Heather Bender

Our kindergarten curriculum is Foss Science. We have to teach a unit on trees. I made these 7 activity sheets to align with my learning centers. Each sheet also aligns with the goals/expectations of the Foss science tree unit, but they can really go along with any tree unit. Each sheet is hands-on and requires learners to think about how trees grow, their different parts, what they need to grow, and how they change throughout the seasons.

Our district just started using gradebook on skyward (online). Now that we enter all of our grades online, there is no room for comments. I teach kindergarten, so I strive to make things as positive as possible when communicating with parents. I created this form that lets parents know my general thoughts on their child's progress, what I'm most proud of them for, and areas of concern (if there are any.) I've found that parents appreciate this almost more than a report card with numbers all

Much like my tree unit, I took our Foss fish unit and put my own spin on it. This unit covers the focus questions: what do fish need to survive, what are the parts of a fish, how do they behave in their environment, and what are similarities/differences between two different kinds of fish? There are observation sheets, compare/contrast sheet, a fish poem for your poetry center, fish vocabulary sheet, etc. Hopefully this benefits your kindergarten science program, especially if you use Foss.

I put this sight word program together for my kindergartners. This is a supplemental program that I add to their book packs, as part of their nightly reading homework. I do this program to help them learn their first 50 high frequency words. This also boosts their reading and writing skills. This program is completely individualized to each learner. I've even cut the lists in half for my special education learners. There are 5 lists of words, with 10 words on each list. After students can

I decided to take our policies and procedures and put them into an A to Z format. I put each bit of info under the letter of the alphabet that it starts with. It sort of puts a cute twist on A LOT of information. We bind these into books and give them out at our parent information night/orientation night.

This is a unit that I do in September, sort of at the same time as when we do our tree unit. This unit covers subjects/centers like poetry, art, research (science), math, and some writing. In the research center I have kids do their apple taste testing. They circle their favorite apple when they are done, then we graph our favorite class apple with the attached graph. Each child fills in his/her own graph, but we do this whole group. In the art center I have kids do the apple stamping poem p

I have a poetry center where we work on these poems. Before they go in the center, we practice them as a class and highlight different things within the poems that we may be learning. We do more poems than just these. I just pulled one from each month. The kids love the poems, and the activities within them are literacy and art based.

I have included a very good description of how I use these "bubblegum" words in my ABC center, as another support to learning how to stretch words out for reading and writing. We call them bubblegum words because stretching out a word to hear the sounds and problem solve what the word is, is much like when we stretch out our bubblegum. In my kindergarten room, we actually chew bubblegum when I introduce this and practice stretching the gum. It helps my students remember what to do when they w

This Kindergarten Camp packet is enough for a week long, half-day, kindergarten camp. The packet includes plans for each day, including center ideas for each day. It also includes: snack ideas, morning greeting ideas, a homemade ice cream recipe for the "grand finale" of camp, a reflection of camp drawing sheet, and craft ideas. I have used this 2 years in a row. In using these ideas my kids get REALLY excited for kindergarten, and parents think the things we do that week are AMAZING!

Much like my Foss fish and tree unit, I have taken the focus questions and highlights of the unit, and made my own, more user friendly worksheets. I have included a sheet about what isopods are, a sheet where kids can compare pill bugs and sow bugs, an observation sheet to write on after racing the bugs, a sheet on what bugs need to make a terrarium, a fun poem about bugs, and a cover for this science unit. I do these activities whole group, at the research center during literacy time, and at

I use this behavior tracking sheet with my kindergartners. I've found that it is successful in holding the child accountable for his/her actions, positively re-enforces good choices, keeps the communication lines open with parents, and is a good tool for tracking behaviors/academic issues. I've pulled these out at RTI meetings, child study meetings, team meetings, IEP meetings, etc. You and the student come up with your daily goal, break the day into 5 or 6 sections, and track their behavior/

I've developed some activities for fire safety week. There are a couple of poem activities that can used in a poetry center, and an art center activity. There is also a fire safety checklist that students can bring home to run through with their parents. It asks them to practice an at home fire drill, and draw a map of their plan and meeting place. If my students bring this back to school complete, I give them a certificate, which is part of this file as well.

For each child's birthday I have the class make a card and I put make them into a book. They draw a picture of anything in the world they would like to give that child for his/her birthday. Their ideas are so cute! At the beginning of the year I write at the bottom what the child has drawn. There is a cute poem on the cards. I hole punch the side and tie it together with yarn. The kids are so proud to take their books home on their birthday!

This reading log is a simple tool that goes into my students' book packs. Parents are to sign and date the log every night. I check the logs at the beginning or end of reading groups every now and then, and every once in a while I'll make notes like "great job reading," to show parents that I am paying attention!

This unit has activities that fit into my learning centers. I use this unit in my research, poetry, and art center. There are 3 activities that would fit into a research center, 1 poetry activity, and 1 art project. I also added a guided writing lesson that I do with my class, and a list of favorite pumpkin read alouds. My kids love this unit, and I usually fit it in around Halloween. Enjoy!

I decided to put together I Spy activity sheets for the first 25 high frequency words, which are also our word wall words, to increase sight word knowledge. On these activity sheets students will be able to write a sentence using that sight word, draw a picture of their sentence, do a word search, and trace the sight word. I've noticed that practicing these words more intensly is boosting their reading and writing skills. In Guided Reading, they are recognizing these words faster during their

This is a simple unit that I use with my kindergartners. This could certainly be used with 1st grade as well. I am able to fit each activity of this unit into either my literacy center time, or my Writer's Workshop. The unit includes a song that we sing, two poems, an art project, a writing project with paper template, and a great website to print off personalized teeth brushing charts. I have tried to include directions for each of the activitites. Enjoy!

On the first day of school I send each child home with a Ziploc bag of goodies, and this card, which I laminate, explaining what each item means to our classroom. It's just a fun way to let parents and students know how much we care.

These are just a few activities that I do with my kindergartners on Earth Day. These would also be good for first and second graders. I have included an art project, a writing project, and a poem/song that we sing and illustrate. The song helps them rememeber the 3 R's- reduce, reuse, recycle. I use all three activities during my center time- writing center, art center, and poetry center. Enjoy!

I taught an informational book unit to my Kindergartners, and found the format of a table of contents tricky for them to create on their own. I created a form that would help them organize their "chapters" better. This form is for up to 5 chapters of a story/book. I have posted a 6 chapter one as well.