Take a Peek into my Kindergarten World: A few tips and a little pick me up!

Wow!  I can't believe we have been in school for 19 days!

I have to tell you I LOVE my job!  My kinders have stolen my heart!

So here are a few randoms:

Organization:

How do you plan and organize for the week?

Two years ago we had the chance to try out an online plan book.  

I tried Planbook Edu

I love it!

https://planbookedu.com/pages/about-us

My Administration pays for the program, but if they didn't it would

be worth the annual fee!

With our new evaluation process we have to have our standards posted in our weekly plans. 

With this program you get to pick out the specific standards you need for your grade and state. 

When including standards you don't have to type in the entire standard.
You just type in a few keywords and it does

 the searching for you.  Once you find the standard you can add it to your plans. 

There is also a standard section that has all of the standards.  It shows you how many time you have used each specific standard and what standards that you have yet to use.  

You can personalize your plans.  Not only do you choose your standards, you can choose how many periods in your day, pick the rotation (can be weekly,  A/B days,  or many other options).  You can add attachments and share your plans electronically with administrators or colleagues.

Once I have made plans the new age way using technology
I work on organization the old school way.
This is simple but effective.  

I have two of these stackable drawer sets.  I stay late Friday night getting everything ready for the following week.  I make all of my copies and organize them by day.  At the beginning of every day I pull out the correct drawer and everything I need is right there.  If you are a "to do" list maker this would be perfect for you.  There is nothing better than finishing the day when you have succeeded and the drawer is empty! 

SUCCESS!

My lonely car in the parking lot on a Friday night!

Kindergarten Teacher Tip:

Have parents send in 2 binders for their child. 

They can be 1/2 - 1 inch. 

Label each binder with the students name.  Keep a collection of their work throughout the year.

Give it to parents at the end of the year celebration.  Parents will love seeing the progression that 

their child has made.

What I include in the first binder:

Weekly poems 

(I send home weekly poems for weekly reading assignments.)

The students return them once they can "read" them. 

I keep a collection of those.  

Classroom Work

including:

Reader's Responses

Daily work

Writing pages

I also include these monthly pages

I found them on TPT

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/This-is-Me-Writing-Freebie-278991

Giving a shout out to 

I use the 2nd Binder for my Writer's Workshop!

I will post more about that soon!

So now for the Pick Me Up!

The principal at my school has filled all of our staff bathrooms (we have 6) 

with Bath & Body Works Soaps!

Although it's something little it make a big difference!  

It's the little things!

So if you want to make life a little brighter for your staff try a specialty hand soap!

Another fun little bathroom pick me up...

A thought on the pot!

Seems kind of funny, but it really did make my day!

In September we learn about apples.  Keep an eye out for my post on apple activities!

All you need is love...

When you get down and dirty... (or maybe just messy) what exactly is kindergarten?  

As I was drinking my coffee this morning I pondered over this question.

Of course there is the obvious:

EXHAUSTING!!!!!

But there is SO much more and it all can be based on love. 

Kindergarteners are full of SO much love!

A love for learning

A love for friendships

A love for making you proud

A love for playing

A love for exploring

A love for investigating

A love for laughter and giggles

A love for movement

A love for each other

A love for just being them

An unexplainable excitement and love for everything they do!

As I drink my coffee out of one of my favorite cups I was reminded of love!

This is one of my all time favorite Bible versus.
1 Corinthians 13

This is what we strive to teach every kindergartener that walks through our doors.
We lead by example...It all starts with a smile, maybe a hug, and a little love!

Directed Drawing...what's the point?!?!

So I have heard about directed drawings multiply times.  

First when I was lucky enough to hear Deanna Jump speak at a

Kindergarten Conference she talked about directed drawings.  She uses these in lots of her units.  Here is one of her blogs about directed drawings.

Deanna Jump - Directed Drawings

 I also saw a post by Katie from Little Warriors.  

Little Warriors - Directed Drawings

Katie gives lots of great reasons to use directed drawings but still...

I wasn't sold!?!?!?

I never understood the idea of directed drawings until this year.  

