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Sunday, November 30, 2014

Cyber Mon & Tues Lives on!!!

Use this code:

TPTCYBER

Click the image to see my ENTIRELY DISCOUNTED STORE.


... to get an EXTRA 10% OFF of my already discounted products on TPT!!!

Shop Dec. 1 and 2 and use 
code TPTCYBER
during check out for an 
EXTRA 10% OFF
of everything in my 

Thanks for stopping by.
See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)


Keep On Shoppin' + a Kwanzaa FREEBIE

'Cause it's NOT over yet!

My store will be on sale through Tuesday, Dec. 2!!!
So keep on shoppin'
and 
have fun savin'
CLICK HERE to see my store.
You might like these holiday products:
Click the image to grab one for yourself.

You also get theses icons above.
Or, you might like this...

Click the image to grab one!

Composing and decomposing to five is so much more FUN
with this holiday counting book!

And.... here is your Kwanzaa FREEBIE:

Click the image to grab one for FREE!!!


Thanks for stopping by.
See you all tomorrow.

Palma :)


Thursday, November 27, 2014

Black Friday, Here We Come!

Shop From Bed In Your PJs:


This is going to be HUGE!


Time to get your wish list ready for Friday, Nov. 28, better known as Black Friday, because...

I'm throwing a HUGE SALE
on my TPT Store!

Check out all of the FUN products by 

The sale will run from Friday, Nov. 28 -  Monday, Dec. 1, 
so get that wish list made 
and shop from the comfort of your bed all snug in your PJs.

See you all tomorrow.
Palma 

Graphic (frame) is from Ashley Hughes.


Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Now YOU Can Do This Too!

I'll Show You How To Make This:



By Using This:


And it was only 99 cents!

I found it at the 99 Cent Store!
Grab one now for next year and you can make this handprint turkey too:




A parent painted this amazing turkey for me back in 1992.  
You can just cut out some colored bulletin board paper for the background and have the students place their colorful handprints on it or you can do what we did the year she made this for me.  
Each child brought in one of their dad's ties 
and we lined them up behind the painted turkey to create the turkey feathers.  
It was really cute.

Use fall colors to create colorful handprints.

Stamp their handprint on the bulletin board paper and label with their names.

And stamp one on paper to turn into a turkey for their memory books.  


So stop by your local 99 store and grab turkey for next year.  :)

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and 
check out my BLACK FRIDAY SALE at 
beginning at 12:00 AM on Friday, Nov. 28.

to see my store.

See you all tomorrow.
Palma :)

It's Almost Here!!!

ESGI's Twelve Days of Christmas Mega Give-Away:


Enter the Rafflecoptor on Dec. 3rd to win
a $25 gift certificate to my TPT Store!


Beginning Dec. 1...

Come back here and you will be able to enter EVERY DAY from Dec. 1 - Dec. 12.  Each day, ESGI will give away one $25 gift certificate to one of twelve bloggers' stores PLUS a FREE year of ESGI.  Day 3 is the day to win a $25 gift certificate to my TPT Store, so check out my store and make your wish list now.

CLICK HERE for the link to my TPT Store.


And That's Not All...

No, that's not all.  On Day 12, you can not only win a $25 gift certificate to Dr. Jean's store, but you can win a FREE year of ESGI for up to TEN TEACHERS!  Yes, I said TEN!


It all begins on Monday, Dec. 1...

So come on back here on Dec. 1 - 12 to enter via the Rafflecoptor.


See you all tomorrow.
Palma :)

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Did You See This Last Year?

This Post Was All About...


How to run a successful party:


I ran 4 groups of 6 for our Thanksgiving Feast Prep.


 Whether you are planning a Thanksgiving Feast or a Dec. holiday party, this formula will help you to have FUN.

Read all about it by 


And I'll see you all tomorrow with some BIG news.

Palma 

Tuesday, November 18, 2014

How Would You Like To Meet 13 Bloggers...

... and get an amazing FREEBIE from each of them?

You can if you attend the So CA Kindergarten Conference and Blogger Bash.

Scroll down to see who the bloggers are.


The So CA Kindergarten Conference is Friday, Feb. 27 - Saturday, Feb. 28
in Pasadena, CA

The Blogger Bash is Friday, Feb. 27

How It Works:


If you attend the So CA Kindergarten Conference, you are eligible to sign up for the Blogger Bash.
The bash includes:
Dinner
Prizes
A chance to mingle with 13+ amazing bloggers
(Ask questions and get advise from the best bloggers.)
A CD filled with amazing templates from all of the bloggers

All of that for the price of dinner, $35.
The CD alone is worth the price!

Meet The Bloggers:


Deanna Jump from Mrs. Jump's Class


Heidi Butkus from Heidi's Songs

Vanessa Levin from Pre K Pages

Katie Knight from Teacher To The Core

Traci Clausenfrom Dragonflies In First

Fran Kramer from Kindergarten Crayons

Kelly Dolling from Teacher Idea Factory

Christy & Tammy from Fluttering Through First Grade


Palma Lindsay from KFUNdamentals

Kerri & Lindsay from Teacher Bits and Bobs

Kristen from A Teeny Tiny Teacher

Register Here: 


Download the conference brochure and register:  CLICK HERE FOR THE BROCHURE

See you all tomorrow.
Palma 








Saturday, November 15, 2014

What A FUN Way To Learn Initial Sounds

We Are Making An Alphabet Book!:

Each week, we focus on a different letter.  My students get a special "dictionary page" where they may choose 3 different pictures of objects that begin with that sound, illustrate it, and label it.

