Brag Tags and a little bragging about why I LOVE my job!

Only in kindergarten does a student tie his shoe strings together and blame his mom!

I am not going to lie it these daily shenanigans that make my job one of the best.  

It is also the excitement and love that my students have for learning, creating, their classmates and their teachers that make my job one of a kind and of course the best!

I love the fact that my kiddos want to be like me!  I have had more twins this year than ever!  

Whether it be the same shoes, matching shirts, braids, hats, or anything they find similar we have to take a picture!  Look Mrs. Gardner we match!

 Matching Googly Eyes

Matching Hats

Matching Docs

 Brag Tags

I am not sure but my kiddos have been off the charts!  

They have been quite chatty and rambunctious!

We still have a few weeks until Spring Break so I decided to try something new!

One of the things that is important to me when choosing Behavior Management plans is to make sure they focus on the positive.  

Thanks to Angie Olson @Lucky Little Learners I decided to use Brag Tags.

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

This is what I needed to get my plan up and running! 

I bought this organizer at Walmart.   ($12.00)

Brag Tags from Lucky Little Learners (TPT)

Voila!

Ball chains from Amazon

($5.00)

I spent the night getting everything ready for the big Brag Tag debut, and then it happened...

TEACHER FAIL!!!

My necklaces for my kindergarteners turned out to be necklaces for Barbie!  

Mental note...2.4mm is not the same as 24cm.

(Just in case you didn't know)

So I did what all great teachers do...spent more money!

Just kidding I went with it and made it work. 

Well not entirely, but for a few days until the real necklaces came in!

So I introduced the concept of brag tags to my classroom.  

They were super excited even though they couldn't wear the chains.  I started using the Brag Tags on Thursday and have given out about 5 a day.  My students LOVE them!  The joy of watching my students excitement is priceless!  

I overheard one of my students whisper, "I gotta get one of those tags!"

The best things about these tags is that it is possible for all students to earn them.  You can make sure that every student gets a tag for something.  That is what make this such a great tool!  

All students are encouraged.  

One of my favorite quotes came from a student after receiving her first brag tag.  

Student - This is my first tag!  

Me - I know, it is because you have been SO good! 

Student - Well, I can be even gooder that that! 

This is a picture of another student super excited to get his first Brag Tag!

This is how I have them set up in my classroom:

              

Each student has their name written on a book with a push pin to hang their chain.  

When I see them doing something "brag"worthy I tell them to grab their chain.  I then add the tag they earned and explain to them why they received that particular tag.  

I plan on letting the students wear the necklaces for the day once they receive a a brag tag. 

At the end of the day they will have to hang up their necklace so it will be ready for the next day.  The students will be allowed to take their necklaces home at the end of the year. 

So far this is plan seems to be working.  I will let you know more after the "honeymoon" period is over.   

  

It's all about the 100th day of school....but don't forget about day 101!

Every year we have a huge celebration on the 100th day of kindergarten!

It is one of my favorite days!  Any reason to celebrate right!?!?!

I was bummed that I couldn't find my 100 star shirt that I made years ago for my 100 day of school! 

(Okay so it was totally my fault...I looked for it around 9:00 the night before!  It should have been in my closet.  I'm sure I am not the only one, but it should have been in the teacher section of my closet, everybody has one of those right!?!?!?!)

  

But no worries one of my fellow teachers came through! 

My Kindergarten Rocks shirt with an awesome 100 googly eye hat!

So the day was full of hundreds of fun things!  See what I did there?

The days activities included:

making headbands

 dotting our one hundred sign

 writing about what we would want 100 of 

what we wouldn't want 100 of

what we would do when we were 100

(Plus what we looked like- thanks to the aging booth app)

completing a 100 chart

100 tally's 

graphing smarties

decorating 100 

eating 100 snacks

painting 100 gum balls 

sharing our 100 collections

We were both sporting googly eyes!

Look at me!  

Thanks Aging Booth App!

The 100 day is one of my favorites but I thought hmmm...what about day 101?

So I came up with a few simple activities.

Of course we started the morning reading 101 Dalmations.  We then did a reader's response page that included main characters, setting, problem, and solution.

During literacy stations we did an activity I called "spot" the popcorn word (get it-like Dalmatian spots).  I placed black spots with popcorn words written on them around the room and my students found them and wrote them down.  

Last but not least we had a special snack for day 101!  

(I used leftovers from our 100 day snack)

Marshmallows and chocolate chips

(Dalmatian snack)

I am hoping to add a few ideas for next year on the 101 day of school!

Shh...the quiet game has been revived!

Today's blog is going to be a hodge lodge! 

In my kindergarten class, my students LOVE hodge podge day.  What is hodge podge day you ask?

It is when I have random left over snacks and our snack for the day is a hodge podge of whats left.  

