We've Been Seussed

Dr. Seuss week is one of my FAVORITES!!!!  Actually I love it SO much I do  Dr. Seuss for 2 weeks in my classroom!  I love Dr. Seuss, theme days, kindergarten, crafts, and everything FUN!  

I try to pick my theme days to go along with the books and activities that I do each day.

On Monday we all wear hats in honor of the Cat in the Hat.

We do rhyming activities and write about what we would do if the Cat in the Hat came to our house.

We also made super cute Wockets in Pockets.

On Tuesday we made Thing 1 and Thing 2 headbands, made a craft, and wrote about what we would say to Thing 1 and 2 if they messed up our house!   

We are crazy things!  

On Wednesday we read Wacky Wednesday and dressed completely wacky (crazy and mismatched)!  

This is the day I decided to try out alternative seating and guess what in spite of the craziness they were amazing. 

We also did a writing activity about Wacky Wednesday.  They turned out so cute!  

 

Crazy mismatched clothes with my teaching bestie! 

(Not sure where I received the original, if this is yours let me know so I can give you credit!)

On Thursday we wore CrAzY socks for Fox in Socks!
We decorated our own paper socks.


On Friday we wore green for Bartholomew and the Green Oobleck.
We made Oobleck, made an anchor chart, did some writing and had fun exploring Oobleck!


Love this freebie that I got from Mrs. Ricca's Kindergarten.

http://mrsriccaskindergarten.blogspot.com/2012/03/happy-birthday-dr-seuss.html

                 

   

                    

The following Monday we all wore our favorite color.   After reading My Many Colored Days by Dr Seuss wrote about how certain colors make us feel.

On Tuesday we wore Yellow for the Sneetches.
After reading the book about the Sneetches we made an anchor chart and created our own versions of  a Sneetch.  A heart-bellied Sneetch.

I got the craft idea from The Schroeder Page.
http://www.schroederpage.blogspot.com/2012/02/day-of-sneetches-2-dr-seuss-freebies.html

Look how cute these turned out!  

On Wednesday we celebrated the birthday of the AMAZING Dr. Seuss!  I brought party hats and we made a Dr. Seuss birthday cake craft!

Birthday Goodie Bags for my kiddos!
Love Target Dollar Spot for the Dr. Seuss goodies!

On Thursday we had a second hat day for Bartholomew Cubbins and the 500 Hats.
We also used this cute app.

 Dr. Seuss Camera

I took these cute pictures and had my students write their favorite Dr. Seuss book on speech bubbles.

                              

On Friday, last but not least, we dressed as our favorite characters and had Green Eggs & Ham.

                  

 

Our last day of themes!   Cat and the Hat and the Teacher of Things! 

Here is a collage of all of my little characters!  

How cute are they!  

Like I said I love Dr. Seuss!  I am already looking forward to next year.
One activity I did save for next month is the Lorax!  I can't wait to celebrate Earth Day with Dr. Seuss!

Dr. Seuss and his books are all copyrighted.  I do not take any credit for his books or products.  I am just thankful that he wrote so many amazing books for me to use in my classroom.

Alternative Seating before Donor's Choose Post 3

If you have read my previous posts you know that I decided to think out of the box or as one of my donor's stated "out of the chair" and try out alternative seating.  I knew I wanted to try this out 

in my classroom but had no idea where I would get the funding.  Fast Forward ahead...I did get the funding, but this post is how I made alternative seating work before I knew I was getting money for my project.  

Why Alternative Seating?

I was researching Writer'sWorkshop in my classroom and one particular line stood out.  Basically it said that students could sit anywhere to write.  Hmm?  Sit anywhere?

I started to think about my students, my constant nagging, their wiggles, and plastic chairs.  My classroom was a typical, traditional kindergarten classroom - tables, plastic chairs, and seat sacks.  In the back of my mind I heard the echo ..."criss cross applesauce, sit on your pockets, four on the floor", you know the basics.  I have always thought that I incorporated a lot of movement into my classroom but then I looked at those little plastic chairs and my wheels started turning.  As a teacher I hardly ever sit down (teachers out there know what I am talking about), we very rarely sit down.   This reminds me of a hilarious meme so I have to share. 

Okay so back on track...

I was considering how often that I sit and then I considered how often that I expect my students to sit and wow - they are sitting A LOT!  That needed to change.  

First step:

Let my students try it out.  I gave them options.  They could sit at a table, sit on the floor, lay on the floor, stand, or sit at a traditional desk.  It was their choice.   We talked about why we were doing this.  

I explained to them that we all learn differently.  I told them that sometimes when I read at home I lay on my belly or sit on the floor.  When I work on my computer I sit on the couch or at the kitchen table.  That is how I work best.

I told them that I was going to let them try out free seating today when we had class work.  I explained to my students that they needed to find out what worked best for them.  The best way for them to figure it out was to try out different options until they found out what worked best for them.

Check out my last blog to see what they choose and a video of my students trying it out for the first time.

http://littlesmilesbigsunshine.blogspot.com/2016/03/from-idea-to-practice-alternative.html


The one thing that I noticed was that most of my students chose alternative seating.  I only had a few students who choose traditional chair at a table seating.