I LOVE these cute graphics soooo much!

We create the book using the "dictionary pages" included in this set:

This set is on SALE this week!


How To Begin:

I teach ALL of the letters from the very first week using Heidi's Songs, Zoo Phonics, and Letterland, a UK publication that I picked up while traveling through Norther Ireland.

Then, we focus on an individual letter each week.  At first, I put out pictures of objects only that begin with the focus letter.  Students choose 3 pictures, illustrate them on their "dictionary page" and color them in.  Adding blue background with the sides of broken blue crayons really makes these pages pop.  
The set comes with 3 picture cards for each letter of the alphabet.
They fit perfectly on the dictionary pages.


My set of dictionary pages and picture cards comes with black and white AND color dictionary pages.  The colored set is great for samples.  You can attach colored images to that page as a sample for your students.  I add these picture cards to sets of cards I have made using old phonics books.

My students and I found these images and made more picture cards to add to our sets.


Each page comes in color and in black & white
and has 2 landscape style frames and one portrait.

Moving Ahead The Common Core Way:

This activity addressees Common Core standard RF.K.3  Phonics and Word Recognition.

After the first couple of weeks, I mix in picture cards that do not begin with the focus sound.  Then, students must say the name of the object and determine whether or not that word begins with the focus letter.  

Extending The Learning:

Set up a center filled with magazines and toy catalogs where students can cut out pictures and add them to a zip-lock bag labeled with an initial sound.  Glue the individual pictures to construction paper cards and label them with the object's name.  


Adding The Alphabet Chants:

Each week, my students get a poem that features each focus letter.  These poems, filled with alliteration, is the perfect place to hunt for the uppercase and lowercase focus letters.  The words are written in a dotted font, so students can easily trace over ONLY the focus letters with a fine tipped marking pen.  

These pocket pages create our alphabet book.

Then, they are glued to the pockets flap, the dictionary page is glued inside the pocket, and special craftivities and phonics headbands fit nicely in the pockets.  

You can get the entire set of whimsical poems by CLICKING HERE or on the image below:

Two poems are printed on each page, so just print, cut, and go.


You can grab this set while it's on SALE this week by 

Click the image to get the entire set. 


Click Here to see my entire TPT Store.

Click Here to see my FUN Pinterest Boards.

Click Here to see my KFUN Facebook page.


And I'll see you all tomorrow!
Palma :)

Friday, November 14, 2014

There Isn't A Mountain High Enough...

Learning about landforms:


We use this bulletin board to help us label our landforms.

Then We Sing About Them...


I change the verses around to go with the landforms
or bodies of water that I'm teaching that day.

There isn't a mountain high enough,
There isn't a valley low enough,
There isn't a hill round enough,
To keep me from coming to school!

There isn't a lake wide enough,
There isn't a river long enough,
There isn't an ocean deep enough,
To keep me from coming to school,
To keep me from coming to school!

You can add hand motions too:

Mountain - hands above head to create a pointy mountain.
Valley - hands move down & forward with palms down.
Hill - fingers laced, move hands from left to right to form curved hills.

Lake - begin with palms together and move hands apart.
River - both hands, palms facing each other, create the curve of the river.
Ocean - roll hands and move them downward.

How We Begin The Unit:

Each clip has cork on the sides.  My friend added the flowers.
I wrote the names with a fine tipped Sharpie.

Using these cute clothespins I got from a friend, students pin their clothespin on the landform poster they think is their favorite.  After the unit, we will do this activity again to see if anyone changes their mind.  This activity generates oral language skills and gets kids talking about the features of each landform.

Students clip their clothespin to the landform poster they like best.
Students come up in small groups of 3-4 to discuss their choices.

Parts of the unit:

After listening to informational text about each landform,
students illustrate their concept of that landform.
We do one a day for four days and we cover mountains, hills, valleys, and plains.  
We illustrated one landform each day after we looked at pictures
and listened to informational text about that landform.
  
We add these illustrations to our bulletin board and add some cute craftivities to them too.

This Native American was placed on the river on the bulletin board.


The following week, we did the same thing with bodies of water:  lakes, rivers, and oceans.

I also showed the students overhead images of these bodies of water.


The third week, we create a process grid using photographs of landforms and bodies of water.  Photos might include images of the different landforms and activities you might do on those landforms like skiing on a mountain, rolling down a hill, or planting crops on the plains.

I took the children out to a hill on our playground and they got to roll down to the bottom.
That's something that less than half of my students had ever done before!
We compared that hill to the mountain off in the distance.

The grid will be made of a table with 3 columns and 7 rows.  Photographs of the 4 landforms and 3 bodies of water can be placed on the first column with rolled tape.  Then, students come up to pick a photograph of something you can do on that landform and place them in the 2nd column.  The teacher can write a fun fact in about each landform and body of water in the 3rd column like "The Pacific Ocean is the largest ocean in the world."

