January Week 4 in Kindergarten - Phonics, Math, Winter Enrichment and MORE!
We are getting ready to celebrate our 100th day in school!
CLICK HERE to get ideas + 3 freebies on my blog post, or CLICK HERE to purchase the complete unit.
It is the last week in January! A lot of people don’t like this long, cold, dark month but honestly, I love it! I need a month to recover from December as both a mom and teacher, and we are in such a great groove in kindergarten right now.
We are humming right along and the kids are so engaged with my lessons, so I have no complaints.
It is report card testing right now. This used to completely overwhelm me with a class of 26 kindergarteners by myself. How do I assess them 1:1 and clearly communicate to parents how their child is doing? Don’t worry… I’ll show you how on this blog post! It also works perfectly if you’re homeschooling and want to make sure your child is on track for where they should be at this point in the year.
I am also sharing some fun Valentine’s Day ideas on this blog post too.
Let’s get started!
“This resource has literally given me my life back! I am no longer searching everywhere trying to gather GOOD, STRONG educational resources to help me teach my kinders.”
Have you printed my free January lesson plans yet? Print them HERE, and then I walk you through the third week of January plans with ideas and tips right here on this blog post.
What are we learning this week?
Independent morning work: last sounds in CVC words, sums of 5, sight words, shapes and counting on
Phonics: I have taught all five middle sounds in CVC words (short a, e, i, o, u) so this week we are doing phonics stations, games and activities to practice
Math: graphing and comparing numbers/data (print a freebie!)
Guided reading: our theme this week is It is Cold - fluency passage with comprehension questions, mini reader with traceable words and cut/paste sentence builder
Enrichment - we read The Mitten (class favorite!) and practice sequencing, writing and retelling the story
No prep centers this week includes snowman reading comprehension, sorting word families, January writing prompt, one more, one less (freebie!) and snowman base ten matching
This blog post will show you how I teach the kindergarten standards using these resources.
Whether you’re teaching via virtual learning, homeschooling or you are in the regular classroom, my lessons and resources will help you and your students.
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Before we get started on this week’s lessons, I thought I would share a few ideas for Valentine’s Day since it is coming right up!
THIS BLOG POST has some cute ideas for a candy gram fundraiser and has free and editable Valentine Card’s for friends, teachers and students.
ALL ABOUT WINTER Thematic Unit for January
I absolutely love using thematic teaching to incorporate reading, writing, favorite read aloud books, science, social studies, art and more! CLICK HERE to visit my thematic teaching homepage and see all the units I use throughout the year.
In January, we do All About Winter and it is so much fun. We use four favorite read aloud books with coordinating themes and activities. It is packed FULL of activities, so don’t worry if you can’t get to every activity that is included in the unit.
THE MITTEN
Last week, we had so much fun learning all about animals in winter. We learned all about animals who migrate and animals who hibernate.
This week, we are having so much fun with one of my very favorite read aloud books - The Mitten.
There are so many fun activities to do with this book, and the kids love to read it again and again.
If you don’t have this book, here is a read aloud version on YouTube read by the author, Jan Brett.
This is the perfect book to practice putting events (or animals) in order. There are cut and paste activities as well as pocket chart cards.
We learn about four animals that migrate and four animals that hibernate (if you don’t have time to cover all eight animals… that is okay!)
A couple different versions are included in the unit. One has the numbers on the cards, and the other just has the animals so students have to remember which order they go in. Use one or both!
These mini readers have a page for each animal, and they make an easy no prep literacy center or whole group activity.
This Winter animals book and the sequencing cards are FREE in our FREEBIE LIBRARY
I always love to see what students will write, “My mitten is big enough to fit….” (two versions included!)
Count, compare and write numbers with this Mitten inspired math page.
I always love to see what students will write, “My mitten is big enough to fit….” (two versions included!)
The picture word bank provides scaffolding for your reluctant writers. When they are done, they can flip their papers over and write the complete sentence on their own.
