A Kindergarten blog with lots of ideas and pictures
A collaborative blog by Pre K and Kindergarten specialists. Child growth and development, information, free printables.
Combine engineering and science into one awesome project with this sprout house experiment! To boot, it's a motivating way to learn about germination.
This is the exact question we are attempting to answer right now in C107! We have set up our potatoes (cut about 1/4 off and soaking in plain water for a couple weeks) and have begun to observe, infer and predict about the growth we expect. Each student is keeping track of their information on one of these recording sheets. We will check back in a few days and again at the 2 week mark. We are anxiously awaiting the results! In the mean time, it makes a pretty cool display in the classroom! If you're a teacher who'd like to try this experiment with your kiddos, you can download the lab sheet for FREE in my TpT store!
Set up an easy seed jar science experiment to watch check out how plants grow with your kids! A seed jar science activity is an amazing spring STEM project to try indoors this season. Learn about seed science, plant science, and simple science experiments with an easy to spring science activity all kids will love!
I love doing plant experiments and sprouting seeds with young children in the spring. Not only do they get excited to see how plants grow but planting seeds also teaches them patience and how to wait for gratification which is very important in this fast-paced, instant gratification world in which we now live. In this […]
Videos, hands-on experiments, printables, and more.
Howdy! I am Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard. My real name is Greg Smedley-Warren. I have been teaching for 11 years. I spent a year teaching fifth grade, two years in second grade and am now in my 9th year in Kindergarten. Kindergarten is my passion and my calling but honestly, that wasn’t how it started. When I was moved to Kindergarten (not voluntarily!) I called my mommy and cried. But on the first day, I fell in love and knew that Kindergarten is where I belonged. I have remained in Kindergarten ever since. I plan to never leave the classroom as the kids are what drive me to continue my growth as a teacher and person.
Teach kindergarten science students to explore the world around them with these hands-on experiments, projects, and activities.
Fun and simple chemistry experiments for kids. These cool science experiments will have your kids wanting to do science every day.
I love doing plant experiments and sprouting seeds with young children in the spring. Not only do they get excited to see how plants grow but planting seeds also teaches them patience and how to wait for gratification which is very important in this fast-paced, instant gratification world in which we now live. In this […]
I think we're really starting to find our groove! I think we're beyond the testing phase, I think they've figured me out and I'm now able to work on figuring out their individual needs and I KNOW they are a whole bunch of sweethearts. I'm even willing to ignore the fact that one little one asked me if T.V's were invented when I was little. In his defense, I had just whipped out the record player and watched their eyes turn as big as saucers when they saw the MASSIVELY huge record {that they kept referring to as a CD} with "Free to Be You and Me" on the cover... Anybody remember this oldie!? A little recap of our week... Daily 5 is going wonderfully. We're up to 13 minutes with Read to Self and we're up to 15 minutes for Word Work. We've opened up our book nooks... Cozy places around our room to do Read to Self ...and the kids are loving making words with pipe cleaners and clay! I'm absolutely amazed at how quickly they picked up on how to use IPICK when shopping for books to place in their independent reading bookshelves. Such BIG kids! Are you familiar with the FOSS kits for teaching science? I hear mixed reviews - but I'm somebody who LOVES them! Right now we're hot and heavy into solids/liquids and we played around on the FOSS website this week on our Mimio... Click on the picture to head over to the games section of the FOSS website! We've launched our writer's workshop and the kiddos are working hard to build their writing muscles! This is always tricky at the beginning of the year - but I'm usually amazed at how quickly they build their stamina! One way that I encourage quiet writing time {or "hot pencil" time as we refer to it} is by hanging a large wooden pencil onto the middle of our white board to serve as a visual reminder. Ours looks something like this: I can't remember where I got mine - but if you click on the picture it will take you to the website for this pencil! I also play "quiet thinking music". A favorite CD of our is: LOVE!!!! In math we're hot and heavy into math Workplaces. We've created our own picture problems, graphed, counted money, sorted bugs, created numbers sentences using ten frames...you name it, we've done it. A class favorite this week was a Bridges Math game "Which Numeral Will Win 1-4" In Social Studies we've been learning about families. Our focus this week was exploring the past, present and future. A great book that is part of our curriculum: It explores this little guy's life when he was "younger"{past}, now that he's a bit older {present} and what he wants to be when he grows up {future}. We worked on these today too... Click {HERE} to pick up your own! Crazy to think that's just a snippet of our week...we moved mountains!!!!!! And the winner of the trimmer/cutter giveaway through MyBinding.com is... a Rafflecopter giveaway Congrats, Debbie - I'll be emailing you shortly!!!!! Happy weekend all! It's a whole lotta football for this family. One boy Saturday the other Sunday!
