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From the moment we started this week of Cowboys, there have been four gun-toting, bandana wearing, {rain} boot wearing cowboys running around my house and
Create an INdoor campout, complete with a creative campfire, reading suggestions and craft ideas. Camping theme for the classroom at RainbowsWithinReach
I can't remember where I saw this...Teacher Wife perhaps? Yes, Teacher Wife just posted on this HM Unit in 2nd Grade, which BTW was my favo...
Favorite classroom farm books Shared Writing What we know about farms Pocket Chart Activity You can download thi...
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Are you looking for a factual unit to introduce Groundhog’s Day and to learn more about Groundhogs in your kindergarten and first grade classroom? Our…
Turn your classroom into a cowboy ranch! Gallop through setting up your Wild West dramatic play center with these engaging printouts!
Reading Letter C Books is such a fun for your kids to practice letter recognition, beginning sounds, and much more!
Kindergarten wrapped up an exciting cowboys unit with a Texas rodeo! The students had a blast and the teachers did too! We are also so thankful to our room mom for helping us make the big day extra special. We spent the morning listening to cowboy tunes as we traveled around the Kindergarten wing with a different activity in every classroom. Check out the pictures/videos below to see how we spent our day: Boot Toss: Our little cowboys stood behind the starting line and tried to toss cubes into a pair of cowboy boots. Hat Hoppin': We rolled a dice to find out how many 'hops' we could take across a hat mat. We had to roll the exact number of hops we needed to make it off of the mat. Hat Scramble: The students raced to see who could order the hats from largest to smallest and vice versa the fastest! Cowboy Fashion Photo Shoot: the cowboys and cowgirls got to dress in the flashiest cowboy attire and pose with the rodeo props to have their picture taken. Cactus Craft: We glued tissue paper 'flowers' to cactus die cuts. Bull Roping: we practiced roping a bull (a giant Teddy Bear with makeshift paper 'bull horns') with hula hoops. Gold Diggers: We used strainers to dig for 'gold' out of a sand table. Horse Relay: We practiced our galloping by racing down the Kindergarten hall! Branding Cattle: Each kindergarten class branded a class cow with the first letter of their name. Graphing Horses: We 'fished' for horses out of a water table and then graphed the results of our scoop. We even had some dancers! ...and lots of hugs!
Teaching this cowboy unit is such a fun one for little learners! There's so many ways to explore this unit and watch little minds be amazed as they learn all about being a cowboy. It's so much fun to watch as they read through cowboy books related to this unit, too. Finding cowboy books to
"Momma, we live in the woods." This has been one of my preschooler's recent observations, and I think it is because she's really understanding different climates as we have been enjoying our Desert Discovery box from Mother Goose Time. As we studied the Mojave Desert this week, we had some special fun learning about Cacti. Cactus Simulation My girl had never really seen cactus besides the little tiny ones at Lowe's. I asked her what she thought was inside a cactus... "I don't know." MGT had a great suggestion about using a sponge and bowl full of water to simulate a cactus holding water. I found a dry as a bone sponge in my cabinet and put just a little bit of water in a plastic bowl. I placed the sponge in the bowl and we observed what happened. Her eyes lit up! "It's changing colors! It's soaking up the water!" This simple demonstration really hit home for her. She could understand that a cactus plant soaks water up into its trunk, that it stores it there, and can hold it for a long period of time. Squeezing the water out of our "cactus" I really think doing that little experiment set the whole tone to our day. This was one of our more special learning days in just the attitude and desire to learn. Pokey Playdough Cactus Math She was eager to start playing Pokey Playdough Cactus Math after that demonstration. Our MGT Teacher Guide stated: Play Together: Make a large playdough cactus. Put number cards 1-10 face down next to the playdough and toothpicks. Encourage a child to draw a card and identify the number, then stick that many "spines" in the cactus. Repeat Challenge: Invite child to select and add two cards, then put the total number of "spines" in the cactus. I knew my preschooler had her number recognition down, so I chose to do the Challenge directions, but we haven't done a whole lot of adding. Therefore I only used number cards 1-5 for her to do her 1 digit plus 1 digit math. This way she could use her fingers to count. Check out her work in the video below! I was so impressed with her adding and she was proud of herself too! Love those lightbulb moments! What Am I? Storybook Writing This week we also used our Sight Words and picture cards to practice writing. Using a dry erase board, she practiced making her letters. She dug out a desert animal picture card out of our sandbox (cornmeal and salt because I did not have any sand), and then told me the animal's name. I spelled out the animals' names as she wrote the letters. I was so excited to see her lowercase "e" in the word "snake." Puzzles in the Sand Each month we receive a puzzle from MGT that matches the Storybook they also send. I hid the puzzle pieces in the sand/dirt box, and gave my girl a paintbrush to help her search for the hidden puzzle pieces. Using the picture in our storybook as a guide, she placed her puzzle pieces where they belonged. As our Desert Discovery month comes to a close, here are a few more pics of some rodeo fun my girl had with her daddy as I stayed home with our son and put him to bed (he had croup last week and had to miss the rodeo.) #momlife Riding horses around the arena Mutton Bustin' Too excited to give a decent smile to daddy! Ha! Check out our other Desert Discovery fun by checking out these posts: Preschool Rodeo Learning Activities Desert Night Activities for Preschoolers Desert Discovery: Pyramids Be sure to come back next month as we study Bees and Butterflies! Want to see what is in the box? Check out my friend Stacy's post here! Make Learning Fun, Yall!
