What’s at the Target Dollar Spot?

When I go to Target with my husband, he drops me off at the door and then goes and parks the car. Now, you might be thinking, “How sweet!” (He really is.) But, this has nothing to do with being sweet….he doesn’t want to look in the dollar spot! So he drops me off so that I will be done in the Dollar Spot by the time he gets in the store! I've added several freebees to this post.
So here are some quick pictures I snapped!
When I go to Target with my husband, he drops me off at the door and then goes and parks the car. Now, you might be thinking, “How sweet!” (He really is.) But, this has nothing to do with being sweet….he doesn’t want to look in the dollar spot! So he drops me off so that I will be done in the Dollar Spot by the time he gets in the store!
So here are some quick pictures I snapped!
*Love the bug magnifiers! Great for science or as a novelty for reading!
*The cardboard magazine boxes are great for book bins.
*Old Maid and Go Fish are fun games for indoor recess.
*French fry holders to make a counting game by making paper or sponge french fries as counters.

Love these $1 non fiction books. The Family Fun books have some cute crafts but can also be used to show examples of How To writing. The “I can write” series is a little more advanced…probably good for 2-5 grades, but maybe can be used in the lower grades.

Who would have thought it? Chip clips! Here’s a fun way to do the Five Little Speckled Frogs in a center. Great for fluency, number combinations, addition, one more, one less…..You can grab this Free File at the bottom of this blog post!

These are sets of coasters. At first I saw the hamburger and it reminded me of that story elements idea that has been around for a long time. I did change the words I used just a bit to match the kindergarten common core standards. Then….I thought about that old game “Cootie”. In case you don’t know how to play, here’s how: Invite the children to roll a dice. Whatever it lands on, they get that part of the sandwich. The object is to build the whole sandwich. Why do this? This is a great way to practice subitizing (instant recognition of dot configurations)…a common core must do! Here are the downloads for the dots and the story elements:

This party garland is from Valentine’s Day, but I totally forgot to add it to the blog post I did earlier about Dollar Store Finds. So here goes….This is great for any of that party garland you see in the party section of the Dollar Tree. I used the sticky foam numbers to make a number line. Lay the number line in a straight line on the floor. Put a small counter, such as a candy heart, on each number. Give the children a game piece and a dice. Invite them to roll the dice and move the game piece that many spaces on the number line. Then, they remove the candy heart that is on the number they landed on. They continue rolling the dice and moving the game piece to try and capture all of the candy hearts. They can move forward or backwards!
Here are a few more pictures from the Dollar Tree. Love these gift bags! I know there has to be a fun way to use them! Love these dust pans, too! What would you do with them? So keep the game going….leave a comment about how you would use the bags and the pans!

Wanna Go to the Dollar Store?

Going to the Dollar Store alone can be fun, but when you go with friends you really hit the jackpot.  While I was in New Orleans I went to the Dollar Tree with my friends Kathy and Gina and here’s what we found:
*Fun pointers for independent reading
*Post it note flags to mark things you want to share with your partner
*A book light to clip onto your book….just for fun!

Items for “Read the Room”:
*Clown glove and large tooth brush for pointing to words
*Fun glasses
*Glue the scrubbers to dowels and have children “scrub the words”

Here’s what we found for words:
*Children toss and catch the ball as they spell their sight words
*Give kiddos 3 pompoms that they can drop into the 3 sections in the tray to segment phonemes

How about these cute bath scrubbers? Use them as they are or glue them to a dowel.
*Use the pigs to retell the 3 Little Pigs
*Use the frogs for “5 Little Speckled Frogs”
*Use the fish for  five fish songs…there is one by Jack Hartmann and one by Dr. Jean

These are southern flyswatters! We grow our bugs big down here! They are great for the Swat game. I have this game in a lot of my literacy game packs. Spread the cards on the floor and then the children find the card with the “answer” and swat it with the fly swatter.

I love these containers for crayons, glue, crayons, etc.

Here’s the game I am going to make…Put 10 silk flowers in the flower box. Have the children reach in the box and get a handful of flowers. Using a 10’s frame, have the children organize the flowers on the frame. Ask, “How many more do you need to make a 10?” Think I might have to make a recording sheet….
You can do the same thing with the chick by using small plastic eggs.

