27 June 2014

Color Mixing Fun + A Give Away

Learning Resources recently sent me a fun little science set to check out: The Primary Science Color Mixing Set. I ADORE science sets like this because it make it SO easy to set up at a science center.  I am still fortunate enough to be able to have 30-45 minutes of free choice play every day.  The children LOVE exploring at the science center!

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My daughter and I recently did some exploring with this fun set, and let me tell you, she could have explored for HOURS.  She LOVED it.  This will be an amazing addition to any science center!

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I really love the task cards that come with it.  Truly makes for an independent center!

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(The food coloring is not included – you will have to supply that!)

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The included kaleidoscope has a removable bottom, so you can change out the contents in it.  It comes with colored transparent chips. 

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There are so many different ideas and activities for the children, and they can explore in such a hands-on developmentally appropriate way!  This is a MUST HAVE for any primary classroom!!  The activities could also be easily used in a small group learning experience or as a whole group demonstration. 

Here are a few more ideas for exploring color that I’ve done!

This is a flower project that I have done over the past few years with our art teacher.  They start off with a large blob of red and yellow in the middle of their paper, and pull out from the center with their pain brushes to make the flowers.  The Grass is made the same way – we start with a stripe of yellow and blue and the children mix it to make green.  They are NOT allowed to swirl though!  Just pull from the color – it makes the beautiful variations in color that you see!

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Here is another great project we do. We start with a simple directed drawing (just using sharpies) using shapes.  Then the children water colored everything yellow!  The children could then add red to the top to make orange or green to make blue. 

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I love this sweet project!  Watercolor the birds with primary colors, and mix the colors right on the paper – just like we did with the UP houses above. 

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I also love this great project for the beginning of the year in Kindergarten.  This could even be at your art center easel – it doesn’t take much direction from you – just free choice painting!

The children explored paint mixing with tempera paints, and then added a little confetti party with simple colored squares.

Check out this link for some great books about colors:

Books for Kids:  Color Books from growingbookbybook.com

If you want to be REALLY ambitious, you can make rainbow pancakes with your kiddos! My daughter and I did this last year for St. Patrick’s day!

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And a great little video from Sesame Street to introduce/review colors and color mixing:

Learning Resources has graciously offered to give a Primary Science Color Mixing Set to one lucky Growing Kinders reader!

Just enter in the Rafflecopter below!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

NOTE: If you have won a Learning Resources giveaway on any BLOG during the past 6 months, you are ineligible to win this giveaway! Once 6 months have passed, you can enter again. Thanks!
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Thanks for reading!

26 June 2014

Throwback Thursday–Working on our Sight Words

I’m throwing back this week with Hope from Second Grade Shenanigans! Here is a little post all about sight words!

***Originally Posted September 30, 2013***

In case you missed it at the end of last week, I posted a new little diddy.  This is something that I started working on almost a year and a half ago, and then started revamping this summer.  I FINALLY finished it!

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I am in love with these activities! They are simple enough to do on a regular basis (for morning work, maybe?!), but still fun and engaging for kids! 

Here are a few samples..

There are three different types of response sheets….

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Some mats for play dough stamping – great to print on BRIGHT paper!Slide99

And some bright and colorful cards for stamping words with letter stamps.  (There is a response sheet included!)

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You’ll also find a fun little game that’s great for interventions or literacy centers!

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Just click {here} to check it out!

What else do we do to review sight words?

One of my most popular posts EVER is {this one} where I shared this great sight word chants.

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My kids LOVE this chants!  I keep them close by to use for little time fillers and brain breaks!

I also LOVE to use the Heidi Song’s sight word DVD’s – these are also great for a little brain break!  Anytime we can put anything to music, it’s a hit!

Another favorite are our sight word poems.  These poems have been around forever, but the kids do seem to love them!

Sight Word Poetry Pages: 100 Fill-in-the-Blank Practice Pages That Help Kids Really Learn the Top High-Frequency Words

I adore this fun idea!

Sight Word Connect Four - put sticky dots with letters on, on the counters. Great idea! (",) by willie

and along the same lines….

Sarah Cooley {First Grader at Last} posted this fun game waaaayy back in 2010!

Of course, we are always practicing sight words during our literacy centers!

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We read and chant our word wall…

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We practice with our daily fix-its {here} (for the end of Kindergarten) and {here} (for the beginning)

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We practice during our daily news…

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We practice when we come into the classroom…

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We practice when we leave the room…

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We build our ice cream cones when we learn each new set of sight words…

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We play lots of whole class games…

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We build our words with magnetic letters, and mix them up and fix them throughout the day….

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Sometimes we even stamp them on our hands!

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We have secret, whisper words….

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And so….so…..so….many more fun and engaging ways!

Phew! What are your favorite ways to practice sight words?  Leave a comment below and tell me your favorites, and I’ll pick a winner or two to win this sight word resource!

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