First Week in 2013

I can't decide if this first week back after Christmas break flew by or dragged on.  The kids were great on Monday & Tuesday, but yesterday was kind of crazy - we had THREE!! drills:  Lock down, fire, and tornado.  Of course, we had to practice the lock down and tornado drills, and talk about the fire drill before they happened, so really we did each drill several times.  Today was spent trying to convince everyone that we really do need to work.  One more day until the weekend!

Additionally, we Kinder teachers are in the middle of Quarterly Testing.  Report cards come out soon, so we need to test our kiddos to see how much they know.  (So far, so good!!)  Once the quarterlies are done, we have to buckle down and get mClass testing done.  At times like this, cloning seems like a good idea!  :-)

We (Mrs. S. & I) are testing in our Stations, so we only have Listening, Word Work, and Writing activities this week.  Here are some pictures of those and some other stuff.

A new book!  Rocket, who learned to read in his first book, now writes a story.  I was so excited when I saw this in Barns & Noble yesterday.  We read it the first thing in the morning.  After morning work, announcements, and attendance the first thing we do each day is read a book.  I think it sets a great tone for the entire day, and the kids really look forward to listening to our Opening Story.

Word Work Station.  This mini book about color words is from Teacher's Helper.

Writing Station.  This page is from an older
Teacher's Helper.  On Monday we read The Snowy Day to prepare for this writing prompt.  

We have been working on making numbers to twenty.  We used this cute penguin ten frame and playing cards to make numbers.  The Kinders worked in pairs, turning over a card (Ace - 10) and placing that many foam counters on the blank ten frame.  We also played "Around the World" with the playing cards.  Players tried to be the first tell how many ten and X more are in order to travel around the world.

Bean Sticks (shown in a post from last year)  I got smart this year and made T-charts on paper plates to use as work mats.  Not as many loose beans fell to the floor!

I just got this set out, but haven't formally used it.  When I'm testing a child in my station, the others have simply enjoyed playing with the animals.  I was able to get three sets, so I have enough work mats and animals for all eighteen of my Kinders.

Idea Snowman.  I made this smiling (armless as one child pointed out) snowman to hold sticky notes with ideas and words to use in our winter writing.  The kids have had fun brainstorming ideas, so the sticky notes keep adding up!  If it gets them excited about writing, I'm happy!