Just Love Teaching

Perplexing Pencil-Sharpening Pandemonium

2013-08-28T19:05:00.001-07:00

How is that for alliteration? We are all teachers here…right? We all know the issues surrounding the seemingly simple act of sharpening pencils. We all have been there…and tried this...and tried that...and still find ourselves frustrated and baffled.

I have tried multiple different electric pencil sharpeners, manual pencil sharpeners, hand-held pencil sharpeners, and management routines to try to get a grip on pencil sharpening in the classroom. My first year of teaching we went through three electric sharpeners…THREE. I have disassembled them again and again to poke out broken tips, scrape out crayon wax, and clean out eraser rubber (what is the fascination with sharpening erasers??). I tried going back to the “old faithful” manual sharpeners...you know as well as I do that they just don’t make them sturdy anymore.

I have done the “Sharp Pencils/Need Sharpened” cups. For some classes this may be the best option. I unfortunately had the group of kids that year that would trade for no reason, hoard all of the blue pencils, and mix all the pencils up. And I just couldn’t keep up with the re-sharpening…especially when it came to colored pencils. I have had the rule “only the teacher can touch the sharpener”, but that of course means a constant stream of sharpening requests…ugh. Then when a sub is in the room the kids can’t wait to get their hands (and crayons…and erasers…) on the sharpener themselves. It’s been a perplexing problem.

Now I’ve read the reviews others have done on the “Classroom Friendly Pencil Sharpener”…touted as the “last pencil sharpener you’ll ever buy” and the “quietest sharpener for the classroom”. I figured it was all hype. It took me two years to finally throw in the towel and give this little baby a try. What did I have to lose? I’ve tried everything else.

First impression: I love the fire engine red color It is about the size of the average manual sharpener. It comes with a clamp to attach it to a shelf or desktop. Thank goodness for the how-to videos on the Classroom Friendly website because its operation is not what I expected. You must first pinch the tabs and pull the chrome front away from the sharpener. Once you insert the pencil you need not hold it at all…what? I know, right?! Simply turn the handle and the chrome front holds the pencil snug and guides it correctly. Once the pencil is perfectly sharp, the sharpener stops. Release the pencil by squeezing the tabs and admire your beautiful point!

The sharpener seems to be put together well. It has a sturdy, heavy-duty feel that I love! It is constructed of metal and has some weight to it. This little powerhouse might be just what I’ve dreamed of for years…the last pencil sharpener I’ll ever buy! Can it be true? We will see how it holds up to classroom abuse. But, I am impressed and dare I say very optimistic that it will live up to its reputation!

Need a new rug?

2013-08-05T08:22:00.000-07:00

Have you ordered that new rug yet? Don’t forget … Kid Carpet is offering all of my readers $20 off any classroom rug purchase made through August 31, 2013! Just enter coupon code “JLT” to receive your discount. Time is running out on this deal…

I posted about my new rug from Kid Carpet here. It is still going strong and looks great! If you are looking for a new rug at a great price…here is your chance, but hurry!

Summer Vacation is for the Birds!

2013-07-27T09:39:00.001-07:00

I am 5 1/2 weeks into summer “vacation”…with a mere 4 weeks to go until PD days start. Where does the time go??? I knew this was going to be a working vacation this year…so many projects to complete and planning for CCSS implementation this fall. However, who knew that the first (albeit biggest) project would take half of the summer?! I considered posting this on a Monday Made-It, but it is absolutely not school-related (nor a quick and easy DIY). Anyhow…Check out what I’ve been up to! This year summer vacation has definitely been for the birds!

Yes…that is a chicken coop. My DH decided to channel his inner farmer and give urban chicken farming a go. He brought home four chicks on May 1st who got to live in a brooder set up in a corner of our large kitchen until the dust and "eau de farm” got them moved to the garage. In the meantime, we started building an outdoor coop. With only weekends at our disposal it was a slow start. Once school let out I got busy trying to get the crazy thing finished. As it turns out, chickens grow REALLY FAST! They quickly outgrew their brooder and needed bigger digs!

Baby Chicks under Heat Lamp

Chickens at 3 months old…so much bigger!

Now...I did have many other summer projects in mind for myself (all school-related) like shelving, seat covers, book bags, more crate seats, etc…etc…in addition to working on aligning curriculum to CCSS which our district is implementing this fall...but priorities got shifted.

