St. Patrick's Day

     My K5ers started the week off by telling what they knew about St. Patrick's Day, which may have been nothing had we not been playing our "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" sight word game all month. One of my students schema quotes was, " People say, 'Kiss me, I'm Irish!'" If you haven't seen this game, be sure to click here so that you can watch the video.    

We did lot's of St. Patrick's Day reading. Fiction and nonfiction texts!



       This adorable, easy painting idea came from Crafty Morning! Click here to see Michelle's post. Thanks for this adorable idea Michelle!!



We used these playdoh mats for differentiated math review...

Of course, we did some shared writing! I loved my K5ers responses. My favorite response didn't make it to the board though....

Student: "Ms. Peden, is there enough gold in the pot for me to afford 16 wives? I might want that."

Bahahaha... enough gold for 16 wives? There could never be enough gold for that!!!

      To go along with The Night Before Saint Patrick's Day, I had students create leprechaun traps as a family project. The students went above and beyond my expectations! I was SO incredibly proud! I had never done this project before, and I found this great FREEBIE from Lindle's Little Learners on TPT that really helped. Click here to find her free parent letter, which includes a page of example pictures! 

We moved our chairs into a circle and each student was able to share their projects with the class. Students described how their projects worked as well as telling about the design progress. 

Loved that this student tied in a Bible verse! 

      The next day, we set up our traps around the classroom in hopes of catching a leprechaun. While were at lunch, a leprechaun visited our classroom, leaving messy glitter footprints all over the room! He was too clever to fall for our traps, but he did drop his pot of gold in the process of trying to escape. Golden necklaces and coins for all the K5ers! 

      To close our week we did some awesome directed drawing! A freebie I grabbed from First Grade Blue Skies. Thanks Ms. White for this adorable activity! 

I used these resources in my class this week. Click to find on TPT! 

      

Worksheets Don't Grow Dendrites: Chapter 4

I'm linking up with the Queen of the First Grade Jungle to talk about Strategy 4: Games!  

     As soon as I read "Games" I immediately thought of John Hunter and his World Peace Game. I have been able to hear John Hunter speak twice on this, and let me tell you, it is SO COOL. Talk about higher level thinking... his fourth grade students were invited to the Pentagon by officials who heard about their work with this game... they wanted to know how these 4th graders were solving the issue of world peace. If you haven't heard of John Hunter, then you need to go check out this video as soon as you finish reading this post. :)  Would love to hear some thoughts on how to incorporate this kind of problem solving game play into the K classroom! 

    My self proclaimed mentor teacher, other momma, and BFF,  has modeled the power of game play for me in her K4 classroom. She is all about (developmentally appropriate) game play and competition in her classroom and it works! Her students participate in individual and group competitions. Sometimes she engages her students by simply writing all of their names on the board and putting a check next to their name for each correct answer. The student with the most checks at the end of the day wins a trip to the treasure box.

Around the World 

     

     Draw a students name at random. Have this student stand by a student you choose. The student who can answer the math fact the quickest advances to the next seat and the competition continues around the room. The last student standing is the winner. This is always a favorite for my students! 

School-Wide Bible Bowl and Math Bowl Competitions 

Math and Literacy Center Games 

Sight Word Games 

Lately, I have noticed a few of my students really struggling with their sight words, so I created this year round sight word pack to help me better serve my students in this area. You can click on the picture below to find this product in my TPT shop . 

I even included this tool for helping students keep track of their individual sight words!!!

Other Sight Word Games 

 

     Thanks for stopping by my blog. Please click on the picture below to find a sample of my Sight Word Splat pack for FREE in my TPT store! Leave a comment and let me know what games your students are playing as well. 

Pick 3! Pinterest Picks

Just click the pictures to find the pins! 

     How cute and easy is this?!?! I love that it involves recycling as well. Hoping to do this with my kiddos this month. This pin originally came from Crafty Morning. Make sure you check out the site because it is full of awesome art and craft ideas! 

     Normally, I would not say that a snowman craft was a March activity... more like December or January... but this year March has been filled with snow and I know my kiddos would love making this Olaf doll!  

So this isn't actually a March activity... but it is a fun way to practice sight words in small group!!! I will definitely be trying this game.