Space Centers and Activities

This week we have been learning about space and things in the sky.  Below are some pictures of our centers and some activities we did in class this week.

Rocket number order

we counted the stripes on Dr. Suess hats

We rolled the die and +/- cube to cover the stars.  My kids love these type of games.

Our pocket chart story this week

We practiced sounding out 4 letter words.  This was challenging, but they did great.

At this center they had to change the middle sound to the correct sound and stamp the letter.

The mystery can and sound graphing.  (The mystery can is an oats can...perfect to hold several objects and for little hands)

We practiced writing complete sentences this week too.

Stamping long vowel sounds

My kids are getting so good at coins and their value...this was a great reinforcer center.

Roll the money cube and write the value.

Space addition...they had to find the matching Earths...count each set and add them up.

Here, they rolled dice and found the sum

Counting sets of stars by 10

We balloon painted a white piece of paper and then made moons out of them...this was so much fun.  I saw this idea on a website years ago...it's not working now, but it was kindergartenhomestead2.com

Mrs. B. practiced a little subtraction with the kids after she read George Washington's Teeth.

It was fun.  They had to give away a tooth each time George lost one of his.

We made paper towel roll rockets and stamped a countdown to put inside.

Here are a few examples of our moons and facts.

I'm not sure if you can read the one on the left, but it says, "During a lunar eclipse the moon is red."  When I saw his fact I was like, Wow!

This one says, The moon does not have air.

This is the space page for our transportation fact book we will finish next week during our transportation theme.

TLC style earth page.

These are our day and night murals.  We talked about each time of the day and then we drew pictures and wrote what we were doing in each picture.

Space centers & a Pumpkin FREEBIE?

Okay, these are WAY overdue, but I wanted to post what was happenin' during our space week...this was before I got sick and never got around to posting it.  

We love our sound tubs from Lakeshore and use them all the time...do you have these?

They are the best for center games.

I used my DJ version since it was made, but a new version is in my unit

This too, is DJ, but a version of this is in the unit.

Both of these are highly requested so legal versions (non DJ Inkers) are included in my space unit.

Alright, so I had a request for the "Simple Symmetry" game posted back during my pumpkin week in the fall...it is ready now in my tpt store for FREE...Go grab it and get it ready for next year!

There's also another Long Vowel FREEbie too!

For some reason I don't have a picture of my pocket chart story called SHOO FLY!, but it's so cute and the kids love it.  It's in my store along with a take-home reader and retelling props too.

FINALLY, my twin sister has opened up a TPT Store...she's just getting started and has a couple of freebies already ready.  She's working on some great readers too!  IF you will go follow her store...leave me a comment and I'll give away to a random follower of her store my dino unit and my space unit.  This "On a Whim Giveaway" ends tomorrow around this time (6:00ish)!  Go now!

If you read all the way down to here...Thank You!  And, good luck with the giveaway!  

Twinsie Baby Bumps!

Classroom Reveal!!

I'm back with another link up with Blog Hoppin'!  Today's post is...Where I teach?? I'm so excited to show you my classroom!!  I have not really changed up my room in FOREVER so I knew this year I just had to do something different.  As always, I'm usually "late to the party" so I went for the chalkboard theme...a year or two late!  HA!  But, I absolutely love it mixed in with all the bright colors I already have in my classroom!  And...I knew I wanted to go for  a "home-y" look too since I spend TONS of my time there!  Here goes...

One of my student's favorite spots in our classroom is this space right here...our reading loft.

I added the party banners (from Target party section) to brighten up the walls and the lamp to give it a cozy feel.

 I moved my rug and whole group teaching area to the front of our room this year so we could use our Promethean board during lessons at the rug instead of moving from place to place.  I wasn't so sure about this change, but so far...so good!  I absolutely love my new teacher chair from Hobby Lobby!

 I found the first items of my chalkboard themed classroom from Mardel online.

Then, I scoured TPT for other items.

I fell in love with these motivational posters from Gabby's Classroom which you can find HERE.

 I changed out my alphabet line and my number posters to a chalkboard theme.

I absolutely LOVE these number posters from Hope King!!  They are so bright and colorful!

You can find them HERE.

And, my alphabet line came from A Special Teacher for Special Kids.  You can find the posters HERE.

 Here's my word wall.  I used Hope King's Patterns Galore editable pack to make the words for our word wall.  

 I am loving my writing center!  I picked up several baskets this summer from TJ Maxx to give that cozy at home feel.  I adore the baskets with the chalkboard labels that hold cubes, spinners, papers, etc.  And, check out the tables stools that I found at Family Dollar.  They came in purple, orange, pink, gray, turquoise, and lime green!  The perfect colors if you ask me!  The sticker on the bottom said outdoor table, but it screamed stool to me.

 Here's some close ups of the details at the writing center.

 It was time to replace the BIG OL' gray school clock with this new one...love!

 I got rid of my calendar on the wall...changed some things up and freed up this bulletin board where anchor charts and such will hang this year.

 I've used "cut buckets" all 10 years of my teaching.  I learned this trick from a teacher that I substituted for before I began teaching.  Each table has a small bucket or bin to catch all the trash as they are cutting, gluing and making.  BUT, Rachelle at What the Teacher Wants made these cutie patootie labels that say "Tidy Tub" so I snatched them up and printed them for my buckets.

You can find them IN THIS POST.

 See that banner above the student work display?  Found it at Target in the party section and I had to have it!  I love the bright colors...and the chalkboard circles!

 Close-Up!

 A few more spaces...

 Still Building those Rainbows for great behavior and for being Peacemakers.

Found the original idea HERE.

 The banner came from Mardel online.

I hope you enjoyed touring my classroom!