I must tell you that construction work (even on this small of a scale) is hard work! I have some new muscle tone in my arms from lifting, sawing, hammering, and drilling! I’m feeling pretty buff actually! And I can’t remember the last time my arms have been so tan! I guess it has been worth it…just a few finishing touches to go (don’t you think DH should finish these up for me?). I am officially shifting my focus to all things kindergarten. I will justify my time loss with the idea that maybe these chickens will reward me with eggs that I can hatch in class next year. This is a real possibility since one of those cute little chicks has grown into a rooster!

Check back soon to see what else I can manage to accomplish before school starts…the countdown is on! No pressure…haha (tick…tick…tick…tick…)!! First up on the agenda is finishing reading the new edition of Reading with Meaning by Debbie Miller (rewritten with a focus on CCSS)…and outlining my literacy curriculum. When I get antsy or brain-fried…I’ll fit in classroom DIY projects (hopefully at least one per week). BTW...Has anyone read the new edition of Miller’s book? So far I’m loving it…especially the way she has organized it by month. It is going to be a huge help as I structure my plans. If you haven’t read it, I would highly recommend it!

Updates soon!

Thanks for reading!

Follow Me with Bloglovin

2013-06-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

Follow my blog with Bloglovin
If you are a Google Reader user following my blog, you know that Google Reader is going away July 1st. You can still follow your favorite blogs if you create a free account on Bloglovin! Simply go to www.bloglovin.com and you can sign up through either Facebook or your email address. From there it is very easy to transfer your Google Reader bloglist to Bloglovin…just follow the prompts. See you there!

Classroom Rug

2013-01-26T11:32:00.000-08:00

When I think back to my first year of teaching…and my sad lack of supplies and furniture…it is a wonder I made it through the year. It was hard enough starting out three weeks into the school year with 20 students who were pulled from 8 overloaded first and second grade classes. Getting by with hand-me-down books, left-over curriculum, and mismatched desks just made the year all the more interesting. It was a crash course in making due with what I had and teaching on a shoestring budget.

I would have to say though that one of the biggest headaches that year was “carpet time” without a carpet. The students did not have a sense of personal space. I could not easily assign a spot for them to sit (which we all know is necessary at times). And the hard floor made every one of them complain. Not fun. So I made my biggest ever classroom investment before the end of the year…a classroom rug like this one. It made all the difference.

Fast forward a few years…
My class size has grown. We have not “fit” on our rug since 2009. I have tried having kids share squares (bad idea), used smaller bathroom rugs for individual students, used runners to make an additional row for students, and used a bench for special seating. You make due with what you have and make it work, right? In the picture above, you can see the black runner I purchased this year and taped off with duct tape to make bordered seating for four more students.

Lacking enough space is bad enough. But, years of kids picking at the rug binding while they sat caused some unraveling. As you well know…an unraveling string is just plain irresistible to five year olds…and it has become worse. I was wishing for a new rug and sighing sadly at the cost. Rugs of the size I need run for nearly $500…too much. So I was writing up a new Donor’s Choose project to see if we could get one that way when I was contacted by the folks at Kid Carpet. Sorry…did I squeal when I said that? I will try to subdue my excitement.

KidCarpet.com sells an enormous variety of classroom rugs at the best prices I have ever seen. They own their own carpet mill and provide factory-direct rugs that are very reasonably priced compared to similar rugs sold elsewhere. They sent a classroom rug that seats 24 students and is adorably bordered with the alphabet.

No more runner required…we fit perfectly! No more unraveled binding driving me crazy! The quality of the workmanship on this carpet is beautiful. The binding is very secure and even. It appears to be very durable and stain-resistant (super important in kindergarten). I love the border with the letters and beginning sound pictures. Delivery was fast…the rug was well-wrapped in plastic and not overly heavy for two people to carry. According to information on the KidCarpet.com website, if the binding ever fails they will fix it. I need only pay to ship the rug to them (approximately $20-$70 cost) and they will repair and return the rug for free. Love it!

Click the picture to read more about Kid Carpet and how they are able to provide quality classroom rugs at such amazing prices. I am very impressed with this company. I think you will be too.

Now, onto the best news! Kid Carpet is offering all of my readers $20 off any classroom rug purchase made through August 31, 2013! Just enter coupon code “JLT” to receive your discount. Then enjoy your new rug!

