May Second Five for Friday

Hello Five for Friday fans ~ I'm back!  It's been a few weeks since I last joined the linky fun, and I'm glad to be back with Doodle Bugs for this fun linky party.  :-)

                                

This week just flew by!  We worked so hard and had so much fun.  I'm starting to get a little sad that the school year is coming to an end ~ only 24 more days left!  My little cuties have come so far since the beginning of the year, and have made such an imprint on my heart.  It is going to be hard to let them go.  But, I am overjoyed at the progress they have made!  Here is a peek at the fun we had this week.

 

 

 

Baking with the principal.  This week our feature story was Bread Comes to Life ~ a book about how to make bread.  I was reading this book to my kids when my principal came in with the dreaded iPad.  She stayed (and evaluated me) while we had fun with this book.  Happily, I was given a good review.  She also evaluated one of my teaching partners while she read this book to her kiddos.  I guess hearing this book two times provided inspiration to her inner baker.  She asked us if we would like her to pay a visit to talk about baking bread with a bread machine.  She is a very good baker, so of course we jumped at the chance to have her give a guest lesson!  Here are some pictures of our baking fun.  Our classroom smelled so good all day as the bread machine worked its magic! 

 

 

Penny Necklaces.  We worked with money all week long.  To celebrate the fact that they can identify coins, we made these cute star necklaces adorned with a real penny.  It was so cute how excited the kids were to get a real penny! 

Writing!  I am blown away by the writing that my little cuties are doing!  I have never had such wonderful writing ~ and such excited writers as I have this year.  I want to do the Happy Dance every day when I see how excited my kiddos are to write & read the wonderful pieces they write!

A little Shameless Promotion...  Hop over to my Facebook page for this month's Freebie!

Sale!  Need I say more???  My store will be 20% + off.  Please visit, shop, and follow.

I am also excited to be a part of the Spring Clean-Up Blog Hop!  Check back on the fourth to see my post.

And, finally... here's my May Currently!

 

 

Have a great weekend!

  

Five for Friday & a Facebook Free-for-All

I know it's Saturday...  But, here is my five.  (Thanks to Doodle Bugs for hosting this great linky party!)

Hurry over to my Facebook page & grab my freebie!

 The Pen Pal Project.  We wrote letters to our pen pals in my daughter Sarah's Kinder class.  I am soooo happy with their writing.  Other than writing kindergarten and Morgan on the board, I didn't help them spell anything!  My kids are getting really good at writing the sounds they hear & using the room to find words they want to write  The day before writing our letters, we worked on a list of things that would be good to tell a pen pal, which is why they all start out pretty much the same.  I left it up to the kids to decide what else they wanted to write. 

We read Cloudy With the Chance of Meatballs this week and worked together to make posters.  I really like the bottom one because I'm featured on it holding a cupcake.  My kiddos know that I love, love, love cupcakes!

My ever growing collection of Rainbow Loom jewelry.  I wore all of the bracelets on Friday - it was quite a fashion forward statement when paired with my Murano beads on my Pandora bracelet!  I don't mind the bracelets, but I'm not crazy about the rings, they tend to be itchy.  

 Are you looking for something to spice up your literacy stations the week of Dr. Seuss's birthday?  Check out these products in my store...

 Click HERE

Click HERE

Click HERE

Five for Friday ~ Five Day Week

Whew!  I am still trying to recover from having to teach for five whole days in a row!  This was the first week since before Christmas that we didn't have one or more snow/extreme cold day or a two hour delay.  We actually went to school for five days!  We were supposed to have Friday & Monday off for Presidents' Day weekend, but we lost both due to the weather.  Actually, I'm OK with that.  The Kinders needed to get back to a regular routine.  (Now, if we could go back outside for recess, we'll be all set!)

Here are some highlights from our week.  Thanks to Doodle Bugs for hosting this fun linky!

 We played a fun game (Freebie from An Adventure in Literacy) this week.  The kids had fun rolling the big foam number cube!  We played this as a class ~ the student who rolled the number got to pick which word was to be crossed out.  It was not only fun, but great practice reading CVC words!

 Panda Valentine bags.  We had fun decorating our bags to look like pandas.  I think they really turned out cute.  Next year, I have to try to find bigger bags  ~ they were overflowing by the time all the Valentine goodies were passed out!

 We wrote letters to our parents telling them why we love them.  These are so cute!  I'm sure that their parents are going to keep these!  (Old habits die hard ~ the Kinders draw a line through their name with a highlighter on their papers.  Lilah did it out of habit!  I do have to say that since we started highlighting our names, I have had far fewer no name papers!)

