Time for Shaving Cream!

So, before I talk about shaving cream... I forgot to post this activity a couple weeks ago, but the kids enjoy it and it's a great quick assessment.  It takes a little prep, though. To work on counting and numeral formation, students pair up and get a large bag that has post-its and smaller bags of beads inside.  Students count the beads together, then write the corresponding numeral on the post-it.  Bags contain between 0-15 beads. 

When the students are done, they can bring you the bags for you to check their work.  If any are incorrect, you can just ask the team to go back and correct their work with a new post-it.

Alright, now that we've gotten that out of the way.... This week I introduced shaving cream while we practiced more numeral formation!

I love using shaving cream for writing numbers, letters, sight words, names, etc. 

Whenever I buy shaving cream at the store, I always get between 10-12 cans and the cashier looks at me like I'm planning some elaborate prank.  

No, I assure them... it's for learning. :)

I try to teach everything through various modes of learning: visual, auditory & kinesthetic.  It usually starts with me talking about what we're learning, modeling what the kids are supposed to do, singing some variety of song, and then some hands-on experience! (Remember our toolbags? They make the hands-on piece so easy.)

But there's something about how messy shaving cream is that really keeps the kids entertained.  And the desks get clean.  And the room smells nice. 

For the numerals, I said our number poem as I modeled writing each number and the kids listened/watched before forming the number.  

I had parents last year asking for some ideas on how to teach sight words that weren't just flash cards. 

For sight words, I usually introduce the new word in our morning journal.  This way they see the new word in a sentence first.  "Look at the cat." Then I highlight the word as I say what it is and spell it on the board.  "Look. L-O-O-K. Look." Once the kids have an introduction to the word, we watch a sight word video by HaveFunTeaching or a similar YouTube channel.  (Just Google: "Sight word ___ song" and you'll get something!)

After the auditory and visual learning, kiddos get to have the kinesthetic/tactile piece by writing it in the shaving cream.  I don't put a word on the word wall until we've learned it all three ways.

Adults don't all learn the same way; why should we expect our kids to?