January...

2013-01-05T12:00:00.003-08:00

January…wow. I am amazed year after year how much faster time seems to slip away. Each school year evaporates faster than the year before. It really makes me frantic that my time is not being used as intentionally as it needs to be…

It is my goal to teach with intention…and intensity.

I head back to school on Monday. Two more days of relative leisure. Everything is relative after all. My house has been gotten pretty well back in order. It has been a busy break with my two oldest children moving out. Sigh. My only consolation there is that they are together…and not far away. The nest is not empty either. But walking into their rooms still elicits that same feeling you get standing in your empty classroom after the last day of school. =(

And time goes on…

January in kindergarten is usually very exciting. I am looking forward to witnessing the leap that many of my babies will make in their reading and writing. You know the one…that amazing and inexplicable leap they make so suddenly this time of year. It does my heart good.

We will be learning about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And we will keep writing away…starting with writing about snowmen (a favorite). I am also anxious to start putting their number sense and all of our counting practice to the test as I introduce addition. I usually wait until spring for this math unit, but then feel short of time to get that sense that they’ve “mastered” as much as I wanted. So, I have pushed number recognition and counting to higher numbers earlier and will begin addition earlier. We will see if it pays off.

We will also revisit all of our classroom rules and routines. After a big break (and after a month of sloppy behaviors that we blame on holiday excitement…and a month of sloppy routines brought on by holiday extras) it is always necessary to tighten the reins and reinforce expectations. Daily 5 stamina needs to be re-addressed and practiced…and goals for the rest of the year set and made exciting.

It’s a big month! Here is what I created to record our goals on. Kinders can color a star as they reach a goal. Click the picture to download a copy for yourself.

Where oh Where has October Gone?

2012-10-27T18:18:00.001-07:00

♫ "Where...oh where...has October gone?
Where...oh where...can it be???
Can you believe
That this week’s Halloween…
Oh I just want to scream…” ♫

It’s been a wild ride. We are in our groove (for the most part…not counting those days when the barometer drops significantly…or full moon days…or freakishly occurring bouts of impending holiday syndrome). On our good days, the kinders seem to be getting into the routine of things and doing pretty well following the rules. We’ve been rocking the behavior clip chart, whole brain teaching (smiley/frownie, class/yes, teach/okay, mirrors, etc.), math workstations, and Daily 5. The Daily 5 Stamina King and Queen are coveted positions (Thank you Mel @ Suesstastic!). And when I ask them to tell me why we do Daily 5, they tell me “to build stamina,” “to learn,” and “so we can be readers.” It does my heart good!

We spent a couple of weeks working on our apple unit and a couple more weeks working on our pumpkin unit. Both were a lot of fun. Of course my camera could be sitting in plain sight on my desk and I would forget to take pictures in the midst of kinder chaos. But, our hallway proudly displays some of our learning activities.

Up this week, we will begin learning about bats. I am excited. I helped out at Barnes & Noble last weekend for our school’s fundraiser event and did some reading in the children’s area. Here I am reading one of my favorites…Stellaluna.

While I was there, I stumbled on a new book…Nightsong. It is precious! The little bat learns to navigate the dark world at night using his “good sense.” You will love the message, the beautiful artwork, and how it subtly teaches about bats. You can bet that both books are on my list for the classroom this week.

Our traditional school-wide Halloween costume parade will take place on Wednesday. My own costume is still a work in progress, but I will try to post a picture Wednesday evening to share. For now, just know that I will be groovin’ in hightops, buttons, and whiskers. Shhh…don’t tell the kids if you’ve already guessed.

Alright…I have a newsletter to write before date night begins here (hubs and I are going to see Cloud Atlas tonight). So, off to work I go!

Sneaky Sneakers

2012-09-24T19:58:00.003-07:00

Oh my…if I do not stop rhyming everything I say…the good Drs. (not Suess) will have to take me away! The kinders love it! It gets their attention. It even promotes their phonemic awareness. But, sometimes I feel like I’ve lost it! =P

"Pencils away, papers in your tray!”

“I talk to kids in their chair with their hand in the air!”

“Just walking, no talking.”

