Happy Halloween!
October has gone by so fast. Has it been the busiest October ever for you too? Wow! And now it's almost over. Ok, this little set of cards isn't related to Halloween, but I am so happy with how they came out. They were a rush job last week to get them ready for Monday's math lesson.
I started the week using these Number Tower Cards for a math game with my kiddos. We are working on the concepts of number order, and more. less, equal with numbers 0-10. The kids played a game as partners where they had to order the cards first and then take turns closing eyes while the other student removed two cards. The student with closed eyes then had to guess which two numbers were missing. They really had fun with it. Both parts of the activity were fantastic! I love these cards because the visual representation of the numbers "growing" really helps students conceptualize how numbers work. You can grab these cards for your class by clicking on the link or image above.
We have also been doing some pumpkin studies in class and my kiddos made these sweet pumpkin life cycle projects. We only had a small bulletin board space for them, so they are packed in. It looks like a little pumpkin patch. They made these as an independent center activity over four days.
Here are the four stages up close:
I just love kindergarten art work! They did a great job with this craftivity! It was super easy! I just cut white 12 x 18 paper in half hot dog style. Then I folded each into four equal sections. We started with the papers folded shut with student's name on the first section that they needed to use. Each day, I unfolded the paper to show the following section where the kids would do the next stage. Nobody got mixed up! It worked great!
These haunted, or spooky, shape houses were another project my kiddos did in October. They are up in our classroom to help decorate for Halloween. They are a part of my new project based homework this year. Let me know what you think! I have gotten some nice feedback from parents. I would love to know what some other teachers think too.
The kiddos had to draw out the design to support creative thinking.
They also had to use a recording sheet to count how many of each shape was used in the final design as well as how many shapes were used altogether.
These are not available in a product yet. I am creating it and piloting it this year as we go along. If you love it, let me know and I will try to share my Project Based Homework as a product for next school year.
I had fun decorating the classroom this year for Halloween. I use these cute hanging thinga majigs and a big Happy Halloween sign on the line across my classroom. The ghost at the top of the blog post is another decoration in this set. They are too cute to be scary, so they are perfect for kindergarten kids. I have had these for years! I am pretty sure they were Hallmark decorations and it was money well spent. They were built to last. I also put up all the haunted houses the kiddos made and it was perfect!
This is the treat I gave to my sweet students this year.
Silly scarecrow stuffies! Yay! I wanted something that wasn't food. I wanted something that I didn't need to wrap or spend much time on. And... the kiddos had so much fun acting out The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything By Linda D. Williams and Megan Lloyd, that I thought these little scarecrows were perfect! I hope they have fun with them. Thanks, Oriental Trading Co. It was a money vs. time decision. Time always wins out for me, so it was money well spent.
This is that book I mentioned above. I read it every Halloween.
These are some others I really love for pumpkins and Halloween time:
A story about the little bat with a big idea who helped the witch just in time for her Halloween party.
This is an adorable tale about three friends who realize their friendship is more important than how they make the pumpkin soup each day. I used this story to introduce the concept of characters to my kiddos.
This story is about a young boy who loves his jack-o-lantern and how a pumpkin plant sprouts back from what was left of it in the garden. Great story that incorporates the fun of Halloween with the elements of growing pumpkin plants. It is a must have if you are doing a pumpkin unit.
This is my absolute favorite book for a pumpkin unit! The photos are gorgeous and it is truly written as poetry. It gives students the opportunity to ask and answer questions as well as infer meaning because of the rich vocabulary and use of literary devices. You will LOVE this quality piece of children's nonfiction. Perfect for pumpkin life cycle studies!
If you are looking for a great resource to help your October and especially Halloween week, go smoothly, you should really check out my Print and Go! Halloween pack. It has a variety of interactive NO PREP math and literacy pages that are perfect for October in kindergarten. You can look at it by clicking on the link above or the image below.
Happy Halloween!
Happy teaching!
