Common Core Math Standards ~ Free "Dates Taught" Checklist

We have been so extremely busy with our new class and life in general that we have not had a chance to update our blog.  I feel like such a slacker!  Everyone else has been doing such a great job and we appreciate all the awesome ideas we have been getting from all of you as usual!
We have been given the Common Core Standards for Math in our county and have been told which ones to add to our teaching this year along with our state's course of study. We have also been given an updated month by month pacing guide which includes the CCS that aren't already in our state's course of study.  Basically, the pacing guide is to help us stay on track so that we cover all the standards by the end of the school year. Our school uses Scott Foresman Investigations series as our math curriculum.
Anyway, I created a very simple table to help me keep up with when I teach our sweeties all the standards.  The reason I did this was because I use extra games and activities that I find from all of you or on Pinterest in my math work stations and I want to include the standard covered with those activities as well.  I want to use this table so I can reflect on what skills I have given our students plenty of opportunities to master and be able to check at a glance and see what skills I still need to give more attention to.  Here it is if you would like to try it:
Common Core Standards Math - Kindergarten
Common Core Standards Math - Kindergarten 2
Common Core Standards Math - Kindergarten 3
Please forgive my lack of cool skills when uploading documents from Google Docs.  I can't remember how to upload them unto the blog showing the actual document.  I will try to do better next time.  =)
I think my husband, family, and dog would love for me to get out of the "back to school - need to organize - need to plan ahead - want to make all the things I find on the web mode" and pay a little attention to them.  I know my poor house needs some attention as well!  What can I say?  I love this time of year!!

Shapes and Colors

We finished our 2 week unit on shapes and colors last week.  Here are a few of the highlights:

During calendar time, we used our color quilt to sort pictures that Tanya and I cut from magazines.  I would pull a picture from a big envelope and give it to a selected student and they would attach the picture to the correct color on the "quilt". I made the quilt by laminating the pieces of construction paper after I labeled each piece with the name of the color.  Then, I just simply taped the pieces together on the back.  The students loved this and now that the quilt is full of sorted pictures, we might hang it in the room as a reminder of our colors or hang it as a hallway display for a while.

We had a special "shape snack" on Friday to celebrate the end of shape unit!  We asked parents to help send in the ingredients.  For rectangles, we had graham crackers and cheese.  Our squares were "Life" cereal and Cheez-its.  Fruit Loops and banana slices were our circles.  For triangles, we had Triscuit Crisps crackers and Bugles!  Our students thought the special snack was delicious!

After reading Brown Bear, Brown bear, What Do You See? we made these necklaces for a lesson in symmetry and as a retelling aid for the students.  We got the idea from the website www.makinglearningfun.com.  The students and parents LOVED this activity!   

Our next unit of study will be The Farm....  EIEIO!!