Saturday, August 18, 2012

Inhale...Exhale...

A complete whirlwind ensues with the first few weeks leading up to the beginning of school.  I've slacked on my postings, but I'm here to catch up!

I survived the first full week back with my Kinders.  It was a long week and we were able to get A LOT accomplished! 

  • Monday was an introduction of our classmates.  We read The Gingerbread Man, and discussed how a gingerbread man got lost at our school.  We read clues around the school to visit the most important areas: cafeteria, office, gym, music, computer lab, art, library, and the playground! The kids really enjoyed their "gingerbread" snack back in the classroom.  A little scoop of cinnamon Teddy Grahams was close enough to a gingerbread for the class.  We sang several songs and played many 'games' to help everyone feel comfortable.

  • David Goes to School was another hit for the beginning of our week.  The kids enjoyed spotting the many rules David broke.  This led us to discuss what rules we should do and not do. This is artistic as I get...
  • Later in the week, we read Pete the Cat, as we began discussing colors. If you haven't heard or read this book, it's a must!  I love my white shoes.... I love my white shoes...  And, of course, it's not the same unless you play the music that comes along with the book!
  • Chrysanthemum taught us how to be a good friend by using kind words. We compared our own names to Chrysanthemum's 13-letters name. We continued taking pride in our names by creating a "tear-art" of our own names.
  • Toward the end of the week, many students were feeling sad and ready to stay home with mom.  This was an appropriate time to bring out one of my favorites, The Kissing Hand.  As soon as we read the story we practice saying, "I love you," in sign language.  They loved this!

  • The Day the Monster Came to School helped us reiterate rules and expectations in the classroom.  We all decided we didn't want any monsters in our classroom, we all chanted with the story, "Go away!"  The following day, we continued the monster theme by reading Go Away, Big Green Monster. Each student had an opportunity to retell the stories with separate pieces of the monsters face.  Go away purple scraggly hair! Go away big green face!  As a fun Friday activity, we made our own monsters!  We created them using a glyph.  These turned out really well.  Braving the water colors on Day 5 made me nervous, but they did a great job!

After MANY stories, we learned how to be respectful, responsible, and ready in our classroom.  Many lessons were learned and we are heading toward a great year.  Once we begin our rigid curriculum, I am going to make an effort to slow everything down and dig deep into our activities.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Launching Centers

I've been working diligently in my classroom trying to fine tune everything.  This year I am hoping to implement Literacy Stations in a rotation, so I'm moving rearranging my desks, book shelves, tables, etc. 

How does everyone organize thier literacy centers?  Do you have the students rotate to a "teacher station" or do you pull them out of their center?  I see pros and cons doing it both ways.

I intend to have the following stations:
  • Reading
  • Technology (computers, iPad, listening, etc)
  • Word Work
  • Poetry
  • Writing
  • Teacher Station (??)

I need to grab some inviting pillows for my reading center & laminate my labels.  Then, I think I'll be all set. 

Also, do you wait and introduce centers after a few weeks? Or do you start week 1 while you are introducing rules.  I have heard that "easy does it," when it comes to centers.  So, maybe introduce one center each week?  I'd love to have some feedback. 

Pictures coming soon of stations & my new room arrangmenet!

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Vista Print + Other Pinterest Crafts

I've been busy!!  I used Vista Print for the first time last summer, creating "We Missed You!" absent postcards.  This summer, I got even more excited...

Here are my most recent creations:

Complete for HW stamp ... I use this often with important reinforcement activities.

To-Do List... what teacher doesn't need this?  Or, I could put this in the Writing Center for the students to create their own lists!

 Name Tags... I plan to cut the "This is How I go Home" nametag in half for the first week of school.  This is so important! And the race cars, aren't they just spiffy?


Sight Word Rack Cards... A list of our sight words (in order of introduction) with game ideas on the back for parents and kids to do.  Credit for the activities goes to mrsalbanesesclass



Marshmallow Toes Small Banner... Thinking of putting this in the hallway or the back of my door!

Three Ways to Read Poster... Trying to implement Daily 5 in the classroom, I figured this would be a good reference poster.

Strolling through Target, I noticed the school supplies was out ... kid in a candy store!  I scooped up some composition notebooks and with a smile on my face, I got to work! A cute label and a ribbon bookmark to help the student keep track of the last page where we worked.


While at Target, I found these cute buckets (Dollar Spot) and mog podged a label for the pencil problem I continued having last year!  Problem solved... hopefully!


Very excited for all of the new 'toys' for the school year.  Opening that VistaPrint box is truly like Christmas! Still planning to do a few more things before I start hard and heavy working in my classroom. 

Thanks for visiting :)





Monday, July 9, 2012

Another Beginning

I made it to my classroom for the first time this summer!  Just for a few hours, I was able to arrange, rearrange, and arrange once more my classroom.  It feels like such a daunting task at this point in the school year... hours of work is ahead of me!!  Changing the arrangement of the room will give me a fresh perspective this year... I'm sure :)

I have an unending to-do list, but who doesn't???  To help with my list, I plan to head to the Media Center tomorrow.  Die-cuttin', laminatin', gluin' teachers flock to the center to prepare for next year!

I've also put in an order to VistaPrint!! There's free stuff & you only pay shipping!  Yes, it may take a while to get here, but I don't need it until August! perfect :)


My next project: work on sorting through SF Reading Street Readers!

-Lynsey

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Kindergarten Classroom Blog

And so it begins... the world of blogging!  This summer I have been incredibly inspired by the hardworking teachers in the blogging world.  I intend to use this blog as a means of communication from classroom to home, as well as place of organization for myself.  I constantly want to improve on my lessons and activities... and maybe if I write about them, I'll actually remember them! :)