Aren't kindergarteners the greatest!  You say hodge podge day and they are like...

YAY!  We LOVE hodge podge day!

It IS okay to be jealous.  I do have the best job ever!

So now back to this post.  This post isn't about anything in particular but just a hodge podge of stuff!  Hopefully stuff that you find helpful or useful.  

Let's start first with the quiet game.  I can't take credit for this AMAZING game, and no it isn't your typical quiet game.  This one is AMAZING!!  Unfortunately I don't recall who posted this originally.  (I follow lots of great teachers on Facebook and can't recall whose idea this was.)  If it is yours please let me know, I would love to give you credit.  

So I read about this quiet game and didn't realize the magic powers of this game.  That's right I said MAGIC!  After reading about it I thought I would give it a try the next day.  I must first start out by saying this game has no meaning, no winner, no end, and ultimately no purpose.  But it works and gives you a few minutes of quiet.  I decided to try this game after recess while we are getting ready for lunch.  We have ten minutes to take our coats off from recess, use the restroom, wash hands, pass out lunch cards, get sack lunches, and line up at the door for lunch.  If you have ever taught kindergarten you know getting that accomplished is magic in itself!  

Here is how the game works:

Pick one student who is sitting quietly to start the quiet game.  

That student gets to sit up front in the teacher stool.

They watch for a few minutes (really more like 30 seconds).

Then they pick the quietest person and that person gets to come up to the teacher stool.
They just keep rotating through until you say the game is over.

(If it is a boy I have them pick a girl and a girl picks a boy).

You can play this game indefinitely.  I don't know why but they love it.

I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't tried it myself! 

That was the quietest we have ever gotten ready for lunch.  When it was time for lunch my students were a bit disappointed if they hadn't been picked.  I reassured them we could play it again.   Now every time I tell them that we are going to play the quiet game they cheer and then they get quiet!

It's like magic!

I recently posted about my Arctic Animals unit.  We are starting week 2 but I wanted to show you how cute my bulletin board turned out! 

Here are a few pics...

Check out this Walrus.  

It 10 and a half feet (true size) of a Walrus and the tusks are true to size too!

Walrus anchor chart.

The pink post its are our schema (what we already know).

The yellow post its are what we learned (new findings).

We did not have any misconceptions this time.

It took 3 kindergarten classes to weigh as much as a Walrus!

Wow!  That is one big tusk!



One last bit of hodge podge for ya!

Over the summer I created this timeline banner for my classroom!
I love it!  It is hanging outside of my classroom above my bulletin board.  As the end of every month I add a picture of something fun that we have done in my classroom.  Here it is so far...
It is along the top of my bulletin board.

  It is a work in progress.  I add to it as the year progresses.

Through the year...

Here are a few close ups.  

Click here to check it out!

Until next time... I hope you enjoyed a little bit of Hodge Podge!

January is for the snow! BRRR!

At the beginning of January I was wondering where the snow was.  Let me start by saying I hate snow!  I don't just dislike snow...I HATE SNOW!  

I know you shouldn't HATE things but I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY do NOT like snow.  

I have friends...you know who you are who say 

"We just have to have snow on Christmas Eve!"

Nope, we don't!

"It has to snow on Christmas!"

Nope, it doesn't!

"There is something magical about snow on Christmas!"

Nope, nothing magical about snow!  

The reason for Christmas... now that's magical! 

Don't you like to play in it?

Nope

Don't you like sledding?

Nope!

But... "Do you want to build a snowman" Elsa asks?

NO!  ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!!

SO needless to say I was excited!  Maybe it wouldn't snow this year during the month of January.  :) 

Does the month of January kind of revolve around snow?  Well yeah, but I could be flexible!

So I spent the weekend creating a TPT product to use in case it didn't snow or if you are lucky to live in an area where it doesn't snow.  And low and behold guess what I woke up to on Monday morning?  

SNOW!!!!!  

It was all my fault!  I was really excited to talk about making a snowman out of mashed potatoes but o'well.  Maybe next year or I could just move to a warmer climate!  

Click here to see What if it doesn't Snow?

Well since I didn't get to use my NO Snow product I did lots of other fun activities!

Thank you Pinterest for keeping my class exciting!

Check it out!
I was inspired by tinyartroom!

https://tinyartroom.wordpress.com/?s=aerial


We also made melted snowmen!

We finger painted white paint onto white paper and then we added a hat, scarf, & mittens from my Snow Much Fun Bulletin Board set.

Check it out here!


We used Popcorn word snowballs during literacy stations.

This was probably one of the easiest stations to prep.  I took sheets of 8 1/2 x 11 paper and cut them in half.  I wrote a popcorn word on each piece and crumpled it into a snowball.  my students had to reach into the bucket and pull out a "snowball".  They then read the word, wrote it down, and then made it back into a "snowball" and put it back!  My students loved this! 

