Tuesday, April 17, 2012
TN Teacher Blogger Meet-up
***Side note! I spent all this time putting the links in my powerpoint before uploading it to here and now the links won't work! So sorry friends! If you are interested in seeing all the TN blogs... you can find the links here:
Saturday, April 7, 2012
Exciting news!
Hey all! So I have something exciting to share! Anyone catch the pilot episode of Best Friends Forever on NBC last Wednesday??? Well let me first start off by telling you that my sister sold a picture of her and I when we were tap dancing as kids to "Awkward family photos". It's hilarious b/c it's of us in these clown costumes, in "jazz-hands" like pose. So anyways... yesterday I'm checking my facebook and an old friend from my childhood friends me. She immediately comments on my page with that same picture and asks me if it was my sister and I? Turns out that the new show bought our picture for their opening credits! So if you get a chance to watch it.... this is our picture:
It's literally show for like .5 seconds... but we are so excited!
Now onto other things... I was tagged by Connie at Creating Kinders to answer some questions... so here they are!
10 questions I need to answer...
1. What grade do you teach?
Kindergarten =)
2. What was your first job ever?
Busser at a restaurant when I was 17... and I stuck with it for 2 years before I was "promoted" to a prep cook for year.
3. Favorite TV show right now?
I have a ton.... New Girl is #1... but I'm loving Broke Girls, GLEE, Modern Family, Parks and Rec, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, CSI, and CSI: Miami....
4. Favorite theme to teach?
I don't have a favorite theme... but I love to teach writing! I think it's so fun to see what my kiddos come up with and to encourage them to use their imagination and see how they grow as writers throughout the year.
5. If I won $1000, I would...
Pay off some of my CC debt- fo sho!!!
6. What are your summer 2012 plans?
I'd really like to find a 2nd job to help pay some CC bills off, so I can have some more fun next year!
7. Casual or dress clothes for work-school?
We have to dress professionally at school, except on Fridays- we can wear jeans! I def. love jean days! =)
8. Favorite go to meal at a restaurant?
Definitely the Chicken finger plate meal at Zaxby's... I love the Zaxby's sauce and their french fries... =)
9. What's for dinner tonight? Well I'm staying with my parents for Easter weekend and we had pork chops, home made mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.... the best part- fresh out of the oven brownies and vanilla ice cream on top for dessert! (I'm such a fatty! haha)
10. Name 2 blogs you love right now
Just 2???? Well I really enjoy reading everyone's.... but the first 2 that come to mind are: Little Warriors and Welcome to Room 36!
Now onto other things... I was tagged by Connie at Creating Kinders to answer some questions... so here they are!
10 questions I need to answer...
1. What grade do you teach?
Kindergarten =)
2. What was your first job ever?
Busser at a restaurant when I was 17... and I stuck with it for 2 years before I was "promoted" to a prep cook for year.
3. Favorite TV show right now?
I have a ton.... New Girl is #1... but I'm loving Broke Girls, GLEE, Modern Family, Parks and Rec, The Office, Grey's Anatomy, The Mentalist, Criminal Minds, CSI, and CSI: Miami....
4. Favorite theme to teach?
I don't have a favorite theme... but I love to teach writing! I think it's so fun to see what my kiddos come up with and to encourage them to use their imagination and see how they grow as writers throughout the year.
5. If I won $1000, I would...
Pay off some of my CC debt- fo sho!!!
6. What are your summer 2012 plans?
I'd really like to find a 2nd job to help pay some CC bills off, so I can have some more fun next year!
7. Casual or dress clothes for work-school?
We have to dress professionally at school, except on Fridays- we can wear jeans! I def. love jean days! =)
8. Favorite go to meal at a restaurant?
Definitely the Chicken finger plate meal at Zaxby's... I love the Zaxby's sauce and their french fries... =)
9. What's for dinner tonight? Well I'm staying with my parents for Easter weekend and we had pork chops, home made mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob.... the best part- fresh out of the oven brownies and vanilla ice cream on top for dessert! (I'm such a fatty! haha)
10. Name 2 blogs you love right now
Just 2???? Well I really enjoy reading everyone's.... but the first 2 that come to mind are: Little Warriors and Welcome to Room 36!
