Category Archives: Target
Math Work Stations-Patterns
I switched out my Math Work Stations (available for sale here) and updated them from Sorting to Patterning. I took several pictures and wanted to include them:
The children will be completing the patterns with Unifix cubes. I drew the patterns on sentence strips with markers and just drew squares.
Manipulatives Work Station-the children will be completing the patterns with pattern blocks. I created these patterns with die cut pattern block shapes. The idea is from Math Their Way.
Pocket Chart Patterns-the children will make patterns with the beads in the pocket chart. I got the bead pattern from a book from Scholastic (you can see it here–looks like you can get a used copy for $9.50 on Amazon.com).
The children will be using dry erase markers to complete the pattern going on their own laminated dot strips. Again, from Math Their Way blackline masters.
Eraser Pattern Station-the children will use the Halloween themed erasers (I got them in the Dollar Spot at Target) to make patterns on these placemats I got at Jo-Anns about 3 years ago. I cut the placemats in 1/2 because the kids were overwhelmed by the larger size. They will pattern along the lines of the placemats.
I posted these last year, but I always get asked where I get them from…They are from Scholastic and are little rubber stamps. The children take grid paper and stamp patterns with them. The dollar tree has them around Valentine’s Day and other holidays so be sure to check there. They are only a dollar for 8 stamps and an ink pad!
These are pattern cards I got just last week from the September Scholastic SeeSaw or Firefly leaflet. You get about 20 plastic shapes/characters and 15 cards and the kids can make various patterns (AB, AAB, ABAB, etc) They can be purchased with about 200 bonus points. I got 2 sets and I already had one from a few years ago. They also have had them in the past for the Winter holidays and Valentine’s day.
I got these playing cards last September at the Dollar Spot at Target. I thought that the kids could pattern with them or the numbers on the other side.
I couldn’t find my Roll-A-Pumpkin, so I had to make a new one, and this is what I came up with. I’ll try to get one posted soon! 🙂
Hope these give you some ideas! I have more stations than these, but they are exclusive to my Math Work Stations handouts! 🙂 )
Kristen 🙂
Classroom Photos 2009-2010, Long Post! :)
I charged my batteries in the camera and took some pictures. I’ll take you on a tour and you can also check out my photos from last year here to see the differences.
Everything is mostly in the same place, but a few things were changed. First, I’ll start with some general views:
This is a look at my new computer area; last year the table was perpendicular to where it is now and there was a tall white cabinet in front of the back half of the blue bulletin board you see there.
Looking at my Listening Center Work Station (it’s on the backside of my writing station)
Library Work Station–I moved the book cases around and added my light up palm tree for some fun
Calendar area, bench where I sit, my Big Book teaching cart
The back of my big book cart, this is where Drama Work Station will go–tentatively, I may move it
A view of the mess that is my room! 🙂 The house, loft, my desk and a few tables
My desk, this year I stacked my filing cabinets and moved a table next to my desk.
We moved my son’s train table from home to school and it’s up in the loft now.
Here’s a view of the rest of the loft
My pocket chart stand my hubby built last year–I’ve come up with some new ideas how to use it! 🙂
I use this pencil pouch to store what ever the children are working on at Pocket Chart Work Station
Here’s the new part: I’m using the back of the chart for Magnetic Work Station during LWS. Below is an explanation…
Here’s an upclose view. I just hung it on the 2nd rung down with some of those metal binding rings.
I put magnetic letters in these pencil pouches and velcro-ed them to the stand…
Here’s the velcro
Sometimes, the children will not be using the board with the spaces I’ve defined. Instead, they will use these sheets I made last year.
I put magnetic strips on the back to hold them on.
Here’s the desk where my student teacher will sit–do you think she has enough prizes from me?!?!
Binders–waiting for my classlist to arrive so I can write names on them and put their sheet inside for practicing their name
I signed my classroom up through TerraCycle so we can recycle our snack and Capri Sun containers. These are some I purchased from Target to show my children.
After our first round of Getting to Know you, we will put beads into plastic water bottles with sand so the children can find the letters in their name.
This is how I’ve organized them.
Some birthday certificates I got from the Target dollar spot to recognize birthdays.
A game called Whiz Kids from Discovery Toys I will use with my kids this year. You pick a letter and a category and then get the number of points on the letter card if you can name something starting with that letter in that category.
This shelf sits next to my bench and will be home to several Literacy Work Stations.
My small group area, parent volunteer area, and where the wonderful, amazing Pam will work!! 🙂
Listening Work Station
The tape recorder sits on top of the cart and the tapes and head phones are stored in the drawers
My basket of things for Pam (yeah!! Pam!!) to copy and pass out to the kids for me.
