February Homework

Does anyone struggle with finding homework that contains reading opportunities for young students, encourages the parent and child to work together, and provides a glimpse of our monthly study topics? 

I’ve always wanted to send home assignments that encourage communication between the family and the child. My desire is to REQUIRE (in a non-threatening way) that the parent actually work with his/her child!  Is this too much to ask?

https://goo.gl/YL4W6x

To achieve this endeavor, I created my first monthly homework packet in September of this year and and the result was overwhelmingly positive!  Since then, I’ve designed a new packet for every month based on new suggestions and ideas from parents and teachers.

February’s HOMEWORK packet is my favorite of them all!  My students read & copy words and sentences, as well as sequence and write numbers. At the top of each paper is a place for a parent’s signature and a box to write the number of times the child reads the words and sentences. The pictures are fairly large and “simple,” making them easy and fun to color.

https://goo.gl/nl7sKa

The content/format of each paper varies to provide NOVELTY and encourage THINKING!  February is filled with the Presidents, Groundhogs, and Valentine’s Day. To give you a glimpse of the format, I'd like to share these 7 sample pages with you. You can download them free at my Kindergarten with Susie store.

https://goo.gl/nl7sKa

It is my hope that you, your students, and their parents enjoy these sample pages.  Creating materials for young children is my life-long passion and I hope to make a difference for you and your kids. Please share your thoughts with me.

Snowman Brace Maps!

My kids LOVE making new Brace Maps!

September was an APPLE

October was a PUMPKIN

November was a SCARECROW

December was a GINGERBREAD BOY

January’s map is .. a SNOWMAN!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowman-Brace-Map-Freebie-2339672?aref=ancl2x7u

After a few classroom maps, my students grasp the concept, and begin creating their own maps! They’ve shared Brace Maps of a penguin, duck, flower, and one of my all time favorites, an ice cream fudge sundae!

Individual and innovative brace maps will not always be “spot-on perfect” every time. Remember that the final PRODUCT is not as important as the PROCESS. 

As teachers we encourage our students to create a finished product that is ready for display or to share with parents and other teachers. “Look”, we might exclaim proudly, “Susie made an adorable map of an apple!”  Susie copied the example in detail and produced a map that looks very much like the sample.

However, the child that created a brace map of a watermelon might not have included all of the parts, and may have run out of time and never completely finished. Does it mean that this child learned MORE than the other child?  It DEPENDS on the level of engagement for each child.  In other words: Whose brain was growing today? The finished product is NOT always the determining factor as to the validity of the task.

Children that are encouraged to THINK ... LEARN new concepts, and INCREASE synaptic connections in the brain will create new understandings that lead to academic and life-long success! 

 https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Snowman-Brace-Map-Freebie-2339672?aref=ancl2x7u

Children need TIME to develop a concept and the opportunity to “TEST” their ideas. My number one priority is to help my little ones ENGAGE in new ideas, FORMULATE new concepts, and IMPLEMENT their ideas!

Give children TIME to experiment with new IDEAS! The results will be amazing!

The Snowman Brace Map template is FREE on my TPT store. Just follow the link. :)

TPT is hosting a SALE!

Let’s get ready for the January SALE on TPT!  All of my creations are 20% off for two days and TPT is adding another 8% off!  That’s a 28% savings!  

goo.gl/rWUU4X

Honestly, I try to keep all my products at a very low cost, as my goal is to have teachers and children interact with them! BUT, when a sale comes along, it makes ALL my “stuff” even more assessable! 

Many teachers have asked me to place my HAPPY CHARACTERS in a bundle with a discount. But, the TPT sale of 28% is lower than any bundle price!

goo.gl/nFzVzx

There’s also hundreds of other stores that are participating in the campaign, so I plan to spend the day grabbing up some great products too!

Finally, if you don’t already have my Groundhog Freebie, I hope you grab it today! The kids love predicting if the Groundhog will see his shadow!

