I had sooooooo much fun doing this monster art project in my son Elliot's kindergarten class recently! I chose to do this project because Elliot LOVES monsters and he LOVES using his imagination to make characters come to life. We have enjoyed using popsicle stick puppets for many many years and he always enjoys both creating

FREE printable Symmetry drawing activity for preschool and kindergarten kids. A fun art and math activity in one! Kids will complete the symmetrical pictures by drawing the other half.

Looking for some new ways to get the attention of your class? Here are 25 Class Callbacks-Attention Grabbers ideas for you to try out!

Have you ever had a class that just tried your patience day after day? Have you ever felt like you could walk away from teaching forever tom...

Kindergarten is the start of a life of learning. Give them the tools they need with our free Kindergarten coloring pages and worksheets. We have a LOT for you to choose from. Numbers, letters, colors, tracing, and much more. Get them excited for the classroom...

For the past few weeks we have been learning about 3-dimensional figures. We set out a few different provocations to have students reflect on both 2D (flat) and 3D (fat) shapes through hands-on activities (picture coming soon!). We concentrate primarily on 6 of the 3D figures (cube, cone, cylinder, sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid) but we always have other figures out in our activities for students to explore. There are a couple of math resources that are my absolute favourites! If you haven't already read them, you should consider it (I have read and re-read them many times!). I have had some people e-mail me asking where I bought the different 3D figures I use. These smaller plastic ones are from Wintergreen Learning and they are, by far, my very favourite to use! They are perfect to play games with and leave out for students to explore (see below). I also like these larger foam 3D figures. These are from Scholastic Canada - if you have bonus coupons I would suggest using them to purchase several of these sets (you can't have enough!) I also like to read this book to the students and having them think about 3D figures in our classroom. It's a great book to explain the concept of 3D figures that can roll, slide or do both! The we test the theories of the children by using ramps and foam solids. We also begin a co-constructed anchor chart together and learn how to describe each figure. This song by Harry Kindergarten is catchy and definitely a favourite in our class! The students asked for it again and again! Once the children are comfortable with identifying 3D figures in the world, we send a parent letter home asking to send in items from home (recyclables are the best!) so that the students can sort them out. We put them all in our sensory bin and students sorted them on the shelves behind. We sing this song during whole group learning time to review the names of the shapes. I hand out 6 of the 3D figures we are learning about (cube, sphere, rectangular prism, pyramid, cone, cylinder) to some students. If they are holding the figure that I sing about they have to stand up. They love it! In addition to these fun songs, we read a book based on the well-known poem about 3D figures. I turned this poem into a larger teacher book and read it with the students. Then the students could make their own smaller books based on the predictable sentences...."A ___ is like a ___." I made this teacher book (seen below in colour) as a flip book, meaning that a few clues are given and the students have to guess the figure hiding under the flap. The students enjoyed this riddle book so much that we invited them to create their own lift-the-flap riddles! In small groups, I like to play the game "What's in My Bag?" I use the smaller plastic shapes and put a whole bunch in a bag. You can play this in various ways: * Have a student reach into the bag. Before pulling out the 3D figure, he/she must describe it and record their guess on the worksheet shown below (I have various worksheets based on the level the students are at. Placing them in a sheet protector is the easiest so we can just wipe clean and start again!) * Same idea as above but you play with a friend and have that person guess what 3D figure it is. We had students use these clip cards to identify shapes and they could easily self-correct as there was a star on the back. Note: I realized after printing that there was a picture of a tent instead of a teepee and it has since been corrected.* At one of the smaller provocation tables in the class, we set out this question, "Can you build a tower using 3D figures?" I also included smaller 3D figure clip art so that students could document their creations. Here's another provocation we set out: "Can you build it?" Students choose a card and, using the small 3-D figures, try to build it! They must figure out if they are able to build it or not. This made for an excellent assessment tool! Students could explain why or why not using language such as: "The tower won't stay if the sphere is at the bottom because it makes everything roll off of it." A.D. "The rectangular prism is the best to start a tower because it can stack both ways!" M.S. "The cone is good on the top. It's like a real castle. They have points on top!" O.S. "This one won't work - it started with a cone on the bottom and you can't put anything on top because it has a point and nothing stays on the point." G.A. We added these to our pocket chart and had students build simple sight word sentences using 3D shapes and examples. My students love playing games - they never turn down an opportunity to join a small group if there's a fun game I have introduced! So I created "Capture 6" - a game played similarly to the well-known game Capture 4 but you have to cover 6 spots next to each other on your game board to win (forming a rectangle). They loved this game! Here's another game we played - this time as a whole group... You might have seen these before - it's called "I have...who has..." Students say "I have..." and they say the colour and 3-D figure they see on their card and say "Who has..." and says the bottom icon (i.e. purple cone). The student who has that figure (i.e. purple cone) is next. The game continues until it gets back to the person who started. You can find all of the above (and more!) in my 3-D Figures (Hands-On Games and Activities) pack on TpT if you are interested. (Click on any of the pictures to take you there.)

