Kindergarten Fun

TPT Numeracy Finger Pattern Freebie!!!

2013-09-21T19:54:00.001-07:00

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Regular-Finger-Patterns-Flash-Cards-884022

Goes along with what we are taught in Advantage Math :)

Educator Portfolio

2013-07-07T22:54:00.000-07:00

This was a lot of fun to make & really helps during interviews! :) Plus it helps evaluate things going on in the classroom and helps you to self check to make sure you are doing everything you intend to! :)

Cover page--- I simply slid this into the front sleeve of a binder. Don't be afraid to let your personality shine! I love zebra print, no REALLY! :) This is one more way to let your personality & passion shine in an interview!!! Make it fun!!! Simple captions help you remember things you want to share with potential employers plus help you keep on track, let's face it, interviews are INTENSE! Plus, you always leave wishing you had remembered to talk about something else!

Use the next few pages to highlight things you are most proud of or things your students really love about your classroom.

If you have something original in your room that you want to share, don't be afraid to brag! This is your time to do that! If you don't, once you walk out that door, your opportunity is long gone!

My portfolio highlights each subject & various parts of the school day. Be sure if you do centers to show how they are done & multiple examples!

Show the unique multiple representations of standards & hands-on opportunities your classroom!

Make sure you have examples of how your centers address each type of learner! (audio, visual, kinesthetic, etc...)

Employers want organized teachers! Don't be afraid to show how you organize your centers!

Include pictures of you with the kids!

Make sure you show how technology is used in the classroom!

Don't forget to show group work & collaboration!

Show opportunities for choice, self-check, and varied grouping!

How do you reach lower level learners? RTI strategies???

How do you check for comprehension?

Don't leave out Guided Reading!!! What do you do if students know it, or if they don't???? How do you make sure???

Don't forget to include how you share objectives with you students, classroom management tools you use, how expectations are communicated, discipline, recognition, and reinforcement.

Always address parent involvement!

Good luck on your job hunt! Also, as I said, a portfolio is an excellent tool for assessing yourself! If you find yourself looking at pictures of blah, unexciting things, you need to make some changes! Make sure the kids have smiles on their faces & are engaged!!!!

Follow Me At Bloglovin Google Reader Will Be Discontinued July 1st!

2013-06-23T21:39:00.001-07:00

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Kindergarten Graduation and Saying Goodbye

2013-06-01T21:28:00.000-07:00

Well our little sweeties moved on to first grade yesterday. It was a fun and emotional day. So very proud of them & they did a wonderful job during graduation! :)

Here are the two kindergarten classes together. On the far right is the other kindergarten teacher, who I am proud to call my friend. It has been a wonderful two years working with you!

Yummy cake!

Our wonderful parents went above and beyond like always. Our kids are so fortunate to have them! (and so are we!)

Just me & my little sweeties. Going to miss them so much!

Some of them being silly.

For those who may not know yet, I am leaving Hart ISD. I will be teaching 2nd grade in Amarillo. It will just be better for my family. I have enjoyed my 2 years in Hart & have made a few lifetime friendships & learned a lot. Thank you to all of those who helped me. Special thanks to Mr. & Mrs. Salazar, LaDawn Schulte, Mrs. Neudorf, Heather Leverett, and Mrs. Sharon Davis! Take care friends! See ya down the road! :)

Leaving the Shadows of Kindergarten Behind

2013-05-22T08:44:00.001-07:00

Mrs. Leverett found this fabulous idea online. She used her projector to trace the kids' silhouette onto black butcher paper using a white crayon. I absolutely love it!!!! Sorry for the funny pictures, I used panorama to get it all in & it distorted some of it. But you get the idea. :) Going to miss these little ones next year!

Kindergarten Math Contest

2013-05-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

Friday we separated the two kindergarten classes into two groups and they faced off against each other one on one to determine who is the best & the fastest in math skills! We had six categories: shapes, calendar, addition, subtraction, counting, and number recognition. It was INTENSE!!! Several students won more than one category. They got these adorable little trophies. It was so much fun. ABSOLUTELY amazing to see how strong they are in math skills!