 I have to give a shout out to Becca, one of my awesome teaching partners for coming up with this cute idea for our hallway bulletin boards.  Each student got a copy of a blank person to take home & decorate with the help of their parents.  I like these "take home" craft projects ~ it's fun to see what families can do when they work together!

A few other things...

Congratulations to Doreen V.!  She is the lucky winner of the Awesome Prize Package.  And, Thank you to everyone who follows my blog.  I really hope you enjoy getting a peek at my Kindergarten World.

I am having a special sale this weekend!  If you purchase $9.00+ in products from my TpT store, I will send you an item regularly priced up to $3.00 for free!  Email me with this information:  Your TpT user name & the products you purchased that total $9.00+ and the name of the item (regularly priced up to $3.00) & I will send it to you.  My email address is: kindergartendoodles@gmail.com  ***Because I am posting this so late, I will extend this offer to Monday, 2/17/14***

Next weekend I will be a part of a Facebook Free-for-All!  Check out my Facebook page for the link (coming soon!)

I am So Over the Cold!

Really ~ I am very, very tired of being cold!  We had two hour delays yesterday & today because of the extreme cold (wind chills way below zero).  Rumor has it that it may be so cold Monday that school may be cancelled.  It's not certain, but the forecast for northwest Indiana includes highs that don't reach zero.  UGH!  We already have to make up one day from earlier in the month.  What in the world do those of you who live in Alaska or other northern places do?

Well, for now I'm all toastified (granddaughter Isabella's word) at home in flannel PJs (and a scarf), and ready to link up with Doodle Bugs for Five for Friday.

 This week we started working on alphabetical order.  I don't spend a lot of time with this skill ~ but I feel it's an important skill to introduce.  I found this great freebie at Kinder Craze.  I am actually working on a product to help my Kinders to practice this skill, but it's not done yet, so this little freebie was a great find!

 Math Baskets, Tubs & Folders.  In the style of Daily 5, I am trying to incorporate more choice into our Math Block.  We begin our Math Block with group activities and guided practice.  I have set up Math Baskets, Tubs & Folders for early finishers.  By having a variety of activities available my little students are able to choose what they want to do while I work with strugglers and the slower workers.  These activities not only keep them engaged in learning while I'm busy, they offer extra practice on many skills.  Because this particular group of Kinders LOVES write the room, I always try to have clipboards ready for Math Write the Room.

 I am a big proponent of play in kindergarten.  It is soooo important for the littles to be able to engage in imaginative play.  The fact that about one third of my kiddos received tablets for Christmas, and the fact that most of them spend time daily playing video games makes "free play" all the more important!  I know that technology is a huge part of our lives (WHAT would I do without my beloved iPad??).  But, I worry that all that technology is getting in the way of creativity and being able to have fun without batteries. I have a group of Kinders who love to play restaurant in our Dramatic Play Center.  The puppet theater is the counter of their drive through restaurant.  They pull chairs up to it like a car and place their orders.  This week it was the "Brger Pallis!"  I am a frequent patron of their restaurant and am treated to lovely entrees and desserts only a six year old can create!

Snowy pictures.  These actually include a little bit of math ~ we made these as a final lesson on flat shapes.  We do a craft project on Fridays ~ the Kinders Work. So. Hard. all week long I like to give them a creative outlet Friday afternoon.  Last week the kiddos cut shapes and assembled houses onto light blue paper.  Q-Tips & white paint transformed them into Winter Wonderlands!  A great companion book for this project is Snow by Uri Shulevitz.

Finally, don't miss the Facebook Free-for-All!  Beginning tomorrow you will be able to grab some great freebies!  These products are normally paid items, but for this weekend they are FREE!  I am offering my Dr. Seuss - er Sss - inspired Nonsense Word Sort set.  This is one of my most popular products, so I thought lots people would like to get it for free!  Click HERE to get started at my Facebook page.  Like my page, and get my freebie (my link is working already, some won't be available until tomorrow morning).  From my page you will be able to click to the main page where you will find freebies for all grade levels.  But, don't wait ~ the freebies won't last!  On Monday the products will revert to paid items.

And, while you are hopping around the internet, please check out my Teachers pay Teachers store.  This weekend I have my Hoot for Place Value for half off!  (Several other items are on sale, too!)

Have a great weekend & stay warm!