A collection of downloadable and printable worksheets about articles are available below. Help your kids to test their skill and knowledge about indefinite articles (a/an) with these A and An worksheets free printable. You can also teach your child the difference between "a" and "an", two of the three main determiners in the English language using these article worksheets.

How to Avoid the Summer Slide! Summer is right around the corner! We all LOVE our summer vacation, but not the "Summer Slide!" The Summer Review Packets

I've got a little Secret Code Spelling sheet here. I have the students write each spelling word then draw the picture for each letter next to the word to make a code. I use this as a Word Work center, but if you need a time filler - or something for your sub plans, this sheet could be put under the document camera and done whole group with the spelling list for the week. For a variation, you can have the kids mix up their spelling words and write the code only, then give it to a classmate to "break the code". Not matter how you do it, my students like this one:) Click on the picture to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store and download this for FREE. While you are at my store, check out some of my new and best selling products including: My Original Writing Center - My best selling product! Don't miss this STEAL: Sight Word Mega Bundle Read It, Build It, Write ItAll 220 Dolch Sight Words Included Reader's Toolbox of Reading Strategies Sight Words Superhero: Everything You Need to Motivate and Reward Sight Word Recognition Sight Words Superhero Add-On Pack: 130 Pages of Sight Word Games and Activities! And MUCH more - click here to see more great products! And, don't forget to follow my store to get a free kit each month!!! Past "Follower Freebies" include" Click here to see how to get free kits each month: Mrs. Gilchrist's Follower Freebies

Are student rewards or your treasure box making you go broke? Not anymore! Check out this list of 50 absolutely free student rewards!

Help those kids from getting the “summer slide” with this 100 page packet! Included is 50 pages of math and 50 pages of literacy including reading and comprehension, grammar, writing, and word work. This would also make a great addition for any beginning of the year work for 1st grade too! Click here to download. here …

Make teaching coins, coin value, and money easy with these kindergarten money activities from a real kindergarten classroom!

Download 19 worksheets on 3D or solid shapes (i.e. sphere, cone, cylinder, cube, rectangular prism or cuboid and pyramid) suitable for kindergarten class.

We are exploring magnets here in kindergarten! We sorted objects between magnetic and not magnetic. I wanted the kids to be able to glue down their sort to display in the hallway. You could use tape or regular glue, but in the interest of time I opted for a glue gun. This SUPER cool temp glue gun (you have to buy special glue sticks but they are not expensive) eliminates the worry over burns! But like I said, tape works too. We have some magnet sorting in our science station

K-1 POETRY UNIT I love teaching poetry to kindergarten and first grade students! Even though I have this labeled as Unit 8 in my Writing Series , I actually teach poetry throughout the entire year. We follow the same routine and students look forward to our poetry week every month.

Basic vocabulary, like knowing prepositions, is necessary for beginning readers. Teach prepositions with this simple game.

Instilling a love for numbers in kids is crucial for their academic growth. It's not just about memorizing digits – numbers are like the...

Looking for an easy and fun teaching idea for your students to practice their vocabulary words? My students loved it and never realized they were learning! This strategy can work for any grade, from kindergarten to high school!

Enhance your child's ability to follow directions and describe the location of an object using positional or directional words.

Give your child some extra practice to build their new skills which are important for their educational journey. Use these free and printable fun activity worksheets for kids to introduce them to new concepts and ideas, available with fun activity sheets from tracing to coloring!

Have a chatty class? Do your talkative students get louder and louder during small groups until it feels like chaos? Do they talk when you'r...

