Spring Time is Planting Time

We are kicking off April with a Plant unit. I love this time of year. The kinders are so excited to be at school and are maturing right before my eyes! I especially love how they are growing into such independent learners. Speaking of growing, have you read the folktale "Tops and Bottoms" by Janet Stevens?

Reading
I'll be reading "Tops and Bottoms" by Janet Steven. 
I use Deanna Jump & DeeDee Wills' Guided Reader lessons to integrate kindergarten skills using this Folktale. Their 5 day plan goes over key ideas and details, craft and structure, as well as integration of knowledge and ideas.  If you are looking for a way to do more than just read a story to your class then click the picture to check these guided reading lessons out!

Riddle Time

I thought it would be fun to create a slide show of Vegetable Riddles and Garden Giggles to help with our vocabulary. It is themed to go along with our mentor text "Tops and Bottoms".I just uploaded it today to TpT. Click on the picture to check it out in my store.

Science

Another favorite thing I like to do with the kinders in my class is plant Grass Heads. All you need are knee highs, soil, quick-grow grass seed and clear plastic punch cups or bowls. I like to add wiggly eyes after school to surprise the kids.  This is a picture of one of my former students giving his Grass Head a trim before taking it home!

Sensory Center

My centers will definitely include a sensory bin. I just happened to have a bag full of little plastic fruits and vegetables so I whipped up a sorting mat to add to the sensory bin. Mr. Greg at Kindergarten Smorgasboard and Marsha McGuire at Differentiated Kindergarten have awesome carrot themed centers that I will also add to the bin through out our Plant unit.

Poetry

I love poetry and my all time favorite resources are DeeDee Wills' Poetry Stations and Shared Reading. These are poems on steroids! There are 5 days of activities to teach a wide variety of kindergarten reading skills like; craft and structure, phonics skills, print concepts, and fluency. This week we are doing "Plant Song". The words are piggy-backed onto "The Wheels on the Bus". The kinders love the catchy tune and the words teach plant vocabulary in a fun and memorable way.  

Well that's all for now. 

Check back later when our chick eggs arrive!