Monday, October 7, 2013

More Fall Fun

Does your school participate in the Jumpstart Read for the Record?  Have I ever told you how awesome our reading coach is?  Well, she's amazing!  This year's Read for the Record story was Otis by Loren Long.  So cute, by the way.  It's about this old red tractor who lives on the farm and he meets a baby calf and they become best friends.  One day, Otis, the old red tractor is "replaced" by a brand new yellow tractor.  Otis becomes lonely.  Later, when his friend, the baby calf, needs help, Otis comes to the rescue after no one else was able to help.  A great story of friendship!  So, our reading coach always does this big production of the story.  She found "Otis" and brought him to our school so all the boys and girls could see him in person.  And, she read the story under a tree (mentioned in the story).  Afterwards, we played Ring Around the Roses and jumped hay bales just like Otis and his friend do in the story.  The kids loved it!  If you read or get a chance to read the story of Otis, you can click HERE to get a couple of great, FREE printables that Sally, our reading coach, made to go along with the story.  :)  Please leave her some sweet love by rating her free product.  :)




We finished up our fall centers last week.  YOu can find all of these centers in my 
Fall-tastic Centers.
Here are some of the literacy centers.  
We are working so very hard to learn our vowels so this was a center designed to help them sort between letters that are vowels and letters that are not.







This turned out to be a fun whole group activity that we did at the rug.  First I had some die-cut leaves sorted into three ziploc baggies...I sorted them by size, shape, and color.  Next, I dumped one of the baggies into our mystery bag.  I let each student pull out one leaf.  We sorted the leaves by color.  Each time, I cleaned out the first baggie of leaves, and dumped in a new one.  We then sorted by size and shape.  Of course, we talked about what sorting is and ways we can sort before, during, and after our activity.  :)

Ta-da!  A cute, meaningful, and colorful mural to hang in our classroom!  :)

I haven't done a giveaway in a while...SO, leave me a comment telling me your favorite thing to teach during the fall and I'll choose a winner sometime tomorrow.  The winner gets ANY FALL pack of mine of their choosing!  Don't forget your e-mail address.




60 comments:

  1. I LOVE to teach about nocturnal animals in the fall. We do an evening family event called "Batty Bedtime" and have kids/families come in their pajamas to show off all of their nocturnal animals projects. It is SO fun and totally adorable! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love teaching about bats!

    aprince@syischina.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love teaching about apples and pumpkins, especially if we have the opportunity to visit the orchard/patch.

    Amanda
    hennonac@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi there!
    I also love to teach about nocturnal animals in the fall!!! So much fun!
    robynsnewnest@ gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. I love to take my kids to the pumpkin patch after we have learned all about pumpkins. I also love making paper mache hot air balloons as we learn about the balloon fiesta held in Albuquerque each October.

    Lishelle
    Llburmeister@msn.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pumpkins...of course!!!
    Mariann
    brown.mariann@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love all things fall, but I especially enjoy talking about scarecrows. The kids make them, and they always turn out so cute. I love the book Jeb Scarecrow's Pumpkin Patch, too! It's always fun to hear their ideas of how they'd stop crows from getting into their pumpkins!

    ReplyDelete
  8. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love teaching about pumpkins, apples, leaves....I love it all!
    jharms33@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  10. My favorite thing to teach in fall is all about apples. Apple reading, apple science, apple math, apple centers. I love teaching about apples in September. :) So easy to integrate all aspects of learning.

    ReplyDelete
  11. I LOVE teaching about ALL things fall! If I had to choose my favorite, it would pumpkins!

    Katie
    katiesspence@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. What a super cute way to read Otis! We read online for Read for the Record and my kiddos loved it! During the fall I love to teach about pumpkins. I'd love to add applies too. We don't really have fall here in Texas - its still HOT, HOT, HOT so its kinda hard to get in the mood. Our fall starts around Thanksgiving! :-) Thanks for sharing the great ideas.