Simple or Basic Addition worksheets for your younger students. These free addition worksheets cover sums up to 10. With a large font and large answer area these worksheets are perfect for your kindergarten students.

On A Peach for the Teach on Facebook, I invited people to ask their most challenging behavior questions. We got some great questions, each of which really tied together. Dona asked, I have a student that comes to me from second grade (I teach 1st) for my entire reading block, who likes to shout out talk back and just shuts down when you ask him to do something. He then treats his 2nd teacher with severe disrespect when he goes back to class. Rebecca asked, I have a class of 25 this year. 1 student is below K level (I teach 1st grade), 2 are identified as ADHD, we are working towards another student getting identified as ADHD, and I have 2 students who have really disrespectful attitudes. I have tried talking with parents, I have changed their seating, I have tried encouraging them and pointing out the positive......nothing seems to be working. Ideas? Lindsay asked, I need motivation tips for kids who can do the work but basically refuse to... These are such common issues that teachers face daily. I think they all tie together and have similar interventions, which led me to write this blog post-- How to Help Calling Out and "Class Clown" Behavior. "If you put a kid in the position of choosing between looking bad or looking dumb, he will choose to look bad." - Rick Lavoie, Motivation Breakthrough When a student is performing at a level lower than his peers, he is often aware of that. That could be part of the reason for the acting out. Maybe the child is embarrassed and would rather be seen as a class clown than struggling. It allows the child a sense of control over a situation where he would otherwise feel out of control. Try giving him some control in a positive way. To intervene, start with an informal play meeting. Meet with the student individually when he is calm, to play a preferred, non-academic game at the beginning or end of the day. He may be more likely to open up honestly in that type of setting through informal conversations (e.g., favorite TV shows, games, etc.). Casually ask what he likes and doesn't like about school, and "admit" to him that you always had a hard time with [insert his least preferred subject]. Try not to make it obvious that this is the whole point of your conversation. He might give you some insight into what's causing this. It's also great for establishing rapport, which will help you to get the student on your side. Give him some sort of task with which he can be successful, and give him positive attention for completing it. Avoid patronizing him or making it obviously at a level lower than the other students. Instead, try non-academic leadership positions, like a class helper, teacher's assistant, etc. Maybe give him the opportunity to call on students with questions. "Class, today we are going to try something new." Next, set limits. Start by telling the whole class that today we are going to try something new. Starting today, the teacher will no longer answer any calling out. Explain that we need to practice raising our hands and not calling out. Demonstrate, practice, and ask for volunteers to show you what hand raising looks like. Establish a non-verbal cue (e.g., a cue card with an image of a hand, or simply hold up your hand), and completely ignore calling out. Instruct the class to also ignore calling out. Have students practice calling out while you ignore it. Explain why you're doing this, so the student knows it's not just him being ignored. Ignore the behavior, not the child. You might want to give one verbal cue, such as, "I'd be happy to answer you when you raise your hand." This is your new procedure that will happen every single time a student calls out. You could still say it in a positive tone of voice, but it's all you will say. Give a Little, Get a Little Use positive language to elicit positive language. If a student is using disrespectful language, being threatening will teach the child to talk back with threatening language. Think about your reaction when somebody confronts you with doing something wrong. You initially feel a little attacked, so you want to react. Give the student the opportunity to save face. For example, instead of, "How dare you speak to me that way?" try a, "Whoops, that sounded disrespectful. I know you could ask me using nicer words," and only respond when he uses nicer words. If he doesn't, say, "I'll be over here when you're ready to use nice words to ask me." Dodge the Power Struggle To nip disrespect in the bud, we need to avoid power struggles-- even when a student questions what we're doing. That's the part that really tricks even the most skilled behavior interventionists. We want students to believe in, trust, and respect us. When they question what we're doing, we want to tell them. Please don't. You