Here was the latest…

(Let me set the stage for you. We were coming in from recess where it was raining. Yes, I took five year olds out into Washingtonian drizzle. Their shoes were wet. Their shoes were squeaking. My head was splitting after a looooonng day. Thinking on my feet, out tumbled these words…)

I’m listening for Sneaky Sneakers…not Squeaky Squeakers. Who’s got sneaky sneaker feet…not squeaky squeaker feet? (And so forth…all the long way down the hall until we found our carpeted room.) Did it work? Yes, it did. Would I recommend it? Yes, I would. Did I get strange looks from everyone we passed? Umm, yes I did. Please don’t call the Drs. on me just yet.

What are some of your favorite rhyming classroom sayings that get you through the day?

Color Names Emergent Reader

2012-09-23T10:25:00.001-07:00

We are working on color names (in addition to so many other basics) this week. We have already read I Went Walking and Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and made retell books for each story. This week, I plan on reading the book A Color of My Own by Leo Lionni. To go along with this story and support our continued learning of color words, I made up a little emergent reader. In addition to color words, it also emphasizes practice of our first sight words: I, see, a. Click the image below to get your own copy.

Have a great week everyone!
=)

Two Weeks Down…and t.i.r.e.d.

2012-09-22T20:11:00.002-07:00

Two weeks of kindergarten…are…done! All-in-all, I would say it went fairly well. Okay, so I did have one running around in nothing but his underpants on the third day of school…and throwing crayons in every possible direction around the room on the fourth day of school…and suspended for slapping on the eleventh day of school. But, other than that…it was your typical start of kindergarten…lots of carpet practice, line practice, hand washing practice, hand raising practice, learn the rules, learn their names, different activity every 15 minutes, singing-and-rhyming-from-9-to-3, on-your-feet-nonstop-don’t-get-to-sit-down-until-dinner, in-bed-by-8-to-start-it-all-over-the-next-day kind of two weeks. What a whirlwind!

DIBELS is done. Baseline Kindergarten Assessment Tests are done. Open House is over with too. This week we can get through vision and hearing testing…and school pictures. Title services start on Monday and then we will be on a roll!

Pete the Cat has been a fast favorite. Oh how I wish there were more books! There could have been nothing cuter than my 23 little sprouts singing “my buttons, my buttons, my four groovy buttons…” last week! I am anxious to get Daily 5 and small groups rolling. I thrive on the routine as much (or more) than the kids do. We’ve been working on stamina and expected behaviors. I will be glad to get some serious learning underway…we’ve got a lot to do!

Pre-Assessments indicate a serious need to focus on letter names, colors, identifying numbers, and name writing. That’s what we’ve been spending our time on…as well as reading all of my favorite beginning of the year books. I’ve even begun reading our first chapter book of the year (earliest ever)…Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle…and they are entertained and listening. Wow.

Wish me luck with my streaking-crayon-chucker-arounder (suggestions always most welcome)! I hope your beginning of the year is a success!

I’ll leave you with a slideshow of our first week activities…

This free picture slideshow made with Smilebox

Kindergarten Common Core

2012-09-14T18:55:00.000-07:00

Are you using Common Core Standards? Have you seen this yet?

I followed a link posted by Fran at Kindergarten Crayons to discover this AMAZING 600 page Kindergarten Common Core resource book. This book is designed to help teachers meet the common core standards in their classroom! I downloaded the available free sample for a sneak peak at the insides. The workbook includes a variety of worksheets, activity ideas for centers, and posters. Resources are available for each standard in Language Arts and Math. The activities are well-designed and include some popular and super cute graphics…very kinder-friendly.

As a Kindergarten teacher who has just started learning to implement common core standards, this is a MUST HAVE book for me! It is available for $39.99. You can see for yourself by clicking the link to head over to the Kindergarten Common Core workbook page! By the way, if you’re a blogger and you blog about this book, you can get one for FREE until September 16th. Details are described here.

Let’s Celebrate!

2012-09-03T20:28:00.001-07:00

I’m in the mood to celebrate! School begins on Wednesday…and I am feeling ready. I made my LAST student loan payment today. I get to pick up my new car tomorrow…my own beautiful little 2013 metallic bronze Kia Optima...so excited! AND I have just hit 300 followers! It’s a happy day folks!

So, celebrate with me! I am giving away a teacher’s helper apron to one lucky follower.

Enter below using the Rafflecopter widget. I will announce the winner next Sunday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Good luck! =)

Congratulations Julie Z! Please email me with your mailing information and I will send you your new apron! =)

almost ready…room pictures!

