Shake Rattle Drop and Friends of Ten

We have been practicing our addition and friends of ten this week. I came up with a quick way to play shake rattle drop all on the one page.

If you have never played Shake Rattle Drop, you need a ten frame (or this sheet) and ten double sided counters. You also need something to record with.

Shake the counters in your hands, and drop onto the page.

We always place the red counters first and yellow sides sencond.

Write down the Friends of Ten!

Go and fill the recording sheet up! It is great practice and the kids start to notice the number patterns for Friends of Ten quite quickly.

Click on this picture to go and grab this freebie from GoogleDocs.

Enjoy!

Using Phonemic Awareness to Construct New Words

Something that can be quite tricky to introduce to students (especially in Kindergarten) is switching phonemes within words. It is often something they need a bit of practice and support with. I thought this new pack would help fit the bill.

I have made this pack with 2 activity cards to a page but if you are printing (and laminating) conscious, they are still a pretty good size when you choose to print multiple pages on one page. I have also included both colour and black and white so you can pick which one you would like to print!!

Let's look at the activity :)

The card tells you to start with a given word. The students are given a picture clue to get them started as well as Elkonian boxes to write in (and these will also give them support with which 'size' letter should go in each box - tall, short or long)

Move to the second picture. It tell me to change a sound in the word - this time the beginning sound. I have done it with red here to illustrate what has changed. You might want your students to do this too or just do it all in one colour. Again, students are supported with pictures and Elkonian boxes. 

Now onto the third picture. This time it is telling me to change the ending sound. Throughout the activity cards, there is a mixture of changes to beginning, middle and ending sounds to keep it challenging and interesting.

Click any picture to go and grab it in my TPT store.

Comprehension Sticks for Little Learners

Hi All
I have been a little quiet of late. If you follow me on Instagram (brookeb80) you would know I havent been in the classroom!






I have been on holidays with my family....the highlight of which was a family dolphin adventure!!! More about that another time :)

I just wanted to share with you something that I cannot wait to use next term

This pack includes 28 different comprehension questions that you can ask students during guided reading time. I have them available for you in colour and black and white, so you can pick which one you would prefer to print.

You could use them during a whole group reading of a text or during a guided reading group.

Here is some of them printed out for you to have a look at. You could pre-select the questions you want students to answer or just take a lucky dip!

I recommend you laminate them, and then stick them to a paddle pop stick to make them more sturdy (and less chance of little fingers bending them).

Go and find them in my TPT store by clicking HERE or any of the images above :)

Science Day!

Last week, we had a day which was suggested by our SRC (which is the Student Representative Council). They told the teachers they didnt think we were doing enough science and would like a science day. They compiled a list of experiments they would like to do and shared it with the teachers. Then the teachers chose some and ran the session.

In Kinder, we divided our 2 classes into 8 small groups and ran 4 activities in each room. In the other K room there was bubbles with varying sizes and shapes of wands, sinking and floating, oil and water and making paper planes. I would love to share pics of those but I dont have any without kids front and centre.

In my room I had the following activities - magnets, building with cups, water beads and making a reaction with baking soda and vinegar.

1. Magnets - Here I used my magnetic wands and magnetic counters. The kids were experimenting with putting the counters in patterns and trying to pick them up in one whole sweep. They really enjoyed it!

 2. Building with plastic cups - This activity is not unfamiliar to our classes and is an activity that they ask for often in developmental play time. The difference today was they were trying to 'outbuild' each other by making the tallest tower.

3. Making reactions - This was my station. The kids had to add a small scoop of bicarb soda to their plate and then gently drip the vinegar (mixed with food colouring) onto the little pile. The result is a fizzing pile which the kids really enjoyed. We then experimented with putting the piles quite close together and seeing if the colours mixed. Definitely a lot of fun and the materials for this were SUPER cheap, if you are thinking about doing it in your own classroom.

 4. Water Beads - This was the last station in my room and did they have a great time with these balls. We added the water the day before and they enlarge while soaking. They feel pretty cool! The kids were given a spoon and tweezers and they were trying to move them around to different bowls. They even had a game of bouncing the balls on the table and trying to get them into the bowl. Needless to say, there was a HUGE mess under the table at the end.

Do you ever have Science Day at your school?