Classroom Update: June 25

Hi guys! Can you believe we’re entering the last week of school? June has flown by!
Here are some ideas I’m hoping you can use this week or next June 🙂
1. SIGHT WORD POPSICLE STICK PUZZLES
I adapted this from an idea I saw on Planning Playtime’s Facebook page.  Students are invited to find the popsicle sticks that match to make a sight word and record 5 words they made on the recording sheet.
You can grab the recording sheet for free by clicking here or on the image below:
2. BUILDING POPSICLE STICK TOWERS

Popsicle sticks are a bit of a theme this week! For this activity, I had the kids make a tower using popsicle sticks and wooden cubes.  Then the students were encouraged to measure how tall their structure is with unifix cubes (not pictured, but they were also on the table).

I also set out the recording sheet above to encourage the kids to draw their tower and record how many unifix cubes tall their tower was.
You can grab the recording sheet for FREE by clicking here or on the image below:
3. WATCH ME GROW! WRITING PORTFOLIOS
I always compile my students’ guided writing from the year and make it into a writing portfolio for the kids to take home during the Celebration of Learning (this is what we do instead of a Kindergarten graduation).
For the cover, I get the kids to write their name and I add their picture from September and June.  
The first page is their name/portraits that I had them complete in September.

Then their guided writing piece from October to June.

At the end I add the name/portrait page I have them complete again in June, to show their growth from September!
4. PARENT PRIDE BOARD

I posted about this last year but it’s always a hit so I wanted to share it again.  We set this up for our “Celebration of Learning” when the parents come to visit our classroom at the end of the year.  At the end (we do a slideshow and a short presentation about our learning from the year) we invite the parents to write something they are proud of about their child’s learning from the year and stick it on the board.
We are excited to read these as a class tomorrow! It is a great way to start the last week off on a positive note!
5. OUR FAVOURITE LEARNING CHARTS

We made these charts as part of our “Celebration of Learning” and also to reflect on the year.  It is a great way to learn and reflect as an educator what they enjoyed the most and what I can do differently next year.

On Instagram, someone asked how I do Close Reading in Kinder.  I basically follow this guideline:
Monday: Cold Read + Predictions
Tuesday: Vocabulary
Wednesday: Text-to-Self Connection
Thursday: Retell
Friday: Opinion / Inferencing / Character Analysis
When I first started teaching Close Reading, I followed the lessons in Guiding Readers by Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills.  They were so helpful when I first started and now I adapt bits and pieces of it to fit my schedule.  Now that I’m comfortable with the model I am also able to pick my own books and create lessons on my own using their model.  They are a little pricey, but I highly recommend their guiding readers units if you are just getting started with close reading!
That’s it from me this week! For those of you who are still in school like me, I hope you have a great last 4 days with your kiddos!
– Yukari

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