Rainbow Rice

I have dyed noodles for necklaces but never rice. So today I did! It was the same process as noodles....

 

In a ziplock bag put some rice and food coloring (I used Neon the colors turned out awesome!) then a splash of rubbing alchohol. Then SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE.
I poured the rice out onto paper towel lined cookie sheets and let dry. Once they are COMPLETELY dry put it in a sensory table and play.

My plan is to use this as part of Daily 5 and put sight word cards in the rice and the children can hunt for either a specific word or find all the words they can. I will probably either make worksheets or have the children write the words they find. So easy but a fun way to "spice up" sight word practice.

Listen To Reading Document

Another Project! (I have been busy today!)


One of the things I struggle with when having my students working on "Daily 5" is accountability. I don't have a listening center so I use the classroom computers when the children are "listening to reading." We use the amazing websites bookflix, storyline online or my youtube playlist of books (find it by clicking HERE or on my Pinterest page.)

But after the students listened to a story they started playing around on the computer, or I noticed them not watching a whole book and spending the time clicking away. On Pinterest I found a great worksheet, easy and concise for students to fill out after they finished listening to a story. The problem? I couldn't find it to print it anywhere. So.....I created my own! I love when other teachers/bloggers share printables so I try to pay it forward and share too. Note** Sometimes when uploading to google docs, now called google share, the font doesn't turn out correctly so let me know if you have any problems.

Click the link below to get your own copy and Enjoy!!

Listen to reading document

Snow Dough

Project Time Again!

This morning I worked on another project for the classroom. This one was really easy, it only took about 5 minutes, if that, and this would be a great project to do at home with young kids. It would promote math skills and have a fun product to play with in the end.

Snow Dough!

 

 

Snow dough is a soft moldable dough, think play dough, but isn't sticky its soft just like Moon Sand. You can mold it and then just as easily break it apart into its original form. Easy clean up and since it is made with baby oil it smells awesome.

 

 

How To:

 

Mix 8 cups of flour

 

1 cup of baby oil

 

 

 

That is all. See how it lends it self to an easy project even toddlers can do? Counting and mixing. (I used my hands to mix. so fun for kids) You can then add glitter or food coloring. I have read you may  even want to take it outside to make it feel cold like snow.

 

 



Here are some pictures of snow dough from Pinterest.

(I am having trouble uploading my own)

 

 

 



Quiet Critters

It will soon be time for me to return back to work after 6 amazing months with my new baby boy. Luckily, I love my job and couldn't imagine how much harder it would be if I didn't have those smiling faces to greet me each morning.

So just like I usually do in the summer, I am getting a few new things ready for the rest of the school year. Thanks to Pinterest I have found some really cute things I just had to try this year. If I have time to post them I will try to share as many as I can.

 

Today's Project: Quiet Critters

You give each child a Quiet Critter during a time that you need the classroom quiet. If a student doesn't follow the direction to be quiet then he/she loses their critter/ At the end of the quiet time all students with critters left get a small prize like a sticker. It is a nice reminder sitting on their table/desk and for those who are goal oriented this can help.

Here is how to make them. It was really fast (I made them all while the baby was sleeping and wrote this blog post too!)

 

You need Pom-Poms, glue, scissors, a sheet of craft foam, and eyeballs

 

Cut the foam into heart shapes

 

Glue on the pom-pom and eyes, and that is it!!

 

Here is my troop.

 

I have an annoying need for symmetry (ask anyone who has seen me work on a bulletin board) so there are 6 of each color, but you can make as many or as few as you would like. The kids could even make them as a craft. They would be cute at Valentine's day...hmmm that gives me an idea. We may have to make them (and red pop-poms are on sale after Christmas right now) The tricky part was sticking on the eyes, it could get a little messy for the kids but once dry they should be pretty cute.

Holiday Traditions

It has been a little while since I have blogged but I am still here!

With the holiday season here it is time to preserve those memories! I know in the classroom that every year I try to preserve the innocence and memory of this snap-shot of their lives. Thanks to Pinterest I have found many more crafty ways to do this. Here are some things you may want to try this year, in the classroom or at your home.

 

 

Print their christmas list each year and put in inside an ornament! How fun to look back in the future

 

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Hand print ornaments (salt flour and water)- this is so easy! I did it with my 3month old

 

 

reindeer fingerprints! So cute! I make the snowmen in my classroom every year.

 

 

Family Handprint tree

 

 

 

And this is a tradition I plan on starting- wrap 25 book up (they can be ones you have) and read one each night until Christmas! Love this

 

 

Christmas Eve Surprise Box. Include: new pajamas, Christmas movie, popcorn, mugs, hot chocolate, marshmallows, Christmas book. Such a cute tradition to start!

 

 

Enjoy your holiday season!

Online Books

Book are magical! We all know the importance of reading with your child, not only does it build literacy skills but it is also a great bonding moment and creates life long memories.

 I read to Griffin every night and he is only 2 months old! But as I read I remember the stories that I read as a child. Just tonight I picked up a book about Grover that I loved as a child. It was a book with a cassette (kids now don 't even know what those are -ha!) and when my husband came in the room, he laughed at me as I was reading in the voice I remembered from the cassette as a child!

One of the things I like to do in the classroom once in a while is show them a book read by someone else. There are hundreds of books on youtube that your child can watch and "read" online. I have compiled a list of books that I love reading and showing the kids. Here is the link so that you can share them at home with your family:

Mrs.Giglio's Online Book List

Letters and Sounds

One of the first and more important things that we work on in kindergrten are identifying letters and sounds. With many childern attending Pre-school now lots of new kindergarteners have a great head start when they can identify letters already. Can your child identify all 26 upper ans lowercase letters? If not that is something you can start working on right now. Often at open house parents will ask, "What can I do at home?" obviously it is important to read together every night but also try to check in and see what the grade level expectations are at that time and make sure your child is meeting them. Like right now your child should be practicing identifying letter and sounds.

Other than identifying the letters kindergartners need to know the sounds they make too. That can be tricky for parents to work on, because we use letters so often as adults we don't stop to think about the sounds that they make. so here are a few resources for you to use at home to help you and your child practice.

Online Letter Practice:

Starfall ABC's Click Here

 

Music Video:

 

Printable Worksheets:

 

Click Here for Printable Activities

 

Matching Game:

 

Click Here To Play a Matching Game