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Showing posts from May, 2009
   

Teaching Sentence Structures

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In a previous Blog post, I shared that I teach my kids to write different types of sentences by giving them different sentence structures to practice.  Recently, a kindergarten teacher asked me to share some of the sentence structures that I teach my kids to write over the course of the year.  Here is a list of some that I usually use.   The ______ is (color). I see the ______ . I see the (color) ______ . I like the ______. I like the (color) ______ . Here is a ______ . Here is a (color) ______ . It can ______ . I can ______ . I can see a ______ . My ______  is (color). I have a ______ . I have a (color) ______ . They are ______ . They are (color) ______ . I can go see a ______ . I can go see a (color) ______ . The ______  is for me. The (color) ______  is for me. I like to play with ______ . You like to play with ______ . He likes ______ . She likes ______ . He can ______ . She can ______ . You can ______ . You can see ______
   

Subtraction Ideas!

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Recently, we have been learning how to subtract in my classroom. Here are some fun ideas to try to help teach this concept.  It has been said that in Kindergarten, you may need to find 20 different ways to teach one concept!  This is certainly true of addition and subtraction.  And after a while, the ideas start to run dry.  But the kids need to keep on using manipulatives while learning if they are really going to internalize the concept.  So I just try to keep thinking creatively as much as I possibly can to keep it fun and motivating for all of us! One thing that I always do is use food to teach subtraction.  Here’s how:  In a small group, roll a die.  Everyone gets that number of pieces of cereal.  Then roll a die and have everyone eat that number of pieces and count the ones that are left.   This works great, since there is no chance of counting the ones that have been taken away!   Have the children practice writing that equation (or watch while you write it) before going