January Homework

“Better late than never!”  Perhaps this may be my new mantra for 2016! It seems that no matter how hard I try, I just can’t seem to complete all my projects when expected!

However, there is some GOOD news! January’s homework may be late for the 2016 year, but it’s 12.5 months EARLY for 2017! How’s that for being optimistic!

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/January-Homework-for-Early-Readers-No-Prep-2307463

“FINDING” Homework has always been a struggle for me. There have been weeks where I have spent hours searching for homework that I feel is meaningful as well as reviews the class lessons. I’ve found a variety of homework papers that focus on phonic skills or letter recognition, but I want my students to actually practice READING at home. Plus, I’d like a little printing, coloring, and number practice to be included as well. DO YOU FEEL THE SAME?

It is because of this quest, that I’m excited to share my NEW JANUARY HOMEWORK! My students read & copy words and sentences, as well as sequence and write numbers. At the top of each paper is a place for a parent’s signature and a box to write the number of times the child reads the words and sentences. This is my favorite part! The pictures are “simple,” making them easy and fun to color. I feel so sorry for children that are asked to color teeny tiny pictures.

The content/format of each paper varies to provide NOVELTY and encourage THINKING!  January's packet is filled with content on the New Year, SNOWMEN, PENGUINS, POLAR BEARS, CHILLY WEATHER and DR. KING, There are 46 pages of READY to SEND HOME homework! Take a peek at the preview on TPT to glean a better idea of the content. :)

These pages are also perfect for “morning work” if you prefer. Your students complete the pages in class and take them home to READ to mom or dad. Mom and dad send them back with a signature and the number of times read. Either way, children are reading and writing!

I HOPE that these will boost your students’ reading and make YOUR teaching life easier! PLEASE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

I'd like to give away 5 FREE packets to the first five teachers that leave a comment with an email of where to send the PDF file.  I'll send them out tomorrow! 

Ice Castle Day!

Happy 2016!

Life brings us many blessings and joys, as well as trials and tears. The last few months have been challenging and I am thrilled to be back blogging, creating, and sharing! I’m wishing us all a FABULOUS 2016!

Let’s talk about SNOW!  There seems to be no PERFECT amount of snow in the eyes of young children and their teachers! For Southern California teachers, the majority of our little ones have only experienced snow in movies and books. Anytime that it rains or hails is an EXCITING DAY!  It ACTUALLY did snow ONCE, our entire school went out and played in it! WHAT A MEMORY! 

Don’t think that I don’t understand the other side of the snow debate, after all I was born in Maine! As a little girl I remember taking so long to put on my coat, mittens, boots, and hat, that recess was over before I finished preparing to go outside!

Whatever circumstances you find yourself in TODAY, snow is still fascinating for young children to explore. And what better way to investigate snow than with a unit on the WATER CYCLE! My kids love learning about evaporation, condensation, and precipitation. We study the water cycle for 2-3 weeks and culminate our unit by building an ice castle!

 After sending home a NOTE to parents, the children bring ICE to school in all different shapes, colors, and sizes! We build our castle as soon as possible, so we can OBSERVE it EVAPORATING throughout the day and keep a log of the progress!  When the next rain falls, we KNOW that a few of those rain drops include the water from our CASTLE!  Thus, we’ve witnessed the complete WATER CYCLE!  

If you DO decide to build an ice castle, be sure to bring rubber gloves! Each child “builds” the castle by adding an ice sculpture  one at a time. You can see me in the picture below: I guess you could call me the architect! Notice the shade umbrella and my sunglasses!

Another activity that the kids love making and sharing with mom and dad is the WATER CYCLE WHEEL. The kids color the sections of the water cycle, glue them on a blue circle, and move the WATER DROP around the wheel as they recite the water cycle song. 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Water-Cycle-1811250

Teacher's Sample. The children color their own. The child colors each 

triangle and writes the word in the box.

The Water Cycle Wheel is part of my Water Cycle Unit on TPT. The teacher's sample is above; the students' paper is below. The children color, print, cut, and glue their own wheel to take home.

