To Do

 

There's a printable to strawberry do list in the Premium Coloring Club this week! Use it in your teacher planner, on your teacher desk or for students to set come goals!

Find out more about our club on the website!

I hope you smash your to-do list this week or at least have fun coloring!

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Teacher Organization

Sun Craft

 In the  Pond Coloring Club we have a sun craft for your children to make. 

All the pieces are on one page to print! This makes prep a breeze! You can provide paints, pencils or crayons for your students to use. 

Find more One Page Crafts HERE

Today we used a white crayon to scribble patterns before adding a thin layer of yellow watercolor paint!

The lovely crayon-resist effect is like magic and your children will love it!

After the activity, have a language-based mini lesson on the sun! It's the perfect time to help your learners begin learning about temperature.

• talk about the warmth we feel from the sun - what other things are hot?
• talk about things in the classroom that feel hot or cold
• show students some clothes that are worn on a hot day and/or a cold day
• talk about things that can be both hot and cold
• let your students do a free drawing about a hot day or cold day they remember
• make a list of places/events the students have experienced that are hot/cold (pool, ocean, bath, BBQ)

Some language you may like to encourage

hot, hotter, hottest, cold, colder, coldest, warm, cool, steaming, bubbles, icy, freezing, shivering, burning, sticky, sweaty, boiling, frosty, snowy, chilly, humid, wet, dry, rainy, cloudy, shade, hotter than, cooler than, warmer than, colder than, frozen, not as hot, not as cold, temperature, warm, warmer, warmest, cool, cooler, coolest

After your temperature talk, play a listening game! It will help encourage attentive listening and making connections.

Hot Like the Sun

• show students the signal for a correct sentence - thumbs up (or similar) and incorrect (thumbs down)
• if you want to add a novelty element for engagement you can tell students that thumbs up correlates to sunrise (yes) and thumbs down correlates to sunset (no)
• the children listen as each child has a turn and they give a thumbs up or down
• say something like A cup of tea is hot like the sun. Students listen and decide if it's true or not and give their signal. 
• you may need to establish an expectation before the game that hot/cold is all that is being decided -not an exact temperature match to the sun 
• Each child has a turn and the class listen and signal for each. Each child may decide to make a true or untrue statement. 

Some other ideas:

• my warm jacket
• my bubble bath
• my patchwork quilt
• the campfire
• inside the freezer
• my ice cream
• a mug of hot chocolate
• a glass of orange juice
• ice cubes
• water in my pool

I hope you have lots of fun encouraging language and listening with your students! 

If you're not yet a member of the coloring club, we'd love to have you!

You may also like:

• more sun teaching ideas and resources
• a sun screen wallpaper
• to join my newsletter list

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Craft for Kids, Science, Summer

Linking Language Game - I Like Fish

Have your learners made their funny fish from the Premium Coloring Club yet?

Here is a little language game they can play afterwards! If they're new to building memory, let them hold their craft as they play or pop it on the floor in front of them so they can see its color and the color of their friend's fishes.  

Language Game: I like Fish

• this game will help students link ideas in their language (linking helps children remember things)
• tell your students that today we will try to remember the ocean animals the class likes
• commence the game by saying for example - My name is Mrs Teacher and I like fish.
• the whole class say Mrs Teacher likes fish.
• the second student will have his turn, add his ocean animal (e.g. My name is Sam and I like octopus.)
• the whole class reviews the list Mrs teacher likes fish. Sam likes octopus.
• continue around the class, linking names and animals.

Variations

• Very young learners can have their craft fish in their hands to help with memory building. They tell their fish color, rather than an ocean animal they like. For example, I like orange fish.
• As your children gain confidence and memory, have them remember and say the whole list themselves rather than the whole class saying them together.
• Add an adjective - for example, I like silly fish.

If you're not yet a member of the club, find out more HERE!

Find more literacy, language and listening games on my resource page!

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Craft for Kids, Oral Language

One At a Time

Tracing is such a fun way to build fine motor skills for writing! We have lots of tracing pages in our store and coloring club! 

I have a fun way to use the new free goat page - you can integrate some math with partner-play!

Let's Play GOAT - Go One At a Time

• play in pairs
• each student has a different color crayon or pencil
• each student has their own dice (differentiate to your students, e.g. if your students are emerging in skills use a 6 sided dice, if more advanced you could use a 20 sided dice etc)
• both students roll and the numbers are compared
• the player with the highest number wins and gets to trace one line or section on the GOAT game mat in their color

• this activity helps students compare numbers
• the student who can last trace a line or section on the GOAT may be declared the overall winner

You could also adjust the game and make the winner of each roll, the student who:

• has the largest total of a 2 dice throw
• has the smallest difference of a 2 dice throw (subtraction)
• has the largest product of a 2 dice throw (multiplication)

Tips:

• review with your students your expectations for what constitutes a line or section on the goat
• after the game, let students watercolor their goats together and display - talk about 2 color artworks and look at some famous ones for an art appreciation discussion
• use the ‘go one at a time’ reference throughout your week to help encourage turn taking in other leanring areas and social situations

If you're not yet a member of the coloring club, I'd love to have you with me!

