A Place Called Kindergarten

today was the last day of school...

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 25 May 2012 02:36:00 +0000

I am already missing these crazy kiddos.

Thanks for a great year!

Remember that you promised to read and write all summer long.

Love ya all,

kindergarten poets

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:39:00 +0000

Check out these kindergarten poets...

young author day and night

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 18 May 2012 02:34:00 +0000

Today we got to meet author Amy McDuffie.

She is the author of The Rule of Hats.

Chloe got to help her read her book and

Nicholas had lunch with her.

So proud of these incredible authors and illustrators!!!

They amaze me with their creativity on a daily basis.

Thanks for a wonderful Young Authors' Night!!

Happy Mother's Day!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sun, 13 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

We are in the middle of our poetry writing unit. We wrote these amazing poems about our moms this week.I am so proud of my kindergarten poets!

Happy Mother's Day to the moms of Room 131!Thanks for sharing your incredible children with me!!

Kindergarten Field Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sat, 12 May 2012 12:10:00 +0000

The weather was perfect!

We ran, jumped and danced our way through field day.

Thank you Mrs. Gulick for organizing this amazing Day!!

reading during recess

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 11 May 2012 03:08:00 +0000

So many of my kindergarten friends are reading during recess...

I love this time of the year in Kindergarten!!

day and night

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 10 May 2012 11:59:00 +0000

some pictures of our day and night science unit...

{click on the image above to download}

our day and night mural

day and night lists in our science notebooks

artwork and science notebook pages from our owl study...

giant story problems

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 10 May 2012 01:12:00 +0000

My students followed 4 steps to answer these giant story problems.

1. read and find important information

2. draw a picture to show the story problem

3. write an equation to answer the story problem

4. write an answer to the question

So proud of their hard work!!

click on the image below to download

our trip to the pond

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Tue, 08 May 2012 01:41:00 +0000

This picture slideshow generated with Smilebox

Friday Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:47:00 +0000

{my favorite finds from the web this week and last week}
I love Pete the Cat and Miss Glamour's activity...

number line game...

subtraction game and I have some bowling sets I can use...

another subtraction activity...

number bracelets...

love this activity...

sight word assessment...

free app...

to add or subtract...that is the question

starting a nonfiction writing unit

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 27 Apr 2012 03:39:00 +0000

I have a collection of nonfiction books in my classroom. I start my nonfiction writing unit by helping everyone find books about topics they want to become "experts" about. If I do not have what they need in my classroom collection, we head to the library. Sometimes we pair up with older students to help us research and we check out nonfiction books from the library during the weeks of this writing unit.

I used Ladybug Teaching Files "printing on post-it notes" to make post-it notes to label interesting fonts, fun facts and labeled pictures in nonfiction books.

My students loved this activity!

we found labeled pictures in these books...

we found interesting fonts in these books...

up-close...

After we find these features in books, we practice writing them. Find out more about this activity HERE or click on the image below to download.

here are some of my favorite nonfiction authors and book collections...

Nicola Davies

Mia Posada

Nic Bishop

Amazon.com Widgets

Scholastic Vocabulary Readers

Amazon.com Widgets

Gail Gibbons

Amazon.com Widgets

Hope this answers some of your questions about

writing nonfiction with your kindergarten students.

Happy Writing!!

our amazing musical...

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 02:21:00 +0000

The Bear Went Over the Mountain

Another photo slideshow by Smilebox

signs of spring

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sat, 21 Apr 2012 03:05:00 +0000

flowers blooming

birds singing

rainy days

and wiggly teeth...

signs of spring in kindergarten

I sooooooo wanted to pull this tooth:)

Nonfiction Writing Experts

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 02:57:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit Sam became a space expert.

Here he is with his collection of space books...

Nicholas became a snake expert.

Here he is with his collection of snake books...

Friday Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:17:00 +0000

{my favorite finds from this week}

cute addition game...

3-D shape sorting and parent letter...

love this site...love these addition activities...

adorable frogs and other froggy stuff...

I LOVE these readers...

number and alphabet roads...

I {heart} freebies and this is a cute one...

nonfiction writing - labeled picture

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:21:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart...

As I introduced nonfiction writing features, they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Mckenna's book about penguins

She included a labeled picture in her book.

nonfiction writing - things talking

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:13:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart...
As I introduced nonfiction writing features, they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Tara's book about zebras.

She included a table of contents and things talking in her book.

HERE is another example of things talking.

nonfiction writing - fun fonts

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 23:03:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart...

As I introduced nonfiction writing features,

they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Keira's book about penguins.

She included a table of contents and fun fonts in her book.

nonfiction writing features - illustrations

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 13 Apr 2012 00:20:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart..

As I introduced nonfiction writing features,

they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Chloe's book about pufferfish.

She included a table of contents and more than one picture on a page in her book.

nonfiction writing features - fun facts

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 01:38:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart...

As I introduced nonfiction writing features,

they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Mateo's book about spiders.

He included a table of contents and fun fact in his book.

nonfiction writing features - table of contents

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 01:06:00 +0000

During our nonfiction writing unit I created this writing goals chart...

As I introduced nonfiction writing features,

they were added to the chart.

Every day my students picked which feature

they were going to include in their writing that day.

Here is Jake's book about owls.

He included a table of contents in his book.

I {heart} kindergarten writers!!

1,000 followers!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 15:19:00 +0000

take me out to the ball game

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 04:30:00 +0000

Happy Opening Day!!

Go Reds!!

Friday Favorites

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 03:46:00 +0000

{my favorite finds from this week}

Greedy Triangle activity...

L-O-V-E these...

shape activity...

rainbow writing...

digital frame sight words...

Brownie and Pearl

noreply@blogger.com (Jonelle Bell) — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 02:35:00 +0000

Brownie and Pearl are our newest literary friends.

My students are loving these simple stories and silly titles.

Get dolled up, grab a bite and read a Brownie and Pearl book before you hit the hay.

brownie and pearl -