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/The-Water-Cycle-1811250

Keep in mind, that after building an ice castle in 72 degree weather, there is nothing more important than hot cocoa and marshmallows to warm you up again! LOL!

Wishing you many BLESSINGS in 2016!

Turkey Trouble Freebie

Fall is my absolute FAVORITE season! I love teaching young children as they observe the seasonal changes and look with eager anticipation to the holidays. Fall has become the season to give heartfelt THANKS, cherish time with friends and family, and for many… EAT TURKEY!

I’m sure that everyone is aware of Wendi Silvano’s book, “Turkey Trouble”… right? If not, order it today! Children of all ages love this story of a turkey’s attempt to disguise himself so as to NOT be Thanksgiving dinner. As my little ones like to say, “Mrs. Kane, this book is hilarious!” 

In the spirit of the season, I wanted to share with you a follow-up activity to the book. The children disguise their own turkeys and write clues so that their classmates must use critical thinking skills to guess the disguises. It is a fabulous activity and it makes an adorable Bulletin Board too. The directions and the patterns are free at my TPT store. 

https://goo.gl/ccheE8

Last year, I shared a Thanksgiving Day Card that I have sent home to parents for many years. There is NOT a single parent that didn’t LOVE receiving this card from their precious little one. It is treasured for many years to come. I wanted to share it with you again this year. You may read about it on my blog: A Season of Thanks. The freebie may be downloaded from my TPT store.

https://goo.gl/9TfGkF

I want to share my LOVE of children and teaching with other educators. If I make a difference for even one teacher, I will have succeeded. Wishing you all a wonderful Fall Season!

November Homework

Do you feel that you spend too much time attempting to find just the right homework for your young students? I do! Each month I seek to find the BEST homework to send home and it’s not an easy task! I want the work to be meaningful as well as review the class lessons.

I’ve found a variety of homework papers that focus on phonic skills or letter recognition, but my Daily ABC Program teaches these skills explicitly in class already. I want my students to actually practice READING at home under the supervision of an adult. I’d also like a little printing, coloring, and number practice to be included as well.

Last month, I created October Homework for Early Readers and it was very successful. Students practiced reading and printed words and sentences. That’s not to say that every page was perfect! For some students the reading was slightly too easy, and for others it was a bit too difficult. However, each page is intended to be completed with the help of an adult. Parents are asked to read to the children, listen to the children reading, and encourage BEST work. Some pages include discussions on various topics, such as nocturnal animals, and other pages have "FUN FACTS" for parent and child to read and discuss together. There is a place for a parent signature on every page.

https://goo.gl/fIoeUP

Please do NOT believe that all my precious little ones have nightly support at home, because I don’t think any teacher is lucky enough to have 100%. Once the homework is returned it’s easy to discern if the paper was done solely by the child or if an adult contributed too. Is this fair to all my kids? Do the kids that have supportive parents gain a huge advantage?

Obviously, that’s a rhetorical question! Children with supportive parents that work nightly on reading and math skills obviously boost reading and math progress… and that’s wonderful! We WANT parents to assist with literacy and math development for their children. But what about the students that do NOT receive support?  What can we do to level the playing field and give every child the needed support that they deserve?

After sending home the homework and looking at the results, I may surmise that ten to twenty percent of my kids are not being supervised as they do their homework.  With 30 kids, this means I need to provide extra guidance to three to six students. Phew! Three to six students seems more reasonable than thirty! I may group these students just to give them an extra start on the homework during school time or I may even have them complete all the homework in class.  Of course, it depends on the child and the home situation.

https://goo.gl/fIoeUP

October’s homework covered an array of topics: bats, owls, pumpkins, fall colors, and more. November’s homework touches on Thanksgiving, the Mayflower, Pilgrims, Indians, Veteran’s Day, scarecrows, hibernation, and nocturnal animals. You can take a peek at the entire set in my preview at: https://goo.gl/fIoeUP

What do you do for homework? Do you have resources that you think are fabulous? I’d love to hear what you think!