During my Writer's Workshop time I realized the importance of directed drawings.  

During my Writer's Workshop time I use the wisdom of both Deanna Jump and Kristina Smekens.  

I adapt their wisdom to the needs of my students to help me grow as a writing teacher 

and to help them grow as writer's.   

I always start out by explaining to my students that they can be writers by drawing pictures.  

We discuss how cavemen used to write by drawing on cave walls.  They told stories through their pictures.  We discuss how Native Americans also told stories through their pictures.  

I then drew a picture without talking and had the students tell me the story that I was drawing.  

(my drawing...I am obviously not an art major)

They managed to tell me the entire story.

I then sent them off to draw on their own.

This is from the second week of school.  

Their first try at telling a story through pictures.

I then taught another mini lesson.  

The different way that writer's write.

I then sent them off to tell a story by drawing again.  

After seeing their drawings I realized that directed drawings might be helpful.  

So I checked out Katie's Little Warriors blog on directed drawings again, and decided to give it a try.  

So I taught my students how to draw a person.  

I started by showing the students where to draw on their paper. 

After each direction I had my students hold up their pencil.  

We did this step by step.  

First we drew a circle

(held up pencil)

Drew lines for neck

(held up pencil)

Finished using this process step by step using shapes and lines. 

Not only did this help the students with drawing, 

it helped them with following directions.

After they had the base (outline) of a person I told them that this 

is where they had the opportunity to personalize the person. 

Make it their own.  

Add their own hair color, add detail to their clothing, 

add eye color, etc.

So here are the before and afters of directed drawing:

There are two different drawings, 

the first two are from one student and the second two are from one student.

Student 1

Student 2

                           

Wow!  I was AMAZED!  

Their drawing was impressive.

They also did a great job following directions.

Not only did they learn how to draw a person and follow directions; 

they became confident!  Confident as writer's!

Ultimately that is what we all want... confident students.

Students who are confident in their abilities.  

My next lesson will be how to draw settings.  

(Houses, trees, sun, clouds, etc.)

Hopefully you are now sold - give it a try!

To check out more Deanna Jump go to @MrsJumpsClass

And for more of Little Warriors go to @littlekinderwarriors

Remind

This year I am trying something new in my class and I LOVE it!  

It is easy and useful and better yet...it's free!

It is the Remind app.  

If you haven't used it you should, and if you already use it you know haw AMAZING it is!!!

This app is a great app that lets you remind parents of different events, 

homework, or share pictures through texts.  

You can text your entire class at once.  You don't need to know cell phone numbers and

they don't know yours.  

I don't know about you... but there have been nights at home that I realize that I forget to tell the class something or that I forgot to send a reminder home.  

Time to get up and write an email.  Lets face it...sometimes you are all cozy and comfy in your warm bed and you don't want to get up.  

No problem...

grab your phone click on the app, find your class, and send out the reminder.  

Example:  Picture day is tomorrow.  

No fuss...done!

The best part is how user friendly this app is.  

Download the app, sign up (free), pick a class name and voila!

Once you do that you will get a form that looks like this.  

You can print it and give to parents or send it to your parents digitally.

All they have to do is enter this number (81010) as a text message

and then text the message that appears and that's it.  

Did I say that I LOVE this!

Super easy!

 It literally takes no time to set up and when I need to send something it 

takes as long as it takes to send a text!

Check it out and let me know what you think!

Red Week

In kindergarten, we have color weeks.  This past week was red week.  

Throughout each week we focus on a specific color.  After the end of all the color weeks we tie dye!  I know I have blogged about this before but this time I have pictures of the what I do.  

Here is the weekly plan:

Monday

Introduce the color of the week.

Brainstorm on an anchor chart items that are red.

Sing the color song.

Click here to buy the cd

                                                                  

Tuesday

Do color word page

(link below to purchase the color pages)

Read a book that includes the color red. 

I read Clifford.

Wednesday & Thursday

Sing the color song everyday during calendar. 

Friday

Have students bring in a "red" show and tell and wear red.

During circle time we go around the circle.  