The first day was such a success I decided to take it a step further.  I got rid of a table, six chairs, and 6 seat sacks.  One of the things that I noticed from day one is that we needed more floor space.

Voila'!  Take out a table and instantly we have more floor space!
I also talked to my AMAZING custodian, Miss Sherry,  (LOVE her), and she helped me lower a table.  This table is perfect for students who like to kneel, or sit on the carpet but still have a table.

I also have 2 desks in my classroom.  I have a few students who choose to sit at a desk.   Each chair at the desk has a bouncy band.  This works great to help kiddos wiggle while still sitting in a traditional chair.


Once again...I found success and took it a little further.
With each change my students became more engaged and began to find what worked best for each of them.

Their was on thing holding me back - seat sacks.  I would have gotten rid of most of my chairs but I needed a place to store supplies.  I decided to borrow bins from home and had a place for each students work.  


I took another one of my tables, called the AMAZING Miss Sherry, and had it raised.  This now is the standing table.  As you can see my students use this table to stand while they work or while doing iPads.  This works great because my students can work while releasing energy.

So with a few changes, I managed to change my classroom to alternative seating by getting rid of chairs, tables, and seat sacks.  I adjusted a few tables and my class was ready to go!

Here are just a few more pics of my class as they are engaged and enjoying alternative seating.

 

Keep following to learn about alternative seating guidelines, my Donor's Choose arrivals, my total classroom transformation, how I do literacy stations and whole class teaching with alternative seating. 

From Idea to Practice - Alternative Seating Post 2

So after researching and reading lots of blogs!  I was so excited!  I don't know if I am the only one like this but when I get excited about something I can hardly wait!  This was no different!  I wanted to do this for my class!  I had to make it happen.  

Problem #1 - Funding

I decided to work on that for a few days.  Ultimately I decided to give Donor's Choose a try!  If you haven't tried out Donor's Choose it is an AMAZING organization just for teachers!  

You can check out the website here:

http://www.donorschoose.org

Some of you may have heard of the movement #bestschoolday

This created lots of flash funding for teachers all over the United States.

Wow! 

I don't know about you but this gives me the chills!  

Solution - Apply for Donor's Choose

Here is a link to my Donor's Choose Project

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/alternative-seating-for-a-cutting-edge-c/1899252/?rf=link-siteshare-2016-03-teacher-teacher_3483534

When creating a Donor's Choose project you need to send out permission slips to get permission to use your students photos for the project.  I decided to attach a letter with the permission slip explaining to parents what my vision was.  I included links to the research I found and shared my idea of starting a donor's choose project.

The response from parents was great!  The were on board!  Having the support from my administrators and parents made all of the difference!  

Here is a picture of the letter

Waiting is the hardest part! 

Not knowing how long the process would take (remember...I get too excited to wait)!  I decided to give it a try with what I had in my classroom!  

Give it a try!

Let me preface this by saying I have an amazing kindergarten assistant who goes along with any crazy idea that I have!  So one morning as we were sitting down for calendar, after I did the whole criss cross applesauce, hands to your self, lips zipped jingle, I thought ... drum roll please!  

TODAY IS THE DAY!  

I told my students to look around and if they were sitting by anyone that may distract them or keep them from making good choices they should move.  I explained to them that it was okay if they moved away from a friend because the were making responsible choices and I also reassured them that it didn't mean they weren't still friends.  

I explained to them that this was very important especially today because we were going to do something new.  We were going to try out something called free seating.  I told them that meant they could sit or stand anywhere in the room that they wanted but there were a few guidelines.  

I shared with them the guidelines.  

(Jotted them down on chart paper)

Now you may be thinking...wow...this teacher has it all together!  What a master plan she has!

SO NOT TRUE!

Sometimes you just go with what feels right and like I said that morning I decided 

TODAY WAS THE DAY!  

So all of this amazement was spur of the moment and I just went with it and you know what so did my kiddos!  

Here were the guidelines 

(notice they aren't rules - rules can be such a drag! HAHA! )

Take your supplies with you

spread out 

working not talking

you can lie on your tummies not on your backs

sit or stand & stick

Here are a few pictures of the choices my students made.

Love the variety of choices that my students made!

At this time I still had classroom tables and chairs so I called one table at a time to find a spot.  

WOW!  I can't even describe how AWESOME it was!  You wouldn't believe me if I told you so I thought I would just let you see for yourself!  

The students are working on a writing prompt in the video.  We read the book Wacky Wednesday and my students were asked to write and draw something that could happen on a Wacky Wednesday.

My students worked like this for 20 minutes!  I couldn't believe it!!!  

This was three weeks ago and every day I am still truly amazed!  

Here is a little something to think about!

This fully supports why I decided to try out alternative seating.

Stay tuned to find out what I asked for, what alternative seating means and looks like in my classroom, and how I modified my classroom without spending money or using Donor's Choose!  

Alternative Seating in a Cutting Edge Classroom

I must admit when I get an idea I tend to go full force.  

