I'm slowly but surely getting a few things accomplished in class. We haven't had time for math yet but hopefully it will come. On Wednesday we talked about our first popcorn word, "I." We made an interactive reading chart of "I am _______" and they filled in their names. I typed to a promethean flip chart and they came up to it and read their sentences. They were so proud of themselves when they read their sentence. Even one of my ELL students who hasn't spoken many words read his sentence. Today I turned chart into a pdf and then printed that page off so they could read their sentence for homework. I was reallye excited about this idea and it was so easy to do. I just went to print on the file menu on the promethean board and from there chose print to pdf. It didn't print it just turned into the pdf.
We also made Fran's sight word necklaces from her sight words that rock your room packet. I definitely learned a bit about how to do that with the kids. They needed to be cut out, hole punched and made into a necklace before giving them to the kids. At least at first. I forget how little they are.
You can check out the flip chart we've been working through this week. You can see all the pages we didn't get to yet. I've been a little ambitious with my planning. But better too much than too little! Here's to Friday! I'm going to need some rest this weekend.
Click Here Flipchart
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
I survived!
So today was my first day with all my students and it was so much better than I was expecting. They did a wonderful job but I was exhasuted and they left at 12:30. I'm sure I'll be even more exhausted tomorrow when those that stay til 3 stay. (We technically have a half day kindergarten but most of the kids stay until 3.)
My biggest issue was trying to get everything done in the small amount of time I have with them. I really only have 3 hours to teach them and that is just not enough time to get everything in. Of course it'll get better as they become better at doing what is expected. I have several that don't seem to know how to hold a pencil so any great tips you have for teaching that would be appreciated.
Just wanted to share the finished product of our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees. I cut out the first letter of each child's name and they painted them on their first day. It turned out so cute.
That's about all energy I have for a post tonight! :)
My biggest issue was trying to get everything done in the small amount of time I have with them. I really only have 3 hours to teach them and that is just not enough time to get everything in. Of course it'll get better as they become better at doing what is expected. I have several that don't seem to know how to hold a pencil so any great tips you have for teaching that would be appreciated.
Just wanted to share the finished product of our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom trees. I cut out the first letter of each child's name and they painted them on their first day. It turned out so cute.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
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
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
Monday, August 15, 2011
A how to post
Today was our first official day back as teachers and my head kind of feels like it could explode. We are adopting a new model of teacher evaluation in Tennessee and it's pretty intense. I think it's called the TAP model if anyone out in the blogging world has any words of wisdom about it. I think it will be fine once we get use to it but it was a lot of information for a day.
So I'm going to impart a little information on you today. This is a post about how to make those cute little books that are all on one page like Fran Kramer over at Kindergarten Crayons makes. It probably isn't at all how she does her books but this is what I figured out using publisher. I have publisher on my school computers and you can do the same on word but it isn't quite as easy to do.
1. Choose a new document - blank print publication.
2. Go to Page setup under File menu. Choose landscape orientation.
3. On the left toolbox menu, choose the square option. Make a rectangle that is 5 and 1/2 inches long and 4 and 1/4 inches wide. Copy and paste this 3 times so you have four rectangles. You'll then arrange these so it divides your paper into four boxes. I do this to help me divide my page and it helps when rotating things later.
4. I start with the lower right corner as my title page and then work from there. I insert text and clipart that I want in each box.
5. When you finish getting the page how you want them, you're ready to rotate. I usually do the lower right, then the lower left, then upper left, and then last upper right.
6. Click every component in the upper left box while holding the shift button including the box itself. You should have the dots around each item. Once you have all objects selected you go into the arrange menu and chose the option group. This will make it so you move all these objects together.
7. At the top of the box when you select it, there should be a line with a green dot. You click that dot and rotate the whole box until it's upside down.
This is my first time writing out instructions on how to do one of these projects. So I would love some feedback on whether these were easy to understand.
I made a sight word book that was inspired by Fran Kramer and then I got the idea to make little books for each letter. So I'm offering both the publisher and the pdf of the book. My thinking was to have the students use a list of words brainstormed that start with the letter to create the book.
