Week Five and a Few Freebies!

It has been a busy busy five weeks, too.

Here are a few pictures of a few of the fun activities we enjoyed the first few weeks of Kindergarten.

We only had four days of school this week (we were off for the Jewish New Year).  We read Brown Bear, Brown Bear a few times.  We made an interactive chart using the book as a model.  Each child chose a color and an animal (I see a red frog.)  We did it over a few days because it is hard for them to sit long enough to do the whole class.  Sometime next week, we will cut them up and put them back together.  I will type them up and let them illustrate it for a class book.  We made most of another class book today (two kids were out so I will get them to do their page next Monday). 






 I have all sorts of Brown Bear activities from the kind teachers on the internet.  We used the Brown Bear spinners to graph, we rolled and colored Brown Bear animals, and we made Brown Bear puppets (colored the animals, cut them out, and taped them to popsicle sticks).  The puppets were a big hit!  I have a few books to make still, so I will try to find some time next week.


Next week will be our Apple Week.  We have asked the parents to send in an apple on Tuesday.  We have to get permission from the parents to let them taste the apples.  I remember when we could cook every week in Kindergarten and no one questioned it but now we are very limited due to health policies and allergies.  It is ironic because now we have more time (compared to half day Kindergarten).  Do you still cook frequently with your kids?

We read Ten Apples up on Top and the kids make their own page for the class book (eventually, we make about 25 a year and each child takes one home to keep at the end of the year.)
Here is the page in case you are interested.

Ten Apples








I created an apple patterning freebie for you, too (well, really for my team but you can share, too).  I modeled it after the fun mouse patterns.  Patterns are not covered in the core curriculum in either Kindergarten or First Grade.  Hmmm.... are they going to expect them to learn it in preschool?Apple Patterns


I am linking up to the Clutter Free Classroom linky party.  Jump over to see what everyone is up to!

Brown Bear

My kids love Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What do You See?     Most of them come to me already knowing the words by heart.  When I began teaching many moons ago, Brown Bear was one of the first books I bought for my Kindergarten classroom.

About 5 years ago, I had my class make many fingerpaintings that I used to create a Brown Bear big book for the class.  I cut out each shape of each animal following Eric Carle's excellent illustrations.  I felt so artistic!  I finally found the  real big book at Lakeshore a few years ago.  I use both in my classroom now (along with several smaller versions).

 We discuss the animals, the colors, the words that repeat, how the color words describe the animals, how you get to predict what comes next.  We sing the Brown Bear song by Greg and Steve and learn the sign language for the colors and the animals.  Here is another version by Bill Martin on Youtube:

We make a predictive chart (I see a yellow frog.  I see a blue whale.).  We play with the sentences whole group, cut them apart and put them back together.  I retype their sentences and give them to the kids all cut apart and they glue it to a piece of paper to illustrate and we make a class book.  We graph our favorite animals (purple cat seems to win a lot?).

I have a commercially made Brown Bear game.  I found more Brown Bear activities this summer at 1plus 1plus 1 equals 1.

And we fingerpaint!

Pete the Cat Links

I just got my new Pete the Cat, Rocking in My School Shoes book and I think the kids will really enjoy it.  It shows Pete riding the bus, reading in the library, eating in the cafeteria, playing on the playground, and enjoying class activities.  It has a very positive message and I plan to read both of them the first day of school.  Some teachers will probably use it for a school tour!




 You can watch a video with the author, Eric Litwin,  singing the song and you can download both the original Pete the Cat and the new one, Rocking in My School Shoes.  (just click where it says download and open it in iTunes.)

Here are the links to Pete the Cat's publisher.

Click here!



Here is the video from YouTube of Eric Litwin performing Pete the Cat.

Here is his version (with Pete!) of The Wheels on the Bus.

 I tend to read a bunch of books the first weeks of school.  I think it helps the kids establish community as we create our class rules and norms.