2012-08-24T18:24:00.004-07:00

Here it is…almost ready!

Create your own photo slideshow

What do you think? I’m super-excited with how it has turned out…just a few finishing touches to go!

To see even more classroom photos, check out the linky parties at Teaching Blog Addict, I’m Blog Hoppin and Brigid's Daily Lesson Log

Meet & Greet Freebie

2012-08-22T08:12:00.001-07:00

I have been ~~tirelessly working~~ working myself to exhaustion in my classroom to get it ready. Next week is our Meet & Greet. While the room is “set up”…it is far from organized and the mess is not getting any better no matter what I do! I definitely have some long hours ahead of me to get it all put away. I am trying so hard to avoid stuffing it in bins and under tables to “hide” it again. This girl just wants to be organized and not have the stress of the mess.

I have made some posters to place above bins at Meet & Greet to collect supplies in. At least that way the supply drop-off will not create even more mess for me. You are welcome to the signs if you can use them. I will most likely not have time to tailor new ones, but I think they hit the basics.

Now…back to our regularly scheduled mess management! Pictures coming soon!

D5 PowerPoint Check-In Freebie

2012-08-18T07:40:00.003-07:00

I had a number of email requests for my Daily 5 Check-In PowerPoint. I am always happy to share! But, I did need to remove the graphics in order to share legally. Still cute though…right? Click on the image to download.

Just add pics of your students to the table at the bottom on each slide. I was inserting pics and resizing them to 1/2 inch. Save the file with all of the pictures in place at the bottom. Then to use during D5, just drag and drop each child’s picture to their selected activity. There is a separate slide for each round. As long as you do not save the file when you close it, then all of the pictures will revert to their starting spot at the bottom…ready to go for the next day. As you read in my original post, this was my solution to wanting an visual/interactive check-in process to use with my new projector and pull-down screen. Someday I will have a Smartboard…but for now this was as interactive as I could get! =)

The titles of each activity are editable, so you may tailor them to meet your needs. I do not generally use “Read to Someone” in my classroom, so I published this with “Reading Meeting” instead…which is what we call our small group time.

The font used is “Cheri” and is freely downloadable if you do not already have it. The Google Docs version will download with Arial…just switch it up to what you like. And of course, you can always add your own graphics back in to cutesy it up.

I hope some of you can use this. If you have any questions, just ask! I’d love to know how it works for you!
Thank you for reading!

Workshops, Awards, and Wonderment … oh my

2012-08-16T19:07:00.000-07:00

You know summer is coming to a close and school is fast approaching when the workshops start! I spent two days this week immersed in Universal Design for Learning where I got really jazzed up for a wonderful new year of working with my little angels. The premise of UDL is very similar to differentiation, with a high focus being on intentionally designing universal lessons (accessible to everyone) from the outset…as opposed to implementing individual modifications on a case-by-case basis as an afterthought. This was equated to designing/building a home that was universally accessible to anyone (disabled or not) from the start…as opposed to adding ramps and making post-build remodels to later accommodate a particular disability.

The three main components of UDL are:
1. presenting information in multiple formats and media
2. providing multiple pathways for student expression (how they demonstrate learning)
3. providing multiple ways to engage student interest and motivation

It was very interesting, motivating, and practical as far as workshops go. I feel like my toolbox is brimming with ideas to differentiate my teaching to meet the needs of a range of students (gifted, learning disabled, physically disabled, and for a variety of learning styles and preferences). I am looking forward to sharing some of those ideas with you all in the weeks to come!

The last two days we have been learning about working with challenging behaviors. I must say that the videos alone were making me tense and stressing me out over starting with a brand new bunch of school-babies. But, once again…my toolbox is loaded. I have one more week to wrap up the many little details in my classroom before the last go-round of workshops (CCSS and 5D).

So today I was humbled to receive an email notification that my blog was named one of the Top 50 Early Education Blogs. It just made me smile. I have proudly posted my award on my sidebar. Here is the review that was written about me:

Angela Wageman is the scribe for Just Love Teaching, a forum in which the Washington State kindergarten teacher and mother of 4 shares heartwarming ‘smiles’ – anecdotal tidbits sure to remind even the most fatigued teachers why they chose to go into the profession. Reading, math and science activities also appear prominently on the site, as do Angela’s vibrant, apron creations, which are designed exclusively for teachers.

