This crazy week in Ms. Kerri's Class

Somehow or another I survived Halloween. It was almost like it wasn't Halloween at Monday. This was the first year I didn't have a party. We weren't allowed to have one and in the past we've had big parties where the kids wore their costumes and we paraded around town. We read Stellaluna and completed a chart about what bats have, are, and can. They are doing so well with these charts. Then they made bats and wrote a sentence using our chart. I was really proud of how well they did.
The rest of the week we attempted to have a regular week. I wasn't completely successful with that. But we did an author study of Mo Willems. It was a lot of fun. I love his books. We read Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog, Elephants cannot Dance, and Knufflebunny. They loved them. They were perfect for working on some writing. I got the idea from Herding Kats in Kindergarten. We watched a video of Mo Willems talking about his writing process and then the kids drew their own pigoen. The directions were really easy to follow and they later added a speech bubble. We're going to continue working on some writing associated with these books next week in the writing center. I'm made some sheets where they can choose something else for the Pigeon to either drive or find. If you check back next week, I should have the sheets posted. They are on my computer at school.
This week we tried out our 2 rotations of centers and I worked with 2 groups. It worked out much better than I thought. I think because we've practiced so much with just one center they were more prepared for 2. They transtioned well and even seem to be able to find their next center on their own. I added a write the room center. The kids were so excited to walk around the room and find the words we have all around. it was pretty cute.
So that was my week. I mean to snap some pictures before I left school this afternoon but we were celebrating the upcoming marriage of a fellow teacher and I got too excited and forgot.
Check out what other people did in their class this week by going to the weekly linky party at Clutter Free Classroom.

Long Term Planning

Does anyone else get caught up in reading all the wonderful blogs out there and want to do it all in their classroom? I get so many ideas and it's so hard to include it all in. I sat down today to looked at what I was suppose to do for the next nine weeks until Christmas break. I think I figured out ways to fit in what I want to do. Here's a rough outline of my plan:

Oct. 24-28 - The Letter t and transportation - I'm going to work on tractors and trucks and hopefully the at and am word families.
Oct. 31-Nov. 4 - The letter i and more transportation is what I'm suppose to do. I want to fit in Mo Williams and his pigeon books to work on writing. And also the it word family
Nov. 7 - 11 - Review week for letter i and t and still more transportation. We're suppose to read the David Shannon book - Duck on a bike so I'm thinking a David Shannon author study.
Nov. 14-18 - the letter N and food. I have been dying to do a farm unit after seeing all the cute stuff online. My boyfriend is a vet and he's been through a lot of agriculture classes and is a big advocate for agriculture education for students. an and in word families
Nov. 21-23 - Thanksgiving Unit
Nov. 28-Dec. 2 the letter c and food. I'm thinking a cupcake unit that would lead into healthy eating habits
Dec. 5-9 - Review of n and c, food - nutrition and noodles
Dec. 12-16 - The letter o and animals - A living organism unit
Dec. 19-21 - Christmas/Gingerbread Man
I recognize these are super ambitious plans. But it seems a little more manageable to see it written out with a plan. I think some of it flows well into each other. The David Shannon book Duck on  Bike takes place on a farm so it will lead into a farm unit well. Food and Thanksgiving seem to go hand in hand. The hardest thing I've had to try to fit in was a Mo Williams author study. I have really been wanting to include this somewhere in my plans. I thought about the letter p but then I got caught up in pumpkins and Pete the cat. But I think buses go with transportation and we really need to be working on our writing skills.
I also have been working on literacy stations and small groups. I'm hoping to start having the kids rotate to two different stations a day and meet with 3 reading groups a day. This week will be an interesting trial in it. I'm going to be out Monday and Tuesday. I'm really excited because I'm going camping with my boyfriend. No school or thinking about school for a couple of days. Well at least I can't be on the computer working on school stuff. I wish I could get it out of my mind sometimes.
How do you cope with all the fantastic ideas out there in blog land? Do you do long range plans? This is my first go at it in this kind of detail. Hopefully I'll be able to carry it out. If you have any advice, I'd love to hear it.

First Days of Kindergarten

Oh my. I just finished my first week at school. I only had 2 days with kids and only had 5 kids each day but I'm exhausted.  We have staggered enrollment for the first 3 days of school. I just caught up on all my blog stalking this morning and I was several days behind. Luckily other teachers out there are busy with school and not blogging too much. So far my little ones seem like they are going to be a great group of kids. I only have 5 girls out of my 16 kids and there are also 5 ELL students in the class. So movement is going to be essential. I meant to take some pictures of my room and the activities we did but it slipped my mind. I ended the year last year with first graders ready for second grade, so it is an adjustment to start the year with 4 and 5 year old kindergartners. The first day felt like it went awful to me and my critical self. But day 2, I started to get my kindergarten bearings.
We did some Chicka Chicka Boom Boom activities. We read the story and then went on a hunt for the letters throughout the school to meet the special area teachers and office staff. My kids loved this especially the ELL boys. They were so excited to find the letters and enjoyed helping with the story and saying "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom." We came back and they painted the first letter of their names. I know. What was I thinking painting the first day. They did pretty well and of course a couple of kids went home with paint on them including me.
I was most impressed with how well my kids did with my promethean board. We did some calendar activities on the board and they picked it up so quickly. They were able to move things and use the wand with just a little instruction from me. We played a little starfall (If you haven't checked that site out, it's the best. www.starfall.com) and they were old pros at the board by the time they left. If you have some kind of interactive whiteboard, I suggest getting on Starfall and letting your kids explore. It was a great way to teach them some skills on using the wand and pens that go with the board.
I have one more day of staggered enrollment and then Tuesday I'll have the whole class. Our system is still on a half day kindergarten so the kids have the option to leave at 12:30. The first 4 days of school they all have to leave at 12:30. Wednesday will be the true test. I will have all the kids and those that will stay til 3 will stay. I think most of mine will stay which is fine with me. I wish we had a full day kindergarten. I could get so much more accomplished with them.
I worked on my lesson plans today. I know it's an exciting way to spend a Saturday but my boyfriend was at a Boy Scout training. With our new evaluation system and common core standards, there are a few changes in how our lesson plans are suppose to be. They need to have the I can statements, standards, and differentiation plans. They took me a little longer to do than before and I didn't even include the differentiation plans this week. I'm not sure where they are yet to be able to differentiate. But I'm attaching my plans so you can check them out. I plan to use some Fran's sight words that rock activities this week to introduce our first sight word. I'm excited but a little nervous to dive into this year and all the curriculum and standards that I need to teach while ensuring that the kiddos love school and learning. So how's your start of the year going?
Lesson Plans