It's Reindeer Time

One of my favorite topics to teach during this time of year is REINDEER!!  The kids get so excited about reindeer and so do I!!  There are so many units that I use to teach my kindergarten kiddos about Reindeer.  Here are a few of the units that I feel tie it all in to make for a great week (or if you're like me... 2 weeks).

I do use fiction and nonfiction pieces to teach about reindeer.

I used this nonfiction unit by All Students Can Shine.  It is a fabulous resources that includes excellent illustrations and detailed pictures about reindeer facts.  I can not say enough about this product!!  Valerie also includes a Reindeer Facts reader in this packet.  My little ones learned so much from this unit.  Valerie also has many neat ideas and insight on her blog, All Students Can Shine.

My colleague, Stephany Dillon, introduced me to one of her favorite books.  Olive, The Other Reindeer is an excellent story to read this time of year.  Stephany's no-prep literature study for Olive, The Other Reindeer is great for the month of December.  Students love the story of "Olive the Other Reindeer" and her adventures with Santa and his team of reindeer!
Included in this packet are no-prep printables and interactive journal pages that will keep your students engaged and excited! Also included are writing prompt pages and covers for class books.  This unit is great for that busy time of the year and for last minute sub activities.  In fact, I used it as my substitute plans this week.  I am out one day this week and this "Print and Plan Pack" was excellent!

The next product I use during my two weeks of reindeer is the following emergent reader text.  Oh Dear, Reindeer is a simple emergent reader text to accompany my reindeer week.  This fun emergent reader text includes easy to read sight words and a repetitive pattern for your emerging readers. All pages, images and text are black and white to save on ink. Page numbers are on each page.

I also created All About Reindeer, Reindeer Facts Graphic Organizers.  Reindeer Facts includes the following graphic organizers to teach your early readers about reindeer. Venn Diagram, KWL Chart, Main Idea/Details, Bubble Map, Can, Have, Are, Facts, Vocabulary Sheet, and Class Book Cove.

 
A Cupcake for the Teacher created this adorable product.  I am using the writing pages to go along with our Rudolph's changing nose colors.  The pages in this writing craftivity are perfect for kindergarten students.  The easy to write on lines and spacing is what I love most about this product.... AND the cutest craftivity too of course!!  (We haven't made the craftivity yet, it will be the last day to wrap up our unit.)

I have a few puzzles with missing pieces.  I decided to make this reindeer ornament.  I will say I probably could have used an extra hand during the gluing part.  I had glue everywhere!

Here are some more reindeer themed pictures from my kindergarten classroom.

 
I can not wait to finish up reindeer this week.  Then, I am moving on to The Gingerbread Man...  another one of my favorite stories during December.

Endless Possibilities,
Stephanie