There it is…I’m going back tomorrow to clean up some more and work on pulling things out for my Math Work Stations and figuring out where they will go! 🙂
Kristen 🙂
Literacy Work Stations
Here are some pictures I just took of our current Literacy Work Stations. The activities will change in them about once a month or so–depending upon when we get bored with them. I will pull different activities in and keep some of the old ones out or even hide them for another time in the future. At this point, the activities are pretty self explanatory, but if you have any questions–please ask! 🙂
Kristen 🙂
Classroom Library Station and poster
Big Book Work Station and Poster (I store my Big Books that the children are allowed to use in this tub–all others are kept in my big book cart.
Rainbow words that will become part of the Word Work Station
This is the current activity at the Word Work Station–each day when a different student is the Special Helper, we cut their name up (the Building Blocks way) and put it in an envelope. The students who visit this station put the letters back together and say them outloud. They are only allowed to get out one name at a time at this point.
New station today–I got 4 brand new Schoolhouse Leap Pads from a grant I wrote on DonorsChoose.org (Thank you Washington Township Schools Foundation!!). I also received 13 new books to go with them. They each came with a AC adapter and headphones!! I’m in Leap Pad Heaven!! 🙂
Computer station and poster–this one is a no-brainer! We use http://www.starfall.com, http://www.earobics.com, and http://www.sesamestreet.org as of right now.
OOOPS! This picture should be up with the Word Work Station. This is our word wall. After reading Debbie Dillers’ book, I headed her suggestion to put it on a magnetic surface so it’s interactive. The kids will use this for ABC sequencing activities, name recognition, and several other games.
This is our overhead Work Station. I would love to have it in a stationary spot, but because of the arrangement of our tables and where the screen is located, we have to roll it back and forth–I’m thinking of changing things around a little though to help with this problem.
Anyway, there is a box of magnetic letters stored with the overhead and the kids use that to spell their names and to make other words they see. I have more letters available if they need more to spell words.
This is my new and improved and just built yesterday Pocket Chart Work Station. My hubby built this for me after the small ones just didn’t have enough room for the size of poems I wanted to use. This one is 5 feet tall by 3 1/2 feet wide. It’s perfect for the kids to reach, standing or sitting. Eventually, they kids will use Wiki Sticks, highlighter tape, and other materials to find letters, words, rhymes, etc.
Here are a few more pictures. One is the back of the stand and the other is how I store the past sentence strip poems/stories.
Writing Work Station and poster–right now the kids are just experimenting with the materials I have here: markers, crayons, stencils, paper, stamps, stickers, etc. Eventually, they will write words they see and work on editing their Writer’s Workshop writings.
ABC Work Station–the children have 2 options here. They can either sequence a set of 3D ABC cards or they can hunt for letters in the tube. There is a pad for recording the letters they have found.
This is our current Puzzles and Games Station option–DORA’s ABC game. I have 2 children at this station and they take turns making the sounds and naming the letters.
These are the 2 current options for Handwriting Station. The children have 2 ways they can practice writing their letters. One is the Lakeshore Literacy Instant Learning Center and the second are two mats I picked up from Target. They use dry erase markers for them and then erase.
Listening Work Station-again another self explanatory station. I change the book each week to mesh with our theme, sometimes I pick a favorite read aloud.
Back to School (not yet!)
I just love Back to School time!! The sales, the cheap glue sticks, the Dollar Spot at Target, the .88 cent markers at Wal-Mart, the… Oh! I could go on and on, but you all know what I mean–there’s just something about those isles that seems to be irresistible to teachers (my husband is a teacher too, but he seems to be immune to it!). I just wanted to share all my new goodies, those that are in the house, and those that are in the car because I don’t want to lug them inside and then back out to the car again in a few days! 🙂
I purchased ANOTHER hardware storage drawer thing, this time to store my magnetic letters. I thought this would be a great way to store them and keep them organized!
I then went to the Dollar Tree and found these cute little jungle animal themed erasers. There are 40 in each backpack. I got giraffes, elephants, and tigers. I think they will be cute for sorting, patterning, and for math mats.
I thought these were so funny! They are party favors made to look like coins, but they are all about 1 1/2 inches across. I thought they would be great for calendar time, to show the kids the differences between the coins. When I opened them up, they were even funnier, because some of the quarters/dimes were copper colored and some of the pennies were silver. No nickels though…
These disposable gloves will become planters later on this year. We will put cotton balls into the fingers of each area in the glove and place a bean seed (I think we may try others too just to see what happens). Some we will water and some we will not. We will then talk about the differences and what we see happening. I think some will also be put into a dark area too.
Also at the Dollar Tree, were these sentence strips. There are 30 in a pack and I got two packs. I will use them for Literacy Work Stations management and for names on rings at various stations.