I am humbled, but also inspired to provide relevant content and plenty more “heartwarming smiles” for my readers…because I really do Just Love Teaching! Thank you for reading and following along my teaching journey.

D5 Check-In Solution

2012-08-14T20:16:00.000-07:00

Okay, so I have a projector in my room for the first time…ever. I am thrilled beyond all measure. I mean…we are talking “goosies” here! Anyhow, I have been wanting a visual/digital/interactive Daily 5 check-in system forever. I made an electronic version of my very standard clipboard check-in last year that had “clickable” boxes for each choice. Of course, no projector last year meant I had to print it out and use my clipboard and vis-a-vis again. This year I wanted to make it happen though. While I have a projector finally, I do not have an interactive board. So I puzzled over how to make my dream check-in chart a reality. After some fooling around with PowerPoint, I have my solution. Here is what it looks like...

I have programmed it with the choices that I use in my class. All it needs is pictures of my cherubs once they arrive. My plan is to save the file with their pics in place at the bottom. Then during choices, all I have to do is drag and drop each little angel-face to the right activity. I made a separate slide for each D5 round. So each round I will simply switch slides and their pictures will be at the bottom ready for me. As long as I do not save over my template when I close, then everything will revert back to its original placement.

What do you think? I’m off to go do my happy dance now!
=)

Back in the Classroom again

2012-08-09T18:49:00.004-07:00

Ready or not…here we go! I can’t believe it is August (and a full week down already too)! That means school days are fast approaching and it is high time to get the classroom organized. This is the first year that I have not had to change classrooms…can I hear a huge “hurrah” for that!

I ventured into school for the first time on Monday to take my before pictures. This is what was waiting for me…a much more manageable mountain than last year.

The next two days I recruited some help and began the task of arranging the big things. I knew that my carpet area would be in a different location (due to finally getting a projector and document camera…and only having one spot in my room where the computer can hook up). So, I set to work redesigning the overall layout. It’s a work in progress yet, but here are some pics…

Library Corner

Teacher Desk (and one helper ready to go home)

Beginnings of carpet area w/projector table.

Small group area (for Title I Para). I will teach my small groups at the carpet.

I accomplished some more this morning…some…not a lot. Tomorrow I will get to work on some walls and more of the nitty gritty organizing. What do you think so far? Does anyone else teach their small groups at the carpet? I’m thinking of getting some of these lap trays from Michaels…$6 this week.

They can hold books, warm-ups, pointers, EZC reader strips, pencils, etc. Sitting at the carpet will allow me to utilize the projector and document camera during groups when I want. And, my Title I para can stay in the room with me instead of pulling kids out. I’m hoping this will work well.

Now that I am back in the room and making progress, I am feeling more excited for the new school year to start. This summer has been much to short, but it is time to get ready to nurture my new ones.

I will post “finished” pictures later!

Digital Pensieve?? Yes Please!!

2012-08-07T09:08:00.000-07:00

Pssst….have you heard??? The Sisters have developed a digital pensieve that will be available very soon (early August according to the FAQ). I was so excited to read about this is their latest Daily CAFE email. As a devoted Daily 5 diva…I was overjoyed! This little tool is going to make keeping up with conferring a dream.

You can read more about it HERE. And then we can wait together…fingers tapping…clock watching…butterflies building. Hurry already!

Just thought you should know… =)

Monday Made It Time!

2012-08-06T06:49:00.002-07:00

It’s Monday…and I made it! I feel like I just made it too. This project took me a few days to complete and I wasn’t sure it was going to turn out. But, it is finished and I am tickled!

My idea came from Pinterest (...last summer). You can see the picture that inspired me. Originally, I thought I was just going to find a mug tree and repurpose it. Easy right? Wrong. No mug trees at Goodwill, TJ Maxx, Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl’s, That Kitchen Store, the local thrift store, or the not-so-local thrift store I visited while in Idaho. Nope. Nada. Zippo. Zilch. Not to be thwarted another year, I decided I would purchase one online. Yes, you can purchase them online…if you want to shell out $15-$30. I did not.

But, as it turns out, my husband had this nifty piece of 1 1/2 inch square wood in the garage that was pretty long. So, I got to thinking about crafting my own tree. I sawed off a 15 inch length (shhh…he’ll never notice) and sanded it to round the corners and smooth it a bit.

