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Saturday, May 16, 2015

Spotlight Saturday

Happy weekend everyone! Are these not the best days?? Well, until summer time rolls around, that is!

Do you remember last Saturday I posted about trying something new, called Spotlight Saturday? You can read all about it here, but basically I'm just going to be spotlighting different products from my TPT store and the store's of other educators. Every Saturday read about a few awesome products and then follow the links to add them to your Cart or Wish List! :-) Last week I shared with you some freebies from my store. This week I'd like to showcase some product from my sweet friend's store, Pocket of Preschool.


Click on the image above to head over to her blog and learn more about my dear friend Jackie and her experiences being a preschool teacher. I have been lucky enough to help her out editing several of her amazing products, which gives me some amazing resources to add to my tool kit!


This amazing product Jackie created is PERFECT for the beginning of the year in kindergarten! That's when we go over the basic 2D shapes and start to delve into their attributes. Jackie has provided so many wonderful activities in this packet that I know my kinders are going to LOVE!


I LOVE that she includes photographs of her activities in action in her classroom! This really helps me get a picture of how it could look in my classroom. One of my learning styles is being a visual learner, and the picture guides she includes are a great bonus! For each activity in her packet she includes a picture with Teacher Tips to help you better understand what she's talking about. I might just be stealing this idea from her for my own packets! ;-)


There are so many awesome activities in her packet. I'm choosing a few to talk about, so make sure you go check out her product in TPT so you can see all the other shape activities that are offered in this packet! There is an activity where students sort different real-world objects into categories based on their shape. Not only does this help improve their sorting and classifying skills, but it also helps them to learn to recognize the shapes in their environment.


She takes the time to show you what a shape sorting center could look like in your classroom as well as the different objects she found for them to sort. I know that most of us have many of those objects and manipulatives on our shelves right now, so that makes it even easier to set up! My kinders would love working on this during either their Math with Self or Math with Someone rotation times, it fits in very well for both.


There is a paper shape sorting activity where the kiddos sort different shapes into categories. This is perfect for differentiating which kinders need more work with certain shapes. Not to mention it gives them a chance to practice their cutting and gluing skills!


I really like this activity, since number of sides is one of the ways we classify shapes in my class. These sorting mats can be used with the paper shapes Jackie provides, or they can be laminated and put out with a set of shape blocks. Kiddos who have mastered sorting can try their hand at drawing the shapes and then labeling them with the shape's name. See how many uses just this one activity from her pack has??


This is one of my favorite activities from her Shape Pack. Each shape has a mini-book like the one shown. These books will be perfect for us to work on during the first few weeks of school, as we learn about the expectations of guided math rotations. As an added bonus, these books are simple enough for my kiddos to add to their Daily 5 Book Boxes when we're finished with them, which means they have books they can actually read during Read to Self and Read to Someone rotation time. Do you know how good they feel about themselves when they have books they can read on their own? Yeah you do!

There are so many activities in Jackie's Shape Pack that I couldn't include them all in one post. She has sorting mats and playdough mats, card games and shape crafts like shape pizza and shape monsters. This is an incredibly extensive pack, with plenty of fun activities to keep my kinders busy and loving learning about shapes!

Jackie also has some AMAZING freebies in her store! One of my favorites is her Letter Hunt activity. I use this during our Word Work rotations for Daily 5, and my kinders get to complete it as a Write the Room activity. They LOVE all things Write the Room, and this freebie is PERFECT for the beginning of the year. It allows them to build their confidence while learning how to follow the routines of guided rotations, and Jackie has differentiated it very well.


Just click on the image above and you'll go right to her TPT store so you can get a copy for yourself! There are many different styles included in the pack, so you can use this for several weeks if you want to.


I like this style the best, because the letters are 'hollow' and my kinders can color them in. This will help improve their fine motor skills and pencil grip. Some of the pages have only lowercase letters, others have only uppercase letters, and a third set has uppercase and lowercase letter buddies. Perfect for differentiating.


This page might be my favorite, because it gives my kinders a chance to search the room and practice identifying the different resources that can help them (ABC charts/alphabet line/etc). Plus they get a chance to practice writing their letters and improving those fine motor skills!

I hope you have enjoyed this Saturday's Spotlight! If you want to follow Pocket of Preschool on Facebook click here. If you want to follow Pocket of Preschool's TPT store click here. Also, if you want to follow her blog click here. You should really become a follower, she comes out with AMAZING activities that can be used year after year. Don't forget to leave her some feedback love when you download!


P.S. - Click here to read about and enter my GIVEAWAY!!!

2 comments:

  1. That is so sweet! Thanks for all your kind words and support. It means so much to me!
    Pocket of Preschool

    ReplyDelete