Journaling-Our Research Journals

It's almost the end of January, and we were ready to start our blue journals this week.  Our journal progression has been (yes, in rainbow order!)

Red-My Picture Tells A Story
Orange-My Labeling Journal
Yellow- Stories About Me
Green-My Opinion Journal
Blue-My Research Journal
Purple-Five Star Journal

My goal, with all of the journals, is for my kindergartners to write about things that are important to them, and topics they are interested in.  Choosing their writing topic is the hardest part of the writing process for some students, but I love what happens when they discover their "voice" and share with me their excitement in our writing conferencing together.  

Our first few pages in each of the journals, however, I pick the topic.  It helps us get the basics of what each journal is about down before we get more creative.

Our Research Journal is our nonfiction journal, and helps us get to our final goal of writing 3 sentences.  The format or "main idea and 3 supporting facts" is familiar for my students.  We use the same organizer in the listening center, when we listen to non-fiction books.  I make sure to introduce that listening center response sheet a couple of weeks before we introduce the journal.  I've also been using it with my guided reading groups for a couple of weeks.  

Listening Center Response Sheet-Nonfiction

When I introduced our new journals on Monday, they were very excited to see what they looked like, and immediately made the connection.  

Our first day, I read a very simple nonfiction book about baby giraffes.  I then showed them (with much fanfair!) the first page of the journal, and modeled what I wanted them to do.  We talked about what the main idea of the book would be ("giraffes!"  "baby giraffes!") and I wrote that in the big circle, leaving room for a picture.  We then talked about 3 facts we had read in the book, or facts they knew about giraffes.  In the small circles, I  wrote "milk" (the book talked about how the mama giraffe feeds her babies), leaves (the book discussed how they eat leaves when they are older), and tall (we talked about if someone-like an alien- had never seen a giraffe before and we wanted to tell them about it, the first thing we would say is it is tall).  I then wrote my 3 sentences, making sure to model capitalization, sounding out, and periods at the end of each sentence.  I wrote "Giraffes are tall.  Baby giraffes drink milk.  Big giraffes eat leaves".  I then turned off my projector, and passed out their new journals.  

They ROCKED it.  Look at these great first day results:

They've come such a long way this year!  So proud of them!!!

A Year Of Kindergarten Journals

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New Year's Unit

I'm in the middle of those days between Christmas and New Year's Eve where I'm not quite sure what day it is, or what time it is.

In the midst of my stay-up-too-late-sleep-too-late-Netflix-binging days, I updated my New Year unit for the week we go back.

That week, I plan on talking about goal setting, new beginnings, and trying new things...all the things I love about the new year.

When I create a new unit, I am developing small group activities for my small group rotations.  This is our skills practice time of the day when the students are working on skills independently while I am working with my reading group or math group.

When planning my small group activities for literacy I use a modified Daily 5 (but I have control issues) plan.  I plan weekly activities for:

Working with Words

Working on Letters

Working on Writing

Working with Names

Listening to Reading (my reading group)

My math rotations are similar, with activities each week based around the math strands:

Geometry

Counting and Cardinality (Number Sense)

Patterning and Base 10

Measurement and Data

Operations and Algebraic Thinking (my math group)

For New Year's here is my small group plans:

Can't wait to celebrate the new year with my munchkins!

Happy New Year Unit on TPT

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Pizza Voting

We've been learning about voting in my classroom, and it fit right in with our Pizza Unit!  We voted on what kind of pizza topping is our favorite.

Pizza Voting

Pizza Voting

On Friday, we had a REAL pizza chef from Ge-Angelo's come in and show us how pizza is made.  He threw the dough in the air and everything!

It was a great introduction to voting (without a whole lot of controversy) in my classroom.

Pizza Activities on TPT

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Book Write

Literature Response Sheets 

*Click Here for  Brown Bear Response Freebie*

(click on the picture for a link to TPT for the whole set for $3.00)

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Setting Up A Writing Center and Freebies

I love my writing center!  I finally took the time to organize things so I am slowly introducing different types of writing to the writing center as we learn about them in our curriculum.    Let me tell you a little bit about what you see here.

First Things First

My writing center is right next to the classroom door where my kids enter every morning.  My classroom isn't very big (cue 50 people emailing me to tell me that they are teaching 35 kids in a former milk cooler...sorry about that!).  Everything in my classroom has more than one purpose.  My writing center is also my "sign in spot".  The first thing my kids do when they arrive in the morning is to sign in for snack time milk.  In my school, they get to choose chocolate or white milk every day.

When I taught preschool a million years ago, I had a sign in procedure in which the name cards were already written for them.  In kindergarten, I have them sign in every single day.  

We use(d) Handwriting Without Tears in our district, so my sign in tickets have a "starting corner".

Most of my kids come in able to write their names, but in all caps.  When they come back from Thanksgiving Break, my expectation is for them to write their name "The Kindergarten Way" (Capital letter at the beginning and lowercase for the rest).  Here is a freebie of my sign in tickets.  

I print them on card stock, and cut them apart.  They sit in a little basket on the writing center.  The kids write their name on the name ticket, then put it under white milk or chocolate.  I save the name tickets from the first day, and the end of each trimester, and glue them on a sheet all together to show growth throughout the year. 

What Can I Write?

I have center time for 30-45 minutes every day.  When I say "center time" I mean good old fashioned centers...blocks, dramatic play, paint, and of course, the writing center.  I feel VERY strongly about the importance of play in the kindergarten classroom...but that's another blog post.  :)

I introduce my writing center very early in the school year.  I make a point to talk about how the writing center is different from the art center.  The writing center is a quiet center for just two (lucky) friends, and it is for writing.  

