"Draw, Flip, Read" Freebie for the Fourth!

Our fairy tale unit is one of my favorites!  Earlier, I blogged about our castle trip.  After the trip, we did a directed drawing.  My kids (and I) love directed drawing.  It's great for building listening skills and vocabulary. We do one drawing with every unit. My students also complete the flipbook and independent writing sheet that is included.  I posted a free fairy tale "Draw, Flip, Read" to TPT. Click here for your free download.  Happy Fourth!!

Yes..There is a CASTLE in Texas!

As our final thematic unit, Fairy Tales, came to an end, we had the opportunity to visit a real castle about 20 minutes from our town!  Mr. Newman has been building his castle for many years and it continues to be a work in progress.  It has a working drawbridge and a moat!  It was amazing!

The castle's dog rides the drawbridge up and down!

My sweet class of "Knights".

Inside the castle's dining room!

My class welcoming visitors to the castle.

A Little "Flip Out" Freebie

 I posted a free download to TPT.  “Flip Out Fairy Tale Version” is a series of flipbooks that students create.  Each flipbook has pictures and common kindergarten sight words.  I use these books as part of my station rotation.   The students color, trace, write the word in the boxes and cut the strips.  The students stack the strips by matching the stars.  The strips can be in any order.  At the station, I include a stapler and the students staple on the star.  They read their book to their station partner and put it in their book boxes. These books are great for practicing handwriting and sight word recognition. Look for a free "Farm Version" soon.

Look for more “Flip Out” books on TPT.

Click here

Rapunzal, Rapunzal!

I have never done a Fairy Tale unit, but I LOVE it!!!  Today we read Rapunzal, the traditional tale and a "twisted tale" called Falling for Rapunzal.  It was a very funny story about Rapunzal "letting down" other things, such as underwear (any book with underwear always gets a laugh), a pig, etc...
Then, the kids created a tower and illustrated something that Rapunzal could "let down".  The responses ranged from "colorful apple" and "watermelon" to "door" and "doll".  Gotta LOVE kinder!!

"Rapunzal, Rapunzal, let down your colorful apple," said ____.

 We've completed our Fairy Tale journal.  On Monday, we have our Kindergarten Celebration of Learning.  More on that later...

The journal is at the bottom of this display.

Fairy Tale Journal in "Action"

As part of our Fairy Tale unit, we are completing our journal.  Here's a peek!
Check it out here.

Poof! It's a Fairy Tale Journal!

Our fairly tale unit is beginning next week and I needed a journal!  Sooooo....POOF!  I created  a fairy tale journal that I'll use for organizing my students' writing, including a castle craft! The journal has a cover page, story element comparison chart, a "beginning of the story" and "end of story" page. Patterns and instructions for the castle are included. In our class, we focus on four main fairy tales, The Princess and the Pea, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel. Then, for each story, copy the summary page, beginning and ending sheets. The chart and pages are generic so the journal can be used with any fairy tale. Click on the photo and check it out!