 I've seen pool noodles all over Teachers' Pinterest boards sooooo many times, so I finally decided to jump on the bandwagon and pick them up at Five Below for $1 each. (I bought 3 noodles, and it seems like a good amount for a STEM station.) Using a sharp kitchen knife, we cut them in approximately 2 inch sections (no, we did not measure :D). I created a small boat, using toothpicks and 4 noodles as the base with a little flag sticking out of the top. Once the boys saw my example, they took off creating! They made cars, boats, Star Wars ships, and even a Mickey Mouse ship. As they created, they popped their boats in the baby pool to see if they would float. They added some of their plastic characters to the boats, too. We had to stop to go inside for the night after TWO HOURS, so I don't know how long they would've kept playing. :D #momwin I hope my littles at school have as much fun as my own kids! I plan to add letters and numbers to the noodles yet, so students also have exposure. Throughout the year, I plan to introduce using the noodles for word building and number order practice.
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 We knew it was going to be good... great... awesome! What we didn’t know is that we’d leave there different people. Sponsored by community businesses, the second group of OE teachers attended the Ron Clark Academy in Atlanta, Georgia. (If you are unfamiliar with the school, refer to Kim Bearden's Instagram post above. She is a cofounder of Ron Clark Academy.) Now entering my 14th year of teaching, this has been the most beneficial educational experience of my career. RCA offers a Disney thrill level experience for teachers. We laughed, fought back emotional tears, and felt magic. (Side note: We even got a thrill ride down a two-story tunnel slide!) For two days, our group of 15 teachers, grades Begindergarten-8, along with our guidance counselor, were completely engaged with educators who highlighted all aspects of teaching. The speakers weren’t just talking from educators’ perspectives, though. They were talking as spouses, parents, family members, friends, AND teachers. I’ve been blasted in the heart with all of the reasons I teach and how much passion I have for Begindergarten. Just one takeaway I’m going to continue to reflect on is that teachers can completely INVEST in their students without letting their students’ hardships get completely inside of their hearts. This can be an overwhelmingly difficult concept to embrace. Once we give a little, it’s so easy to get fully wrapped up in our babies. It’s not meant to be that way, though, and teachers do know that, deep down. At RCA, we were reminded that teachers’ own self care must come first so we can wholeheartedly INVEST in our own families, too. This, in turn, allows for focused teachers who are ready to give, give, give to our students. Thank you to all OE staff and supporters continually INVEST in our school, encouraging us to step outside of the box to GIVE our kids everything they deserve. #RCAinspires #ronclarkacademy #teachersfollowteachers #iteachtoo   P.S.
Our travel experience... THAT was a different story altogether... not so much magic going on there. We all INVESTED a lot of extra time at the airport, thanks to storms and the absence of a pilot. We all made it back safe and sound, though, and that was my answered prayer. #wholetruth #nofaKebookhere So, I really love to teach with songs...like...a lot...to the point where I have a song for everything and all of the poor teachers I work with know that fact. I also love to have everything correlate...like...a lot. That being said, we do letter crafts once a week in our classroom, so I really wanted to tie songs in with our letter craft of the week. That’s why I came up with the ultimate Letter Crafts Bundle, which includes a song (found on YouTube) or a rhyme, and craft for each letter. For example, for our letter A craft, we sing “The Ants Go Marching” and make ants. The activities don’t stop there, though. For each letter craft, there’s a fill-in where students write a word and draw a picture that starts with the letter. The letter A craft says, “A is for ant and _____.” Students fill in the blank, using word resources from our letter anchor chart. They refer to that same anchor chart to draw a picture to go with it. Writing and drawing one word is the primary goal. This task is easily differentiated. As you can see in the photo below (top right corner), this student needed help with writing the word, but he drew the picture on his own. (This was one of our first projects.) For some students, I write the word with a yellow marker for them to trace. Others benefit from a sketch of a drawing for them to color. On the other hand, some students draw more than one picture in the space, and some label the "extra" pictures, too. Other students come up with their own words and sound them out on their own, too. These activities can be completed whole-group (which is what I'd recommend modeling at first), or during center time, once the kids get the hang of the process. After some modeling and practice for the first few projects, I simply project the cover of the product on the board, and the kids take off from there. (Take a closer look at the ant craft by clicking the picture below.)  When a letter song of the week is introduced, the kids always try to guess what we are going to craft. I must also add that they reeeeally love following step-by-step instructions to make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the letter P (see below). 😍 It is so fun to “cook” with paper! (To peek at the PB&J craft, click the pic below.)  So, with this Ultimate Letter Craft Bundle, here's the magic: Singing/Rhyming ✅ Dancing ✅ Cutting ✅ Gluing ✅ Drawing ✅ Writing ✅ Beginning Letter and Sound Practice ✅ Differentiation ✅ Success for All ✅ Individual letter crafts are available in our TPT store, BUT you can get ALLLLLLL 26 Letter Crafts with Drawing & Writing for Kinder (Connected to Songs & Rhymes) by clicking the button below at a HUGE discount! Enjoy singing, dancing, crafting, and letter learning together! 🎶 A few more examples of letter projects are found below, including the sun, nut, dog, elephant, and Very Hungry Caterpillar. Note that there are other letter craft projects shown in theses photos that are not included in this letter bundle. Those crafts can be found by clicking the button below. |
AuthorHi, and welcome to Krazy for Kindyland, Kindergarten Arts and Crafts! I'm a mom of three and a primary teacher since 2006. We are on a mission to reach all little learners, providing them with engaging, hands-on learning opportunities to practice spatial awareness skills while learning across the curriculum. Here on the blog, we share differentiated lesson ideas that allow for teacher choice while incorporating crafting and writing into math activities, letter learning, science lessons, social studies topics, character education, and reading comprehension. Our crafts include consistent layouts and are easy for students to understand and follow directions. They are low prep, saving the precious time you need with your students! Fun fact: our customers often note that our products are GREAT for subs! They focus directly on learning content and are easy arts and crafts for kindergarten! 
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