game and each child had a set of earphones. 2. Tasting: We used marshmallows and had the children shut their eyes and hold out there hand, then taste. 3. Touching: We placed smooth items inside a box with a small opeing cut out of the top. The children were told not to look into the box. 4. Sight: We used view finders, you could also use kaliedescopes or toilet paper rolls with pictures taped to the end, look through to the ceiling to see the picture. 5. Smell: We used garlic, pepper, pepperming extract and candy for the children to smell without removing the lids on the garlic and pep...

I designed a scavenger hunt for my third grader that gave his class a chance to learn a few things about 4th grade and a fun end of the year activity. His class went around in groups today and had such a blast. Finding each place, stamping their passport, writing down an objective for the next grade and then coming back to draw a map and write a paragraph about what they want to learn nest year. Tomorrow they will finish with one more clue which leads them to their new teachers classrooms and has a treasure box filled with a candy treat for them. I was so excited that it went so well! Here are some pics and a link to the files on Teachers Pay Teachers. Passport-to-the-4th-grade-3rd-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt I have created a passport/scavenger hunt for children moving to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The objectives are all taken from the Texas TEaks and are common core aligned. Below are links to each different passport, there is also a blank passport if y...

Spring is almost here and it is time to start planning those fun activities that we all love when the blanket of winter lifts and the sunshine of spring arrives. The following ideas are from my new TpT unit named "Spring is in the Air!" Spring Math and Literacy Unit Extension Ideas Sensory Play: Use the snail cards or number cards in a pot of dirt, have the children find the words, brush them off and then record them on paper. Allow them to have small plastic shovels, gardening gloves and a small empty watering can for pretend play. Silk Flower Colors and Counting: Have some silk flowers on a table, all different colors, have the children match the flowers to the color word card. Have them draw the flower in the correct color crayon and then write the color next to it. Large construction paper works well for this center. Then have them count the number of petals on the flower and write the number next to the word. You could also count and pattern with these flowers usi...