OMG! What fun is this book – InvestigatingKindergarten ! So, there is a story to read to the child with a problem to figure out at the end. Then there are skill pages that review CCS and “ clues ” to help solve the mystery! There are top secret files. There are clues on pages. There are questions to answer. There is also an answer key – for those adults who like to look ahead and read the last page of the novel before finishing the book! Oh, wait- that ’s me! LOL Any one else?? Back to this book… each top secret file has learning goals. It tells where the evidence can be found and gives clues. The activities are grouped in the secret files by topics – Langauge Arts: Letters and Sounds; Math: Numbers, Counting, Adding,& Subtracting; LA: Grammar, Sight Words & Vocab; Math: Greater/Less, Measurement & Shapes. There is a Detective Notebook to keep track of all the DATA. The kids will love making sure they are filling in all the clues!   This would be such a fun, ...

Kindergarten Skills We all know they need them.   We all know there are tons of skills needed. We all know the kids need to practice. Making a recommendations to a parent to help them practice can be hard.   Carson Dellosa has some help with that. They have a book – 100   Kindergarten Skills. You guessed it- it covers 100 skills. It is divided into math and language arts. Yup – 50 of each. It has a nice progression of skills also. Math goes from counting   and writing 1,2 and 2 all the way through 30. There is adding, subtracting and shapes. The Language Arts starts with identifying the alphabet and moves to nouns, verbs, sentences, letter sounds – beginning and ending sounds, short vowels, rhyming and color words. There is an answer key included also. I think this would be great for parents to work with their child over the summer. I see this going in two different ways. I see parents using this before kindergarten to help prepare them. I also see thi...

Math 4 Today Everything old is new again! LOL We know a good thing when we use it! Carson Dellosa has upped the daily review pages for math. All common core aligned now. 😊 This book is a great resource that is cyclical and covers tons. There is a section for each day of the week- Monday to Thursday. Friday is an assessment day. The assessments are not exactly the same but not that different. They will have to think. There is also a fluency part for every day. So many ways to use these pages too! Of course, you can print them off for each week. The students could keep them in a math notebook or folder. It could be part of their routine before math stations with guided math. You could put them in the page protectors and use them as a station for guided math or in a work binder. If they have a binder that has other “tools” in it –100 chart, number bond page, ten frames page, etc, - this could go in a page protector to use as a warm up lesson, an assignment, a station. Up to ...

Math Workshop 2,4,6,8 Who do we appreciate? Carson Dellosa! Have you been thinking about math workshop? Are you already doing it? Do you need some ideas and some support? Ready to take the plunge? Carson Dellosa has your back! The new Math Workshop book from Carson Dellosa can help – no matter what stage you are in. They covered lots of information in a concise way and an easy to use way. I’m somewhere in the middle of Math Workshop. I try to do it as often as possible, but some days just don’t go as planned. Some days we can’t handle the centers, some days a whole group lesson goes longer than I thought, some days a fire drill throws everything off. It happens. It’s real life. CD has set up the book in a very user-friendly way. There is an explanation of what Math Workshop is – my thinking has always been to run it like Reading Workshop. Just different material being worked on.  Just like Literacy – warm-up, mini-lesson, rotations/groups and closure. I personally se...

Where does the summer go? Feels like I just put everything away in my classroom and now it’s time to get it all out. Beach memories will make it be ok! So now it’s time to think about the data! Don’t panic! www.carsondellosa.com  is here to help! There is a wonderful resource to help with getting and keeping the math data – Math Instant Assessments for Data Tracking . Sounds like a mouth full of a title, but it’s packed a lot into the almost 100 pages. Wonderfully aligned with the CCS. It is divided into the five domains for math – counting and cardinality, operations and algebraic thinking, number operations in base ten, measurement and data, and geometry. That way you can concentrate on the area you need. The book gives you lots of information too about the assessments, types of assessments and how to use it and the different components in it. It has exit tickets, unit tests, traditional assessments and prompt cards. This will be awesome to use to help form sma...

This is a great resource from Carson Dellosa. I'm not sure with that I will be able to start out the year using it with all of my students. Many of my students do not have school experience when they start kindergarten. The first chapter is numbers 1-100. Many of them are not ready for that. We get there, but not right away. Mind you, some of them are! I will be able to use it right away with them.  I am thinking that this will be a great resource to use with my guided math groups. It will be a great way to group students who need additional help in a particular area. There are five chapters - 1: Counting and Writing Numbers; 2- Working with Numbers; 3- Adding and Subtracting; 4- Measurement and Data; and 5- Geometry. They all sound familiar don't they?? lol I like that there are pre, post, mid and final tests. That is so useful to make sure that they are still using the skills that have been taught. There is also an answer key! I did double check myself on something...

Thinking Mats -Math Thinking Mats!  Oh Carson-Dellosa you have read my mind again! As many of us move to Guided Math, this is a great resource! It is divided into the five topics of math – Counting and Cardinality, Operations and Algebraic Thinking, Number Operations in Base 10, Measurement and Data and Geometry. 20 activities in all! It is already laminated! Hands up people! Once less thing to do on the list! Cut and go! The ONLY thing other than this book you will need is a write on/off marker! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy! There is even a check off in the back for you to check off which student has done which activity. There is one for students also. The mats are color coded so you know which piece goes with which mat – not that they EVER lose a piece, but just in case! The directions are not hard for them to follow either. If you use it in a guided math group first, then move to independent practice – they will be set! Looking forward to using this tomorrow – and it won’...