Kindergarten Creations

Living & Non Living Unit

I just finished my mini unit on living and non living objects. My kinders will complete this over a span of a few days. I usually teach science in the afternoon when my little kinders are "tired and wiggly." Here is what I came up with. Thanks for looking!

Click here to see it in my TPT store!

We will make a list of things that we already know about living things. BRAINSTORMING!

We will read this book together. It talks about the characteristics of living things including the need to eat, drink, and breath. It also talks about all living things being able to move, grow, and reproduce. Students will draw pictures to match the text.

We will sort living and non living things in our pocket chart. We will complete this as a whole group activity.

This sort will let my students practice independently.

We will look at certain objects and decide if they breathe, need food and water, if they change and grow, and if they reproduce.

We will go on a scavenger hunt. I created these labels to place on brown paper bags. We will go outside and collect things that "were once living" and things "that were never living".

My kids will draw an object that is living and an object that is non-living.

We will cut out a picture of a living object out of a magazine. We will then write about the object and how we know that it is alive.

Crystal McGinnis

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Clip It Cards (Literacy Centers)

By Crystal McGinnis 5:01 AM

My literacy centers are constantly changing in Kindergarten. The skill level of my kindergarten students grows so quickly, that I have to keep changing to keep them engaged and challenged. The last few weeks I have been using these clip it cards as one my literacy centers. The concept is pretty easy. The students complete the task that is on the card and then clip the correct answer. Here are a few examples of some of my clip-it sets.

These are my simple sentence clip-it cards. Students read the simple sentences that are on the card and then clip the "main idea" of the sentence.

These are my cvc words clip-it cards. Students look at the picture and then clip the cvc word that matches the picture. Simple as that!

Click here to get these clip it cards!

Crystal McGinnis

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By Crystal McGinnis 10:30 AM

I love Winter! I can't believe that it is already here. It seems like just yesterday that I was meeting my new group of kindergarten kids, and now the school year is half over. When my kiddos come back from Christmas break, I will use this set of printables to keep them engaged. This set includes literacy and math printables that are perfect for this time of year. I will place some of them in my literacy and math centers, and I will use others as morning work. The following pics are just examples. If you would like to see more, click here.

Crystal McGinnis

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Force and Motion Pushes and Pulls

By Crystal McGinnis 1:03 PM

Our school uses the Next Generation Science Standards. One of the standards includes force and motion and pushes and pulls at the kindergarten level. I remember having a really hard time last year finding resources for this topic. This year I am prepared! I just finished up my unit on pushes and pulls. My kiddos will participate in these activities when we come back from Christmas Break. The following is a sneak peak into the unit.

This set includes a book on both pushes and pulls. We will read these together and then complete the activity on each page. These books teach that some objects are much easier to push and pull than others.

This is my push and pull picture sort. Students will determine if a push or pull is needed and glue the pictures to the printable.

This is my push pull venn diagram scavenger hunt. We will go on a walk around the school. We will draw pictures of objects that we push, pull, or both.

I have created several experiments. This experiment will let my students determine the speed of objects. We will build ramps and race cars down them. We will record our results on this recording sheet.

This is a picture of the friction experiment that we will do. We will use straws to try to blow marbles on different surfaces. We will determine if friction makes our marbles move faster or slower.

This is a song that we will sing as we are discussing motion. We will act out the song as we are singing it.

We will use these pictures in our pocket chart. We will sort our pictures into push, pull, or both categories.

Click this link to see more.

Crystal McGinnis

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My Kindergarten Students Can Read

By Crystal McGinnis 4:28 AM

New Readers

Many of my kindergarten students are really beginning to read now. It is amazing to see how their hard work is paying off. It is often difficult to find activities with text levels simple enough for new readers. Because of this, I have been working hard creating some reading products to use in my classroom with these students. I have tried to really incorporate tons of cvc words and sight words into these reading activities. I use these activities during my guided reading sessions. Here are a few that I have completed.