I had some leftover dowels from some other project long past that I thought would make decent “branches” for my tree. So, my next step was cutting the dowels to 4 inch lengths and drilling holes to insert them in. The dowel package said they were 5/16 inch in diameter, so I used the 5/16 inch drill bit. Once I had the dowels in place I wasn’t sure I was completely happy with them. I mean, they were fine, but I really wanted something more substantial. And I needed to go to Michael’s anyway for a wood base…so it couldn’t hurt to look, right?

Look what I found! I was loving these from the moment I saw them. So, $2.99 for a package of 8 pegs and 4.99 for the circular base (which was really a small clock face…but the only round piece of wood in stock). And it had a hole pre-drilled in the center, so I didn’t balk at the price too much. Plus with my 15% off it wasn’t so bad anyway. I was getting a scissor tree for about $7!

Back at home, I took out the dowels and got to drilling my holes larger for the pegs. This caused me some grief. It turns out that it is actually easier to drill into the wood with the big 1/2 inch bit if there are not already 5/16 inch holes. The bit snagged the hole and I splintered my wood a little. So I had to fill those areas with some putty (saw dust and elmer’s did the trick) and sand again. With the pegs in place, it was finally taking shape the way I wanted. I screwed the base to the tree (pre-drilling a small hole in the bottom of the tree so it would hopefully not crack). Easy peasy…thank goodness.

The fun part was painting. After a few coats of paint I have a new scissor tree! I added the class set of (same color-same size-no reason to fight over the good ones) scissors that I purchased for 50 cents each at Wal-Mart. What do you think? Hooray for Pinterest!

More Books and Freebies

2012-08-03T11:59:00.002-07:00

Wilfrid Gordon McDonald Patridge

This story is so sweet. Wilfrid’s elderly friend Nancy loses her memory and he is determined to find it. He asks the other residents of the home where Nancy lives what a memory is and then goes looking for items that might be Miss Nancy’s memories. While each item is a memory of his own, they magically spark Miss Nancy’s own memories too. This story always makes me smile. It leads to wonderful discussions of friendship, memories, and making connections.

You can listen to this story on Storyline Online by clicking here.
Here is a response sheet to go with the story.

Velma Gratch and the Way Cool Butterfly

Don’t you just love her name and her pigtails? This book has a lot…amazing illustrations, rich vocabulary, science correlation, and a truly wonderful story. The main character Velma is the youngest of the three Gratch sisters and finds it hard to be noticed in the shadow of her sisters’ accomplishments. Instead of being compared to them, she wants to make her own shadow. Her efforts at being noticed do not go well (she is the first Gratch sister to get sent to the principal) until her class takes a field trip to the Butterfly Conservatory. Then everything changes!

A Place to Grow

This is a must-read book when you are teaching about seeds and plants. It is such a sweet story about a seed traveling on the wind looking for a place to grow. Just when you think she has found the perfect spot, something happens and she needs to go. My favorite part of the book is the ending when the seed finds her place to grow…and then the author finishes with “The Beginning” instead of “The End.” I always follow up this story with a writing prompt that asks the students to finish the story. They draw and write what they think the seed will grow into.

Pinterest Panache

2012-08-02T06:49:00.000-07:00

I finally completed my first Pinterest project! I am a hoarder of ideas…and not so good at ~~finding~~ making time to accomplish any of them. But yesterday friends I was determined. Check out what I did…I’m sure you’ve seen it pinned before. You know the one…start with some of these (four dozen to be exact)...

Then you find an empty can. I was lucky enough to have saved one that was just the right size.

Then dig out your trusty glue gun…this one has seen better days, but it did the trick.

Scrounge through your sewing scraps for some ribbon…I know you have some somewhere. If not, pick up a yard at the craft store. Turns out I had plenty of leftovers from sewing aprons last summer.

Then get to work applying a line of hot glue along one edge of each pencil and stick to the can with the eraser end facing to the top opening.

This takes patience…but you also have to work quickly lining up each pencil before the glue cools.

Be careful to line the bottoms up as straight as you can so it looks nice. My can had a handy little rolled lip that made this a lot easier to do.

Then…if you are lucky…your last pencil will just fit without leaving much of a gap. So far so good.

Tie on the ribbon to add just a little panache. I like the stitching detail...

