Fall Math!

Here are some of our fall themed math activities!

Harvest Patterns!
We used different beans to make patterns and I printed out a black and white scarecrow for them to color. I had a sample for my kiddos to copy but it can also be differentiated to allow the students to make their own patterns.

Corn Counting!
This is super easy to differentiate. Can be used with numbers, addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. I saw this online but with candy corn. Believe it or not, none of my students like candy corn! So we used some beads that I had in the craft closet. This way we were also able to hang them up!

Turkey Math!
Here is three different ways I differentiated this for my kiddos! We have one with numbers 1-10, one with counting by 10s, and a clock!

Thanksgiving Luncheon!

Okay, so I didn't post at all last week! Its quite terrible. And here goes my excuse... I am getting my masters and it has come to that point in the semester when I have a few major assignments due and of course finals. But I am going to try and be better about posting and perhaps that will even be my New Year's resolution! So now on to the fun stuff....

I am very excited about this Wednesday. Every year my school holds a Thanksgiving Lunch for parents to attend. And teachers get to eat too :) Last year I had a few parents attend and we made a thanksgiving turkey hat. This year I wanted to go BIG! Since my kiddos are doing so extremely well with their center rotations I thought we could show them off! My kiddos and their parents will be moving through 3 different centers, much like we do in the classroom. On Wednesday I will post our final products!

Here is the schedule.

Orange Center: One of my lovely and exceptionally creative assistants will be running this center. She will be making Turkey wreaths! I saw this idea on pinterest and I am going to have my kiddos make it their own by adding some extras. (beads, leaves, stickers, pom-poms) We will be using a paper plate with the middle cut out and we will use some paper to cut out and make the turkey.

 





 

Purple Center: My other assistant will be working with the kids with pumpkin scented playdoh! I am so excited to make this on Tuesday and smell it of course. Luckily, it is all edible incase my kiddos can't resist the temptation. Here is the recipe! With this center, we have some playdoh toys that I got from Target last year. I also found these great playdoh fall themed playdoh mats for free. Here they are!

 

Yellow Table/ Teacher Time: This will be my center to work with the kiddos and their families. Here we will make our edible/snack! As you may know, I love edible activities because they are fun and it definitely gets the kids attention, while working on following directions and social skills. Here is what we will be making, with a few modifications of course! Oh and I also just got a new student, he starts Tomorrow, and he is on a gluten free diet. So what's my plan? Well to find as much gluten free items as I can so he can of course participate :)

 

 

Be sure to check out my post on Wednesday with the pictures of how our centers went!!

 

 

 

 

 



Orange Center Re-Vamp!

Since we are well into the school year now, I wanted to allow my kiddos more practice with the skills they have learned so far. So I decided to redo my orange center!

Now, the flash cards and data sheets are at the purple center and my orange center has become a hub for practicing and reviewing academic skills and concepts. Each child now has a drawer or bin with their name on it. Inside there are math sheets that are laminated or in a sheet protector so they can be done with a dry erase marker, file folders, their morning meeting books, and any other activity that they can review. Each bin is individualized for each student and what they have been working on. My assistant monitors this center and helps out if needed. I love that my kiddos are getting more academic practice throughout the day!!

Great Site for Sight Word Readers!

Today I wanted to share a site with you that I have been getting short stories from for my students who are just beginning to read or who need more help with comprehension.

http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/

This site has great stories that incorporate sight words and common nouns. There are also plenty of other literacy activities on here that can be utilized. And the best part is..... It is all FREE!!

Worksheet File System

Last year as a first year teacher I would print out worksheets and they would just end up piled on my desk. Over the summer I wanted to create a better storage system for my worksheets. Here are all of my binders I have so far. I am sure I will continue to gather worksheets through the years and my collection will grow!

I have monthly themed binders that incorporate holidays and seasons. Right now I have two math binders; one for lower level math and one for higher level. I also have a language arts binder that has comprehension worksheets, rhyming, phonemic awareness, etc. I have small binders for different science and social studies themes. Next, I am thinking of getting a filing cabinet so I can store more of my hands on actvities!

I will also be putting these binder labels up on TPT soon, so keep a look out!

Orange Center Card Storage

In my orange center students work on flash cards depending on their level. I went ahead and made several sets of cards for all of the levels of dolch sight words, numbers 1-100, coin pictures, shapes, and several copies of everyday object pictures. I am also working on creating clocks for students to work on time and I have addition and subtraction cards as well.

Here is where I store my cards! I got these CD holders from Walmart for about 80 cents. They worked out awesome!

Movement Breaks!

On my TPT I have a set of movement break cards to be utilized whenever needed or on a regular basis. These work great for a needed break or a time filler. Also teaches students to follow directions and about emotions.

New Token Economy!