Engage your class in an exciting hands-on experience learning all about science! K-2 Endless Science Mega Bundle is perfect for science in Preschool, Pre-K, Kindergarten, First Grade, and Second Grade classrooms and is packed full
I’m a bit late but back to hook up to the Worksheets Don’t Grow Dendrites Book Study and Strategy 4 is all about games. I love that research supports what parents and teachers have known for so long. Game play builds cooperative relationships, allows students to practice without pressure and teaches them how to …
Designed by . Winner of the AWR International Ideas Competition to design a new nursery school, “Nursery Fields Forever” reimagines what nursery schools could be...
Teach kids about the needs of seeds with this seed experiment that answers the question: "Do seeds need their seed coat to grow?"
Last week our class was immersed in plants. Lots and LOTS of plants!! We started the week tapping into our schema about plants and learning lots of new info. And then we moved right into diagrams and labels….and tree maps, too! I created this same anchor chart last year and used it again …
STEM Engineering Challenges and Ideas for the Elementary and Middle School Classroom | Check Out Photos and Ideas to grow your classroom with STEM
Learn all about what syntax is and how you can support your students reading comprehension with syntax activities.
PRIMARY SCIENCE UNIT 3 - PLANTS Unit 3 in my primary science series is here! We are diving in and learning about plants - their lifecycle, how they make food, the parts of a plant, why animals and humans need plants, plus so much more. I am also sharing a FREE lesson with you right here
Come see my top 35 plant books for little learners. These books will bring your plant unit or science center to life with photos & info!
As we can see, the benefits of growing seeds in cups are many. If you are thinking of starting to grow, we have the perfect recommendations for you. We have compiled 20 seeds that can easily grow in cups!
Find out how to grow grass heads in a cup with our step by step guide. Simple and easy growing grass activity for kids this spring.
Relationships, Communication, Routines, and Independence When thirty children are placed together in a classroom it can be quite overwhelming, even for returing students. It is very easy to want to quickly dive into academics, but as the saying goes, one must learn to crawl before they walk, and walk before they run. The kindergarten years are not only special, but are very important in setting a foundation as children are very impressionable at this stage in their life. As an educator, I strive to create an environment where children love learning. Teaching with an inquiry focus, entices children to be curious, to ask questions, to be able to problem solve, and be independent thinkers. Equally if not more important, I want to support children in developing positive relationships with themselves and each other. When children feel like they belong and are part of a community, they become more invested in their own learning. They feel more accountable in caring for their learning space, and they learn to respect and support each other in positive ways. In the last two and a half months together, the children have learned so much! Not just academically, but more importantly, socially and emotionally. Below is a chart that contains the overall learning expectations taken from the Kindergarten Program document. These expectations cover the learning over the two years in the program. In familiarizing yourself with these expectations, take a look at the photos below encompassing the learning over the passed two and a half months to gain a sense of how much the children have gained in such a short amount of time! I am also including our Flow of the Day (daily timetable) once again in order to give a better sense of how each day is broken down. Our classroom name ornaments tree! Using letter beads to create their names and hanging them on the tree. Building a sense of belonging! Painting together, collaborating and compromising! Providing materials and resources to foster independent learning! Learning different math concepts during Math Investigations time. Learning together! Using surveys to learning more about ourselves! Using surveys to learning more about ourselves! Open ended provocations are set up allowing children to express their learning in creative ways! Open ended provocations are set up allowing children to express their learning in creative ways! Sharing of work with their peers fosters confidence building, creative expression, oral communication, and new learning from each other! Learning about various forms of writing. Following the interests of the children into card making, a learning area was set up with supports to allow them to create cards for various occasions. Self regulated snack during Exploration Time allows children to choose when they want to take a break and eat their snack. Self regulated snack takes place in both the morning and afternoon time. The Art Studio allows children to express their creativity using open ended art materials and resources. The Discovery Area supports children in using their senses to make observations when investigating new things. Sketching face portraits of themselves. Using 'My Plan' templates to document their work. Sharing of work with their peers fosters confidence building, creative expression, oral communication, and new learning from each other! The Drama Area is wonderful in supporting oral language communication. Collaborating together at the Building Area. Playing 'teacher' at the Book Area. An open ended invitation to play and interact with magnetic letters. The children created their names, made the alphabet and sorted the letters in various ways. Experimenting and problem solving when creating marble runs! Sharing of work with their peers fosters confidence building, creative expression, oral communication, and new learning from each other! Sharing of work with their peers fosters confidence building, creative expression, oral communication, and new learning from each other! Every item placed has a purpose and a part in the story. Thinking of an idea and a plan of how to create that idea takes a lot of collaboration and compromising! How do you feel