ABC Stamps

So when Target was having their awesome sale in the Dollar Spot, I was only able to find 1 set of alphabet stamps on sale (sad face).  But, the others were only $1, and to me, that's worth it. 

I created an activity for my students to "stamp" their name the very next day for morning work.  With the amount of stamp sets I had purchased, I was able to have at least 2 sets at every table.  The morning of, I quickly found out that this was very time consuming for my kinder-friends. 

I really was pleased to find the stamps at such a great price, but will be holding off on using the stamps until literacy workstations.

What do I need to use?????

When my students arrive in the morning, I have my calming music going... their morning work is on their table... and they know to look at the chalkboard for directions.  During my second year of teaching, I pulled this random idea out of my magician's hat with the help of some school supplies, magnets, and a hot glue gun.

In an effort to reduce the number of times I have to give directions about morning work, I write the directions on the chalkboard.  There are always some kinder-friends that say, "but I can't read." 

This is a great way to show students exactly what materials they need, without talking.  It helps give my classroom a quiet, calm start.

M is for Miniature?

As I mentioned earlier, we've been learning more about the letter "M" this week.  Let me be clear, this is not a "letter of the week."  This is simply an introduction to the letter m.  The goal is to build letter recognition, letter sound knowledge, and begin to apply the letter sound knowledge to decoding.

My daily schedule includes morning work as the students arrive.  Later on in the school year, we will spend this time on word/language study, but at the beginning of the school year, we're focusing on letter recognition and letter sound knowledge.  This will naturally lead to decoding.  But until we're ready for decoding, our morning work is based on activities that we have practiced as a class.  For example, today's activity required cutting and using a glue stick .  We had practiced that as a class, so I felt confident that my students could focus on that activity for morning work.  I really like to have a quiet start to the morning, so I prefer to give my students tasks that I know they will devote their attention to.... like our "M is for macaroni" activity.

This activity started with a trip to Sam's Club to buy a 6 lb bag of elbow macaroni.  I think I got a good deal.... 6 bucks?  Tim had to convince me that a second bag wouldn't be necessary.  Again, I'm not great with spacial-math scenarios.  

Next I created my letter M template- Just used Word and added Text Art.  I printed this on cardstock because I was certain there would be a lot of Elmer's glue use.


In the morning, I put out containers of noodles at each table, along with glue for each student.  Some took the minimalist approach.....

While others layered up the noodles.

When we made our class list of /m/ words, one of my students pulled out "M is for miniature."  I paused for a moment, and repeated what she said.  "Yeah," she said, "you know, miniature, mini, small?"