I have 7 different writing forms at my writing center.  I introduce them slowly in this order:  

1.  Postcards

Postcards are printed on cardstock.  There is room for a picture on the back, a   sticker "stamp", a To and From spot, as well as room for some writing.

2.  Labeling

I have some simple pictures of castles, circus, farm, etc.  The kids can choose a picture they like, color it, and label it.

3.  Cards

Cards are printed on cardstock, and folded to look like a card.  We have birthday cards, get well cards, and thank you cards.  I also add different cards for Holidays.  A local Hallmark store donates unused envelopes to our school (by the BOX load).  I add those to the card bin as well. 

4.  Surveys

Surveys are WILDLY popular in my classroom!  They are on a half sheet of paper, include things like cake/icecream  football/soccer   pirates/princesses   dog/cat as well as some blank surveys.  I include some small (half paper sized) clipboards in the bin as well.  

5.  Lists

I usually add this bin around Christmas time when my kids are excited to make wish lists.

6. Stories

These pages are very much like our journal papers.  A great place to draw a picture and write a story.

7.  Books

These are also a favorite.  I copy the cover paper on colored copy paper or card stock, add a couple of sheets or copy paper, fold in half and staple to make a book.  I sometimes ask parents to help staple them for me.  They LOVE to make books, and especially love when I read one of the books at the end of the day!

Can't picture what I am talking about.  Check out my forms by clicking below!

Writing Center Samples and Forms

(click on image for link)

Getting Them To Write

I keep a close watch on my centers, and when I notice that the writing center is losing its popularity a bit, that is when I  introduce something new.  It might be time to add another writing form, some new pens/pencils, some thin crayola markers, or smelly markers.  

I also make a BIG point of showing off awesome work at the writing center.  I often will stop everything in the classroom to have everyone take a look at the cool book someone created, or to praise someone for making a "Get Well" card for a student that is absent.  Like anything else in our kindergarten world...if the teacher "endorses" it, suddenly everybody wants a turn at that center.

Let me know if you have any questions!  I love hearing from you!

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Resolutions

Happy New Year!  This has been a crazy week in Mrs. B.’s Class.  We just started back from Christmas Break on Monday, and so far we’ve had 2 late starts and a snow day.  -25 to -35 degree windchills here!  BRRRRRRR!  It’s done crazy things to my schedule!  I no longer am writing lesson plans this winter…just lesson “suggestions”.  :)

With all the extra time, I’ve been thinking a lot about New Year’s Resolutions.  A big one for me this year is to blog more regularly.  

Since most of the fun things I wanted to blog about have been a wash this week, we’ll start that resolution next week!

One of my favorite pages from our New Year’s Resolution book this week.

Click here for a *Freebie* copy of the book.

Click here for my New Year’s unit on TPT.

 

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Write The Room

Spent my morning watching chick movies and putting a BIG bundle of "Write The Room" activities together for TPT.  

I use a write the room activity almost every week for my "Work with Words" rotation.  Each activity contains a writing/recording sheet and a set of 10 cards that you print, cut apart, and tape up around the room.  My class uses clipboards to walk around and find the words, and record them on the sheet.

This set write the room sets that are really easy (just match the picture and copy the word) to more difficult (add capitalization and punctuation to simple sentences or putting things in alphabetical order).  

The themes include:  Insects (sentences), Forest Animals, Green Eggs and Ham (Rhyming), Oviparous Animals (Syllables), Weather (Alphabetical Order), Trains (CVC Words), Fire Safety, ST. Patrick's Day, Halloween, Elephants (Color Words), Valentines Day, Fall, Nutrition, 100th Day, Dinosaurs, Thanksgiving, Pets (Vowel Sounds), and Monkeys (Number Words).

Have Fun!

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Chicka Chicka Boom Boom

My number one favorite alphabet book, and one of my favorite book themes of the year.  We did lots of fun stuff this week.

This was part of our small group math rotations this week…with a little bit of a literacy as well.  It was in my "geometry" group.  My goal is for this rotation every week is for them to use shapes to make other shapes and use that to create.  

Common Core standard:  

• CCSS.Math.Content.K.G.B.6 Compose simple shapes to form larger shapes. For example, “Can you join these two triangles with full sides touching to make a rectangle?”

In another of my math small groups, the activity is patterning and number, and operations in base 10.  This early in the year we do lots of patterning.  Patterning is STILL a part of kindergarten, even with the common core.  From the 8 math practices:

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP7 Look for and make use of structure.

CCSS.Math.Practice.MP8 Look for and express regularity in repeated reasoning.

Our whole number system is based on patterns.  Patterning is still VERY important!

For my Work on Writing small group activity this week we did a fun book about Bandaids (always a popular topic in kindergarten).  We have been working really hard on color words, so the first page is "I wish I had a bandaid the color ______.".  The second page, we used our kindergarten spelling to finish the sentence "I wish I had a bandaid shaped like a __________."  My favorite answer of the week was motorcycles.  The last page, they got to tell one of the bandaid stories they are always dying to tell me.  "Once I had a bandaid on my ______.".  

     

During intervention, my high groups played a fun game of sight word Bingo with a Chicka theme!

The other groups played alphabet bingo.  I love that the games look very similar…it feels like everyone is playing the same game.

Click on the picture for my Chicka Chicka Boom Boom unit on TPT!
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Chicka-Chicka-Boom-Boom-Packet-328363

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