My second year of teaching, a very good friend of mine shared these awesome poems with me. I’ve used them ever since. Not only are they cute as can be, but they also help my kiddos learn how to spell the names of every month. Can’t get much better than that! We recite our poems every day during Calendar time.
I’ve put all of the poems together to share with all of ya’ll. Just click on the picture below. I hope you enjoy!!!
Music always makes everything fun! It’s a great way to get your kiddos up and moving, and a fun way for them to remember things! I like to use music to teach skills, build our community, transition between activities, and sometimes just to be silly and have fun! At the beginning of each day, during Calendar time, I use Jack Hartmann’s Movin to Math.
This cd is so much fun! Not only does it get your kiddos moving and exercising, but they learn many different number skills while their doing it! All of the tracks are great, but I’ll list off a few of my favorites.
Track:
3. Let’s Get Fit (counting to 100 by 1’s) (Your kiddos will be exercising as they count by 1’s, so much fun!)
6. Dancin’ 2’s (This song has your class doing some dance moves while they count by 2’s)
7. Exercise and Count by 5’s ( Great exercise song for counting by 5’s)
21. Mr. Alligator Can Chomp* (This song teaches greater and less than. What’s awesome about this song is that the music pauses so that you can go over new numbers every day! My kiddos always have the easiest time learning the concept with this song!)
22. Hip-Hop Around the Clock* (I love this song b/c I can show different times on my large Judy clock, and they can figure each time out using this song!)
These are just a few of the wonderful songs on this cd. My kiddos love singing every track, and Jack Hartmann has many more cds that you should check out!
There was a time when I didn’t use music during my calendar time, and I don’t know how I survived now! The kids are so much more engaged, and we have a lot more fun too!
If you have any music that you use to teach, I would love to hear about it!
OMGoodness! I have been MIA for over two weeks now! Its been a busy few weeks of school, and I’ve been absolutely exhausted. The first day of school was SO stressful. My baby boy Landon had a fever the night before school started, so I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep. Plus, I spent most of the morning trying to figure out who would keep him since I couldn’t take him to daycare. Talk about crazy!
The first day at school went great though. I have an awesome class this year. They are so sweet and lots of fun! We had a great time making Jitter Juice from the Fun with Firsties packet by Abby! This was such a fun activity and my kiddos loved drinking their jitters away!
We also had fun using the Marshmallow Toes activity by Kelli from Castles and Crayons. Such a cute poem, and a great way to practice walking in the hallway!
I have to say that the rest of the day is kind of a blur. We discussed rules and procedures and we practiced, practiced, practiced!
I also wanted to share this idea for keeping track of your reading observations. A co-worker of mine had bought one of those spirals with index cards to keep track of running records and observations. Such a great idea, so I tweeked it a bit to fit my needs! I don’t have a lot of time to run to the store, so I took some index cards, punched some holes, tabbed them with my kiddos names, and put them on a ring. Works just as well, but it’s a lot cheaper! Plus, when you use a ring, you can always add cards as needed.
Just a simple, cheap idea if you’re needing something quick. It’s worked really well too! Oh, and I put a colored index card at the front of each student’s file, and then put regular white ones behind it. It just made it a little more separated.
Well, I’m off for now! Time to get ready for tomorrow!