Well, I'll think of some questions to ask more because my family is watching "Hop" right now for the first time and I don't want to miss it!!!!
HOPPY EASTER!!!!
Monday, February 27, 2012
Writing to Inform and Temperature
Hey guys! I'm still alive! I have been going through a slump the past few weeks when it comes to teaching...
So I've finally got a few things to share today--- we have been busy writing!
A few weeks ago I introduced how to write a friendly letter. We used the morning message to help build the background knowledge and my kids did a great job! After they finished their final copy, I let them decorate the letter on red paper with some cute stickers I got from Joann's last year!
I forgot to take a picture of it, but I modeled how to brainstorm some nice things to say in a letter by making a tree map. I put my picture at the top and had 3 words branching from it.
My kindergarten team and I decided to have the kids start to write some non-fiction. So we read and watched some informational facts on some arctic animals on pebblego.com and recorded what we learned on a chart similar to the download April has on her blog. I took a week to research (instead of doing predictable chart) and then the week after we used the information we learned to write.
So last week I had the kids begin to write about their favorite animal we learned about and I have never seen them work so quietly before! It was amazing and I HAD to take pictures of them! It was precious to see how much they enjoyed writing about their favorite animal.
Here are some close-ups of the charts we made together. (I underlined the key words/phrases for htem to remember when they were filling out their brainstorming graphic.)
Here is one of my girls brainstorming about an Emperor Penguin:
Brainstorming about a Humpback whale:
Beginning to brainstorm about a Polar Bear:
Brainstorming about Seals:
After the kiddos brainstormed, the next day I had them use their graphic and write a sentence for each one. This week we are going to be putting their sentences into a book format and they will illustrate each page. Then I will have them write about why they chose their animal and complete a diagram of their animal. (I will post pictures once this is finished!)
Then we are going to start writing about what they want to be when they grow up and why! I can't wait to see how they turn out!
In Math, we have been learning about measurement. My kiddos had a hard time measuring length with non-standard and inches. So we are going to continue working on that in small groups. However, when it came to weight and temperature, they did great!
Talking about weight, I had a balance scale and had the kids each bring an object to the carpet. They predicted which item would be heavier and then we would measure by putting each item on the balance scale. They had a blast and this week I'm going to put it into a center with classroom items and a recording sheet. They will circle which is heavier and "x" out which is lighter.
Then we talked about temperature, watched a brainpop, jr. video and then created this anchor chart together about what we learned:
When teaching them about temperature, I brought out our classroom thermometer and drew lines for "HOT", "Room temperature- 70 degrees F", "Water Freezes- 32 degrees F", and "COLD". We also reviewed that when we think of hot weather.... we think of "red" and cold- "blue". (They were so excited because they knew all about cold and warm colors from art class!)
These were just a few of the MANY activities we have been up to! I will try to post more later this week! Hope ya'll are enjoying this beautiful weather.... I can get use to 60 degrees in February! =)
So I've finally got a few things to share today--- we have been busy writing!
A few weeks ago I introduced how to write a friendly letter. We used the morning message to help build the background knowledge and my kids did a great job! After they finished their final copy, I let them decorate the letter on red paper with some cute stickers I got from Joann's last year!
I forgot to take a picture of it, but I modeled how to brainstorm some nice things to say in a letter by making a tree map. I put my picture at the top and had 3 words branching from it.
Ms. G
is has can
Then the kids thought of adjectives to describe me... and oh how sweet they were! Then I gave the kids a tree map with one of their classmate's picture on it and they had to do the same thing for one of that child. So each child got a letter written to them. They turned out adorably! Here are a few:
And after seeing a post on "Writing to inform" by April from Chalk Talk...