Pdf version of M book
Publisher version of M book
So I'm going to impart a little information on you today. This is a post about how to make those cute little books that are all on one page like Fran Kramer over at Kindergarten Crayons makes. It probably isn't at all how she does her books but this is what I figured out using publisher. I have publisher on my school computers and you can do the same on word but it isn't quite as easy to do.
1. Choose a new document - blank print publication.
2. Go to Page setup under File menu. Choose landscape orientation.
3. On the left toolbox menu, choose the square option. Make a rectangle that is 5 and 1/2 inches long and 4 and 1/4 inches wide. Copy and paste this 3 times so you have four rectangles. You'll then arrange these so it divides your paper into four boxes. I do this to help me divide my page and it helps when rotating things later.
4. I start with the lower right corner as my title page and then work from there. I insert text and clipart that I want in each box.
5. When you finish getting the page how you want them, you're ready to rotate. I usually do the lower right, then the lower left, then upper left, and then last upper right.
6. Click every component in the upper left box while holding the shift button including the box itself. You should have the dots around each item. Once you have all objects selected you go into the arrange menu and chose the option group. This will make it so you move all these objects together.
7. At the top of the box when you select it, there should be a line with a green dot. You click that dot and rotate the whole box until it's upside down.
This is my first time writing out instructions on how to do one of these projects. So I would love some feedback on whether these were easy to understand.
I made a sight word book that was inspired by Fran Kramer and then I got the idea to make little books for each letter. So I'm offering both the publisher and the pdf of the book. My thinking was to have the students use a list of words brainstormed that start with the letter to create the book.
Pdf version of M book
Publisher version of M book
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Inspiration vs. Stealing
I've read several blog posts where people have created things and then someone else stole it and started selling it. It makes me really nervous about posting things that I've created. Not because I'm afraid something like this will happen to me but because I don't want anyone to think I've stolen their creations. I find myself inspired by the things I see online and want to try to create my own materials to use in my class. I have issues and don't always like to use what other people have done. It seems that I have this need to tweak it a bit. I have been very inspired by Fran at Kindergarten Crayons. She makes these really cool tiny books to practice sight words. Well I worked on this today and figured out how to do it. I'm really proud of myself for figuring out how to turn the pages around.(If anyone has publisher and wants to know how to flip the text, leave me a comment and I'll be glad to share) So here's my question, what is ethical to post? Would it be ok for me to post this little book that I made? I looked at Fran's and then created one with the sight words that we use. Is it ok if you aren't selling it or if it is based off something that they aren't selling? If you give complete credit to the person who created the original , is it ok? I'm very confused by all this. I don't want someone to think I was stealing. I love this community of blogging teachers and love that you can put your questions and ideas out there for other teachers to use. I have always thought the sign of a good teacher is someone who is willing to teach other teachers and to share what they know. When I was in college, I wrote a honors paper about good teaching practices in reading. There were so many amazing teachers that I observed and the best were the ones that dragged out all their materials to show me and copy for me. I want to be one of those teachers but I want to do it ethically. So some advice is needed.
Friday, August 12, 2011
Last lazy day of summer
Today is my last real day of summer. Teacher workdays are Monday and Tuesday and School starts on Wednesday. I've been in and out of my classroom for the past few weeks but today I'm enjoying being lazy. Of course, the school is closed and I can't go in but it's good to have a day to be lazy. I've enjoyed my summer but am really excited to start a new year.
Yesterday we had a training about our promethean boards at school. There was a lot of information given and a lot of I had figured out on my own just playing around. But I did learn a couple of really neat things. One being how to allow 2 kids to use the board at the same time. I'm super excited that my board has that built in already and can't wait to let the kids try it out. That information would've been great to know last year when my kids were all clamoring to us the board during free time. I also learned about creating profiles so kids don't have access to all the editing tools when using a flipchart. I'm pretty excited to try this trick out too. I am thinking about making some cheat sheets to help with these things if you're interested in seeing them, leave me a comment and I'll email them to you.