Read the other weekly themes and read aloud books I use with this All About Winter Unit HERE
MORNINGS IN KINDERGARTEN
How is your morning work going? You’ll love this morning work because students can actually be independent with these daily worksheets and they are aligned to the math and reading standards in almost every state.
What skills are we practicing this week?
Matching shapes regardless of size or orientation
Middle sounds in CVC words - generating and matching
Writing missing consecutive numbers
Writing teen numbers and 1:1 correspondence on ten frames
Sums of 5
As you can see… the skills and standards covered are almost the same as last week. This builds their confidence and they truly can be independent with the standards! Repetitive practice is so important.
Since the format stays the exact same, students understand how to complete the problems (one or two days of your help) then they are set! The worksheets get progressively harder each month to target the exact skills they are learning and can be independent with.
Plus, these are google slides compatible now if you’re doing distance learning.
You can print a free week from every single month HERE to see how they work for you.
FAST FINISHERS:
I get asked a lot what I do for my higher students, or the ones who finish quickly?
Copy activities from my January No Prep Pack on to the back!
This week, our activities from my January No Prep Pack include:
Label the snowman
Sorting word families
Base Ten with the Snowman
One more/One less
January writing prompt
Sometimes I copy these activities (not the cut/paste ones) to the back of morning work so they stay engaged and busy while you complete your morning tasks.
If not, I use these for centers, fast finishers and sub tubs. I love having standards based, themed activities every month to “fill in” time gaps, for seat work and sub tubs.
Here is a quick video that shows activities included in the entire pack.
I use a few each week.
Another option for fast finishers: January Boom Cards!
If students take their time with their morning work, you can have an option for them to move to monthly Boom Cards to practice the exact skills we are working on each month.
This works well in the sense that it is a reward for getting their work completed, but my warning is to be careful with this as some students might rush through their work just so they can use the Boom Cards. I think if they prove to you they do their morning work well, then Boom Cards is something they can earn in the mornings.
I have a FREE January Boom Card deck HERE
PHONICS
We have learned all the middle sounds in CVC words, so this week we are solidifying what we know by playing games, center activities and additional worksheets.
Middle sounds are the hardest for students to isolate and identify in CVC words, and I have found the ones they usually mix up specifically are:
/a/ and /u/
/i / and /e/
Practicing with these centers gives students so many opportunities to see and hear the difference using a variety of words.
This Boom Deck is such a helpful tool for helping students segment sounds, as well as read and spell CVC words.
Four different games are included so students practice first sounds, middle sounds, last subs and spelling the complete word.
Audio is included so students can play independently, or use this whole group and let me teach your lesson! This Boom Deck is included in the January Boom Card Bundle.
I will be giving the middle sounds post test next week, so this week I pull my lower students who I know are still struggling while my other students are doing the centers and independent activities.
Doing the middle sound quilts 1:1 or in small groups with students who are struggling really helps.
We absolutely love phonics quilts. If you’ve been using my previous phonics units, then your kiddos already know the routine.
Don’t you love not having to constantly give directions? It saves so much time and they get right to work!
I introduce the centers as well, but they are familiar with almost all of them from the first sounds unit and last sounds unit.
Did you see the activities we did last week?
If not everyone got to do the clip cards, I get those out again as well.
Need a little review and practice with stretching out the sounds in words?
The video below is perfect when kids need to stand up and get a little brain break.
MATH
We love learning about measurement and data.
To see how I introduce the vocabulary and get kids excited about this unit, read THIS blog post as we actually started this unit in December. Scroll down to the math section on the blog post.
I share a cute video and read aloud book on the previous blog post to get this unit started.
This is our last week with this math unit, and next week we will do our unit assessment.
This week it is all about graphing and data! The kids love these activities. The goal is to practice 1:1 correspondence, sorting objects, graphing and comparing numbers.
I always model first before I let the students do each activity. To introduce graphing you can do a class graph of favorite snacks or colors. Give each child a sticky note and they write their name on it. Then they can place it on your graph or white board. This shows them that data and numbers have meaning.