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Fill the Bus Addition Game

I'd like to share with you an addition math game! Before drawing, coloring or painting on the free bus page from our Pond Coloring Club you can implement this strategy-packed minimal-prep game that will encourage flexible thinking and integrating strategies. 

Fill the Bus Addition Game

Students will apply a variety of addition strategies to find 4 numbers that make a total. 

You need:

• a game mat (bus coloring page) for each student
• a dish of dice (differentiate to suit your learners)
• number tiles or sticky notes (write a number between 4 and 24 if using six sided dice)

To play:

• the goal is to have a die in each window of the bus to total a chosen number
• choose a number from a range that suits your dice (4-24 if using standard dice)
• place a number tile, card or use a sticky-note and place it on your bus between the windows
• start rolling dice and place one in each window, keeping a running total 

• you may choose to write your numbers down or draw dots on the bus windows as an addition strategy

• you may choose to keep the first number you roll, or keep rolling until a number of your choice appears
• on the final window you will need to make sure the roll makes the final total (e.g. after 4, 6 and 3 you must roll a 2 to get to 15)
• encourage your students to pay attention to the 3rd window also, in anticipation of the final window needing to be a number between 1-6 (they will get better at understanding this after a few plays)

Demonstrate to students some strategies for keeping a running total and working out how much they need to complete the bus:

• combining numbers to make 10 quickly (in photo above they may see the 6 and 4 and quickly tally 10)
• using their knowledge of doubles and near-doubles
• bridging to ten as a beginning step to work out the difference (after rolling 4 in the photo above, they may think I need a 6 to get to 10 and then make 5 after that, I need to make 5 from 2 windows/numbers)

Discussion about various strategies will make more sense after students have had a few turns at the game - so play it often and be prepared for the first time to be challenging. 

Of course, after the game get the pencils out and have more fun drawing and coloring! 

If you're not yet a member of the club, I'd love to have you with me!

Bus Art Project

You may like your learners to draw and paint a happy school bus when they go back to school! Don't forget that I have a directed drawing ready for you! 

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Addition, Coloring Page, Math Game Interactive

Unicorn Craft

Get the paints, scissors and glue ready for some sweet unicorn fun! 

Over in the craft library of the Pond Coloring Club is an activity ready for your little ones! Simply print the one page and gather your supplies. 



You could:

• add some glitter
• add detail with sparkly gel pens
• glue sequins on
• make a few and create a banner
• attach to a stick to make a puppet

If you're not yet a member of our club, we'd love to have you! 

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Craft for Kids

Big Fun Classroom Numbers

Daily counting and number activities in kindergarten is an essential part of your day! Make it fun and engaging with our big classroom number characters! Print and display them as a number line or as cards in whole-class math warm up games!

Numbers 1 to 30 are included!



An editable version is included too if you'd like to type in your own chosen font!

Three ideas for using this classroom decor in your learning activities

Number Order Game

• select 10 students to play
• give each child a number
• ask students to put themselves in number order
• the rest of the class checks to see acuray and counts from 0 to 10 to celebrate, upon each number the child holding it can sit down in line

Find your match

• give each child in your class a number (print 4 to a page to make them hand-size)
• call a number - e.g. 10 
• students find a classmate who will combine with their number to make the total - e.g. the child holding 6 and stand with the child holding 4
• adjust your printed numbers to the ability of your class (e.g. if you are working on partitioning 5, just print numbers 0-5)

Number Line

• have whole-class counting every day
• count forwards, selecting a child to use a special pointer to point to each number as it is called
• remind students to look at the number as they say numbers and listen to the counting
• count backwards
• count 'one more than'
• count 'one less than'
• skip count - depending on the ability of your class

Find these numbers and more over on our resource page!

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Classroom Decor, counting, Number Games

Classroom Welcome Signs

Decorate your classroom door to make learners feel welcomed and ready to learn! We have a growing collection of fast-prep one page welcome signs to help you do that. You can coordinate them with other door decor - like we have done here with the rainbows, or just keep it simple with the sign alone. 

The pack I want to show you today has 6 different posters for your classroom - switch them out for variation through the year. Small changes like this help to re-engage and excite your classroom community.

Simply write or type the name of your class or write 'our classroom'. 

Find them here in our TpT store and more options through our resource page!

When you welcome your class for the first time, here is a fun listening activity (that requires no prep) to do, perhaps in the first week of school!

Listening

• discuss with students how we listen in class
• talk about the different ways we listen - at the mall, in school, watching TV, playing with friends, eating lunch
• ask students to share the different things they like listening to - rain, traffic, TV, conversations, music
• ask students to share who they listen to - their teacher, their family
• ask students to close their eyes and have them identify some classroom sounds - scissors, pencils on paper, a sneeze, clapping, heavy walking, clicking the mouse on a computer
• with eyes closed have students listen for a set time period and upon opening chart all the different sounds/noises they heard

I hope you have fun getting your classroom ready to welcome your students - let me know if you have a request for new printable decor!

