Kindness Counts

We have a wonderful parent support system in place in our school. They recently approached me about this wonderful idea about starting a kindness initiative in our school. I thought it was a marvelous idea and couldn't wait to get on board. It's slow going and we haven't gotten the program going like we planned but slowly we are trying.

Last month we sold spirit t-shirts and at the end of the month there was an assembly where students from each grade received kindness certificates. It's hard to pick just two students each month who deserve to be awarded. Some teachers feel that it is not the teachers job to pick the students but rather their classmates should vote.

I've been playing around with different ideas and ways of showing what kindness means in the classroom and how we can honor each child in the room for being kind. I recently saw this post from Jodi at Fun in First Grade all about black history month and it got me thinking.... our initiative has a tree as a symbol and I just so happen to have tree in my classroom (what are the odds!) So I was thinking... if I make foldable leaves similar to Jodi's hearts and put a students name on the outside of each leaf. Then the kids can write one kind thing that a friend did and we can put it inside their leaves.

What do you guys do for kindness in your school? What about in your classroom? Any thoughts or suggestions on how I can incorporate kindness into a bulletin board? I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Valentine's Day

Happy President's Day everyone! I hope you are enjoying your long weekend... I know I am! I wanted to share with you all the fun we had on Valentine's Day this year.

First up - our morning read aloud. I read the book The Valentine Bear by Eve Bunting. What a cute tale about Mrs. Bear who wants to celebrate Valentine's Day so she sets her alarm clock to wake her up before winter is over. My kiddies had a great time making predictions and trying to guess what Mrs. Bear was going to do next.

Later in the afternoon during Math my kids had a blast sorting and graphing candy hearts. A shout out has to be made to ABC Schoolhouse. A few years ago I downloaded their February packet which included a great candy sorting activity. Unfortunately I was having way too much fun sorting, counting and graphing with my kiddies to take any pictures. We used the sorting mats but updated the graph to include questions:

• How many pink hearts?
• How many green hearts?
• How many yellow and green hearts?
• How many hearts all together?

I was so pleasantly surprised by this activity. We have not done any graphing and yet all of my students were able to sort and graph accurately. Only a handful of children struggled to answer the questions correctly... and the smiles on their faces while they were doing this activity was priceless!

We finished the day with a writing mini-lesson on making cards. Because we were doing this at the end of the day I pre-made a lot of the supplies. I'm a big advocate of student made work and feel that children should cut, color, glue and draw to the best of their ability. However, like I said, we were doing this at the end of the day which meant time was limited. I pre-folded construction paper and glued in lined writing paper. I also pre-cut various hearts in different sizes and colors. My kids had a blast coloring, writing and glueing to make Valentine's for the people they loved. The cutest/sweetest was a few of my kids offered to make me a card. While I was touched I encouraged them to make their cards for someone at home.

I think the best part of the day was when I gave my kids my Valentine's gift. Now I cannot take credit for this, I MUST give credit where credit is due because I LOVE this idea. Kathleen over at Growing Kinders posted a super-dee-dooper cute idea on her blog back on February 12th Valentines for the Kiddos. Not only did she post this super-dee-dooper cute idea but she also offered the tag as a freebie! I SOOO appreciate that. So I downloaded her freebie, went on a target shopping spree and made my very own gifts.

Aren't these just the cutest? Well my kids thought they were too... I WISH I had taken a video of their reaction because it was sooo cute and sweet. They cheered and laughed and smiled and fell in love. And the best part? On Friday half my kids came in wearing the socks! I never expected that.

So that was how my Valentine's day went at school. Because of the structure of our day we weren't able to spend all day having Valentine's day fun but I think I did a pretty good job combining Valentine's fun and education!

I'd love to know what you gave your kids (or your kids teachers) for Valentine's day... the wheels are already turning trying to think of more creative gifts for me kids!

Back to the Basics

This year I've been trying to be more involved in my school... I sit on a newly formed learning leaders team and I'm on the ground floor of an iPad initiative in our school. But with all this change and the introduction of technology I've realized how important it is to get back to the basics.