I also got these games. The first one (on top) you match the upper to the lowercase letter, the middle one you build words, and the bottom one you put 3 cards together to make a complete picture. I thought I would use them at the ABC Literacy Station.
Next up, this cool thermometer that I will hang on the outside of the window so we can look at it during calendar time and record the temperature (a form of measurement!!). It was only a buck, so there’s no telling how long it will last!
On to the Target Dollar Spot! I went to 7 different Target’s yesterday searching for more pocket charts to no avail!!! All 7 were all out! But I did pick up these letter mats–also for the ABC Station, you trace them for practice, uppercase on one side and lowercase on the other.
In my quest for pocket charts I came across these mini dry erase/magnetic boards. At one place I got 6 and at another I got 6 more. I may go back for a few more, but 12 may be enough! 🙂 I will use them for small group work, in the magnetic Station, for quick assessment, and other handy things!
A few assorted supplies. 4 new boxes of Crayola Markers ( I collect all things Crayola, so I love getting new ones!!). I also got some glitter pencils from the Dollar Spot for the Writing Station, some name cards for various uses, and some more dry erase markers (they’re 30% off until midnight tonight!!).
This was a trip to Wal-Mart. .88 markers! .88 colored pencils! .88 Bic pens (my son put those in the cart!). I also got some more tape for my label maker, some pencil grips, and some blue gel glue. I will use the glue to make raised letters on index cards and have the kids rub over them in the ABC Station for texture! 🙂
This was another find at a different Dollar Tree…place mats that are solid colors and are 12×12. We will use these under our playdough. I like that they are smooth instead of with ridges, and I will start the kids out with these and then replace them with the textured ones they usually have. I also got 3 packs of colored index cards to make more sight words on a ring.
Last, but not least–a trip to the teacher store! My husband groans everytime I mention this place because he knows I will spend some money! 🙂 I’ve been really good though and have hardly been in the last 2 years!
I got some Wikki Stix and highlighter tape this trip. The tape is in two sizes for Big Books and small books. In Debbie Diller’s book, she mentions having this accessable for the kids to use and laminating file folders so the kids can put it there after using it for reuse later.
I also have some things in the car…
I got a set of uppercase alphabet stamps at Toys R Us on clearance for $7.49, 10 new book buckets at Dollar Tree, 30 spiral notebooks at Target, Lite Brite Refills, two I Spy puzzles, a Dora the Explorer ABC matching game (meijer on clearance), and some PVC pipe and glue to build another chart stand-this one to hold the 24×36 sized chart paper. I’m going to make that one myself, so we’ll see how that goes! Hopefully, it will end up in my poetry Station!
Kristen 🙂
P.S. If anyone finds 14 pocket charts from the Dollar Spot, I would love to have some!! I’ll pay for shipping too! I’ll even send some of my handmade cards in your favorite colors!
Another use for table top PVC chart
I also belong to the KinderKorner group and had a question about materials falling out of the pocket charts because they hang straight down. So the pocket chart now hangs at a slight angle, enough to keep those materials in and Kinder. Kids happy! 🙂
To accomodate that, I simply punched some holes at the bottom of the chart with my Crop-A-Dile (We R Memory Keepers makes them), but I think a regular hole punch would work too and inserted grommets or large sized eyelets.
EDIT~*~*I think this would work even if you didn’t set grommets or eyelets in the chart because it’s make of thicker plastic~*~*~
I then secured the chart to the leg (originally meant to hold up a big book) with large book binding rings:
Here are several views of the idea. The rings can easily be removed so that it can be used for big books as well. Hope this makes sense!
Kristen 🙂
Table Top PVC pocket chart stand…
EDIT ~*~*~* 7/15/08 ~*~*~*The directions for this chart are for the small pocket charts available at the Target Dollar Spot-summer 2008. If you would like to make a stand for a full size pocket chart, measure the length and width of your chart and add two inches to each measurement. I would use 1 inch diameter PVC for a full size chart-for strength and durability.
Here are the directions, in pictures how to make the small PVC pocket chart stand pictured below. You will see my two able bodied assistants in the pictures (my hubby and son–don’t worry, he only marked where to cut!).
Step 1: Collect your materials: These are directions on how to make a pocket chart stand that will double as a big book stand (to make the other kind-just a pocket chart, subtract the last step). We used PVC pipe that was 1/2 inch in diameter. The total cost for 3 stands was $21.30, you will also need PVC glue
You will need to measure the length and width of your pocket chart. Mine from the Dollar Spot at Target are 16×26. We made the stand 18×28 so they would hang flat.
You will need to cut with a hacksaw, (2) 28 inch pieces, (1) 18 inch piece, (8 ) 4 inch pieces. You will also need 6 elbows (un threaded) 4 caps, and two “T” connectors.