    Amy
    mrsbiddison@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I really enjoyed teaching about pumpkins last year. We actually took our soon to be rotting pumpkins and brought them outside (we were in a portable-trailer, so we had a grassy area out back). Each week we would check on our pumpkins as they decomposed. Just after thanksgiving, our rotting pumpkins began sprouting new vines and leaves - the cycle had started again. So cool for me and the kids to see!!
    I wish I had more time for fall - there are so many great topics, I wish I could do more!!
    Thanks so much!!!
    Connie
    My email is iteachkfl@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love teaching about fall in general...the changing weather, leaves etc.

    Hschuetz86@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  15. I love teaching about spiders in the fall. It ties in nicely with Halloween which eventually ties in to my Nursery Rhymes unit in November. We always start off with Little Miss Muffet. So much fun!
    Lbutrico@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I love fall time in the classroom. So many fun activities and crafts. :) My favorite unit is probably bats and spiders.

    ReplyDelete
  17. I really enjoy teaching about apples and pumpkins. We always take a field trip to a local pumpkin patch where each child gets a pumpkin. We then become pumpkin scientists and investigate our pumpkin - size, shape, does it float, etc.
    LLMohr@triad.rr.com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Fall is my favorite time of the year! My favorite unit is pumpkins.
    sharladrummonds@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  19. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. My favorite thing to teach during the fall is the life cycle of a pumpkin. We finish our study with a pumpkin exploration day, filled with pumpkin measurement, pumpkin taste tests, and pumpkin science experiments! :)

    Jennifer
    lofgrenj@vail.k12.az.us

    ReplyDelete
  21. I love teaching the 4 seasons with our apple unit this time of year. I also enjoy all the cute scarecrow activities.

    ReplyDelete
  22. I love teaching about bats! The kids do, too... they can't get over every non-fiction study we do! :)

    --Caitlin
    suprnaturlgrl@cox.net

    ReplyDelete
  23. I just love fall! There are so many great opportunities for learning. I think my favorite would have to be, nocturnal animals. My kiddos love learning all about owls and bats. Thanks for the chance to possibly win one of your fantastic fall packs!

    ReplyDelete
  24. I just love anything fall! If I had to pick a favorite, it would be pumpkins!!
    sallynunn77@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  25. I love all things fall! One of my favorite activities during fall is to read the book Humbug Witch by Lorna Balian. I put paper over the cover so my kids can't see what she looks like and I don't show them the pictures as I read the first time. Each child has a piece of paper so they can draw what they think she looks like using all the details the author tells us in the story. It's always so fun to see their adorable little Humbug Witches in the end!

    irishbook_gal@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  26. My favorite thing to teach in fall is owls. I love the fall colored leaves that decorate my room!
    lisa_sardinha@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  27. I love to teach spiders...I really hate them in real life, but the kids are fascinated by them and it keeps their attention. We learn fun vocabulary and do some fun writing about spiders. Creepy, but fun.
    chipsandsalsa12@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  28. Fall is my favorite season and I love teaching apples!!

    jadan79@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  29. There are SO many fun things to teach in the Fall that it's hard picking a favorite...apples, pumpkins, bats and spiders! I guess I'd choose pumpkins because there is are SO many activities you can do with them! :o)

    Kideducator@comcast.net

    ReplyDelete
  30. Fall is my favorite season! I love the leaves changing colors and the crispness in the air. My favorite thing to teach in the fall is skeletons. I do a big unit about real vs. Halloween skeletons and we learn the names of some of the bones using Dr. Jean's Macarana Bones song!

    ReplyDelete
  31. I love teaching fall themes. I love apples the most--the smell of the classroom when the applesauce is cooking in the crockpot, tasting red, yellow and green apples and graphing our favorites...sooo many things to do with apples!!
    jeneratorj@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  32. I love to teach about apples and pumpkins. We have a staff member who has her husband come in and make cider with the kids. It is such a fun time of year and there are always SO many things I want to squeeze in!