We are almost 90 days into the school year and I still have a few children who know little to no letter sounds. I've been struggling to find ways to meet these students needs and help them learn the letter names and the corresponding sounds... I had tunnel vision... how can technology help these children... and then we had a PD with a literacy coach and it hit me, these kids don't need technology, they need good old fashioned, back to the basics, teaching... and I mean back to the basics, back to when schools had no technology, back to before the demands of the common core, back to when schools first started and children started to learn the ABCs, basic, simple learning.

I'm excited to say that the literacy coach that came to meet with us really light a fire under my behind and the wheels of inspiration have been spinning. So after our meeting here is what my new game plan is...

First I'm going to be working with these children at least twice a week in a small group. My ultimate goal is to work with them in small groups almost every day, but for now I'm going to focus on meeting with these kids twice a week.

• Warm up: drill up to 5 letters/sounds (3-4 of these will be letters the group as a whole knows and a 1-2 letters they are unfamiliar with)
• Reading Words: I will create flashcards with C-V-C words on them. These words will be three letter words using only the 5 letters we are working on. I will print these C-V-C words on white card stock. I will also have two or three word wall words printed on colored card stock. There will be no more than 10 flashcards in all. The idea behind the two different colored card stock is to help the students realize which words they should know and which words they can sound out. We will practice reading and tapping these words.
• Writing Practice: We will end the group session in one of two ways. Option 1: practice identifying beginning sounds (one of the 5 we worked on) and write the corresponding letter on white boards. Option 2: practice writing some of the words or a simple sentence using the flashcards we practiced.

This is my rough outline of what I'm hoping to do with this small group... I'm meeting tomorrow with our curriculum coordinator to help hash out all of the details and make a formal plan for these lessons.

Another inspiration hit when I was working with my daughter on her letter homework. In her nursery school they do one letter for about two weeks. I've noticed that the letters we relate to people and things she loves she is having an easier time remembering. What a great idea! So simple and yet I was so stuck in the idea of incorporating technology into everything that I forgot to think about the basics. I'm going to have these kids bring in pictures of loved ones and things they love for each letter of the alphabet and make an alphabet book for with them. These personal alphabet books, I hope, will help them remember the names of the letters and the sounds of each letter. I'm still working on how I want to format this activity but the wheels are turning.

I have to say this return to the basics is kind of exciting. I'm all for technology in the classroom and I know there are great ways to incorporate technology in our day to day, but this whole back to the basics idea has me very excited... I'm intrigued to see how this all works out and I really hope that I can get my little kiddies to master the alphabet over the next few months! Do you have any tips and tricks for teaching little ones the alphabet when they are struggling?

Making Smart Choices - Our Class Resolution

So inspiration hit this morning as I was gathering my kids from the cafeteria... Well let me back up.

After having a wonderful break and spending so much precious time with my little peanut I had a terribly difficult time falling asleep last night, literally! I was up till 2am and I had to get up at 5:30am in order to get to school on time! I think part of me was in denial that my vacation was really over, but alas it was. So off I went to school (rather sleepy I might add). I spent an hour setting up my room... rearranging the furniture and hooking all the electrical equipment back up. I don't know about you guys but we have to clean off every desk and moveable shelf and lock up any valuables and remove all the electrical equipment so that the floors can be cleaned over the break. After an hour of cleaning and organizing I didn't have much time to prep for the day BUT on the bright side I have 2 preps today so I knew I just had to be prepared for first period and then on my prep second period I could get the rest of my day ready.

Off I went at 8:45 to get my kiddies knowing I had a lot of work to do second period but I was excited to see them and hear all about their adventures over the vacation. As we walked up to our door I decided that the start of the New Year should me a fresh start in our classroom as well. I had the kids go right to the carpet (with all of their stuff) and right then and there I decided I would let them pick their own seats. I have never done this..well except for the first day or two of school, but other than that I always pick there seats for them. Do you let your kinders pick their own seats ever? We had a very nice discussion about "Making Smart Choices" which is one of our class rules. We talked about how it's a New Year and I want to give them more responsibility and that I think they can "Make Smart Choices" and pick good tables to sit at. To my surprise MOST of the kids did a really good job, not all of them of course, but the majority of them did. I told them that if they "Make Smart Choices" they can keep their new seats, but if they start to fool around then I can change their seats.

