Saturday, April 12, 2014

I Heart this Blog!!

 
You've waited all week for the unveiling!!  I have admired this blog for some time :) 


Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations!! 

They have amazing ideas, products, and tips all broken down for you in an easy to read format. 
One of their products that I have been drooling over is their "Butterfly Bundle".  This bundle is FULL of learning fun.  The directions are easy to understand and the games and activities are engaging and fun! 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/A-Butterfly-Bundle-reading-writing-math-science-more-707401
Enough talk!  I will show you the amazing activities included in this bundle.  They will put smiles on your "butterflies" faces :)
This butterfly unit has activities centered around two amazing books: "The Crunching, Munching Caterpillar", by Sheridan Cain. I got mine from the library, but you can find it all over.
And one of everyone's favorites, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar", by Eric Carle.
 There are multiple activities for both books, as well as, some extra activities at the end.  I won't be able to show you everything, because it is overflowing with ideas!!!
 
We started reading "The Crunching Munching Caterpillar" first.  This was a hit.  The story and pictures are perfect for little ones.  This book is so fun, because it includes bits of reality along with aspects of make-believe, or fantasy.  It is fun for little ones to try and figure out, which is "real" and which is "make-believe".  Kelly and Kim include labels for "Reality" and "Fantasy", as well as, sentences with pictorial representations.  Students are able to discuss and sort the cards.
This is an example provided by one of my older students.  He continues to struggle in using the text to answer questions.  This activity is perfect in giving students the chance to refer back to the text to find information.  Students will then write sentences and draw pictures to relate a real and pretend event that occurred in the text. 
There is also a fun game called "Odd One Out".  Students are able to compare and contrast objects and to identify what might make an object the "odd one out".  We looked at the pictures and discussed what is the same and what is different about the objects.  After we came up with our own ideas, we read the cards and separated them by similarities and differences.
Kelly and Kim 3 different sets of objects.  You can have students break into small groups to compare and contrast the objects.  They can figure out how to relate 3 and find the "odd one out".
Here is an extension worksheet that they provide to identify the "Odd One Out" in the story.
We also read my favorite book, "The Very Hungry Caterpillar"!  Kelly and Kim have one of the most ingenious ideas to "feed" the caterpillar.  Students can use this to retell the story.
They have a caterpillar that you can print out with two holes to cut out.  One for the mouth and one for the stomach.  You then laminate the caterpillar and cut out ONLY the mouth.  I hot glued mine to a laminating paper box.  It is sturdy and made of thick cardboard, plus I use it in bulk :)  I laminated the sides so that the caterpillar kind of bubbled out.  This made it easy for students to out the food in the caterpillar's mouth and to get it all back out.  They LOVED it!
Another favorite was the "Bunches Of Butterflies" math games.  Students used a spinner.  We used a paper clip and pencil to make the spinner.   There are five different types of spinners.  Use the level that works best for your students.
Students will draw a ten frame of butterflies from a pile, spin the spinner, and add or subtract.  It is very easy to differentiate for this activity.  Some students can use manipulatives to show the addition or subtraction problems.  I also allowed some students to use a dry erase marker on the ten frames.  They added circles for addition and drew X's on the butterflies for subtraction.  Students will then record their equations on the recording sheet.
Another favorite was using the butterfly cube.  It is easy to put together and tons of fun for the kids to use!  This is the die, before I taped it.  I promise that it was really easy to put together.
The students took turns rolling the dice and put tally marks on their recording sheets.  After they were done rolling, they added up their tally marks and recorded the totals.  They were then able to create a graph and analyze their data.
You can't talk about butterflies without talking about symmetry!  Here is a fun activity to introduce students to symmetry in the real world.  Here is an example of a student finding the matching wing for the butterfly.
 I put all the butterflies onto the pocket chart and used it as a center, but you could also break students up into cooperative groups to work on identifying symmetry in the butterflies.
Kelly and Kim provide a number of extension worksheets that allow you to assess their grasp of the concept of symmetry.  Students will color the butterflies in a symmetrical pattern, recreate the other half of the pattern, or use a blank butterfly to create a symmetrical pattern.
One of my favorite games was the roll, add, and color games.  Students rolled two dice and added the numbers together.  They were able to color in a part of their butterfly, if they found the sum on their paper.  These games were fast and furious, in a good way.  We used foam dice, but next time I think we will put regular dice in a Tupperware container :)
Kelly and Kim were sweet enough to share a freebie from their bundle with you!  They have three different versions of butterfly themed "Write the Room" activities.  You are lucky enough to get one of them!!  Below, is a student using a caterpillar version of "Write the Room".

Thanks for taking the time to check out Kelly and Kim's Kreations with me!  Here is a little freebie from their wonderful bundle.  I hope your kids and students enjoy it as much as mine did! Click here to get your freebie!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0Bzdf4OqBvDfcb2RnSFRWajV4bGc/edit?usp=sharing
 
If you want to find out who some other bloggers admire, check out the links below!


 

2 comments:

  1. Oh my gosh!! We are so excited to find out you are our admirer!! We admire you too! We follow your TpT store and follow you on FB! It is so awesome to see our products in use in another classroom!! It looks like your children had a good time with the activities!! Thank you so much!! We are so honored. We look forward to learning, sharing, and collaborating more with you in the future!! Have a wonderful weekend!
    Kelly and Kim’s Kindergarten Kreations

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    1. I felt like I hit the jackpot! Loved using your activities and the kids and I had a fantastic time. Thank you so much for participating in this AWESOME swap! It was such a fun experience for me :) I am so honored that you even knew who I was!!! Thanks so much for commenting and making my day!!
      Laura

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