Freebie Fridays - August 5th, 2016

Happy Friday! Some of you have started back to teaching already and I hope you are having a blast with the kids!

Today's freebie is one I created a few years ago and used in Kindergarten the first week. ABC Race children pick a card and name the capital letter. Then roll one die (dice) and move that many spaces on the game board. Very simple and a lot of fun! I had 4 groups of 4 playing it. Please leave positive feedback if you download it. Remember it cost money to create freebies for you and I now have 60!!!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings! Keep on smiling!

 

Master Classroom Management In Eight Weeks Book Review and Giveaway

I was asked by the publishing company, Compass Publishing to review a new classroom management book from Jerry Evanski called "Master Classroom Management In Eight Weeks".  I received a PDF of the book and they are going to give away a physical copy or a PDF to one lucky reader of my blog!  Only US residents can win the physical copy, but if you are international they are happy to send you a PDF of the book.  If you are not the winner you can click on the picture of the book or HERE to order it.  By ordering on this link you will get both the PDF and the physical copy of the book.  It is available on Amazon, but by ordering the physical copy you will not get a PDF of the book on there.  Read on for the review and how to win a copy!

This is an easy to read book that is broken down into 8 weeks with different topics.  The topics are: Getting Attention, Keeping Attention, Engaging Students, Teaching the Lesson, Getting Participation, Giving Directions, Communicating, and Transitioning.  All are critical parts for a smooth running classroom.  Jerry breaks each topic down into smaller topics and skills for each day of the week for each topic.  By following his guide and implementing each part a day at a time you will have mastered classroom management.

I love that he incorporates many of the things that I believe in such as movement, gestures, collaborative groups, partners, encouragement, praise, role playing, and music to name a few.

One strategy under review in week 4 (Friday) is called Ping-pong review.  You use 25 ping pong balls with a number from 1 to 25 on each ball.  Create a list of review topics, vocabulary words, etc. students are working on.  Put the balls on the floor and have your students pick a certain number of balls and then they review that numbered topic or vocabulary word with a partner!

That's just one example of many wonderful ideas in this book.

This giveaway starts at midnight and ends in 5 days.  I will check entries to be sure that you have done what you said you have done.  You will have 48 hours to answer your e-mail after I have drawn a winner or a new winner will be selected.

a Rafflecopter giveaway


You can also follow Compass Publishing on Facebook. 

Stay tuned for another fun Giveaway as I now have over 1,000 followers on TPT!!! 

Thank you for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!

Throw Out The Worksheets and Engage Students!

That's right, throw out those worksheets and engage your students as the end of the year comes to a close.  I am seeing all kinds of quotes being passed around on social media that make me quite sad that talk about recycling worksheets.

I get and understand that you are very busy with all of the end of the year requirements, but I don't believe in giving busy work.  It IS busy work if you give children worksheets (includes homework) and you never look at it and just toss it.  Yes, I have given worksheets and most of homework is worksheets, but ALL of them are checked and returned to students or put in a portfolio.  Busy work is NOT okay, NEVER!

So what can you do if you don't have the time to check and hand back worksheets?  At this time of the year most skills have been taught so let your students play learning games.  There are many learning games out there that require NO prep other than a dice or spinner.  I have created No Prep Board Games for all of Fry's sight words 1 to 400!  Each 100 word set includes 4 different board games with words and 2 blank games that can be used with any set of cards even math!

What do you do to avoid giving busy work during this time of year or any time of the year?

Thank you for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings!  Keep on smiling!

Open Word Sorting in Kindergarten

I mentioned about the fun Open Word Sorting that I did last week with my students.  I thought I would write a little bit more about how I got it to work so well.

First I printed off pictures off of the FCRR website under letter sound correspondence.  Next I divided children into groups and gave them cards with sounds that some are having difficulty with W, V, U, and Y.  The tricky part was I gave them both long and short U pictures.  This was to challenge my higher level students.

I instructed the students to put pictures into rows that had the same sounds.  I did not tell them what the sounds were so it would be an open sort.  In a closed sort you give them the sounds.  I also gave each group 5 index cards to write the beginning sounds on once they had sorted them.

The interesting thing is the group that had no high level students happened to be the group that finished first and had separated the long and short u cards!  It was also very interesting to see who stepped up to be leaders.

I plan to do more of these in the future.  Has any other Kindergarten teachers tried this?  If so what were the results?

Thanks for hoppin' by Hopkins' Hoppin' Happenings.  Keep on smiling!