Each student tells the class what they brought in a complete sentence.  

This is a great way to practice speaking and listening skills.

My good friend, Allison Smiley, sporting our red!

We are the teacher of ALL things!

Here is a link to purchase my color pages.  

Check it out!

color pages

Please follow my blog!

Just click on the follow by email button on the right!

Getting Crafty

Here it is... my first time spray painting furniture!

So I inherited lots of great items in my classroom eight years ago when I 

took over for the previous teacher who was in the room before me.  

This is one of them.

This is a nice basic stool.  Although it is a little wobbly and green! 

There is nothing wrong with the green but it just doesn't match my theme.

What I wanted was a red and white bench with a Dr. Seuss blue top 

(you know what color I am talking about).  Well when I shared the idea with my husband he 

said that it might look more American Flag than Dr. Seuss.  I agreed so I went with red.

First step:

I sanded.

I didn't sand too much, just the parts that were glossy.  

  I am not the neatest sander!

Next, I taped off the edges and was ready to paint.
I am sure watching me use a can of spray paint (for the 1st time)was entertaining.
My mom, dad, and husband were all there to enjoy the entertainment.

Here is a picture mid process.
I will admit I was WORRIED!!!

UGLY!!!

After 2 can of spray paint and a few days to dry ...

Ta DA!!!  It looks AMAZING!
I must admit I felt pretty accomplished!
Now it is red and NOT wobbly!
(It was missing a screw!)

Look out! Now that I know how to use a can of spray paint I might be dangerous!  :)
Hmmm....what else can I paint?

The First Week

The First week of Kindergarten is cRaZy and it never goes as planned!
I did manage to get through 3 of my favorite books last week.

Pretty impressive!

So here they are and the activities I did for each. 

First book was Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate.

                                                                     

After reading this book we talked about what we did to get ready for kindergarten.  

I made a list on the board of what each student did.

We then did a readers response.  

The students drew a picture and I wrote what they did .  

I then made this into our first class book.  

We also read the book David Goes to School by David Shannon.

                                                                     

I created an anchor chart with a picture of David in the middle.  

As a class we came up with rules that we should follow (rules that David should have followed). 

I keep this anchor chart up throughout the year.  

The other book that we read the first week was The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn.

                                                                         

We did a reader's response page and a retelling page.  On the retelling page I traced the students hand in the middle and then we glued on Hershey kiss.  The students took this home and retold the story of the Kissing Hand.  

For different name activities and Reader's Responses for the beginning of the year 

check out my TPT Product:

On Sale NOW! (For 2 Days only)

This set includes Reader's Responses, Bus activities, and lots of name ideas!

This week I will be focusing on names and Nursery Rhymes. 

I will blog about that this week.  

Don't forget to check out the 180 Days of Flair link!

A Few Beginning of the Year Pointers

Next week is the second week of school.

I must admit I forgot how exhausting the first week of school is. 

I planned lots of activities but managed to get to a very few of them.  

That is fine, typical of the first week of kindergarten!
I focused a lot on procedures and rules.

Here are a few pointers for classroom organization and classroom management.

Tip #1

When I first started teaching kindergarten I had classroom jobs.  Lots of classroom jobs.
If it needed to be done it became a classroom job!
Well...that was a mess!?!?!?!?
I had so many other things to do I couldn't keep up!
Classroom jobs became a job in itself!  HAHA!

My answer...
 I still have classroom jobs but only 2.
1 boy and 1 girl.
Whatever is needed to be done they get to do it.
They are line leaders, they get to lead the calendar songs, they get to collect stations cards,
they get to help me with anything I need.

I change the names every day at calendar time.  I just flip the card and viola!

Tip #2

Calling on students.  

I remember my first year teaching my principal observed my class and 

asked how I decided who to call on.  At the time I had not really thought about it.

I called on the students who were raising their hands.
I tried to call on a girl and then a boy to make sure I was keeping that even.  

Since then I have a new plan.  

I use popsicle sticks.  

I write each students name on a popsicle stick and put the sticks in the "pick me" bucket.

During calendar time I pull out a stick and have that student do the task at hand.  

That way every child gets a chance.  

I put the stick in the "done" bucket until everyone has a chance and then I start over.  

Another great way to pick your students is with this great app.

Stick Pick

This is like a virtual popsicle stick "picker"!

But it does SO much more:

Differentiated Instruction

Track Formative Assessment Data

Support Common Core Standards

Actively use Blooms Taxonomy in your classroom

(Great for those Teacher Evaluations)

Check out this app here!

  

Tip #3

Mystery Students are great for Classroom Management. 

I use mystery students throughout the day.
During whole class teaching, calendar, lunch, and when we have special visitors.

I write each students name on a popsicle stick.
I draw out one popsicle stick before whatever activity we are doing.
I don't tell the students who the mystery student is.  Depending on the activity I wait until the activity is completed.  For instance, during calendar time I will pick a mystery student before we start.
Once calendar time is over I reveal the mystery student.
If that particular student made good choices then I will let the class know who it was.
That student will receive a gold star (school wide incentive) or possibly a behavior buck.
If the mystery student was not making good choices I don't tell the class who it was and let them know that they will have a chance when everyone's stick has been drawn.

As I draw a mystery student I put the stick in the done bucket even if the student didn't make good choices.  Once all the names are in the done bucket I start over.

Tip #4

Popcorn words (sight words)

I can't say I came up with this because I didn't.

 I had an AMAZING student teacher who used this little song when introducing popcorn words.  

I am not sure where it cam from so if you created this song please let me know.

I took the song and typed it out and we do this for every popcorn word.  

We sing and clap, tap (knees), clap, tap, clap , tap...

The kiddos LOVE it!

At the beginning of the next week we take the previous words and hang them on the word wall.  

We look at the first letter and hang it where it should go. 

Tip #5

My Bravo Board
This is a group incentive that focuses on positive behavior.
I have four student tables yellow, green, blue, and red.

As the tables work to gather as a group they earn bravo points.
(Work quietly, work as a team, line up quietly, work hard, etc..)

Once they reach 10 tallies they earn a behavior buck and then we start over.

Tip #6

Lunch Choices

At our school we have lots of lunch options.  

For kindergarteners, that can make choosing lunch a challenge.

They can choose from a sandwich, salad, yogurt entree, hot lunch, PBJ, or they can bring their lunch. 

I am a very visual person so I made these little lunch card buckets.  

The kiddos pick what they want for lunch and put their card in the corresponding bucket.  

                              

                                                  

Tip #7

Terrific Work

In my classroom I have a terrific work board.  I put student work on this board throughout the week.

At the end of the week the students gets their name called and gets a special sticker.

This is great for encouraging students to do their best. 

The level of terrific work is different for each student.  It is their personal best.

What is terrific for one student may not be considered terrific for another.  

I always tell my students, "It doesn't have to be perfect...you just have to do your best!"

I hope you can use some of these pointers in you classroom.  

TGIF!

Yeah right!  I am a teacher...an exhausted teacher.

It is more like this.

I did it!  I finished the first week of kindergarten!

I have been contemplating if it is TOO early to go to sleep (since 6:30) haha!

So tonight I am going to share a few ideas from my classroom.  

I bought these cute baskets at the Target Dollar Days for $1.  I added a binder clip and labeled 

them.  Voila!  Instant organization.

      

I have them for:

to do, collect, grade, return.

For back to school night I print off a page with QR codes for 

my classroom twitter page, my school website, and my email. 

Once my parents scan the QR code they can save the link 

and they will have all of my classroom info.

The QR Codes are covered with erasers but you get the point.  

I give one of these to each parent and have a copy hanging outside of my door.  

I use Kaywa Qr code creator.

https://qrcode.kaywa.com

You can create QR codes for free.  All you need is a web address.  Just sign up and start creating.  

You can create as many static QR codes as you want for free.  

The main difference between static and dynamic  (that I can find) is that the website will

note save your static QR codes.  In order to save your static QR codes 

you can just copy and paste the code into a word document.  

I am hoping not be so exhausted next week!