    ReplyDelete
  33. My favorite fall thing to teach is Pete the Cat. I know it's not technically fall, but that's when I always do my colors unit (to tie in to the colors of the leaves), and we all know how much fun good ole Pete is!
    auburny@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  34. Spiders! And in real life, i am scared to death of spiders! Emilysteacher@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  35. I love to teach about apples! So many fun activities! kroltgen@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  36. We love apples. We made lots of apple themed projects and then had an Apple testing day. We ate apple crisp, apple tarts, applesauce, dried apples, juice, and of course different colors of fresh apples.We made all of the goodies and although it was a lot of work, it was worth it. Our Johnny Appleseed hats made us look the part. Thank you for all your help in making my kindergarten class a success.
    THYordan@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  37. I love teaching about pumpkins in the fall!
    mgnreynolds@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  38. My favorite thing to teach in the fall is nocturnal animals....especially about owls and bats!
    Niki121722@hotmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  39. I love Fall's trees, and leaf projects. The colors are so pretty!
    dmarie1014@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  40. I love teaching about apples - parts, life cycle, Johnny Appleseed. I love fall! :)
    mhoffmann@isd2397.org

    ReplyDelete
  41. I must confess I am not actually a teacher, I am a parent volunteer! I help my daughter with a lot of her class prep and I am always looking for great ideas to pass on to her for her classroom. I would say with the prep work I help her with her favorite would be apples.

    ReplyDelete
  42. Fall has some of my very favorite themes, so it's hard to pick. I love spiders, pumpkins, & bats!

    ReplyDelete
  43. I love all things related to Fall. Right now our class is learning about pumpkins and the farm. colleen3001@gmail.com Thanks for the giveaway!!

    ReplyDelete
  44. I love anything about the fall. I love teaching my special education class about pumpkins. We are actually going to the pumpkin patch this Friday jmrinderer@me.com

    ReplyDelete
  45. I am hink my favorite will be pumpkins. sweet30msk@msn.com

    ReplyDelete
  46. I always love teaching about apples. There are so many great activities to do with it. I always love doing apple tasting and graphing with my kids. They always love the healthy treat. And they get exciting during the graphing part to see which apple "wins" as the class favorite:-)
    rrosario620@optonline.net

    ReplyDelete
  47. I love the science experiment when we float pumpkins. All the kids think it will sink!
    Karianne1120@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  48. I'm loving the mini Monster unit I'm doing right now.
    Lyn
    gofflyn@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  49. I love to teach about leaves and pumpkins. Love all your ideas. thanks for sharing.

    Braynocl@usd385.org

    ReplyDelete
  50. My favorite things to teach are the poem Jack o Happy and read the Little Old Lady who was not afraid of ANYTHING!
    Karen.Strawser@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  51. Love everything that is fallltastic!!! Such a beautiful fun time of the year.
    Kim haiken@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  52. I love everything Pumpkin!!!
    Cheryl
    crayonsandcurls(at)gmail(dot)com
    Crayons and Curls

    ReplyDelete
  53. Ooooooo. Monsters are my favorite!
    Cheri
    Cute As A Bug Preschool
    cuteazabug@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  54. I love teaching about apples because then you can make yummy applesauce!
    Megan
    mhorman@north-cedarstu.org

    ReplyDelete
  55. I LOVE teaching about pumpkins, especially when we get to go to the pumpkin patch! :)
    So much fun!
    sparklesjrd@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  56. In the Fall I teaching about the life cycle from seed to fruit/vegetable with apples and pumpkins. We label, draw, paint, graph, measure, count, ten frame, and more. The bulletin board even sprouts a pumpkin field and it actually "grows" each day! Kids are so cute as they see the paper seeds turn into sprouts, vines and little pumpkins.

    ReplyDelete