Finally, for a beautiful display…head outside to cut your prettiest flowers…and insert. Breathtaking!

I did place a plastic cup inside the can to hold the water…just to be practical. I love how it turned out! What do you think? It will add just the thing to my desk at school.

Next up…that scissor tree. Remember that one? Wish me luck!

First Day of School

2012-08-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

I am joining Jodi at Fun in First's What’s Your Favorite Back to School Activity? linky party!

As part of our first day of school, I like to read the book I Went Walking by Sue Williams. The repetitive pattern makes it easy for the kinders to feel like readers on their first day of school. Since it is about taking a walk and seeing what you can see, it leads nicely into a tour of the school. When we return, we are ready to make our very first classroom book I Went Walking. This is a great time to review what we talked about on our tour and emphasize some school rules and procedures. The classroom book will then become a fast favorite during Daily 5 Read to Self or Read to Someone. To make the book, I have photos of each school person we will see on our walk to glue onto the pages. I then laminate (or slip each page into a sleeve) and bind.

For your copy of I Went Walking, just click the picture.

To get a copy of my I Went Walking class book click the image and enjoy.

Another activity to go along with this book is making character puppets for retelling the story. We practice our first sight words “I” and “see” over and over. We will mark them with highlight tape in the book, sing HeidiSongs See Song, learn sign language for both words, and complete our first journal entry using the prompt “I see ______.”

This is just one of our first day of school activities. But, it is a favorite. Now…what do you do on the first day? Link up and share!
=)

A Dreamy New Look!

2012-07-31T19:24:00.000-07:00

I have a new look…long overdue…but oh so fun! Isn’t it dreamy? I am very excited with how it looks. Thank you to Alicia at Dreamlike Magic Designs for making it happen! What do you think? I hope you love it as much as I do…now to get back to filling it with regular posts.

I have some catching up to do after a fun-filled trip to Idaho last week. I just couldn’t bring my laptop while we were doing this…

It was fun while it lasted. Now it’s time to get busy…summer is disappearing faster than I want to acknowledge. I need to get working on more aprons, organizing my file drawers into monthly binders, organizing my digital files, and filling my brain with all things Common Core related…not to mention all the Pinterest projects on my to do list! Wish me luck...I’ll keep you posted!

Must Have Picture Books

2012-07-21T10:32:00.001-07:00

Another linky...and I am a bit late jumping on board with this one! How did I ever miss it?

I love, love, love reading picture books to my kindergarteners. I have many favorites, so narrowing them down to a list of 5 "must-have" stories is a challenge! But here we go...

These are my Top 5 favorites for engaging students and teaching them something valuable along the way! (All five are linked to Amazon if you click on the picture.)

Ish is an adorable book by Peter Reynolds that teaches kids that it's okay to not be perfect. The main character gets discouraged when his brother laughs at one of his drawings...from then on nothing he draws is good enough and ends up crumpled on the floor. Little does he know that his little sister has been collecting these crumpled pictures and creating a gallery in her room. She teaches him that it is okay to be "ish". I LOVE the message in this story and read it early on every year...it so helps those little one that want every picture to be perfect.

This book is fun for its illustrations and wonderful story. Verdi is a young snake that doesn't want to grow up and turn green like the boring adult snakes he sees. But he learns that you can't stop growing up...nor do you have to. He grows to be wiser and safer, but still fun-loving.

This is a must read for the first week of school. Finding this treasure of a book has made my classroom management so much easier! It takes the idea of spreading kindness and makes it very visual. My students talk about this book all year. No one wants to be a bucket dipper!

I love this book for teaching about bullying. It is a blast to read with great pictures and really fun wording. The kids get very wrapped up in the story. Are they ever surprised at the end when the bully problem is solved in a way they never expected!

Jenny loves to draw. But, her school assignment is to write a story...and her teacher says "Words first!" Jenny can't even get started. When her pet guinea pig becomes lost she draws pictures of what she imagines has happened to him. In the end, she discovers that her pictures tell a story...pictures first. My kids loved Jenny's illustrations and learned that writing a story happens differently for everybody.

And there you have it...my "Top 5"...I wish I could keep going! If you have favorites to share, be sure to link up at The Teacher Wife! Thank you Lindsey for putting this together! I will be reading about favorite books for days (and probably adding many to my collection)!

=) Happy reading!