This little girl absolutely blew my mind with the way she was able to count on. This is a hard skill to get kindergarteners to fully understand but she has mastered it!! She dominated addition and subtraction. Way to go!!!

Counting champ!

She won shapes and numbers!

Calendar Champ- he has beautiful handwriting & used his tools to spell Saturday correctly. Way to go!!!!

So proud of our kindergarteners!

Ipad Addition & Space Men

2013-05-12T07:48:00.002-07:00

He is a whiz at this! Didn't even ask directions!

Here he is teaching another student.

I use a VGA cable to attach the Ipad to the projector. So unfortunately the smartboard is not functional with this but at least the partner who is waiting their turn can watch. Plus the other groups watch and learn and I only have to give directions once. :)

Here are our space men! We use these during writing to make us more conscious of good spacing in writiing.

I just used old clothespins (thank you again Carolyn Bloodworth!!!) and taped a space man found online to them. The gap at the bottom and the space man serve as a visual reminder to put good spaces. After a few minutes they realize they don't actually have to lay their space man on their paper to make spaces but develop the habit throughout the assignment. These are available to them at all times & they LOVE them! :)

Here is one of my little guys using his space man to make wonderful spaces when writing a list from Lori Rosenberg's writing menu. We read the book Cowboys and he is writing a list of things cowboys wear to protect them such as a hat to keep out rain & sun, a scarf to keep out dust, chaps to protect their legs, boots to protect their feet, and things they use such as a lasso for roping cows & a canteen for water. He did a great job!

Field Trip!

2013-05-08T19:44:00.000-07:00

We went to the Museum of Texas Tech and the Planetarium today. Then we had pizza at Legacy Play Village. We had a lot of fun & a lot of sleepy kiddos on the way home! Thank you so much for all of our parents that came along. I know that makes a field trip so much more special for them to have a parent there. :) Plus we just have the best parents involved ever! They do everything for us without us even asking. AMAZING! Also thank you to Nancy, I swiped some of your FB pictures. :)

HOW AWESOME IS THIS???? I THINK I LOVED IT AS MUCH AS THE KIDS DID!

AWESOME SPINNING THING!!

New Math Centers

2013-05-07T09:28:00.004-07:00

Dollar Tree has some really cute luau stuff right now! I bought these things several weeks ago but have been waiting for my kids interests to create a center idea based on their needs.

Tikki Ten Frames

Each student has a "ten frame" and rolls one die. They place the corresponding number of rocks in the tikki ten frame and then count to find out what they need to reach ten. Then they say it in a number sentence.

Rocks & dice are stored in the coconut.

Daring Dice

I used drink stirrers that are swords- the kids love these, we use them during guided reading for pointers also. Each player starts with 10 swords. They roll one die & put that number of swords into their cup (I glued floral foam inside the cups). The first person to put all swords in the cup wins & gets to start the next game.

Cause and Effect

2013-05-07T08:52:00.004-07:00

Today we learned about cause and effect.

Cause: 1. What I do 2. The action

Effect: 1. What happened 2. The result

Teacher example

Group jobs- Students were given a colored sticky note.

1. Students with a pink sticky note wrote the cause & effect labels at the top of the graphic organizer.

2. Green sticky notes- Write the cause sentence.

3. Blue sticky notes- Demonstrate the cause (do the action)

4. Yellow sticky notes- Draw the effect

All members- think & write their own name.

Kilin crumpled the paper.

Jordyn threw the bowling ball.

Adriel tossed the egg.

Jesus knocked down the dominoes.

Jord'n popped the balloon.

Syllable Picnic

2013-05-04T09:11:00.002-07:00

I originally learned of syllable picnic from Kelly Thompson at her Phonemic Awareness workshop. She has soooo many great ideas! But I threw my own little twist into it. I looked & looked for a picnic basket & my sister-in-law had the perfect one she was kind enough to give me. My kids love this center & it is never forgotten for long!