We did different writing activities sharing what we like to do in the snow.
Do you know what mine said...
NOTHING, ABSOLUTELY NOTHING!
I DON'T LIKE SNOW!

I was impressed with my students work!

These are two different versions from my Snow Much Fun Bulletin Board Set!

(Link is above in blog)

Here are a few pictures of my January Bulletin board.

(Banner is aso a part of my Bulletin Board Set)

But ultimately, despite the cold sometime we just had to get outside and enjoy the sunshine!

#onebigwalrus

Here it is 2 1/2 weeks into January and I finally had a chance to blog.  Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr. day so we spent the day learning all about Martin Luther King jr. and all the wonderful things he accomplished.  Today we had a 2 hour delay which worked perfectly for our next unit of study.  

To go along with our "arctic" temperatures we started our arctic animal unit.  

To start off the study we discussed our walrus schema.  

Whenever I start a new unit I create an anchor chart to document our schema, new findings, 

and misconceptions.  

This is a diagram of a walrus.  We started off by sharing our schema (pink post its).

We then learned about walruses and added our new findings (orange post its).

Once we have learned new facts we realize that sometimes our schema is wrong.  

That is why we have a misconceptions box.

According to one of my students...It's okay to have misconceptions because that means we learned!  (Love kindergarteners!) 

These charts become a part of my classroom routine.  (I got this picture from one of my awesome colleagues who also created a walrus anchor chart because I forgot to take a picture of my chart).  I wanted to share a picture so you could get get a visual.

We then decided to take the facts we learned and give them meaning.  

I used the walrus fact sheet from my Polar Animal Study.  

Click here to check it out!

We learned that a Walrus tusk can be up to 3 ft. long.   When one of my students held their fingers up to show me that is was about this big (3 inches).  I figured they needed a visual.  I measured this student from my class and discovered that from her shoulders down she was the size of a walrus tusk.    My class was amazed!

After reading that a Walrus could reach up to 3,300 lbs.  We decided to see how many kindergarteners it would take to weigh as much as a Walrus.  

          

                   

We weighed our entire class!

And then...

another kindergarten class...

(That's one of my teacher besties!  Love her!)

still not enough!

Three kindergarten classes and we finally reached 3,300 lbs.  Enough to weigh as much as a Walrus.  

It took this many kindergartners to reach 3,300 lbs.!

WOW!  

In my class we discover.  I can tell facts, we can write them down, or we can discover.

Now when I say a walrus tusk is 3 ft. they have a visual!  When I say a walrus weighs 3,300 lbs.  They realize that is a WHOLE lot.  it is actually 3 kindergarten classes full!  

So when we learn we not only learn... we DISCOVER!  We dig deep, we investigate,  we gain a true understanding of what is taught!   

I hope this blog gave you lots of ideas!  

If you are interested in purchasing my Polar Animal Unit check it out here!

Click to go to check it out!

The Holiday Rush - Now time to catch up and blog!

Is it just me, or is the month of December just one BIG BLUR!  From Thanksgiving on, I feel like I didn't stop!  So here is December in review.  Let's start first with super cute Rudolph hair.  My assistant made me this super cute reindeer hair kit.  So of course I had to give it a try.  

Adorable, huh?

The month of December brings out the excitement in all of us!  Keeping students engaged can be a challenge.  Consistency & routine is a must!  I tried to keep the same daily routines as much as possible.  It was definitely a challenge with all of the holiday fun...but I tried.  We made Christmas chains, made calendars for parents, graphed m&m's, had a Gingerbread week, a Polar Express week, learned about different Holiday traditions, and had a special visitor.

Here are some pictures from my classroom. 

Kindergarteners can code!  We participated in the hour of code!

Play doh makes learning numbers fun!

Making Christmas Countdown chains

We worked on number puzzles  (0-20)

One of my students was traveling to India during December so we found India on the map.  Did you know it takes 17 hours to fly there from the Midwest!

We are on a gingerbread hunt!  (Where could he be?)

Of all of the activities that we did my favorites was The Biggest Christmas Tree STEM activity.  I have been trying to incorporate STEM activities int o my class at least once  a month.  So far my students have been 100% engaged every time we have done a STEM activity.  I like to incorporate literacy into my STEM activities so I always try to start with a book. For this STEM activity I started with the book The Biggest Christmas Tree Ever.

Here are a few pictures from The Biggest Christmas Tree STEM activity:

 

Students drew a plan of their tree.



After they drew their plan they created a version of their plan using marshmallows and toothpicks.

  

 

We measured each creation with the tallest "tree" reaching 11 inches.  A few of the students took the project a step farther and re-engineered their tree to beat 11 inches.  Once again I realize STEM is the way to go and I can't wait to figure out what my January STEM activity will be.

I hope you enjoyed the peak into my classroom.