Seasons

Is it really April?

I don't even know where the last 4 months have gone. 

I've been as busy as ever in my classroom, enjoying this time with my 24 little learning wonders. We have been exploring the world through science and writing and math and social studies. We have been changing through it all- learning and growing with each new discovery, just as the seasons have continued to move forward and change. And much like the cycle of the seasons, our journey together is coming to an end, and new learning adventures will begin. It's always a bitter-sweet time, to see one season end and another begin. 

This is one of the Season Trees we made for our school Arts Night.

I have also been looking towards a new season in my personal life as well. This summer I will be welcoming my own little learning wonder into the world. I am so excited to become a mom, and to help this little one learn and grow and develop. I'm sure it is going to be a great, life-long learning adventure.

This year has gone by way too quickly, but I'm hoping to still share some of our classroom adventures before it is over. It has been a wonderful year!

An Amazing Gift

So...it's December and this time of year always feels a little crazy in the classroom. While the kids get excited about all the extra holiday festivities and activities, I'll admit that I have found myself feeling a little stressed and worn out. But I received a surprise this week that made me feel so appreciated and supported. It seriously made my whole year.

After I finished teaching on Monday, I went to go check my box before I tackled my huge list of things to do for the coming week. To my surprise, I found a wrapped gift sitting there with my name on it. I took it back to my classroom, and read the note that was attached. The note itself blew me away and brought tears to my eyes. An anonymous donor expressed their gratitude for the work that I do, and wanted to help provide something for my classroom. I was in shock when I opened the box and saw what was inside.

4 iPod Shuffles

Sometime last year, I expressed a desire on my blog to try and create a listening center that was more independent, and thought that iPod Shuffles would be a great way to go because they would be very easy for the kids to manage on their own. Even though I knew it would be a long-shot, I asked around to see if anybody had any kind of independent listening devices that they would be willing to donate. After receiving a minimal response and knowing that other things that were more pressing in my budget, I kind of gave up on the idea of making this a reality in my classroom.

Until now.

I hope that whoever decided to give in such a generous way knows that I am so grateful for their support! I was so touched, and still feel amazed at the kind and thoughtful generosity of this person. I am also SO excited to put these to good use in the classroom, and I've been getting them ready to introduce them to the kids when we get back from Winter break. They will be a perfect addition to our Daily Five/Reading Workshop time, and a valuable resource in our room. Thank you so much--whoever you are!

After the tragic events that recently occurred among children and teachers in Connecticut, I am even more grateful for this act of kindness, and all others that I have received as a teacher. Although there are people in the world who make horrible, evil choices, I have to believe that there are more people in this world who do what they can- big or small- to help others and make it a better place. More than ever I am inspired to bring an attitude of caring and goodness to my own students. I hope that we can all cultivate a spirit of giving, love, kindness, and compassion in our small circles of the world, this holiday season and always.

I am thankful for...

...my amazing class of Kindergarten kids! They are so fun.

Last week they wrote about what they are thankful for, and we turned their work into a place mat for Thanksgiving. They turned out so cute! I always love open-ended activities like this that allow them to share a little bit of their heart.

Thanksgiving dinner, the alphabet, Barbie, and my teacher :)

Ice Cream, turkey, car, family

Prophets, Jesus, myself, reindeer

My Mom, food, my football, my soccer ball

 Happy Thanksgiving!

Back to School Busy-ness

We are officially one week into this new school year and I am exhausted!
These past two weeks have been so busy with meetings, prep work, parent nights, and of course, teaching.
I have been working full-time hours even though I am a part-time teacher, and my to-do list still feels endless.

But I am so excited for this year. My class is already a lot of fun.

We started off the year with some of my favorite books:

and I'm planning to try out some new favorites during the next few weeks:

To help the kids explore the school a little bit during the first week, my Kindergarten team does a fun treasure hunt activity using this book:

(My team mate has been using this idea for a few years...
I'm sure it came from somewhere, but I'm not sure where.)

After reading the book, we tell the kids that we brought some cookies for them to celebrate their first week of Kindergarten, but when we go to pull them out, we find a note from The Mouse in its place explaining that he stole our cookies. So we follow the clues to different places around the school until we find them in the Principal's office. The Principal is so great to meet all the kids and play along with our little game. 

The kids love this because its a treasure hunt and they get cookies at the end.

 I love it because it is a great way to introduce how we walk in the hall...(we need to walk quietly so we don't scare the mouse away!) Plus, it doesn't hurt to earn some brownie points from the kiddos because I brought them cookies. :) 

Other than that we have been learning and practicing our rules and routines again and again and again. 

I keep reminding myself that all of the repetition is going to pay off eventually! 

I Can!

One of my favorite things to focus on in my classroom is helping kids to think more positively about themselves and their abilities.