There are three plates inside the basket. I used clip art & word art to create plate 1-3 with corresponding ant numbers.

The kids simply clap & count syllables & place the food on the corresponding plate. This is also great practice for one to one correspondence & number recognition.

Family Math and ELA Night

2013-05-04T08:25:00.000-07:00

Our school had a Family Math & ELA night. Families were invited into all the classrooms and able to participate in Math and ELA activities. Families had passports that were stamped at the conclusion of each activity. I can't speak for anyone else but I had a great time. It was fun to meet some of the parents I didn't know and to let the kids have a good time! Mrs. Leverett and I have wanted to a Fairy Tale day all year so this worked out well! I had a Fairy Tale Readers Theater and she had a Magical World of Measurement.

Welcoming families

Mrs. Leverett's guinea pig "Pig" lived up to his name. He was the cheap entertainment, paid in hay. :)

Readers Theater: The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs

Amazing how even the big kids were enjoying it!

Measuring the beanstalk.

Measuring Rapunzel's hair with inch worms.

Measuring the length of Ariel's tail.

Calculating the area of the drawbridge. Great to see some of the older kids remembering the formula for area! :)

Weigh station: Tiara vs. Wand

Awesome actors.

Families were given Fairy Tale/ Folk Tale/ Fable packets. Each included a copy of The True Story of the 3 Little Pigs, 3 little pig finger puppets, Goldilocks & the 3 Bears finger puppets and miniature books, and masks with strings to make their own.

It was so fun to watch parents and students working side by side.

I kept joking that my decorations looked like a Fairy Tale Garage Sale. LOL :)

Tin foil tiara

Many students came but several were unable to attend soooo....I kept everything out for the next day and let all my kids enjoy the fun! We had a great day of measurement, sequencing, story telling, and fun!

A SPECIAL THANK YOU TO MY SWEET GIRLS WHO LET ME ROB ALL THEIR DRESS UP CLOTHES! :)

Paper Mâché Insects

2013-04-30T14:54:00.002-07:00

Earth Worms!

2013-04-30T14:51:00.000-07:00

I TEACH K IN VEGAS GIVEAWAY!!!!!!!!!!!

2013-04-18T18:46:00.001-07:00

WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO WIN THIS???

http://rockinteachermaterials.blogspot.com/2013/04/calling-all-kinder-friends-youre-gonna.html?showComment=1366335850982#c2902073568015422778

GO HERE TO ENTER THE RAFFLECOPTER!!! GOOD LUCK!

Insect or Not?

2013-04-16T19:56:00.001-07:00

Mr. Parker, our wonderful high school Science teacher let us borrow these amazing specimens! We viewed walking sticks, beetles, snakes, cockroaches, crabs, butterflies, moths, praying mantis, worms, grasshoppers...I can't even remember all of them now! We had a great time! Thanks so much Mr. Parker!!!

Bee Pollination

2013-04-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

Insect study continued....Why are bees one of the most important insects???

Can't wait to do this activity Monday! I will post pictures after!

I created a simple word document with 24 different white flowers for the kids to put on their bags.
Download it FREE her

Collecting pollen

Busy little buzzing bees!

Just look at all that pollen!

Bzzzzz

Pollen face! :)

Pollinating the flowers!

Happy little bees!

Fried Red Words in Action!

2013-04-13T19:50:00.000-07:00

Free download & original post here. I wish I could say I had more pictures of this activity but after it got going it was absolute chaos!!! I had to keep my hands out of the way. The kids were very into this & so excited!!! They were literally stealing the eggs out from under each other's hands. I finally had to include a rule to start with their hands on their head & when I called the word they could grab.
Games like this are absolutely amazing to watch! I mean I know my kids are awesome but this shows me face to face the 46 words they have learned already! Readiness standards only expect kindergarteners to read 25 high frequency words & they have totally blown that out of the water! We are aiming for 63 by the end of the year.

So proud of these amazing kids!!! I have been so blessed to have such an extraordinary group of kids!!! Very grateful!

