Brown Bear Book

We read, Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See, By Bill Martin Jr. and now we will make our own version.   This is a great activity to focus on colors.  This is the heart page and we will do it centers time.  I will post more pictures as we do the rest of the book and you can get a copy of the masters for the book here:  What do you see?

Wiki Stix Are Great!

We use wiki stix for so many things in TK.  This week we talked about shapes and then the kids were able to use wiki stix to place them on laminated shape cards.  Don't forget to remind them not to ball them up or you will have a sticky mess on your hands. 

Safe Place

Instead of a time out spot or turning cards, we have a "safe place".  This is a place for a child to go to chill out and take a break to regroup.   The calming strategies are posted to remind them of ways to calm down before coming back to the carpet.  I also have a puppet, book and some other small things they can use while they are calming down. 

Letter T

This is a great activity for the kids to do after you introduce a letter in TK.   I got these printouts from http://totschool.shannons.org/?page_id=2360  and then I shrunk them down so both the upper case and lower case letters fit on the same page.  The kids use Bingo markers and dot the letter and then they write Tt's when they are done. 

Counting Beans

This is an easy fun center and also works fine motor skills.  You can pick up ice cube trays at the Dollar Store 2 for $1.  Use dot stickers to write the number and corresponding dots on.  Student needs to put that many in each slot.

Show and Tell

In the beginning of the year we do sharing in our classroom.  Each child is assigned a day that he/she will share.  In the morning they bring in the sharing and hide it in this big tub and it comes out when it is sharing time.  I have them start by saying, "Hi, my name is ________, and this is my sharing."  Then they tell us a couple things about it and take three questions or comments from the audience. 

All About Me

We do a lot of "All About Me" activities in the beginning of the year.  This one was done in two parts.  I think they turned out cute.  Let me know if you want more instructions. 

Sensory Table

Our sensory table used to be my kids' water table.  I will change it throughout the year.  Right now we have one side as shaving cream with drops of food coloring and water on the other side.  I have them wear a smock because it gets messy. 

Whole Brain Teaching

Whole Brain Teaching is new for me this year and I LOVE IT!  The kids have picked up on it so fast and I can't say enough about how wonderful it works for these little ones.  I even hear the kids telling each other, "Rule  #3, keep your hands and your feet to yourself!"   These rules are posted at the front of the room and we chant them each day with a movement we made up for each one.  There is a lot more to Whole Brain Teaching and you can easily access information for FREE.  To see it in action in a real classroom setting, view a couple videos on www.youtube.com  (I just typed in Whole Brain Teaching) or here is their main free website:  http://www.wholebrainteaching.com/.  I recommend watching the videos first and then adjusting it so that it is comfortable for you.  I changed the rules a bit to fit with what works in my class.  It is a great management program!

Weekly tubs

Staying organized is a must when teaching TK!!  We use tubs for everything.  These are our weekly tubs and we put our prep in them as we go.  That way we can quickly grab what we need for the next day and put things in them as they are prepped.  Things that are prepped more than a week in advance are put in a larger box and can be pulled out when needed.  We also have tubs for each of our parent/teacher led centers with materials needed for each center.  Independent centers have trays or small individual tubs for students. 

Free Choice Chart

This is our free choice chart that we use each day and it is color coded (as everything is in our room).  Since most of my TK kids do not recognize his/her name in the beginning of the year, pictures for everything is a must.  These pictures were cut down and then I used a square of adhesive velcro on each one.  The picture on the bottom is how the cards are in the beginning of the day and the one on top is how it looks while the kids are at free choice.  I allow the kids to change activities if they want to- they just need to move their card to an activity that has an open velcro square.  I try and change up the choices as much as possible, but the playhouse, train table and blocks area are always a favorite!

Math Toy Tub

I have saved all the little toys throughout the years and now they occupy two tubs for free choice time.  I encourage sorting, color identification and counting during this time. 

Fine Motor

Lite Brite is a fun activity during free choice and really great for fine motor skills.

Ouchies

It seems like the smallest of scrapes requires band aids for TK students.  Minimize interruptions and make life easier by making a simple Ouch box where kids can get their own band aids.

Color Class Books

Print the pages here:  Color Book Master

We made a color book for every color of the rainbow.  For the green books, we cut toilet paper tubes at the bottoms to form flower shapes and stamped our pages.  For the red they drew something red.  For other colors we used magazine cutouts, construction paper color shapes, q-tip painting, etc.  Then I bind them all and the kids look through them when they are finished with a center. 

We love making class books!  The kids cut apart their names and glued them back on this page.  I made a ton of copies of their first day of school pictures on the copy machine for various projects.  We used them here and then they each counted how many letters they have in their name.  I put this in our library center and the kids love counting the letters to check our work.

More Name Recognition

We do many activities with the kids' names.  Here are some ideas:  write names on construction paper have them glue foam pieces to each letter (great for fine motor), write kids' names using a white crayon on white paper and then have them use watercolor paint to find the secret message, write kids' names on construction paper with a black marker and have them rainbow trace on top of the lines (use every color of the rainbow). 

Names, Names, Names

Write each child's name on a large piece of white construction paper in pencil.  Give them some Bingo markers and let them "dot away" while saying each letter.  A great name recognition activity.

Lost and Found

Love those kiddos and they always want to help, but it can get hectic when 30 kids are handing you little tiny things they have found on the ground throughout the day.  Solution?  Lost and Found tub. 

Play Dough Potato Head

I love, love, love play dough for fine motor skills.  Keep the students from getting bored by adding new fun ways to play.  I have a bunch of Mr. Potato Head pieces and I let the kids form a potato head body and add all the fun pieces.  I have seen a some pumpkin pieces at the Dollar Store that you could buy to add to this center. 

Play House

The favorite free choice activity in my room (a close second is the train table) is the play house.
I start the year out with a basic play house with dress up clothes and play food with plates/utensils.  The kids really interact in this area and it opens up for lots of pretend play.  I change it throughout the year and will post pictures as I do.  I was thinking that it would be great if I had space for 2 play house areas...so many kids want to be in it and it only has room for 4 at a time!

Snack

The kids bring a snack each day and we call it "The Snack Shack".  I put 2 tubs and a smaller clear tub out each morning.  The kids are to put their snack in the tub each morning.  They also are to put their water bottle in the clear tub.  That way they snack is already sorted even before I have opened the door.  I have girls put in one tub and boys in the other and this makes it easier for parents to find their child's snack at pickup.  My aide then takes the tubs out right before snack time and lays them out for the kids.  They find grab their snack bag outside and when they are done they put the snack back in the tub.  

Cubby

We have cubbies this year and absolutely love them!  We used to have the kids' backpacks hanging on each chair and we were always stumbling over them.  This is a huge space saver.  Most of my kids still can't identify his/her name, so I put nametags and their first day pictures on each cubbyhole for easy recognition.  At the end of the day I dismiss each child one by one by gently tapping them on the head with a soft pointer and it helps with congestion at the cubby area. 

Tray Work

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Since it's the beginning of the year, we do lots of free exploration with our math materials.  I use trays that are padded with foam to make them quieter.  Then I put each child's pattern blocks in a tub and place them on the tray.  They are only allowed to keep their materials on their own tray.  The trays are stored on a bookshelf at the end of each table group.

Center Organization

In order to keep things organized and the management working, I make sure and have tubs with materials in it for each child.  For instance, in the play dough center I have 6 yellow tubs (bought from the Dollar Store) and I put a baggie of play dough, a couple of cookie cutters and 1 rolling pin.  Then each child has to work on their place mats (I bought these at Target).  After the first week I add more interesting cutters and am always changing up the play dough area.  It is such a wonderful way to develop fine motor and you will see many more posts with play dough ideas!

Hula Hoop Space

Using a hula hoop to create a space for the kids to build on the carpet has been a wonderful addition to  my class this year.  I have 33 four-year olds and this makes it easy to define each child's working space. 

Playdough mats

I made a bunch of easy play dough mats for the kids.  I used rainbow colors since that is the theme for our room.  Then I used a sharpee and drew a round face, ears and neck.  I laminated each of them and the I put took some photos some with play dough on them and printed them out so they would have some examples.  They loved this and got quite creative making different faces.  Some added earrings or necklaces, some added tongues or teeth.  

Bookshelf

This was one of my new projects this year.  We needed a simple bookshelf so the kids  would have books handy.  I went to Lowe's and bought a very large rain gutter for about $6.  I had my husband saw it in half and then I used my screw gun to secure it.  I put about 5 screws in each gutter.  So easy and it holds the books beautifully.  I love it!!

File Cabinet Uses!

File Cabinet turned to it's side

This is a great way to make use of a space.  I simply moved our file cabinet so it's facing to the side and added magnets.  Now it's an easy free choice center and I will change out the magnets throughout the year.  I start with these and then add numbers, letters and cranks that I bought at Lakeshore.  The kids love it!