President's Day Fun in K!

Happy Saturday!!

Wow I have SUCH a to-do list to check off this weekend!  How about you?  Good thing I am up bright and early with my coffee!

I was sitting here prioritizing my list and decided my first task should be to blog since I have been slacking lately.....not on purpose of course.  But still.  I have not been a good blogging friend lately.  So let's fix that now.

I also realized I hadn't yet posted anything about February.  And yes, I know it is now March....but better late than never right??

There is no way I can post everything that happened in this 'short' month--it was a whirlwind of exciting things!  We had Groundhog's Day, our first field trip to see a Mary Poppins play, a pizza party to say goodbye to a student that moved (I am down to only 2 GIRLS now), had our Valentine's Party, got a new student (yep, another BOY!), explored some new math concepts and got our new February Math Review Journals, found some amazing new apps for our classroom (which I will be blogging about)....goodness I am getting exhausted again just thinking about it!  Now you understand why I am behind on this blogging adventure right??

Well, one of the main new things we learned about in February was President's Day.  My kids always love learning about anything non-fiction, whether that be science or social studies related, but this year's class is so fun because they REALLY get into it.  They want to know absolutely anything and everything they can about the topics we discuss so they were ALL ABOUT our presidents!

We only spend a week on President's Day, so we only covered 3 presidents:  George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Barack Obama.

We read books on Washington and Lincoln (I love the 'My First Biography' and 'My Picture' books), but I find it hard to find informational texts on presidents that really lay it out simply for my kindergarten students.  (I couldn't find even one for Obama.)  So I did what I do when I can't find exactly what I need for my students--made it!  I created some little readers on each of the 3 presidents.  We read and discussed them together and then the students could color and take their own book home.  They LOVE to teach their families what they have learned!

This is the is the Obama reader:

There is also a comprehension check to do with each reader.  I am not big on paper/pencil assessments (especially in kindergarten)  but I do love doing these because it is the kindergarten version of 'text based evidence'.  I think it is very important for students to be able to not only answer questions over what we read, but also be able to 'prove it' by finding where the book says it.  It is a skill they will be asked to do in first grade (and beyond) so I like to prepare them as much as I can, while still keeping it developmentally appropriate.   

Here is one student doing his Comprehension Check over the Obama reader:

As you can see, the 2nd question was the 'orange question' so he is now copying it on to his paper.

There are 4 questions on the comprehension checks and each question has a color beside it.  So for example if question 1 is 'What was George Washington's wife's name?' and had a yellow crayon next to it, then we go to page of the book that has the picture of George and his wife on it.  I help them find the specific words 'Martha Custis' and they color over them in yellow.  They can then go back and copy the answer on to their comprehension sheet.

This also helps with other reading skills, such as sequencing or B/M/E.  For instance, if a question asks when the president passed away, then ask ourselves 'Where would that be in the book?'.  The end of course!  So we look at the last couple pages for the answer.

I DO NOT stress them over having these completed/perfect.  To me, it is more about the exposure of finding text based evidence rather than perfecting it.  If they aren't finished copying by the time we need to move on, that is fine--they found and highlighted all of the answers in their reader and to me that is the main thing. 

I also made several other ways to record our learning with can/have/are charts, facts sheets, webs, etc.  Here is one student's Abe Facts sheet:

  As I said, they love showing what they have learned!

These activities and more are in my TpT store.  There are individual units for George, Abe, and Obama, and there is also a President's Day Mega Bundle which includes all 3 units and American Monuments and Symbols--it is a great value!!

And of course we cannot miss a chance for a directed drawings!  I am in LOVE with them and am not sure how I ever taught without them....especially since I am seriously lacking in the artistic department.  Directed drawings are great for so many things:  direction following, shapes, spacial relations, creativity, and they are just plain fun!  Sometimes I think it is ok in a classroom to do some things just plain fun, right??  Shhhh....don't tell anyone I said that....  ;)

Each one turns out so adorable and unique!

Students George and Abe directed drawings:

And mine:

I told you my artistic skills were lacking!!  I give myself major props for Abe, pretty proud of it...but poor George!  I laugh every time I look at it!

These directed drawings are part of a year long set I bought from First Grade Blue Skies.  They were worth every penny!!  I highly recommend them!  She is so talented--the crafty teacher I always wished I could be!

Thanks for taking a peak at a small part of our February!  I hope your was as fun-filled as ours!