I get so sad when I hear kids say "I can't do it."
And sadly, I hear negativity like that all too often.

One way that I talk about this with my students is through using learning goals. Although most have been to preschool, Kindergartners are experiencing a more structured school environment for the first time. As such, part of my job is to teach them how to learn and be a student in that environment. I use 5 "I Can" statements that are a part of what I call "High-Five Learning."  To be High-Five Learners in my classroom, we work on these things:

1. I can try hard things.

2. I can stick to my work.

3. I can make mistakes count.

4. I can help others. 

5. I can celebrate my learning.

I like to use I Can language with rules and other objectives as well to help replace negative thinking with an I Can attitude.

I love using literature to show them examples of developing an I Can attitude. 

This book, Bobbie Dazzler, is one of my favorites. We read this book at the end of the year, and then made I Can books as a way to celebrate our learning, and ourselves!

The results were so great. 

As a new year is fast approaching, I'm reminding myself to have an I Can attitude as I think about everything I need to do and accomplish. I'm looking forward to another great year of learning wonders!

Math Equations

I've decided that math equations with Kindergartners can be T-R-I-C-K-Y. It's one thing to say that 2 + 2 =4, and another thing to really understand all of the symbols and what they represent. I think it is great to connect math equations to other areas of the curriculum to support the concept of addition as joining things together and subtraction as taking things apart.

Here's a fun idea from our amazing art teacher. The kids got to mix the colors together to see what they would make. A great math connection!



























I also recently stumbled across this book as I was wandering the library. (I love it when that happens!) It is another great way to connect math equations to life situations.

I was really excited to find these writing ideas based on the book from Literacy and Laughter and A Place Called Kindergarten.  My students really enjoyed making up their own "this plus that" equations. Here are just a few examples:

fish + puffer fish = fish family

(top left) mom + dad = baby
(top right) table + washer = table washers (a job in my classroom)
(bottom left) ice cream  + sun = melt
(bottom right) flower + rain = grow

(top) baby + baby = twins
(bottom) horse + bird = pegasus

We also do A LOT of acting out math stories using objects, drawings, our new SMART board, and the students of course! I made addition and subtraction sign necklaces so the students could actually act out the process of adding or subtracting.

The addition sign gets to join the numbers together, so we acted that out by having everyone hold hands. When we look at number equations, I like to say that it is like the addition sign is holding hands with the two numbers around it to put them together, so those are the two numbers you add together.  

The subtraction sign takes numbers or objects away or separates them, so we acted that out by having the student wearing the sign either take kids away from or separate the group.

 I also made some equal and not equal necklace signs, so I'm thinking about doing more of this to act out creating equations, and comparing quantities to see if they are equal or not equal.

Pet Rock Show

We had our rock show last week. This is another project that the kids create at home with their families, and then we host a gallery walk in our classroom so they can show them off to everyone. It was a fun event!

Here are just a few examples of their pet rocks and simile writing. (I have to force myself not to post every single picture I have...I always love everyone's creativity!)

Today...

My classroom got a little bit smarter:

My classroom is now equipped with a SMART board! I am SO excited to be able to use it as a fun and engaging teaching tool for the last 6 weeks of the school year. Hooray for awesome technology!

The Tree Frog

 After we studied tree frogs during our animal unit, one of my students wrote this book at the writing center. It made me smile!

"Once there was a frog. He was a great frog. There was a snake."

"The snake ate the frog. The snake was full."

"It was getting dark. The snake was asleep."

Animal Self Starter

I usually have some kind of handwriting self starter that the kids do first thing when they come in the morning. I call it "Morning Workshop," and it usually only lasts for about 5-10 minutes. This gives me some time to take roll and finish any last minute preperations, while also giving the students some time to socialize a bit before we get started...(as well as to practice handwriting, of course).

I read about this great idea on Fairy Dust Teaching, and decided to adapt it for the animal unit I've been teaching the past two weeks. At the beginning of the unit, I gave every student a simple book with a handwriting line on the bottom of each blank page. When the kids come in, there is a drawing of an animal on the board, with the name printed underneath on enlarged handwriting lines. Their job is to copy the drawing and the placement of the letters on the line as best as they can. If there is time, they can color it and add details. By the end of the unit, they will have filled up the book with 10 different animal drawings. I really like this concept, because they are working on fine motor skills and letter formation, in addition to animal vocabulary words in a fast and easy activity.

The kids love it too. They have been really excited to see which animal I have chosen for each day.

Here was yesterday's animal:

I picked  a tree frog yesterday because we spent the day learning about these animals using a nonfiction book from our language arts program. As we were reading the book, we got to a page where the tree frog jumps, and all of the kids got excited and said it looked like our tree frog on the board. That made me feel good about my drawing...

Some tree frogs:

Some other pages: