Let it Snow!

Well...maybe not.  We have had very little snow this winter - really nothing more than a dusting (and I'm not too upset about it - snow pants, boots, etc. UGH!).  But, it's only January!  This week we have read several snow themed books, and have done a number of "snowy" crafts.  Here are some pictures of the snow storm inside our Kinder classroom.

Snow globes!  The kids designed their own snowmen.  I think they turned out really cute.

Our hallway bulletin board.  I left the Christmas lights on for added sparkle.  We made the snowflakes today - it really did look as if a snow storm had hit our room!  I set the timer for five minutes and told them to start shoveling!  I did not want our custodian to walk in and find that mess.  (The room looked pretty good when we left!)

A snowman should not...  We read Sneezy the Snowman and then did this fun project from Deanna Jump's cute TpT activity set.

These cute snowmen are also from Deanna Jump's cute TpT activity set.

In this activity, students spin to complete a graph.  Whichever hat gets the most spins "wins," and a sun or snowflake determines whether or not Sneezy is frosty or melted.  I projected the spinner onto my white board and used a magnetic spinner for a whole class activity.  My daughter, also a kindergarten teacher, had her Kinders work in small groups - which resulted in some melty & some frosty snowmen.  Either way, the kids loved this activity!

New Teachers pay Teachers Products

Here are two new items in my Tpt store.  I hope you like them!

 Students can build word family words on this cute cupcake work mat using the large cupcakes.  Small cupcakes featuring words can be used to sort by word family with this fun Word Family Cupcake Literacy Center

Cut the cards apart to make a matching game to practice numbers to 20.  Large ten frame cards and snowflake counters are included in my Snowman Ten Frames set.

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!

Freebie Linky

I've linked up with Teaching Blog Addict for this Freebie Linky.

Book Giveaway

Here is my first Giveaway!  I will give a signed copy of my daughter Emily's book Reaper to one lucky follower using Rafflecopter (I hope I did it correctly!).

Reaper is Emily's second book in her Guardian Legacies Series.

REAPER: Book two in The Guardian Legacies

After discovering her destiny as a witch, Anora is on a mission to find out everything she can about the magical world. Unbeknownst to her, the creatures of that world are trying to find out everything they can about her…and the people closest to her.

With Ethan and Hunter to protect her, Anora feels safe and happy with her new life. That is, until she begins to be plagued with terrifying visions that only she can see, leaving her full of fear and doubt. What if the hallucinations are real? What if there is something dark out there that can attack her from within?

If Anora can’t even trust herself, who can she turn to?

www.facebook.com/theguardianlegacies

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Wrapping Up 2012

All of my gifts are wrapped, most of my cookies are baked, and school is out for Christmas break.  It's hard to believe that we are already here - Christmas Eve Eve!  We had a fun class party - planned by my awesome Room Moms.  The kids enjoyed making a craft, playing games, and eating a yummy snack.

This year our school is participating in an number of philanthropic opportunities.  One is Heifer International Read to Feed.  Out  PTO has secured donations to purchase animals for this program: one dollar per book read.  So far, my Kinders have "donated" a trio of rabbits (60 books), a flock of chicks (20 books), and are well on the way to donate a goat (120 books).  Of course, in kindergarten these are read aloud books.  Because of the crazy nature of last week, we spent more time reading than we usually have time to do.  As of Friday, 12/21, my class total is 182 books read aloud in class since the beginning of the school year!  We have an envelope of "dollars" - after a book is read, one is transferred to our collection folder.  Periodically we would take them out and count them.  This past week we counted them, and I wrote the total on a sticky note.  Each time we read one, we got to practice "adding one" and changed the number on the sticky note. The kids loved doing addition with such big numbers!

Here are some Learning Stations we did in the past few weeks.

Addition activity.  Students used this "Instant Center" from Lakeshore Learning to practice addition skills.  A page from Teacher's Helper (not pictured) was used to give additional practice.  

                                              

Counting and reading number words activity from The Mailbox.  Students cut apart the cards and matched the correct cookie jar pictures with the number words.  Mrs. S. helped them do this station.  Now that everyone has done this activity, I plan to copy the cards onto card stock and place it in a Skill Tub for independent practice.

Write the Room.  We studied the letter F last week.  When describing what to do in this station, I had to be sure to tell them to look for words beginning with f, not to look for f-words! 

Sight Word Memory & practice page from Teacher's Helper.

Christmas Ornament  The kids drew a Christmas picture and wrote a sentence (or two) about it.  The word list is from an older issue of The Mailbox.

CVC Spelling.  This great activity is from Of Primary Importance.

Color by Sight Word.  One of my wonderful teaching partners found this on Pinterest.  There are no "identifying labels."  Is it yours?  If so, let me know so I can give you credit.

 Foam ten frames to make numbers to twenty.

 Here are some crafts we did this month.

Kinders love to make crafts - especially when they are gifts for their parents!  They sponge painted these little tree cut outs (from Michaels), affixed a small photo, and went to town with sequins & glitter.  The bags in the background are gift bags made from lunch bags and sequined trees. 

The tree theme was continued in the cards they made for their parents.  I'm sure not too many of these gifts are under any trees - they were so excited to give them to their parents!

Gingerbread Babies dance around our hallway bulletin board.  I made the gingerbread house a few years ago after reading Jan Brett's Gingerbread Baby.

Snowman Word Family Chart.  I made this little snowbuddy to help my Kinders read word family words.  I figure it will take us through January, etc.