You can laminate the color graphing activities if you prefer and have children use counters/pennies to mark each spot.
You can also laminate the sort and graph pictures too!
I prefer teaching math in small groups. If small groups are not possible for you in math, you could try partnering students up and pair a student strong in math with a student who struggles more.
I love watching students help and teach each other.
Get started with the unit and print these freebies over on the blog post HERE
Teaching reading is all about building confidence, teaching new vocabulary and sight words explicitly and exposing them to familiar resources repeatedly to build their fluency.
This program does all of that! We use the same three resources every week (shown here) - a reading fluency/comprehension page, a sentence builder and a mini reader.
Once you use this program for a few weeks, you’ll see so much growth and you’ll love that you don’t have to give directions each time. The children know exactly how to get right to work and love to make guesses about what the new theme will be each week.
Each day of the week is designated for one of the activities. To see my routine for guided reading, please CLICK HERE
These work so well for many settings including small guided reading groups, whole group, online and homeschooling.
The key is that all three resources are tied together with the exact same pictures, sight words and vocabulary - so all week students are building their confidence and fluency.
Personally, I like to use these in my small group literacy time.
Students love the adorable new themes each week, and this week is all about sledding.
To learn more and try a FREE COMPREHENSION PAGE shown above, visit my blog post HERE
WRITING
We finished up expository writing last week, so now we are spending the week on January poetry activities.
I usually spend the last week of each month diving deep into poetry. I love incorporating reading and writing into such fun literacy activities. The kids know the routine by now, so it makes this week super fun.
I make poetry folders for my students, and this makes it easy for poetry week each month. We get them out and turn to the correct month.
For more information and to see photos and ideas on how I incorporate poetry into my lessons teach month, please CLICK HERE
DAILY KINDERGARTEN REVIEW
I originally created this print and teach program last spring when we were all thrown into distance learning.
The key to a successful distance learning curriculum is consistency and simplicity. Parents are busy and stressed right now, and they simply cannot sit down every day and teach their child a new lesson.
With this curriculum, they do not have to! I designed every single day to promote confidence and fluency with the exact standards we are learning each month.
The standards stay the same for at least a week in a row (sometimes longer), so students recognize the format and know exactly what is expected.
Here is a peek at what this week looks like:
Standards this week:
Tracing/writing complete sentences
Labeling pictures with a word bank
CVC words: last sounds
Addition using winter pictures
Teen numbers as a ten stick and extra ones
How many more to make ten?
Reading response journal
Writing about our emotions (with a sentence starter and adorable snowman emojis.)
“I love everything from "Keeping my kinders busy"!! My class looks forward to their afternoon review language arts and math worksheets each day and feel confident being able to compete them with little to no adult help!”
I am currently homeschooling my daughter for kindergarten, so I am using these as a daily review.
See how students can quickly become mostly independent with these daily activities throughout the school year.
Please note: if you’re using these in the classroom, you don’t need to use the My Tasks Today page.
Just copy the math and language printables front to back each day and you’re set!
NEW! JANUARY BUNDLE
You asked, so I listened!
I now offer money saving monthly bundles.
I bundled all of the resources together that I use to teach the standards this month. I include the resources shown on my free January Lesson Plans
LOOKING AHEAD…
ASSESSMENT AND REPORT CARDS
Are you getting ready for testing and report cards? Our second quarter ends at the end of January.
This kit makes it so easy to assess your students and document data. Parents can easily understand their child’s progress and if their child needs to continue working on specific skills. Print a freebie and learn more HERE
Return to my January lesson planning homepage HERE
Did you miss the other blog posts for January? I shared a free New Year’s card for the kids to make HERE and check out last week’s blog post HERE
I hope these teaching tips make your week go smoother! My goal is to share ideas and tips every week on a blog post for the week coming up. This will hopefully take some stress off of you.
See you next week ❤️
Blessings, Michala