I have to say I was pretty impressed and amazed at how receptive they were to this idea. Our new class motto for the remainder of the year is "Make Smart Choices"... Now I just have to make some sort of banner or something to keep reminding them of this every day. I am liking this resolution! It's been a good one for me too because it's helped remind me to "Make Smart Choices" throughout the day too!

Did your class make any resolutions this year? What are they?

I hope everyone had a good first day back!

PS - Some of you have been wondering what ever happened after the hurricane... let's just say it's not a pretty picture out here. Yes the schools are re-opened (for the most part) but so many people (my parents included) no longer have a house to call home. Some people lost their houses to fires, but the majority of the people (like my parents) had so much salt water in their houses that they houses have to be gutted and/or knocked down and rebuilt. It's going to be a long slow process to get everyone back on their feet again and unfortunately so many people have already started to think that things are 100% back to normal, but the reality is that it will take many months if not years for people to get back to normal!

Sandy's Coming

Well they say the storm is coming. My plans of blogging and updating/making new things for my classroom have gone out the window ... Replaced with putting away everything that's outside and getting the house ready for the storm. Laundry is being done, rooms are being cleaned (yes I want a clean house for the hurricane what can I say?!?) and all of my electronics are being charged. They are saying the storm surge can be as high as 12feet and the winds can be gusting over 70 miles an hour.

Thankfully the mayor realized the severity of this storm and as of 11:30 this morning school was canceled for tomorrow. My daughters nursery school already closed for Monday and Tuesday and there is a rumor that our town will reschedule Halloween for Saturday. Power outages are expected to be in the thousands and of course the ten flashlights I own are currently hiding or as I like to say I put them away in a VERY safe place!

Last year we were hit by hurricane Irene which took out two huge trees on my property. One of which crushed my daughters swing set and the other tool out the cable and power to our house and blocked the whole front of the house. Thankfully we weren't home. With no large trees on our property I hope we will make out better this time.

On that note it's back to preparing for the worst and hoping for the best. To all my fellow east coasters I hope you stay safe and dry during this storm. I will "see" you all after the storm!

Xoxox
Stephanie

Writing Time...

Last week our 'lead' Kindergarten teacher informed us that our next unit in writing was non-fiction writing! PANIC!!! That's exactly what I felt when I heard this... really? Non-fiction science writing in November?!?! Seriously how am I going to teach this??

Well I took a deep breath and pulled out my handy Curricular Plan for Writing written by Lucy Calkins, ok confession time, I've had this handy book sitting on my shelf for an entire summer and did nothing about it... WELL boy do I REGRET that?!?! I read the first few chapters including the one about the unit we will be beginning and boy was it eye opening. I am actually SUPER excited to start this new unit but also SUPER STRESSED because I am sooo not ready to start this unit. I've got a ton of prep work that I want to get done to make sure my kids are going to get this unit 100%! Ironically I've been prepping my kids for this unit and I didn't even know it. With all the inspiration out there in the blogging world I started making so super cute charts with my kids based on some of the non-fiction books I've been reading to them and guess what, the majority of them were on trees and leaves! As the characters in one of my daughters shows exclaim when something works out "TRIUMPH!"

So now my brain is going a mile a minute... What do I need to do:

1. Create a scientific word wall based on the non-fiction books I've already read to my kids... ok I can't create the wall yet because we are supposed to build it together as we are learning, BUT I do want to get ahead of the game and create some word wall cards with images that include all sorts of important words involving trees (anyone out there have these cards already made and would like to share?!?!)
2. Read alouds - I need to collect a lot of read alouds about trees and leaves! I want to immerse my kids in as many books as I can to help them really learn a lot about this topic. My kids loved the few books I read to them about trees and I NEED to find some more books that are engaging and bright and colorful and chocked full of information that is age appropriate... Any suggestions??
3. Book Basket Books - I need to go through my entire library and make four table top bins with lots of tree/plant books that are a good combination of easy readers as well as "look books." 
4. Magnifying Glasses - somehow I need to get my hands on 26 magnifying glasses! I wish the magic school supply fairy would appear in my room and generously give us these! That would be such a wonderful gift!
5. Colored Pencils - I need lots of colored pencils for this unit and since those weren't supplies we asked for in the beginning of the year I'm not sure exactly how I will be handling this, maybe that magic school supply fairy will bring them to us too!
6. Sketch Pads - While I'm not in need of these I do need the time to MAKE these! I have all the paper but they need to be folded and stapled and put together into sketch pads - Anyone available to come help me tomorrow at 7am? 
7. Scientific Collections - Since I didn't do all my homework, yes that is my fault and I have learned my lesson, I need to take my kiddies on lots of scientific walks and gather lots of scientific evidence related to trees... I'm thinking that this may also be a good homework assignment to get my kiddies talking about trees at home. Tomorrow at some point we will go outside together and gather items from trees and make some collections. I will have to figure out a good way to store and organize these items but I do love the idea of the kids collecting and examining the items they find! I think this will really get them excited about this unit, I know I am not excited...