don't need to justify yourself in this moment. You may be skilled with planned ignoring, but when the child asks, "Why are you ignoring me?" it's too tempting to reply with an explanation, but resist the urge. If you planned and practiced this procedure previously, the child already knows why you're ignoring him. He may try to get you to give him anything other than the ignoring. Stick to the ignoring, and he will eventually try using nice words to get you to reply. It may also be helpful to teach a lesson on the words "disrespect" vs. "respect." Teach the meaning, and explain situations and words that are unacceptable. Teach this with empathy, and practice it. If the child uses negative language in class, prompt with a, "Please use your nice words if you need me to respond to you." Completely ignore anything else. I know that using a firm prompt followed by planned ignoring sometimes feels like you aren't doing anything to stop the behavior, but that's the best thing about it-- doing "nothing" stops the behavior. It completely eliminates the power struggle and argument. The child will be forced to use kind words to get any type of reaction out of you and to gain access to his wants/needs. This also works with whining. I told my little ones that my ears can no longer hear whining, and they all stopped whining. Now if only I could use planned ignoring on messes to make my kitchen clean itself! Words of Caution Sometimes when implementing planned ignoring, the child may initially test the limits and engage in more attention-seeking behavior. This is typical and should pass when he sees that he won't get a reaction. I got a comment on this post that really made me think and add another word of caution about this strategy-- exercise caution when using this for students with bonding and/or attachment needs. We certainly do not want to intensify feelings of abandonment, and we want to be sure that we are responding to their needs. It is vitally important to make sure that we are ignoring the behavior, not the child. Give the child plenty of positive attention for positive behavior. Make giving positive attention during appropriate behavior part of your behavior protocol for this child. When the negative behavior ends and the child begins acting positively, give positive attention. No need for a lecture at that moment. After the Procedure is Learned Once you are sure that the student understands how he will appropriately gain access to wants/needs, you can begin to address the calling out caused by impulsivity and habit. Make a T-chart, and write the positive behavior on the left and negative on the right (e.g., "Called Out" and "Raised My Hand"). Instruct the student to tally when he does each. This alone is often enough to curb the negative behavior. Other times with more severe behavior, it helps if tallies are tied to reinforcement. For example, the student can earn [something preferred] if he has more positive than negative tallies at the end of each block. You could also set goals based on baselines. For example, if the student reduces his calling out by ___% or does not exceed ___% incidents of calling out, he can earn [something preferred]. Class Dojo is another fun way to track this! The teacher can track the behaviors throughout the day, or the students can self-monitor behaviors on their T-Charts and plug them into the Dojo at the end of the day. Establish a procedure that students must earn more green (i.e., "positive") than red (i.e., "needs work"), or a certain percentage of green, in order to earn a reinforcer, positive note home, etc. Another helpful strategy is bonus free time. It's often harder for a student with ADHD and/or behavior needs to attend to instruction for a given length of time, so plan three breaks in the day. I call them "five minute free time" to play with something fun, and I end each of my subjects with it. It gives me five minutes to clean up or correct work, and it gives the students five minutes to regroup. If you're strapped for time, you could have students complete exit tickets, assessments, etc., and give the student with ADHD the special free time. It also gives him something to word toward, as he has to earn the free time. If a student engages in negative behavior or work refusal, I ask if he is earning his free time or if he is to make up his work during free time. Never underestimate the power of a question instead of a demand. A simple, "Are you earning your free time?" is often enough to set the behavior back on track. An additional motivational tool is a task chart where students rank their tasks by preference. They earn little reinforcement for easy/preferred tasks and high reinforcement for non-preferred tasks. You can download that chart for free here. What are some ideas you use in your classroom to help calling out and "class clown" behavior? Do you have any questions about behavior challenges? Please share in the comments below! A Peach for the Teach