Did you notice that the ice tray is a 10’s frame? Usually the ice trays have 12, but we found this one that had only 10 holes! For the ducks…Get a large bowl of water. Have the children roll a dice. Put that many ducks in the bowl of water. Roll the dice again, “What do you have to do to make the bowl have that many ducks? Take some out or put some in?” Great for fluency with addition and subtraction!
The plates can be used as counting mats with the foam insect shapes.
There are a million uses for these! You can write almost anything on the petals, have the children spin the flower and “grab” one of the petals while it is spinning. Then, they tell you what is on the petal.
*Write numerals, children grab the number and tell you the number that is one more, one less, ten more, what is the double of that number, tell me a number combination for that number, how many more to make a 10, and on and on!
*Write letters or words and have children read them. Grab the letter and tell the sound or a word that begins with the letter. Grab a rime then tell a word that is in that word family, and on and on!
So let’s play a little game…leave a comment with how you use the flower spinner!

OMG! Just saw where my sweet friend Michele at Fabulous in First has a new product that is all awards around things you can buy at the dollar store!

Check out her post here:
http://fabulousinfirst.blogspot.com/2013/04/baseball-season-gotta-love-it.html

And here is the product on tpt:
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dollar-Store-Superlatives-End-of-the-Year-Awards

Have you heard of a Math Wall?

Have you ever heard of a Math Wall? Kim has one in her room and it is AMAZING! It has her calendar, but so much more…The photo on the bottom shows what folder for each child. It has laminated recording pages that the children write on with a dry erase marker. In the photo on the top left, Kim gave them a number and they had to think of all the different number sentences they could think of. Once they had work independently for a while, Kim had them share their sentences and she wrote them on the large circle map on the math wall. In the photo on the top right, they were talking about the number patterns in one more, one less, ten more. This is just a few of the things they did. Their number sense was off the charts….


In this picture from my earlier post on Reader’s Workshop, you can see the Math Wall behind me. Didn’t get a good picture of the whole thing! Kim has her Math Wall, Move Over Here Comes the Math Wall on tpt. BTW, in case you haven’t read some of the previous posts, this is my friend Kim Jordano’s thinking, work, and class…not me Kim Adsit!!!

Teaching Measurement with Games

Teaching Measurement often takes a back seat in a busy kindergarten classroom. We find ourselves in the world of Number most of the time. Here are some easy measurement games that we play all year. They are easy to play and make great centers.

 Measure Me!

This is a fun game for comparing heights and using nonstandard measurement.
To play:

• Reproduce a set of cards. I change the cards throughout the year to match the "theme" or season.  I also make the cards different sizes. This way, it will be different each time.
• The kids work with a partner to measure each other using the set of cards.
• On the recording page, they each write how many of the cards they used to measure each other.
• Then, they draw a picture of them and their partner to show their measurement.

How Long Is Your Name?

This game takes a little time for the kids to get the hang of. You will want to play it with them several times before you add it as an independent center.
To play:

• Reproduce a set of "theme" related or seasonal word cards. I make these in excel or a table.
• Invite the children to make a "name train" by collecting unifix cubes, one for each letter in their name. Snap these together, leave them together throughout the game. I have the children use only white, this makes it easier for me to see which cubes are for their name.
• Each child takes a card. Place a unifix cube on each letter.
• Once each letter is covered, snap the cubes together.
• Compare the cubes for the "theme" word, to the cubes for their name.
• Is the word longer, shorter or the same length as your name?
• Write the word on the recording page in the correct column.

Which is Longer?

This is a super easy game for comparing length.
To play:

• Invite each child to count 10 cubes and snap them together. 
• Children will work in partners.
• Give each partnership a game board and a spinner.
• Each child holds his 10 cubes in his hands.
• The kids say, "1,2,3 break."
• They break their cubes into 2 parts.
• Place one part on the game board.
• Whoever put the shortest length of cubes on the game board, spins the spinner.
• If it lands on shorter, that child gets all of the cubes on the game board.
• If it lands on longer, the other child gets all of the cubes on the board.
• Now, they repeat.
• The game continues until one child has all of the cubes.

 Which is Taller?

You can play the same game format to compare height.

These games are from this Measurement Game Pack Bundle.

Down on the Farm!

Here's another post about my recent trip to Kim Jordano's room. Her room was absolutely precious! That girl has talent! Here are some pictures of all the things her kids had made from their farm unit. These are all in her Fun on the Farm unit on tpt.

Interactive Writing:
Here are a few posts I have done on interactive writing if you want more ideas or information on how I do it.
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2011/12/here-comes-interactive-writing.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2011/12/more-interactive-writing-retelling.html
http://kindergals.blogspot.com/2012/01/interactive-writinghow-to-style.html


Love how she made this chicken on the fold. That way she could just throw it over the clothesline to display! Smart!

Bulletin Boards:

Love how she hung chicken wire between her florescent lights. Then, she could just hang things with a paper clip! All of these ideas are in her Fun on the Farm Unit on tpt.