I am so excited about my new token economy, curtesy of The Autism Helper! She has an editable file for download on TPT. I was able to create it in a way that is suitable for my kiddos. I am currently using the system with 4 of my students. However, one of my students doesn't like to play or eat candy so much and so plenty of verbal praise works well for him. This system is working exceptionally well with two of my students. They usually will work for the computer, candy, and the IPAD. I love that when I give one student a point, the other will work extra hard for their point!

Here are some pictures of how I adapted this program for my class! Thank you The Autism Helper!!

States of Matter Experiment!

For science we have been learning about the 3 states of matter. I found a few good sorting activities on TPT and I also sent home a States of Matter project. Here some of the finished products!

Last Friday we did an experiment related to the states of matter!

Materials:
-Film canisters
-Alka-Seltzer
-Water

1. Take your kiddos outside for this experiment! It can get a little messy.
2. Go over the 3 states of matter with your students (solid, liquid, gas)
3. Show your students the Alka-Seltzer and let them touch it. Tell them that it is a solid
4. Show your students the water and let them shake the bottle or feel the water. Tell them it is a liquid.
5. Explain that when the Alka-Seltzer and the water mix they will create a gas.
6. Show an example of the experiment! (place the tablet in the film canister and add water. Put the top on the canister quickly and stand back!)
7. I gave a canister to each of my students and they were able to do their own experiment one at a time with a teachers help.

They loved this experiment!!

Halloween/October Vocabulary Unit!

It is already October and that means my kiddos are already getting excited about Halloween! Here is my Halloween/October themed vocabulary unit.

Included:

Picture and Word cards
Picture Cards
Adapted Story
Bingo Game
2 levels of file folders
2 levels of matching worksheets
2 levels of writing worksheets
Read, Write, Stamp, Paste worksheet for each letter

Fall Freebies!

Sorry about being a little MIA! To make a long story short, I found a puppy outside on Thursday and he is now at my house taking up a whole lot of time. But he is well worth it :)

Here are some fall freebies that I have found! Enjoy!

Fall graphing activity

Candy Corn Graphing Activity

Build a CVC word Activity

Fall Themed Coloring Sheets

Fall Preschool Pack

Literacy Activities

Addition Math Center

Fall Word Problems

Purple Center Tasks Cont'd!

Here are my the rest of my purple center tasks #s 11-19.

11: Matching Word to Picture Puzzle. I got this puzzle from Office Depot in the clearance section!

12: Shapes. This uses the tanograms and some boards that I got from an educational store. My kiddos need to do 2 of these.

13: Pen/Pencil Sort: Students sort pens and pencils that I took from my classroom stash. I put a picture of each in the containers I found at Walmart.

14: Sock Sort: This is a great functional activity for my students to do. They must find the matching sock and fold them together.

15: Silverware Sort: I got a silverware tray from Walmart and some plastic spoons, forks, knives, and straws. I put a picture of each in the slot where they belong. Also another great functional skill!

16: ABC Trace: I got these textured letters from a donors choose project. Students trace the alphabet with their finger.

17: Pocket Chart Activity: This also came from donors choose. Right now students put a letter that I highlighted with red sharpie in each of the slots and then find a picture that begins with that letter. I plan on changing up the activities throughout the year.

18: Shape Sort: This also came from donors choose. Students sort shapes into the tray.

19: Number to Object Match: This is from donors choose as well. Students match the number to the number of objects. Depending on the students level, they do not have to do all 30.

So that's it! My purple center. As you can see some activities I created just using items that I already had in the classroom. There are so many different tasks that you can create and I plan on creating more for next year.

Purple Center Tasks!

I have 19 tasks at my purple center. Over summer I plan to create more for next year but for now this works! My group A does this center completely independently, group B needs little prompting and monitoring, and group c needs more prompting. Here are my tasks 1-10.

1: Alphabet Books. I created these books and they are on my TPT. My students pick 3 to complete.

2: Emerging File Folders. Here I have a variety of file folder games that go over early learning skills such as the alphabet, numbers, colors, and matching. The majority of these games came from File Folder Fun and File Folder Farm.

3: Intermediate File Folders. Here are some harder file folder games. Included are adding, subtracting, money, sight words, and categorizing. These also came from File folder fun and file folder farm.

4: Bear Color Sort: I got the bears from an educational store and the bowls came from IKEA. The bowls just happened to be the exact colors I needed!




















5: Bead Color Sort: I got an ice cube tray and beads from Walmart. I hot glued a bead to the bottom of each cube slot.

6: Office Supple Sort: I found the tray at the dollar store and I just used items that I already had in the classroom. I taped a picture with the word of each item to the tray.

7: Initial Sound Sort: These I got from NY2 and symbolstix. I am still working on creating some more cards.

8: Holiday/Monthly Activity: Here I will put an activity usually that I found on TPT that goes along with the season/month/ or holiday. Currently I have a fall themed even/odd sort activity that I found for free on TPT.

9: Match and Sort. I got this activity from a donors choose project. Students sort a variety of objects into cups or on a mat.

10: Adapted Books. The majority of these books came from the Autism Helper on TPT. I love these books and so do my kiddos!