Financially savvy kids are future leaders!

It seems like every day there is an endless stream of students reporting behaviors or incidents that happen in the classroom. On one hand, we want to help our students feel heard and validated so they know we are a safe person for them to talk to. On the other hand, we certainly don't want to feed into the tattle machine. It's a fine line to walk. So how do we handle tattling in our classrooms?

KINDERGARTEN MATH - UNIT 3 I am so excited to have my new Measurement and Data kindergarten math unit posted and ready to share with you. So far this year, my sweet kinders have learned so much in math. We have mastered 1:1 correspondence, reading and writing numerals to 20, counting to 10

Most of us teach multiple grade levels. I teach 4 year olds through 94 year olds. I skip 12 year olds through somewhere in the 60's, though. I think that probably needs explaining, right? I teach Junior Kindergarten through fourth grade and also facilitate music and drum circles at an assisted living center every 2-3 months. The youngest were probably my most difficult age to plan for starting out as a brand new teacher and I continue searching for great material to add to my "collection". We all know how it is - in a singular 30 minute lesson with the younger kiddos we might go through 10-15 activities! Interestingly, my oldest sometimes seem the same! I seek materials from various sources; blogs, bools, fellow teachers, and websites. Several years ago I found a childrens music performer named Nancy Stewart. Each month she posts a Song of the Month! You can search by category, year/month, and alphabetically, and even better - all her songs are downloadable, some have visuals to download, and most have the sheet music to download - all for FREE! YES! There are songs for Eid, Christmas, St. Patirck's Day, Diwali, Valentines, seasonal songs and everything in between. Most of the music is original and I have found some really wonderful material! One of my favorites is the Rhythm Stick Song. Nancy so kindly gave me permission to share the song with you here - the mp3 is available on her site - click the link above. Hope you enjoy it - my kiddos do! We also make up additional verses - "With my sticks I run...", walk, hop, etc. My favorite rhythm sticks are the Basic Beat Combination Sticks pictured below. I love these - perfectly sized at 8" long, no splintering, and one is smooth and the other ridged. They are about $3.00 a pair, and an awesome investment! You can get them here from West Music. Have fun with these! Happy New Year!

Almost ready to read? Boost your early reader's skills with these stories and sounds.

How to help your child find the right learning styles to enhance their potential in school and to prep the brain for higher learning. Learning is unique and different for each child.

Instilling a love for numbers in kids is crucial for their academic growth. It's not just about memorizing digits – numbers are like the...

This past week, we learned about synonyms. The kids really grasped the concept by mid-week! I am excited to see them start using synonyms...

This is a little throw-back post from over 2 years ago... yet it's one of my favorites. ;) I know we all love the book, "Have You Filled a Bucket Today?"! It's such a great book to encourage our little ones to fill others' buckets and in turn fill their own bucket. If you want to see more, go {here}. Well, I've found another amazing book to help with your students' self esteem. The book is: Amazon This book is so cute! It's about a grandma teaching a lesson to her grand daughter. Back in her day, Grandma felt the pressure to fit in. She bought her clothes from the Hap {like the Gap, but not}, worked out at Silver's Gym {get it? Like Gold's Gym...haha} and tried to be just like Mallory Emma McBane. Until Mallory started acting like Laura LaVan. This is such a fun rhyming book about the importance of being yourself and LOVING YOURSELF! Ok, I'm pretty partial to this book since a great friend of mine wrote it . It really has a great message and I like it so much I made a mini-unit to share with you for FREE! :) Here are some of the activities to do with your students: Student mini-book {just staple in the corner}: They add a piece of tin foil to this page to act like a mirror! Some writing activities too: Whole class chart: Whole class sequencing chart to go with the book: Head over to Amazon, pick up the book and help your students feel good about themselves! Frames courtesy of http://www.deliciousscrapshop.com/ Clipart &/or fonts copyright and used with permission by DJ Inkers

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These bring back memories....*sigh*

Secret Stories® phonics instruction works with your existing reading program to accelerate learner access to the "whole" reading and writing code.

Prefixes and suffixes in first grade? Kindergarten ? What?! I'm not sure who decided teaching them so early was the way to go but never fear...

KINDERGARTEN MATH - UNIT 3 I am so excited to have my new Measurement and Data kindergarten math unit posted and ready to share with you. So far this year, my sweet kinders have learned so much in math. We have mastered 1:1 correspondence, reading and writing numerals to 20, counting to 10

A couple of weeks ago I mentioned in THIS post how I would be taking a giant step forward in “stepping up” my sight word instruction this upcoming year. Not that I need to “teach” sight words any differently, but offer continuous and hands on ways for my kiddos to practice them. Another area I will be offering...

How to solve letters b-d reversal problems with simple tips and activities.

#MamaLovePrint 「 我的身體 」 工作紙主要的學習目標是讓小朋友更清楚知道自己的身體構造，以可愛的人體圖去表達身體的不同部份。小朋友經常看電視和圖書，會接觸到不同的名詞是關於身體的各個部份，但有些時候他們不確實知道那些專業字詞所代表的意思，對我們的身體一知半解。