Stained Glass Insects

2013-04-10T19:24:00.001-07:00

As we continue our study of insects....

Today: Butterflies!

We read The Lamb and the Butterfly by Arnold Sungaard . Such a beautiful story and provides so much information about butterflies in such a short book! Eric Carle's illustrations are of course brilliant. Have any of you seen The Last Unicorn? The butterfly in The Lamb and the Butterfly reminds me so much of the butterfly in The Last Unicorn the way he always answers a question with a question.

Then we made stained glass butterflies to decorate the doorway. Feels very spring like!

Insects Continued.....Fireflies!

2013-04-09T20:17:00.001-07:00

Science in kindergarten was a blast today! I found this amazing idea on Pinterest & made a few tweaks to accommodate supplies we had on hand. We have been learning about insects. Today we made our own Firefly Jars. I printed out fireflies for the kids to color. While they colored I drew jars onto doubled over contact paper. Then the kids came to my small group table one or two at a time & painted the end of their fireflies with glow in the dark paint. Then we placed them on the sticky side of the "jar" (contact paper) and folded the other side over to seal it. Our laminator is out of commission so this was the next best thing! And the best part, our kids were able to take them home today! Here is our group picture with the light on. I wish we could get a picture without lights but it was just NOT working. BUT we had so much fun doing this & helped the kids cement the criteria that make an insect an insect. :) Hope all of the families are enjoying the firefly jars too!

Fried Red Eggs

2013-04-07T19:02:00.003-07:00

I always find the most fabulous ideas on Pinterest and excitedly click on the link only to discover the description of course failed to mention it is a Teacher's Pay Teachers product that sadly is not free....this one I just could not resist making my own according to my students needs. I just used images & word to create these "Fried Red Eggs". We use SFA for teaching reading & writing along with Cscope. These are the red sight words we are learning. Here is the link to my Google documents for a FREE download!!! Just call out the red word & the first student to flip it over (I plan to use spatulas like I saw on Pinterest) gets to add it to their stack- the one with the most wins. This would work best in small groups. :) Can't wait to print & laminate & get started!!! Here is a snapshot:

Simply Kinder: Butterflies Giveaway & Freebie!

2013-04-06T13:37:00.001-07:00

Simply Kinder: Butterflies Giveaway & Freebie!: What's more fun to do in the spring than butterflies? Nothing of course! It's so engaging and so full of opportunities for reading...

My Favorite Unit---Insects!

2013-04-01T20:18:00.001-07:00

Today we learned the criteria for classifying a bug as an insect.

There are amazing resources for introducing insects out there. Just Google it! Here is a fantastic one I just came across for examples of insects. Insects

This is the power point I use to introduce Insects each year. I cannot find the original source. If you are the author or know who the author is, please let me know so that I can give due credit. This is a very basic lesson on insects yet perfectly suited for kindergarteners.

****Update! I found it! Freebie on TPT http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Insect-PowerPoint
Thanks Tara Stimac!

Then students have the opportunity to hold insects (plastic of course!) but very realistic. Then they get to draw their insect. They must make sure it has 3 body parts, 2 antennae, six legs. This is a fun lesson! They love holding the bugs & pretending they are crawling around & making noise. :) Funny kids!!!

Teacher example

My favorite one! She did great!

Sweet Little Chick Student Gift

2013-03-30T19:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks! I love it! :)

Past, Present, and Future

2013-03-29T20:14:00.000-07:00

Past, present, & future is a hard concept to teach. Soooo I made "today" look like a PRESENT.

Then I used a special card to put behind our Easter party date that has stars on it. I explained that the future is something we have to look forward to usually because of something fun. So then we hit on alliteration and made it our "fun" future....On the blue arrow at the bottom that goes with "Tomorrow will be...." I put star stickers to match the star card. This really seemed to cement the idea.

Past is a little harder to explain...I may start coloring over the plastic pockets in red to show that red means past....We'll see! How do you teach past, present, & future????