All You NEED to know about Learning Stations, Centers and Workstations

Hey friends! You know a published author now! Now you can prove it! My book “Early Childhood Learning Stations 101” by Andrea Chouhan is now available at TpT!!!!!!!! Below is the full description of this 211 page book:

What makes this book special?

1-It contains tons of full color photographs of Learning Stations for Math, Literacy, Social Studies, Science, Dramatic Play and Poetry.
2- Every learning station in this book is aligned with Kindergarten standards (Common Core State Standards and either TX and/or AL Social Studies and Science Standards).
3-I also explain how to rotate between learning stations, and even free choice stations.

Kid and teacher tested!

If you have wondered how to incorporate Stations or Centers, that are academic based into your classroom, then this is the book you need. All of the activities are kid-tested and teacher approved…..and they are FUN!

Will this help my students and my teaching?

This is a great book for veteran or first year teachers and all of those in between! This is like a Pinterest board for learning stations, in a book! However, it is a major time saver, as all the information of “how? what? and why?” are listed in the book and all in one place!

Will I need anything else?

While these stations promote manipulative materials (cheap ones!), you will not find any worksheets in this book. However, I do have some of the printable stations at my TpT store, that can simply be laminated and ready to go! Also, “Early Childhood Learning Stations 101” goes great with my “Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Common Core Aligned” and “Special Education Modified Kindergarten Lesson Plans – Common Core Aligned.” These are also available in my TpT store. Within these lesson plans, I reference many of these stations. This book provides the visual of those stations! My lesson plans are available by the month, or yearly bundle.

Note from ME!

Thank you for taking the time to read the details of this book and for following my blog. It is the compilation of my 10+ years of teaching and it took much time and dedication! I am sure you will love this book and I look forward to hearing what you think! Have a wonderful school year! –Andrea Chouhan

Here is the TpT book link: http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Early-Childhood-Learning-Stations-101-211-pg-book-1329176

The paperback version can be purchased at Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1491222417/ref=rdr_ext_tmb

Introducing….My Newly Published Book!!!!

I am so excited to formally announce that my book is finished! All, while being full-time mom, full-time teacher and working on this late nights and weekends for the past four years. Yes, of course, I took tons of breaks in between! “Early Childhood Learning Stations 101” is about how I blended Centers and Workstations into Learning Stations. Learning Stations are explained more in detail in my book, but to put it in a nutshell, they are academic and developmentally based AND they are FUN, FUN, FUN

To celebrate Summer, I am offering my book for sale at 40% off the list price! This celebration sale will end on July 4! (To take advantage of this sale, you must purchase the book from my secure CreateSpace e-store. No code is needed.)

Follow this link to purchase your paperback copy book of “Early Childhood Learning Stations 101” from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/1491222417/ref=rdr_ext_tmb or follow this link from CreateSpace (my publisher-this is the link for the celebration sale! Once you add the book to your cart, the price automatically drops like magic!) http://www.createspace.com/4381168

Follow this link to purchase your Kindle copy of “Early Childhood Learning Stations 101” by Andrea Chouhan http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LC4LZYI

Why you will love this book:

1. Every Learning Station in this book is aligned with the US Common Core State Standards in Literacy and Math. Science and Social Studies stations are academically aligned with Texas TEKS and/or Alabama College and Career Ready learning standards.

2. Each Literacy, Math, Science and Social Studies station features pictures from my classroom!

3. Each Learning Station outlines the aligned standard, activity and needed materials.

4. Needed materials for these Learning Stations are common classroom items or Dollar Store items!

5. It is 212 pages full of ideas that I and other teachers have used in our classrooms!

* This is the books 2nd edition, as it was originally printed with only Texas learning standards in 2013. It is now completely aligned with the US Common Core State Standards, as well as Alabama learning standards. It also has tons of more NEW pictures of learning stations and activities. The 1st edition had 157 pages – so much has been added! The Kindle edition, is optimized for Kindle. It may also be read on the iPad and iPhone, but will not be viewed as optimally. Text will appear mis-aligned. I have done my best to ensure that all grammatical errors are eliminated, however, I am only human, so errors may still exist. That’s the price I pay for being my own editor! I welcome your feedback and support! Happy teaching!

Facebook Fan Giveaway!

Please join us on facebook! You may be the 200th “like” and win something really cool from me! Find me on facebook: green bean kindergarten

https://www.facebook.com/GreenBeanKindergarten?hc_location=timeline

Hands First! Fine Motor fun

green bean kindergarten

UPDATE! I love this fine motor curriculum! Why?

1. First of all, it is written by specialist who work in the field with children. These ladies are not just theorists who research what may work best. They actually use these fine motor activities during Occupational Therapy sessions and they oversee teachers who are using them in their Kindergarten classrooms.

2. Next, each fine motor activity in their book is detailed, yet to the point. There is not too much reading and you can easily visualize the activity.

3. Also, beginner, intermediate and advanced activities are presented. This curriculum is perfect for helping students who may not be special education students, but who need extra fine motor help. They may not qualify for Occupational Therapy, but they need some! On the other hand, the activities WILL benefit students who are already receiving OT services! Everyone wins!

4. The Hands First curriculum…

View original post 165 more words

Hands First! Fine Motor fun

UPDATE! I love this fine motor curriculum! Why?

2. Next, each fine motor activity in their book is detailed, yet to the point. There is not too much reading and you can easily visualize the activity.

4. The Hands First curriculum is teacher friendly and teacher tested!

5. It is kid approved and is fun for children (and teachers)!

I give it 5 out of 5 high fives!

*Disclaimer – I receive no payment for my promotion of this super duper curriculum. I met Allison, via Linkedin and she asked me to review “Hands First,” which I did. I just looooove reading new curriculums and offering my feedback, both constructive and positive. If you see recommendations on my blog, it is because I LIKE or LOVE them! It is is simple as that!

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(original post – May 30, 2014)

I just received the Hands First Fine Motor Curriculum! I am so excited that their is a level 1 RTI program for fine motor skills that is aligned with the common core standards! Check out their website! www.handsfirst1.com Stay tuned, as I share more! Special thanks to Alison for mailing me a copy of this break through curriculum that is designed to help kindergarten age children!

Mother’s Day Ideas

We made mini-muffins for mom and the kids had so much fun cooking! This was also a great sequencing activity which helps sharpen story retelling skills.

Minecraft Birthday – Teacher/Mom Style!

I put my teacher skills and extra school supplies into my son’s Minecraft birthday party! It turned out super fun and my whole family had fun creating everything. The best part…the decorations were all very inexpensive, Pinterest and blog inspired! I am also not a baking type of mom-and I somehow managed to make the cupcakes resemble a “creeper!”

I made the bags, below with black electrical tape. I just snipped squares and put them together.

I made this photo booth back-drop with that big butcher paper on a roll. Then I cut out squares of the other colors to make the clouds, tree, sun and inverted grass block. I then taped it to the wall.

This little piggy was made with pink construction paper. We used green streamer for the tail, for the game “pin the tail on the minecraft pig.” That was what I just happened to have lying around, nearby! Haha!

A few weeks ago, my dad and husband trimmed the crepe myrtle trees and saved the branches. The kids found the piles and took it upon themselves to “craft” teepee’s. Our little ones are just so creative. Look-its girls against boys! The branches actually held up with electrical tape. I just sat back and watch their creativity and team work!

Here is our fun little food table. I found the food tents at: printables.com (or maybe it was printable.com)….for free! We used strawberries for “red stone,” green m&m’s for “slime balls,” oreo cookies for “coal,” rolo chocolates for “gold” and yellow apples for “golden apples.”

The kids ended up entertaining themselves with nerf gun games outside, outdoor chalk, bike riding, teepee building and stick gathering. I am glad that I didn’t plan too many activities – they ended up being better party planners than me!

Project Based learning “Pizza Hut” Style

Pretend Play with Pizza Hut is a fun way to add pizazz to your classroom! Some of my students still had trouble learning the letter “P” and it’s sound. So, with Spring around the corner, I decided to spruce up our classroom Kitchen and transform it into Pizza Hut!

This goes along great with our shapes lesson, as well -and- it encourages good social skills and peer interaction!

During the first week, I invited other school staff to pop into our classroom and “place their pizza order.” They modeled correct and complete sentences for the students. It is so meaningful (and cute!): The child who takes the order, must ask “What would you like to order?” Then, he has to use the paper ingredients to remember and make what the customer ordered. This is a great way to build story sequencing skills!!!!!

I made this Center using the big red roll paper for the Pizza Hut roof. For the wall menu, I simply printed signs that I made from google images of each Pizza type.

The Pizza’s are just paper plates with a red construction paper circle taped on top. The pizza toppings are cut paper, sorted into bowls (rectangle green bell peppers, cheese, pepperoni).

Next, they will get to practice their counting skills with the money I have added!

My students also had fun making pizza in class. This was a great lesson in sequencing and I think it helped a great deal in sharpening story retelling skills. As a whole group we worked together to put these cards in order as we discussed the steps in making real pizza. Then, we made real pizza, beginning with making pizza dough and all the way to flattening the dough, placing toppings, baking it and then eating it! Afterwards, the children cut apart the picture cards below and glued them in the correct sequence.

Kindergarten Common Core Lesson Plans -ALL 10 Months Completed!

The 2014 Green Bean Kindergarten Curriculum Overview is Complete! Month 1-10 Lesson Plans are now updated, completed and now Aligned with the Common Core State Standards! I have designed these to be used as Public, Private or for Home School use! They are unique because they are created by me, a Kindergarten teacher and Curriculum Writer. They are based on how I have taught and still teach in the Kindergarten classroom- which is standards-based, as well as developmental-based. I have also weaved some Montessori methods into the construction of the order of teaching letters and sounds.

Since the emergence of the Common Core State Standards, I have re-vamped the Lesson Plans and made them better. I’ve caught errors and I ended up taking 2 years to complete the alignment of the first 8 months of school. So I have made them available on TpT. Each month can be downloaded by month or in a bundle, below. Just click on the link and it will take you to the TpT greenbeankindergarten little shop of mine! (However, the non-CCSS Lesson Plans of mine for Month 1-4 are still here on my blog for FREE. I never could find my jump drives with the other months, which makes me so sad. This is why I started placing my things on my blog and Tpt-since I lose jump drives so easily!) Month 8 Lesson Plans is a full month of Dr. Seuss themed lesson plans of Literacy, Math, Social Studies and; Science!!!!!!! Month 9 Lesson Plan Bundle (great for April) has great insect and animal activities weaved into each Literacy, Math, Science and Social Studies lesson.

Month 1 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-1-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1055212

Month 2 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-2-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1056184

Month 3 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-3-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1057389

Month 4 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-4-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1057686

Month 5 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-5-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1058312

Month 12345 Bundle http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Common-Core-Lesson-Plans-12345-Full-Months-GBK-Semester-1-1061390

Month 6 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-6-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1068683

Month 7 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-7-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1087519

added February 23, 2014!!!!

Month 8 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-8-Common-Core-Aligned-and-Dr-Seuss-GBK-1130045

added March 13, 2014!!!!

Month 9 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Bundle-Month-9-Common-Core-Aligned-GBK-1158098

Month 10 http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Kindergarten-Lesson-Plans-Month-10-Common-Core-Aligned-by-GBK-1183570

Here is a FREE sample of the newly designed Common Core Aligned Lesson Plans for the Green Bean Kindergarten Curriculum. Month 5 Week 1 Sample lesson for GBK post

Website Cleaning taking place!

I’ve been cleaning up my website today!

Yep, that’s what I did on my day off and I loved it because I absolutely love to write and edit. Anyway, like my mom, I’ve moved some stuff around. But everything is still here and better organized. If you can’t find something, just ask me or use the search rectangle in the top right corner.

You may have noticed a new background, a new green bean logo and some new graphics……all from http://www.mycutegraphics.com

I hope you like it more, like I do. Thanks for stopping by! -Andrea