This is going to be the first of a collection of blogs about my journey.  

My journey from a mere idea to alternative seating fully implemented in my kindergarten classroom.

Let me start by sharing with you exactly what alternative seating is.  

Alternative Seating - allowing students choice and movement in their seating options.   

As a kindergarten teacher I found myself constantly repeating "sit on your pockets, stop leaning back in your chair, sit criss cross apple sauce."

I had a number of phrases or sayings:

sit and stick

stay in your space bubble

four on the floor

My all time favorite:

(repeated at the beginning of carpet time)

"When we are on the carpet...

our eyes are watching, 

our ears are listening, 

our lips are zipped, 

our hands and feet are still and quiet, 

spoons in the air

(wave hands and arms in the air)

spoons in your bowls 

(hands in lap).

I am sure you can all relate!  

These usually lasted for about 10 minutes and then they started getting antsy.  

I began to imagine a day without nagging, a day without repeating the same directions.

How nice would that be?   But was it even possible?

That is when I decided to look for a different type of classroom seating.  Seating that worked best for my students.   I came across a few different blogs.  

A few that stood out to me:

Kindergarten Smorgasboard

Kindergarten Smorgasboard - Classroom Reveal
Thanks @kindersmorgie for the inspiration

Create-abilities

So on my search I very quickly realized that this was something that I wanted to do!

But at this point I didn't know where to turn.  

There were a few things that I knew that I had to have:

funding

choices

research

and believers. 

Needless to say I lucked out...I had a passion and I knew what I wanted for my students!  

Stay tuned to see how I put my idea into motion.  

How I transformed this somewhat traditional classroom into one that is best for my students! 

Brag Tags...taking it to the next level!

So many exciting things happening in my classroom I don't know where to begin.  

As many of you know I started using Brag Tags a few weeks ago.

The results have been AMAZING!

Here is the link to that blog post in case you want to check it out.  

http://littlesmilesbigsunshine.blogspot.com/2016/02/brag-tags-and-little-bragging-about-why.html

I originally learned about Brag Tags from Lucky Little Learners

http://www.luckylittlelearners.com/2015/07/brag-tags.html

So here is how I use them in my class:

Where I store my tags

Brag Tags displayed in my classroom

I don't have a set amount of brag tags I give out each day...I just give them out.

If kiddos are doing good things they get Brag Tags.  

Most importantly you need to be consistent.  Brag Tags need to be given everyday.  

I don't make sure that all of my students have the same number of brag tags but I do cheek them out about once a week and if I see if their is someone who doesn't have as many.   I then watch for a reason to give that student a Brag Tag,  As long as everyone is earning Brag Tags it works!  

As my students earn Brag Tags they can wear the necklaces.  They only get to wear a necklace if they have earned a Brag Tag that day.  We have specials (art, music, Pe, etc.) a the end of the day.  Before specials the students put their necklaces bag on their pin.  They do not get to take them home until the end of the year.  

I decided to step it up a notch.  As many of you may know from past blog posts I use a lot of different  behavior management methods in my classroom.  

Here is a link to see what I use in my classroom

http://littlesmilesbigsunshine.blogspot.com/2015/06/color-chart-crazeyay-or-nay.html

So I use a color chart for behavior management.  Once I started using brag tags I wanted to incorporate them somehow.  

Thanks to my amazing assistant for giving me the idea!  

That is where Rare Brag Tags came into play!

Introducing The...
(drum roll please!)

RARE TAG BAG

We know in the world of kiddos, rare items are all the rage.

Every kiddo wants the rare Shopkins, the rare Minecraft mini figure, call something rare and they want it.

So we created Rare Brag Tags.  

I found Star Student Brag tags and put them in the bag.  (Notice this isn't anything fancy, just a brown paper bag).  I also created some on my own.  

I found shimmery award stickers and stuck them on a piece of computer paper.  (Once again nothing fancy).  I had the paper laminated and then cut them into Brag Tag size.  Not only are their Rare Brag Tags but the shimmery sticker ones even more rare.  My students love them.  

So...how do you earn a chance to pick a tag from the Rare Tag Brag?  

At the end of the day, I write down the students who are on outstanding because they receive a behavior buck or an iPad buck.

Here is a link on how I use Behavior Bucks:
http://littlesmilesbigsunshine.blogspot.com/2015/06/behavior-bucks-key-to-my-technique.html

I keep the record for the entire week.
If a student is on Outstanding for 4 days out of 5 they get to draw out of the Rate Tag Bag.
I do a drawing on Friday morning for the students who are on Outstanding every day (M-TH), and then another on Monday for the rest of the students who made it on Outstanding 4 out of the 5 days form the week before.

This has been a huge success!
Brag tags have truly been the answer and the Rare Tags are like the icing on the cake.

Here are a few pictures of my kiddos as they take their chances for a super Rare Brag Tag!

 Notice the excitement of the little girl in the corner.
She was so excited because the little girl drawing got a rare tag.
All of my students get excited to see if one of the rarest tags will be drawn!

Stay tuned...

I can't wait to share some exciting things happening in my kindergarten room!