I was also working on some of my beginning of the year letters that I send home with the kids, including my behavior letter. Because I'm changing my system this year, I had to rewrite my letter. I'm using the clip chart that is all over the blogging world. I realized that I still had some kinks to work out in the system. I'm not sure if kids can move back up the chart once they've moved down to the negative side of the chart. What are some of you that are using this same chart doing? I originally thought they could move from a negative behavior to more positive but I feel like that would be difficult for me to keep track of. Some other opinions would be very helpful.
I'll leave you with the beautiful popcorn poster my sister made for me.
We call our sight words, popcorn words. I plan to put this poster up on a board in front of the meeting area and writing center. I'm using Mrs. Miner's popcorn word set she has in her tpt store to get my template for popcorn kernels with the words on them.Go to her website to find it. I was excited to find someone who uses the same reading series and calls the sight words popcorn words too. Well I'm off to enjoy my last lazy day of summer!
Yesterday we had a training about our promethean boards at school. There was a lot of information given and a lot of I had figured out on my own just playing around. But I did learn a couple of really neat things. One being how to allow 2 kids to use the board at the same time. I'm super excited that my board has that built in already and can't wait to let the kids try it out. That information would've been great to know last year when my kids were all clamoring to us the board during free time. I also learned about creating profiles so kids don't have access to all the editing tools when using a flipchart. I'm pretty excited to try this trick out too. I am thinking about making some cheat sheets to help with these things if you're interested in seeing them, leave me a comment and I'll email them to you.
I was also working on some of my beginning of the year letters that I send home with the kids, including my behavior letter. Because I'm changing my system this year, I had to rewrite my letter. I'm using the clip chart that is all over the blogging world. I realized that I still had some kinks to work out in the system. I'm not sure if kids can move back up the chart once they've moved down to the negative side of the chart. What are some of you that are using this same chart doing? I originally thought they could move from a negative behavior to more positive but I feel like that would be difficult for me to keep track of. Some other opinions would be very helpful.
I'll leave you with the beautiful popcorn poster my sister made for me.
Wednesday, August 10, 2011
Classroom Update
My sister came yesterday to help me with a few projects in my room. She's super creative and I love any excuse to get her and my niece to come to Gatlinburg. The night before I made my tissue paper and canvas sign for the outside of my door. It turned out really cute but it was difficult to make. I used mod podge and the tissue paper tore easily when it was wet. But it looked really good when completed. I stapled gunned a ribbon to the top of the canvas and hung it up beside my door.
My sister's task was to make coconut trees for my Chicka Chicka Boom Boom display. We are reading this book the first week of school and I wanted to the coconut tree for my reading center. The first day of school the kids are going to decorate the first letter of the name and put it on the tree. I plan on keeping it up all year. She did an awesome job and it looks amazing.
I went to Wal-mart this morning to get a few things and ended up getting more things that I had planned including a new set of Sharpie Fine Point Markers. They had 80s glam colors and I just couldn't resist. Anyone else addicted to buying sharpies. I love them!
On a non class related note, my sweet niece is turning 1 tomorrow. I can't believe she's already a year old. As any good aunt would, I've been buying her books since before she was born. For her birthday, I made her a container full of magnetic letters, numbers and some blocks. I used all my crafty inspiration from other blogs to make it look cute with paint and stickers.
A week from tomorrow is the first day of school, I can't believe it's almost here.
My sister's task was to make coconut trees for my Chicka Chicka Boom Boom display. We are reading this book the first week of school and I wanted to the coconut tree for my reading center. The first day of school the kids are going to decorate the first letter of the name and put it on the tree. I plan on keeping it up all year. She did an awesome job and it looks amazing.
I went to Wal-mart this morning to get a few things and ended up getting more things that I had planned including a new set of Sharpie Fine Point Markers. They had 80s glam colors and I just couldn't resist. Anyone else addicted to buying sharpies. I love them!
On a non class related note, my sweet niece is turning 1 tomorrow. I can't believe she's already a year old. As any good aunt would, I've been buying her books since before she was born. For her birthday, I made her a container full of magnetic letters, numbers and some blocks. I used all my crafty inspiration from other blogs to make it look cute with paint and stickers.
A week from tomorrow is the first day of school, I can't believe it's almost here.
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