Veteran's Day Freebies





Veteran's Day is a day for us to celebrate and appreciate our Veterans. Each year, at a previous school that I taught at, we invited Veterans to a donut breakfast in the cafeteria. The kinders would sing songs to the Veterans, and fly little flags. They would then present each veteran with an appreciation card. Here are a few examples of the cards that we used. They were simple to create, and each student could choose which card they prefer, depending on their skill level. (Just coloring, coloring & writing) If you will be celebrating our Veterans, you are welcome to use these printables in your classroom. 

A thank you card that is just simple coloring!



A Veteran's Are list- Students writing a list of words describing Veterans.


Thank You For-Students finish the sentence telling the Veterans thank you for …..






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Crystal McGinnis
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Kindergarten Books and Poems for Thanksgiving





Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away! As fun as it would be to only create crafts and play games because it is close to a holiday, we all know that we must keep teaching in order to keep our students engaged and learning. I have created many different activities for November and Thanksgiving, including emergent readers, poems, and simple sentences.

I created this set of emergent readers that are perfect for new readers. They are very basic, repetitive, and provide context clues which new readers need. They cover the topics of Thanksgiving, being thankful, turkeys, and more! 




We are still doing a lot of shared reading in November. I created this set of sight word poems to use during the month of November. After a lot of practicing, we add these poems to our poetry notebook to use as a familiar read.


 




I also created this set of predictable sentences to use during the month of November. I created them with and without tracking dots. They are perfect for teaching one to one correspondence (word hopping), directionality, return sweep, using picture clues and more!



You can get all of these activities by clicking the links below.







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Crystal McGinnis
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4 Simple Native American Crafts for Thanksgiving





November and Thanksgiving are just around the corner!  One of my favorite units of study during the month of November is Native Americans. The kids love learning about Native Americans and Pilgrims, and how they came together at Thanksgiving. Each year I have some parent helpers come in, and I set up Native American "stations." The parents help each group of students create Native American crafts. After one craft is created, the students rotate to the next station. They love to get to create all of the items, and I love that it is so much less stressful on me with the extra parent hands. Here are four of the projects that we complete each year.


Native American Papoose- We create these Native American children with a carrier. They are very simple. Basically, it is just a pocket created out of construction paper. I use brown yarn to create a way for the students to carry their papoose. They get to choose a boy or girl Native American child.





Native American Canoe-We create these canoes with Native American children to ride in them.





Native American Teepee: Students design and create a teepee. These are very simple to create! We added sticks as an extra feature, but they can definitely stand without them.







Native American Headbands-Student create these headbands. They color and decorate the straps using various patterns, and a paper leaf is added to the front. They always look so cute in these!





I created very simple templates that even young students can handle. If you would like a copy of these Native American Craft templates, they are available in my TPT store. 





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Crystal McGinnis
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10 Addition Math Centers for Kindergarten


Kindergarten students are expected to leave kindergarten knowing their addition math facts to 10. This set of morning math tubs, or math centers, concentrates on this skill. All of the centers are hands-on, and they provide kinders with multiple ways to practice addition facts. Kinders practice number sentences, addition with manipulatives, addition without manipulatives, and more. I created all of my math tubs in COLOR or BLACK AND WHITE, so you choose what works best for you. Check out the pictures below to see them in action.



Kinders practice creating the number sentences using gum-balls (pop-poms). They then create the sum with play-doh.


The students practice matching number sentences with pictures using this set of large dominoes.


Students add, and then clip the answer. Simple!


Students solve the addition problems, and then place a ball of play-doh on the correct answer. They can also create play-doh balls to solve the problem.


Kinders play a game of roll and cover against a partner with these math mats.


Students use buttons, or any other counters, to practice creating sets that equal a specific number.


The kiddos will use linking cubes to build towers that equal a given number sentence.


Students use teddy bears to create a set that is equal to a given number sentence. They also solve the addition problem, and place the correct matching answer on the mat.


Students solve these addition problem puzzles.


Students practice matching number sentence clips to ten frame addition problems.





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Crystal McGinnis
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Bat Cave Craft Freebie



Do you teach your kinders about bats during the month of October? Kindergarten students love to learn about any animal, and teaching about bats is the perfect opportunity to incorporate some non-fiction into the curriculum! I created this "bat cave" craft to use during our study of bats. It is very simple to make. Check out the steps below.

Purchase some black cups. I found these in the birthday section at Wal-Mart, but they also have black cups out close to Halloween in the regular paper products section.

Cut out a section of the cup to create the "cave." I had these pre-cut for kindergarten, but older kids could definitely handle this task.

Use a small knife to cut a slit on the top (actually bottom) of the cup. You definitely want to do this yourself, but it only takes a second.

Give your kiddos a copy of my bat printable. Each student needs one bat, and one "bats hang upside down" tag. Let the students color the bat.

Have your students cut out their bat and label.

Students glue the bat to one end of a popsicle stick as shown, upside down.




Push the popsicle stick up through the slit that you created with the knife. Students glue the "bats hang upside down" tag on the top of the popsicle stick. They are done! 

If you would like this craft for your kiddos, it is free in my TPT store. Grab it











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Crystal McGinnis
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