Kindergarten Entry Assessment Freebie

At my school, we assess our incoming kindergarteners a few weeks before the start of the school year to get a general sense of where they stand.  Although you can't get anywhere close to a full picture of a child's strengths and weaknesses in a 15 minute time slot, it is well worth the time and effort.  It certainly gives us kindergarten teachers much more information than we would have without these asessments...which would only be a glance at their name on their enrollment forms.  Assessing students allows us to begin our differentiation strategizing before the kiddos have their first day in kindergarten.   
I created the following assessment, which was used by the kindergarten team at my school, to assess our incoming kindergarteners.  The skills assessed include letter recognition, letter sounds, blending skills, sight word recognition, shape recognition, number recognition, and counting skills.  It includes both the teachers recording documents, as well as the students reference sheets.  If your school does not test students over the summer, this would also be a great tool to use to assess your students in the first week of school.  You can download it for free below these samples.

Click on the picture or link below to download your free copy. 

 Entering Kindergarten Assessment

Does your school give incoming kindergarteners an entry assessment?

Back to School With Curious George!

An early back to school gift from my husband...love!!!

Curious George is always a huge hit with my students.  They are going to love this!

There are a variety of Curious George books and character stuffed animals for $5 each at Kohl's right now (in the Kohl's Cares section).  

Basic Shapes Sort Freebie

 Teaching basic shapes in the beginning of kindergarten is pretty standard MO.  For this reason, I wanted to create a meaningful and mostly independent activity for the kiddos to work on in the first weeks of school.  An added plus...this will give them a chance to practice those all important scissor and glue skills you will surely be drilling into their little brains ;).  Just click on the link below or one of the images to snag your freebie!  

Free Basic Shapes Sorts

(I would greatly appreciate your feedback if you choose to download this item!)

K is for Kindergarten- Photo Prop

After already making my first day of school frame (see it here), I came across another photo prop on Apples and ABC's (see it here) that was just too cute to ignore.  I was especially excited to make my own version of her "K is for Kindergarten" because of my latest Mod Podge obsession.

Here is how it turned out:

For the simple tutorial, keep reading.  All items were purchased at Michael's.

First:

Pick out your scrapbook paper, flip it over, and trace your letter.

Next:
Cut out the K, Mod Podge the paper K onto your wooden K.  Flip it over onto wax paper, cover with some heavy books (great for those cookbooks collecting dust...), and allow about an hour for it to dry.

Then:
Add some pizzazz!  I purchased pre-painted wooden pieces from Michaels.  I also Mod Podged the edges with ribbon for a clean look.

Finally:
You are ready for your photo shoot.  I think I will use my K as a photo prop for our "Meet the Teacher" event.  I think the parents would enjoy snapping a photo of their new kindergarteners with the K.

My New Behavior Chart

Earlier this summer, I decided it was time to finally retire my old behavior clip chart.  I had made it the summer before my first year teaching, so after many great years together, I said goodbye to it's faded colors and wrinkles.  I am going with an apple theme for my classroom this year, so I decided to continue that theme with my behavior chart.

My project started like this:

And ended like this:

If you would like to create an apple themed behavior chart of your own, just click on the image or follow the link below to my TPT store.  It's only $1!

Apple Themed Behavior Clip Chart

Kindergarten Portraits

I realize I am a year late with the "oversized frame" student portrait trend, but that didn't stop me from joining in on the bandwagon!
I started with this:

I found it in the clearance section of Michaels for $2.99.  I found some unfinished letters from Michaels and wooden decoration pieces.  The decoration pieces were already painted.
Here is my finished product:

I used my adorable (soon to be second grade) niece as a model:

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