Culminating the unit:

The goal of this unit is to teach about the features of each of the major landforms and bodies of water, but also that the earth is nearly 70% water.  

To help students realize this, we play the "Land or Water" game with a globe beach ball.  
I toss the globe ball out into the class and ask the student who caught it where their thumbs landed.
I make a T-chart and we tally the number of times our thumbs land on water and how many times they land on land.  Students will soon see that their thumbs land on water most of the time because the earth is mostly covered with water.  

This was the only image I had of our globe ball.
She is dressed up like a teacher for her
"Future Career" report. 
We also created mountains, hills, valleys, and plains out of clay.

Once you make a mountain, you can have the children pour a
little bit of water down the mountain to see how water flows.

Back to our clothespins...

Now that the students have learned a lot about the different landforms, they take their clothespins and re-clip them on their favorite landform.  Most of the children will change their mind from the beginning of the unit.  This, again, will generate oral language as students discuss their choices.  

I'm so glad that my friend gave me these clothespins.  We will use them in the same way when we cover our unit on weather and students will clip their favorite weather before and after the unit.  We will also use them when we learn about community helpers and animal groups.  

Before we got our cool clothespins, we used mini Post-its to
indicate which poster we liked best.
I think the clothespins look much better and they provide small muscle exercise.  


You can find lots of FUN ideas in my TPT store
 where there are more than 15 FREEBIES:


Check out our Pinterest Boards too:


Follow KFUNdamentals on Facebook


See you all tomorrow.
Palma :)



Tuesday, November 11, 2014

You Won't Believe What We Did With Our Handprints

We used them to...

... decorate our classroom turkey feathers!  And then we used them to count by 5s.


I have had this cute turkey since 1992.
A parent painted it for me.

I just added the yellow bulletin board paper to the back and let the kids place their handprints on it.
I labeled each handprint with their names.

We made two handprints.  One here on the turkey and one on the project below.

My students LOVE coming up to our classroom turkey, which hangs right at their level, and count the handprints by 5s.  Only a few of them can do it, but it's catching on.

We also made...


We made our handprint here first.Then, we walked to the turkey and placed our handprint there too.



You can use any color combination.  This is how we painted our little hands:

They loved how the brush tickled their hands.It allowed us to talk about our sense of feeling once again. 


... the traditional turkey handprint.  These will look great in their memory books.


I take their photo and add it to the memory book.Use the sepia tone setting on your camera (or phone) to make the photo look old.

You Might Like...

... our Thanksgiving Counting Book:

Click the image to grab this cute counting book.


Check out all of the FUN on my:




See you all tomorrow.

Have a wonderful Veteran's Day and 
remember to thank a vet.  

Palma :)


Saturday, November 8, 2014

Look At What Came In The Mail Today

I couldn't Wait To Open It: 


This is a brand new story.


This beautiful new story was written by a fellow teacher, musician, story writer, Kirk J. Mueller, here in So CA.  It is beautifully illustrated and would be a wonderful resource to use for sequencing events, re-telling a story, discussing story elements such as characters, setting, problem & solution, and learning about marsupials.  This book has it all!!!

You can talk about the beach setting.


You will LOVE they rhyming text and the whimsical illustrations.

You can talk about the author an illustrator.


It Includes Informational Text Too:

You can talk about the characters in this fiction book
 AND the real animals at the end of the book.

As an added bonus, there are all kinds of fun facts about animals, mostly marsupials, at the end of the story.  This is a great way to compare fiction and informational text all in one place.

You Can Find Out More Here:


Click any of the images to go to the web site for this awesome book.

CLICK HERE to see Kirk's website.


CLICK HERE to buy this new hardback book.             

CLICK HERE to buy this new soft back book.  




Catch all of my blogposts by "liking" my Facebook page:

 to see Kfundamental's Facebook page.


Check out my newest pins on Pinterest:

to see my Kindergarten and TK pins

Discover 16 FREEBIES in my TPT Store:

to see my TPT store & grab your FREEBIES

See you all tomorrow.
Palma :)





Tuesday, November 4, 2014

Sprinkle A Little Pumpkin Spice on your November Calendar

Nov. Calendar Fun:

I use these calendar templates with my TK and K students.


Each month, my class makes a calendar.  They trace the dotted font, create an AB color pattern on the dates, and create a FUN calendar topper.

The pumpkin spice is drying on the 3 blobs of glue at the top of the pie.


This month, we made a pumpkin pie to go on the top half of our calendar.  The FUN part was when we sprinkled Pumpkin Spice on the pie. 

We just placed 3 dots of glue on the pie vents and sprinkles some Pumpkin Spice on the glue so our pumpkin pie will smell spicy when we take it home.

You can find my calendar templates for 2014-15 by clicking RIGHT HERE.  You get a set with some numbers in a dotted font (the amount of numbers in a dotted font increases each month) and a set with blank date boxes.  

Click the calendar.


Click the calendar.


Find some more FUN on my:




See you all tomorrow.
Palma :)