So as you can see there is lots to be done and well, I have about an hour and half in the morning to get it all done... that's because I get in to school that early! 

Ok I have one last question... at the completion of each unit HOW do you organize cleaning out your kids folders? I always find this to be messy, time consuming and just unorganized. I give each kid a baggie with their name on it and they put all their writing into that bag, however, I often have to help them or do it for them because it is hard to get all their papers into one bag in a somewhat neat fashion. So let's add that to my list for tomorrow also... empty their folders!

What are you doing in writing this month??

Where Did September Go?

Does anyone else feel like this school year is going by way to fast? Ironic, I know... usually I can't wait for my summer break so I can spend every day with my little princess. But for some reason this year seems to be flying by, I cannot believe it's already the end of October! I feel like there is just way too much I want to (and need to) do and I just don't have enough time!

I decided over the summer that this would be my year! A year of change for me... for the past 5 years I've been set in my ways at my school. Following the same old routines as I always have and, well, I needed to shake things up! I want to make a name for my self (so to speak). I'm full of ideas and I never speak up, I keep them quiet. Well that's just not going to work for me any more! I want to share my ideas, I want my ideas to take me places so this year I'm speaking up and shaking things up. I've been working hard to get out of my old routines and trying new things in my room. Simple changes like doing Math in the morning not in the afternoon, to larger changes - joining teacher support teams. I'm speaking up and sharing my ideas more. Here's what I've done so far:

Right now I'm in the midst of trying to get a class set of iPads for my kinders to use throughout the week. I've spent the past month and a half researching apps and writing proposals explaining why I think my class would benefit from having iPads and how I would use them in my room. Thanks to many of you and your blogs I think I was able to make a strong case... Nothing has been set in stone yet so I don't want to get my hopes up, but I think having iPads in my room can be a great tool! Do any of you use iPads in your classrooms? How do you use them? Do you have any suggestions? I have some great ideas of how to use them in small groups but what about whole class? I'd love your input!!

I also joined our new Learning Leaders team. This team is headed by our new A.P. and consists of five teachers (including myself) grades K-3. We are currently working on revamping and organizing our Math curriculum. We are using Investigations, which personally I love, but there are some gaps in the program according to our standards and we are working to fill those gaps and make the program work better for our school.

I've signed up to join a technology team in our building. There are so many teachers in our school who love finding and using technology in useful, productive and creative ways in the classroom but we have never had an outlet to share our ideas. My hope is that this team will allow teachers from K-8 to join together and share and collaborate on ways we are currently using technology and ways we wish we could use technology. There is so much potential out there and I know that collaborating will open all of our eyes up to new ideas! Now I haven't been officially accepted onto this team and I'm not sure that this team will be developed this year, but I signed up and I'm waiting to find out.

So you can see that I've been quite busy...well apparently not busy enough because on Wednesday at the end of the day my A.P. approached me and asked if I would join yet another team of teachers... of course why not! This final group is working on math videos. We are trying to continue to build our home-school-connection and we think that these videos would really help with that. I'm actually really excited about this idea and I can't wait to get started. Most of the teachers on the team, there are four of us, will be using an app on their iPads to make the videos but I'm not sure if that is going to work for me. Almost everything we do in Kindergarten is hands on I'm thinking I need to come up with some creative ways to make some videos....

Well, as you can see I've been just a little busy... SO I appologize to my loyal followers and I will do my best to start blogging again. But please know that I wish I could be on here every day sharing all the fun that's going on in my room. I'll do my best to start blogging more again!