Found here:
My kindergarten team and I decided to have the kids start to write some non-fiction. So we read and watched some informational facts on some arctic animals on pebblego.com and recorded what we learned on a chart similar to the download April has on her blog. I took a week to research (instead of doing predictable chart) and then the week after we used the information we learned to write.
So last week I had the kids begin to write about their favorite animal we learned about and I have never seen them work so quietly before! It was amazing and I HAD to take pictures of them! It was precious to see how much they enjoyed writing about their favorite animal.
 |
| Emperor Penguins |
 |
| Humpback Whales |
 |
| Polar Bears |
 |
| Seal |
Here are some close-ups of the charts we made together. (I underlined the key words/phrases for htem to remember when they were filling out their brainstorming graphic.)
Here is one of my girls brainstorming about an Emperor Penguin:
After the kiddos brainstormed, the next day I had them use their graphic and write a sentence for each one. This week we are going to be putting their sentences into a book format and they will illustrate each page. Then I will have them write about why they chose their animal and complete a diagram of their animal. (I will post pictures once this is finished!)
Then we are going to start writing about what they want to be when they grow up and why! I can't wait to see how they turn out!
In Math, we have been learning about measurement. My kiddos had a hard time measuring length with non-standard and inches. So we are going to continue working on that in small groups. However, when it came to weight and temperature, they did great!
Talking about weight, I had a balance scale and had the kids each bring an object to the carpet. They predicted which item would be heavier and then we would measure by putting each item on the balance scale. They had a blast and this week I'm going to put it into a center with classroom items and a recording sheet. They will circle which is heavier and "x" out which is lighter.
Then we talked about temperature, watched a brainpop, jr. video and then created this anchor chart together about what we learned:
Then I assessed my students with these two activity pages from our math series:
The first one they had to color in the thermometer to tell me what it woudl look like in each type of weather situation show on the page. Then the right one they would circle the correct thermometer to match the type of weather they would wear each piece of clothing.
When teaching them about temperature, I brought out our classroom thermometer and drew lines for "HOT", "Room temperature- 70 degrees F", "Water Freezes- 32 degrees F", and "COLD". We also reviewed that when we think of hot weather.... we think of "red" and cold- "blue". (They were so excited because they knew all about cold and warm colors from art class!)
Thursday, January 26, 2012
100th Day Fun in pictures
I have a headache so I'm not going to add too much thought into this post tonight... but did want to share our day in pictures! Enjoy!!! =)
I also wanted to share that I got my donors choose goods in this week and I'm so excited!!!
Our letter pocket chart! Thought this would be great for my low kiddos AND of course at the beginning of every year!
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| Morning work =) |
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| 100 year old self-portrait |
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"If I had $100, I would buy..." writing
Watching the 100 brainpop video
My lil guy with a peanut allergy couldn't make a fruit loop necklace, so he got to use beads! =)
Getting the 100s day hats ready!
They put 10 items/stickers on each strip of paper to make 100
all the goods for their 100s day trail mix
Making the trail mix in their silly hats!
They had such a great time!
The goods on the mat I made them!
Here's a free download for you! (Hover over the picture and a small gray box will appear on the top right corner. Click on the square with an arrow pointing out of it to take you to a page where you can download it.)
Here's a free download for you! (Hover over the picture and a small gray box will appear on the top right corner. Click on the square with an arrow pointing out of it to take you to a page where you can download it.)
100th day= SUCCESS!
Our class (-1 kiddo who went home sick!)
I also wanted to share that I got my donors choose goods in this week and I'm so excited!!!
YAY! I hope this helps me teach my kiddos who are still struggling with rhyming words!!!
Lots of great alphabet resources... I can still use these with my low babies! =)
So excited about these beads!
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My new library shelf! (the small one!) Now I have a place to put all the books they are "allowed" to read (b/c they never put them back in my bins correctly, so they are banned from my shelf. lol)
I am sooo psyched about this fishing for phonics game! I can even use it in small groups!
Thank you soooo much again to all who donated! The kids were so excited about our new centers and book shelf! =) (They all CHOOSE to go to library center now... so funny!)
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