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Here are some simple pattern activities that are perfect for 4-6 year old’s. With each of these activities, I challenged Owen (age 5) to try more difficult patterns by creating one for him and then having him add on to it. We would check the patterns by saying them out loud (red, blue, yellow, red, […]
For the past few years, the vast majority of the activities that we've come up with in our household have been mainly for the preschooler. As the
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Cowboy Theme or Western Theme Ideas for brain breaks and yoga poses!
I knew cactus could store a lot of water, but I had no idea how much! Did you know that a fully-grown saguaro cactus can soak up and store up to 200 gallons of water during a good downpour? A…
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FREE Mrs. Wishy-Washy flip book that works with ANY Mrs. Wishy-Washy book in the series by Joy Cowley. #freebies #kindergarten #1stgrade #literacy #flipbook #guidedreading #mrswishywashy
COWS! by Kindergarten
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In January, I started doing additional structured activities at home with Ellie. These follow my ideal way of learning for her: it's child-led, theme-based, and play-centered. Each month, she chooses a theme. I find or create activities for her in that theme, around broad educational categories. Many of those overlap, but I try to identify a primary learning objective for each one and hit a number of categories each week. Each day we (usually) do one or two activities, depending on our schedule. We're on month three, and it's working because I'm planning and prepping EVERYTHING the month before. I've tried planning without prepping beforehand, and then I end up quitting after a few days because I get behind. Here are links and photos of month 1, week 4! MONTHLY THEME: ANIMALS WEEK 4: HORSES Literacy: Uppercase/lowercase horse-barn match Math: Horse race game Measure things around the house in hands Science: Horse anatomy Music: Rhythm cards Fine motor: Clothespin horse color matching (she discovered these could stand up!) Geography: Dress up a horse (File 1 and File 2. So. Much. Cutting. So worth it.) History: Horse gait flipbook with early photography Cooking/kitchen: Carrot-apple-cinnamon oatmeal (Ellie peeled the carrots and measured the oatmeal; Sam dumped in the ingredients)
Favorite classroom farm books Shared Writing What we know about farms Pocket Chart Activity You can download this pocket chart sorting activity for free on Teachers Pay Teachers or Teachers Notebook. Small Group Activities Sorting Letters Writing Letters Counting Animals Adding Animals Making Words Creative Art 3-D Pigs 3-D Horses Paper Plate Chicks We also made paper plate ducks, roosters, and red hens. Small group activities can be found in the unit Down on the Farm Teachers Pay Teachers Teachers Notebook Barn Yard Math can be found on Teachers Pay Teachers Teachers Notebook
We started our farm theme last week but had a really short week so we didn't get to everything we had planned. We will finish up this week....
I'm on spring break and loving it! In March we always learn about our great state. We spend time talking about the state symbols, important ...
This Desert Preschool Pack is full of hands on learning activities to practice math, writing, and literacy skills. You can grab this in my TPT shop. Desert Preschool Pack Count and Trace - Count each group of pictures. Trace the correct number. Prewriting Lines- Trace each line with dry erase marker. Say it, Trace it, Write It- Say each letter, trace the letter, then write the letter. Desert Patterns- Extend each pattern. Cactus Rhymes- Match each picture that rhymes. Syllable Punch- Count the syllable in each word. Punch that many holes. Alphabet Clip- Match the uppercase and lowercase letters. Cactus Shape Puzzles- Complete the puzzles by matching the same shapes. Flip and Build- Pick a number card. Build that number in the ten frame. Desert Beginning Sounds- Match a letter bead to each picture. Play Dough Letters- Build each letter with play dough. Trace each word with dry erase marker. Cactus Flower Counting- Roll a dice. Count that many flower (pom poms) on each cactus. Snake Color Sort- Use tongs or tweezers to sort letter beads, buttons, and pom poms by color. Cactus Letters- Pick a cactus from a kinetic sand sensory bin. Trace the letter on the recording page. Numbers in the Sand- Cover the playing mat in sand. Uncover each number. Trace each number on the recording page. Letter Tracing Tray- Draw each letter in sand. Cactus Counting- Make a cactus with play dough. Count spikes (toothpicks) on each cactus. These centers are available in my Desert Preschool Pack! Desert Preschool Pack For more hands on learning ideas, follow us on Instagram @michele_dillon
We’d actually prepared this for DD’s party as a horse shoe decorating craft activity for the kids. But in all the excitement of getting the food ready in the last 45-minute countdown, b…
Cut out a colorful ruler and start practicing measuring with this cowboy picture.
This interactive emergent reader focuses on the positional words above, below, beside, on, and between. Little learners cut apart the boots and glue on each page according to the directions. A cowboy and cowgirl are each provided for you to choose from. Be sure to check out my other western/cowbo...