Once all your pieces are cut, you can begin assembly. Take the 18 inch piece and glue it to two elbow pieces. Then glue the two 28 pieces to the bottom of the elbows. See result below:
Next, glue on two “T” connectors to the bottom of the 28 inch pieces: 
Glue in 2 4 inch leg pieces on each side:
Next, attach an elbow joint to the ends of each of the 4 inch pieces and point them up:
Glue in the rest of the 4 inch pieces into the elbow joints and put caps on the ends to prevent scratches:
You are done!
Make sure to double check that you have glued all the joints together and wiped down with rubbing alcohol to get the sticky labels off the piping.
I used shower curtain rings or you could use book binding rings or even binder clips to hold the chart on. I also attached two charts back to back, so that two students can use this at once or can read big books at the same time.
E-mail me with any questions: fuzzlady77@hotmail.com
Kristen 🙂
Small PVC Pocket Chart Stand
Aren’t husbands the best??…mine is also a teacher so he understands my crazy Kindergarten teacher brain–most of the time anyway, and because of that, I can get him to build me most things I need. Today, we took a trip to Lowe’s and got all the materials to make these small, table top PVC pocket chart stands. They are perfect for the Pocket Charts available right now in the Dollar Spot at Target (July 2008). I got 6 of them and had him build me 3 stands, thinking I would have two stuudents work back to back on them.
After he built one, we decided to extend the feet a little and make it a dual purpose stand. It can also hold Big Books!! So, after I nicely asked him to build me 3, I think I may ask him to build me one more so I can use it just for Big Books! I also know there is some spray paint out there for plastic, so I may jazz these up a little doing that.
BTW…the pocket charts have a strange odor to them, almost like a moth ball smell. I noticed that the teachers on http://www.teachers.net were talking about it too–it seems that a little Febreeze and Lysol spray and a good soak in the good old sunshine is doing the trick to get the smell out. Just know when you open your’s it too will smell!
Now on to the pictures…
I just asked my hubby really nicely, and he is going to let me take pictures of him building the 3rd one, so I will post those so you can see how it all goes together and we will post a materials list too!
Kristen 🙂
P.S. I am using shower curtain rings to hold the chart on to the stand. I just wanted to say…I sure do love my hubby! He is so great–I get flowers for no reason at all, just because! I am truly so lucky to have him! 🙂
Time Filler Cards
I got these flash card type cards in the Dollar Spot at Target earlier this week. When I saw them, I thought that I could punch holes in them and put a binder ring in them–so that’s what I did! I used my Crop-A-Dile to punch the holes in the cards. If you don’t have a Crop-A-Dile–you need to get one!! I am also a card maker/scrapbooker and this is a tool I use to punch holes and get eyelets in my cards and pages. It punches through 10 sheets of paper, leather belts, and punched through 8 of these cards at a time–making quick work of this project!
I will hang these on a hook by my classroom door and use them when we are lined up waiting or waiting for others to line up, or even in line at the bathroom. Last year my “reward system” was to give the kids tickets and they could buy things from me at “store” on Fridays. This year, I will be using the Mini-Economy, but I think I will still give out tickets and when they get 10 of them, they can trade them in for One Mini-Economy Buck. So if I am using these cards with them and they get my question correct, they will get a ticket (at least during 1st semester).
More on the Mini-Economy to come…I’ve signed up to take an 8 day workshop through IUPUI called Using Children’s Literature to Teach Economics. We will learn all about the Mini-Economy and have to design a lesson that we will use during the school year. So…I will post my lesson after I get it completed!
New Things…
Be sure to check out the tabs at the top of the page for things you can download! I’ve just transferred over LOTS more files from my other computer, so I will be posting them in the next few days. While you’re waiting, I thought I would share some things I got yesterday and today at Target. Mostly from the Dollar Spot, but also from a few other areas of the store! I also went to Wal-Mart and picked up some alphabet beads that I will use in word/letter Discovery bottles, and I got two new Lite Brites! I know my Kinder kids will fight over them, so I got two–hopefully, to make waiting a little easier. I will make them part of one of my Literacy Stations this year. I was thinking of making letter templates and having the kids make the letters or words. On to my new things…. ( I purchased a hardware storage container-the kind with drawers, and am putting items that begin with each letter in them. I put dividers in the last two drawers so that I had 26 (it had 24 drawers). I got some new name tags, small pocket charts, stickers, magnets, counting farm animals, and two magnet boards from Target. I also got a piece of black foam core board where I will put library pockets to manage my centers this year. The pockets will have a symbol on them and the children will put popscicle sticks with their names on them inside to know what center they will visit for the day. This will be used for all my centers throughout the day. The children will stay at the same station symbol for the entire day (or 1/2 day–I haven’t decided yet!).
Kristen's Kindergarten 
