Cross Posted from innovatingplay.worldWritten By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey As we nurture emergent readers and writers we take time explore the craft of the author and illustrator, and the role of each in telling a story. During this three week Character Study, children had the opportunity to connect deeply with a Continue Reading →
Cross Posted from innovatingplay.worldWritten By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey This year we have been exploring idea of extended reading and having children make meaningful connections beyond the book. (Check out our Extended Reading category on our blog to see some experiences we have offered so far.) We brought our classes together Continue Reading →
Cross Posted from innovatingplay.world Written By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey Our kids got to EXPLORE, PLAY, and CREATE at the farm and guess what….SO DID WE!!! It started out with us (Jessica and Christine) recalling connections and discoveries with the kids from their previous experiences at the garden. We moved Continue Reading →
Cross Posted from innovatingplay.world Written By Christine Pinto and Jessica Twomey Making Connections Our New Jersey and California kids share the weather with each other every day. Connecting with the same topic of the weather each day has been an ongoing connection for them since November. On Valentine’s Day, a spontaneous, yet Continue Reading →
Recently, my buddy Cori Orlando, hit me up with an idea about a Number of the Day activity, where kids represent a number in different ways. She visualizes the activity being something the kids can do in class regularly. We put our heads together and designed a spreadsheet activity together. Continue Reading →
One of the first spreadsheet activities I expose my kids to is Pixel Art. Alice Keeler is the creator of the template: alicekeeler.com/pixelart. The spreadsheet is conditionally formatted to change color according to the single digit number that is typed into a cell. To add some addition and subtraction practice to this activity the Continue Reading →
Right now my students are focusing on applying positional words to their everyday activities. Some examples of these words include: behind, in front of, above, below, next to, beside, in front of, and behind. Originally, I was thinking of having the kids recreate the story of Rosie’s Walk, but I wasn’t feeling Continue Reading →
Storyboard That has been the PERFECT creating tool to support the type of writing my kindergartners are currently focusing on. Basically, the web tool allows kids to click and drag scenes, characters, props, and more onto a storyboard. The kids can customize their characters to resemble themselves or however they’d like! Continue Reading →
In January, I started reading a chapter a day from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to my class. While I read, the kids would draw mental images of each chapter and then share with their classmates. Upon finishing the book, the kids watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Those kiddos really enjoyed Continue Reading →
In honor of remembering Dr. Seuss on his birthday, we read his book My Many Colored Days. In a round about way, Dr. Seuss connects feelings to colored days in the story. I extended Dr. Seuss’ ideas a bit and introduced more feeling names to my Littles. The kids drew out what the facial expressions Continue Reading →