Resources+from+Us

This page is for us to post successful activities or (good resources ) we use with our kids - please add a short one line description and post the resources to go with it !

ECE and Kindergarten Lessons (from Stacy at Bradley) My first attempt at research with the Kindergarten students! In the classroom, the students travelled all around the world visiting Egypt, Kenya, Rome, London, New York, and Paris. When the students came into the library, we based our daily lessons on the inquiry method. We read books, magazines, maps, and brochures. Our end project was a travel journal and the students had to draw a picture of the city or write a sentence bsed on they learned. After the Dave Matteson professional development, I was very motivated to have my ECE students draw and start to write basic words and sentences. I made writing journals for the students and after we would have a read-a-loud, the students had to draw a picture and i (or the teacher) would write what the students described in the picture. We started using the puppets every day with the students. The puppets helped us read the stories, helped the students act out the stories and quieted down the class! We also made puppets. The ECE class made paper bag monkey puppets and the Kinjdergarten students made rain forest stick puppets. I recently purchased a great book, "Easy-to-Make Books That Target Specific Reading Needs" that has been a huge help. We just read the book by Margaret Brown called, "Big Red Barn." We used a lesson in the book to create a storyboard. We glued a red barn onto a piece of tag board. The students cut out pictures of farm animals and the names of the farm animals. We then used the storyboard to create stories and to sort the pictures.
 * Kindergarten Inquiry Project**
 * ECE Writers Journal**
 * Puppets**
 * ECE StoryBoard**

More ECE resources (From Jennifer) http://storytimepreschooltoddlers.blogspot.com Neat blog that lists tons of storytime themes. Includes books that are great to turn into felt stories, songs, fingerplays, bookslists. http://www.preschooleducation.com Annoying layout, but some good story/song contributions by theme @http://www.alphabet-soup.net/theme.html Thematic units include games, poems, songs, and crafts as well as story lists. @http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/storytime/ GREAT site with lots of neat storytime themes that list books, songs, and fingerplays.
 * Fingerplay, song, and story resources**

@http://www.funfelt.com/boards.html http://www.genesisarts.ecrater.com @http://www.feltboardstories.com/ Check also http://www.amazon.com Banks School Supply ( I go to the one in Thornton. Or Northglenn. Whatever that city is up there.) @http://www.banksschoolsupply.com/
 * Felt board figures/sources** (From Jennifer)

Someone requested my template for the monthly newsletter I put out. This is a BIG hit with teachers and with students. Have one in display in the library and distribute a bunch of others throughout the building. List upcoming events, add some pictures of previous events, throw in your circ stats for the previous month and you have a powerful document. Here you go. Jennifer.

And finally, here's a PhotoStory of my 6th/7th/8th grade library class with their ECE Book Buddies. We called the program BELL Book Buddies. The big kids go down to the Spansh ECE class once a week and read one-on-one with their buddies. BELL books, of course! media type="file" key="Book Buddy PS.wmv" width="300" height="300"

Some ECE resources (From Leslie): @http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/preschool-rhymes.htm @http://www.preschoolexpress.com/music_station.shtml
 * Songs and Chants**

Local museum resources for ECE from the Denver Art Museum! A TON of lessons and ideas for creativity and of course literacy.
 * Museum & Creativity**


 * The Spoken Arts** is the catalog for DVDs of stories read by the authors [|http://www.spokenartsmedia.com] the special appearance videos are particularly good for author studies. These can be show on a promethean board through a computer as well. Karen Bolch

[] is a comic generator with 3 frames - free, easy to use - Kinder and 1st grade loved it. They select a character, fill in speech bubbles, and then print. Great for beginning middle end. Karen Bolch

[] Karen Bolch
 * The Lion & the Mouse** by Jerry Pinkney - Caldecott - wordless picture book - beautiful illustrations - Use our puppets to tell the story first. Then show the kids the story and let them tell you what is happening via the pictures. The you can use the attached sheets for ECE, K, 1st to draw their favorite parts including the details. There are 3 pages - open in publisher. Here is a link to show another version of the story - 2 minutes.

Animal Research Reports - 1st grade - each student got an easy animal book of their choice. They read it alone or with help. They filled in the attached notebooks. They explored more about their animals using the kids bits database. They presented it to the class and we videotaped it. 2nd grade also wrote a scipt to then do on blabberize which we will post on a wiki. THere is a trifold brochure for differentiation also attached. These are also in publisher. If you need a pdf copy let me know. Karen Bolch


 * Kindergarten Alphabet Book Project:** After reading alphabet books to Kindergarten, they created their own using Kidspiration. (J. Wilson)

Planning form: See Tech for Tikes page for Kidspiration activities. media type="custom" key="5558467"


 * Excel Sheet of AR Quiz Numbers for Fiction books available on BookFLIX -Katie Harlfinger **



How Animals Move Unit in Collaboration with Kindergarten Teachers Lesson Plans and templates
(from Robin Bashor, Maxwell)

Cat & Dog Printout for finger puppets and Script
(from Robin Bashor, Maxwell)