• find more classroom decor here
• don't miss news of my new resources - sign up to the email
• another listening activity

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Door Displays, Talking and Listening

Crab Craft

I loved making a new crab craft for a Pond Coloring Club member who needed something with very few cutting lines. 

Your learners might like it too! Cut just seven simple shapes before folding and gluing! 

You could:

• teach 'clam' and 'crab' for a review on the 'am' and 'ab' word families
• read some crab or clam books 
• sort and compare a collection of shells from the beach 

If your students love learning about animals under the sea and completing tracing pages, find a whole bunch ready to print and paint in our Ocean Big Shape Tracing Pack! 

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Craft for Kids, ocean

Puppy Puppet

I shared a puppy drawing, art project and game with you recently and today want to tell you about a great picture book for shared reading - Big Dog Little Dog by Sally Rippin and illustrated by Lucinda Gifford. 

Big Dog learns about compromise and the delight of playful company when Little Dog moves in. At first he does not like the change to his daily routine, but by the end of the story Big Dog and Little Dog are spending lovely long days together. 

I read it today to some little emergent readers. I used it as a springboard to talk about:

• the sight words 'big' and 'little' which are appearing in their instructional readers at the moment
• making connections as we read, and after we read
• how characters change in a text
• antonyms / opposites

We also wrote a sentence together afterwards for guided writing and made some puppets. 

Before I implemented the shared reading of the picture book we explored the cover and illustrations to get a feel for the characters. The pages show lots of things Big Dog does through his day and here you could chart a list of verbs as you go:

• run
• dig
• lie
• walk
• chase
• roll
• beg
• jump
• wag
• sleep
• wait
• chew

Also before reading we talked about how the dogs looked in the pictures and using only the illustrations I asked the boys to make some predictions about what the dogs were feeling, doing and how they were changing as the pages progressed.  

After reading (and confirming/correcting predictions as we went) I asked them some comprehension questions:

• What is the story about?
• Where did the story take place?
• What happened?
• Who were the main characters?
• What was the main problem in the story?
• What do you think about how Big Dog treated Little Dog?
• How does Big Dog feel at the end of the story?

With the dog and puppy puppets you can encourage your learners to retell the story, or make up their own! Simply color or paint, cut and attach them to craft sticks. Model some simple story lines to get them going and let their imaginations take hold!

The dog and puppy puppet are in the craft library of our Pond Coloring Club if you'd like your learners to make them too!

For more puppy and dog ideas, have a peek on our resource page!

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Books, Craft for Kids, Reading

Playful Puppy Wallpaper

I love making screen wallpapers and sharing them with you! 

In the past I have shared them here on the blog and also over on the website. Some, in Pond Update newsletters. There are also some available in our store.

From now I will be sharing some with you by email. If you've loved my wallpapers in the past, I am sure you'll love more - so I warmly invite you to join the list. 

If you were on the Wallpaper Warm Up experience for 6 weeks recently, I've got you already so you don't have to re-join! 

Please know that along with the freebies I share with you, I will also offer you ideas, teaching tips and news of items for sale in my store. 

As always, you can remove yourself from the newsletter list at any time!

When you sign up to the wallpaper newsletter here on this blog post you will receive my latest Playful Puppies design as a gift from me!

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Playful Puppy Auditory Memory

Auditory memory activities are both fun in the classroom and helpful for building and supporting learning in literacy. Here is a no prep Playful Puppy Game to implement in your morning literacy program or in lesson transitions thorough the day. 

• students sit in a circle
• place a hoop, cushion or similar in the middle of the students as the puppy's bed
• ask 5 or 6 students to gather some simple items from the classroom that the puppy has taken and put them on the bed
• together with the class, name and identify all the items, learning new words if needed
• select a student to be the playful puppy
• the playful puppy closes his eyes
• tell student how many items you are going to say and say them - e.g. I am going to tell you 3 objects to find: pencil-glue-book.
• the playful puppy (with eyes closed) must repeat this sequence back two times, perhaps counting on fingers at the same time (pencil-glue-book-pencil-glue-book)
• after repeating the words, the playful puppy stands and runs around the circle of students (remove this step if your students are having difficulty remembering items and work towards it) before going to collect the items from the bed
• increase or decrease the number of items to remember according to your students memory abilities

Free Puppy Art Project

I hope your students love playing it and building their memory abilities. In the coloring club today we have a free directed drawing project for to too. Your students could:

• follow the steps on the page
• draw their puppy on large art paper and paint
• draw their puppy with their finger in finger paint, playdough, sand or shaving cream
• draw some of the items they remember from the game, around their puppy
• add extra details
• design a background
• draw their own puppy!

If you're not yet in our Pond Coloring Club, we'd love to have you!

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Art Ideas for Kids, Directed Drawing, Oral Language, pets