today? Our feeling faces provocation encourages the children to express how they feel on any given day using the open ended materials. Collaborating on an art piece at the Arts Studio! I love the pure joy R and L are experiencing together! This is what learning is all about! What could it be? Where did it come from? What animal is it? Such excitement when this skull was placed at the Discover Area. The children made many observations, posed a lot of wonder questions, and had many theories! In supporting them to look even more closely at the skull, they created water colour sketches of the skull as well as re-created it using clay! Drawing the feeling faces they created! Using the 'I see, I wonder, I think' templates to express their thoughts about the skull. One of the first learning invitations set up at the start of September! In providing the children with a variety of learning materials, they are quite creative in how to use them! H and M have decided to take a ruler from the Math area to measure the teeth on the skull! This learning they shared with the class. Water colour paintings of the skull. Water colour paintings of the skull. During Literacy Investigations, the children are in small groups all working on various literacy activities. Here, Mrs. Kinsey is engaging the children in a direct lesson on letter names, sounds, and formation. Other children are working independently in their Log Books at their seats. More feeling faces creations using open ended materials! I am so grateful that I was able to capture this moment between H and I. I was a bit hesitant in sketching the skull. In seeing this, H supported her friend by using the hand over hand technique to aid in sketching the skull. Lining up the toys at the book area like the children like up to go outside! Noticing that the children were interested in measuring themselves and various objects in the classroom, an invitation to measure was created where the children could choose various items to use to measure. In this photo, K and H are measuring the table top using cubes. It is incredible to see the various math concepts that are created daily at the Math Area. Many ideas stem from the direct instruction the children receive during Math Investigations time, but new math concepts are also created and are all discussed and consolidated during whole group sharing of work created. What math concepts do you see in the photos above? Using meaningful real life examples to learn about and understand the importance of sorting! Our co-created classroom alphabet! For each letter of the alphabet, the children used their names, or classroom materials and objects that started with each letter. Very purposeful and an alphabet they can identify with. Extending from the very informative discussion the children had about their knowledge and understand about Remembrance Day, they used plasticine on canvas to create poppies. Please use these photos as a guide to further elicit discussions at home with your children about the learning taking place in the classroom!
Add some maths and science to your garden with this growing seeds experiment.
Now that my first graders are finished learning about the 5 Senses, we are progressing into a unit about things that are Living and Non-Living, and …
Getting ready for Kindergarten 101: Learn how to prepare your child for Kindergarten, What do students need for school, and how to help your child do well.
Teach your four-year-old more than ABCs and 123's. Make sure they are ready for kindergarten by teaching them these 8 essential life skills!
I love doing plant experiments and sprouting seeds with young children in the spring. Not only do they get excited to see how plants grow but planting seeds also teaches them patience and how to wait for gratification which is very important in this fast-paced, instant gratification world in which we now live. In this […]
I vividly remember growing a bean in a plastic baggie when I was a girl.
A collaborative blog by Pre K and Kindergarten specialists. Child growth and development, information, free printables.
Planning to start up your kindergarten? Read this article now to learn more about the essential principles for kindergarten design layout!
Tips for a first year kindergarten teacher - for newbies and teachers new to kindergarten. Let's break it down and keep it simple. You can do this!
I love doing plant experiments and sprouting seeds with young children in the spring. Not only do they get excited to see how plants grow but planting seeds also teaches them patience and how to wait for gratification which is very important in this fast-paced, instant gratification world in which we now live. In this […]
Heading into kindergarten can be overwhelming! Learn 5 of the most important questions to ask a kindergarten teacher to ensure your child...
Planting and growing seeds with kids at home or school. Check out these gardening activities for preschoolers to use in your classroom!
Faced with the decision of repeating in preschool, kindergarten or early elementary school? Here are some important factors to consider.
Are you new to homeschooling (due to the pandemic)? If you are taking on this new role of mom/homeschool teacher, you are probably scramblin...
The Jack and the Beanstalk Fairy Tales Activities packet draws upon the story elements found in the fairy tale to provide an assortment of literacy and math activities.
Teach the kids how plants grow with this DIY Sandwich Bag Green House kids activity. All you need is a bean or seed, paper towel and a ziplock baggie. We have an awesome printable greenhouse and worksheet set to go along with it to make it an educational learning lesson for the kids if you want to.
Nothing like setting up an experiment in the classroom and it not turning out exactly how you expected, right? Well, I'm here to share all my tips and tricks for growing beans in the classroom so your experiments are a success! Materials dried beans (pole, bush, or lima beans) paper towels spray bottle of water
There is a entry way in my house that is covered in small lines documenting the growth of my children. My kids love going back to it month after month to see how much they've grown. It's important to teach our kids that growth is a part of all living things, not just humans. Growing