Under the Tree.  The kids had fun making numbers to twenty on this page (get it here).  We used linking cubes for the "gifts" before coloring in the ten frames.

I hope that you all have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Leibster Award

 

Yay!  I've been nominated *twice* for an award!   

Thanks to Angie over at Making The Basics Fun and Linda at Kindergarten and Mooneyisms for the nominations!

 

The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers who have less than 200 followers. It’s to show that new bloggers are appreciated and help spread the word about our little pieces of cyberspace.

Here are the rules:

1. You must post 11 random things about yourself.

2. Answer the questions that the nominator set for you.

3. Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.

4. Choose 11 other blogs with fewer than 200 followers to nominate and link them in your post.

5. You cannot “tag back” the other blog, but leave a comment on this post with the URL of your Liebster post so I can learn more about you & see who you nominate.

Eleven Random Things About Me:

1.   I taught preschool for 12 years before joining my current elementary school.
2.   I love Mexican food - I could eat the salsa at my favorite restaurant with a spoon (who needs chips?).
3.   I am currently reading Reaper one of the five books my daughter, Emily Goodwin, has written.
4.   I  have four brothers, two sisters, 13 nieces & nephews, and 17 great nieces & nephews.
5.   I have 24 skirts, 40 cardigans, and over 30 pairs of shoes.
6.   I might be a bit of a shop-a-holic
7.   I went to Purdue University.  Boiler Up!
8.   I'm a "Gleek" - I never miss an episode of Glee.
9.   I recently watched a Christmas episode of The Brady Bunch.
10. I know how to sew and crochet and have entered things in our county fair.
11.  I do not like gardening - waaaay too much dirt!

Angie's Questions:

1.  Who was your favorite teacher growing up?

Mrs. Rositer (spelling??)  She was very kind and grandmotherly.

2.  If you could trade places with one person for a day who would it be?

Hmmm... Someone who can sing or dance.  I'd love to do either one *well* for a day.

3. What is your favorite condiment? 

Hummus

4.  If you could yell anything from the mountain top what would it be?

My family ROCKS!

5. Share one of your blogging goals for the new year.

I would like to keep up with my posts & do a give away of one of the books my daughter wrote.

6.  What is a favorite educational app, youtube video or web resource?

I get tons of great ideas from Pinterest!

7.  Salt or sugar?  What do you crave?

Sugar - yum

8.  Favorite Holiday Tradition?

I LOVE Christmas!  We put up about 8 - 9 trees and lots of lights!

9.  Camp, Cruise or Road trip?  What kind of vacation would you pick?

I'd love to go on a road trip to somewhere warm.

10. What is your favorite classroom tool?

I use my Elmo all day long.  I also don't know what I'd do without my mushroom containers from Aldi.  They are the perfect size for doling out materials and corralling small objects.  (And, they are seen in many of my blog pictures!)

11.  Who would you like to say "Thank You" to?

My husband for his love and support, my beautiful daughters for their kindness and the beauty they have brought into my life, and to my wonderful Kindergarten teammates for the ideas, fun & laughter we share.

Linda's Questions:

1. Do you stay at school to work, or do you take the work home?

 Both... I like to get everything ready before leaving at the end of the day, but do bring home papers and planning to do at home in front of the TV with my Chihuahua Macie on my lap.
2. Pie or cake?

Cake for sure!
3. What is the best part about being a teacher?

Seeing the ah ha moments.  It is so gratifying to watch the little ones learn and grow.
4. What is the not-so-good part about being a teacher?

The RISE document
5. If you could have one wish for your classroom, what would it be?

I have a wonderful classroom in a newer addition to our school  It is far away from specials, so I guess I wish it was a little closer to things.
6. What 3 things do you want every child to know before they leave your classroom to advance to the next grade level?

I hope they have a strong desire to learn, are able to read all of our sight words & be able to use strategies to figure out many other words, and have a solid understanding of numbers to 20.
7. Do you play music in the classroom during the school day?

On the CD player.  We sing (and dance) everyday.
8. What do you do when the weather prohibits going outside for recess?

Students either play in the gym or cafeteria.
9. Do you have a special "tip" that you pass along to substitute teachers?

Jot down notes on how the day went.  
10. Classroom aide or no aide?

Each grade level has a shared aide.
11. If a college student asked you if they should pursue a teaching degree, what would you tell them?

Go for it!  I know teaching is hard - especially with all of the new competency requirements - but I don't like when I hear kids being told to pick something else.  I was thrilled when my oldest daughter went into teaching.  We are now both kindergarten teachers!  

The SUPER blogs I am nominating!  Be sure to visit them, and say Kinder Doodles sent you. 

Flights of Whimsy

Not Just a Teacher

Kindergarten Faith

Mrs. Perea's Kinder Eagles

Gracehopper Learning 

Coloring Outside the Lines

Mrs.Kazanjian's Kindergarten

Kindergarten Nightowls

Over the Moonbow

Mrs. Unger's Unbelievable Elementary Experiences
Learning Adventures

My questions for these lovely bloggers:

1.   Why did you go into education?
2.   Do you have a late-start PLC/Collaboration  day?
3.   What is your favorite subject to teach?
4.   What tip would you give a new teacher?
5.  What inspires you?
6.   What do you do to relax?
7.   What is your favorite thing to wear while teaching?
8.   Do you have a Pinterest board?
9.   What is your favorite way to use technology in your classroom?
10.  How many teachers are in your family?
11.  What is the first thing you do with your students (after attendance, etc.) each day?