First Day!

What a day!  Our kinder-crew was busy ALL day!  Sometimes, it's hard to get a lot of information out about your child's day.  Here is a great article with ideas to start conversations about the school day.  Click here!

You may hear a lot about this Alphablocks video.  It was a BIG hit.  Take a look...




Parents, here is a link to some SUPER fun games to go along with the Alphablocks.  It's a fun way to work on letters and sounds!  Alphablocks  Enjoy!

10 Things...

10 Things I've Learned from Teaching!

Thanks to Miss Kindergarten for hosting this fun linky-party!  I'm tweaking it a bit to share the 10 things I've learned from teaching kindergarten, I'm sure you won't mind.  Here we go...

1.  No matter how patient, kind and gentle you are...  a kindergartener will show you one day that you are not.  Kindergarteners taught me real patience, kindness, gentleness, love and understanding.

2.    It's OK to have a soft, squeaky and child-like voice...  it was meant for kindergarten children!

3.  I can create a song/lyric/dance/ or chant to explain anything. 

4.  Enunciation and expression!

5.  Every child in your class is their parent's WHOLE world.  Always remember how special that is!

6.   Tying shoes is very annoying.  

7.  A kindergartener hears and sees ALL.  They will be the first to notice a haircut, boo-boo, sparkly earrings or a new pen.  If you make a mistake, don't take it too personally if they tell you and then remind you again...  and then bring it up a few days later.

8.   The best feeling- EVER-  falls somewhere between February and March.  You look around and see the children quietly working during literacy centers, or reading independently, taking an Accelerated Reader test , giving directions and helping another student ALL BY THEMSELVES!  It happens every year, so be patient!

9.  Sensitivity!  You learn it quick after seeing the pain in a child's eyes when they realized they were wrong or disappointed the teacher.   

10.  Every year the children that are brought into your life through teaching TEACH you!  

Missing my kinder-crew!

Kindergarten families and friends,

I hope you are enjoying your summer.  I love being able to sleep in and have extra free time, but...  boo-hoo, I miss my little friends!

THE BEST picture from the 2012-2013 yearbook...  I think we all look FABULOUS!  

Please remember, NEW first graders...  write in your summer fun journal!  I can't wait to see what you've been up to!  Return your journal in AUGUST and I will have a special treat for you!

Teacher friends!  Want to grab a copy of our summer fun journal?  Click here! 

Working with Bzzzzy-Bees!

This is what my busy bees were working on this week at the Making Words Center.  Come by my TpT store and download the preview to get your own set of short e word builders.  

Click here to download the preview!

Kindergarten INSECT research! Come and get a template!

 I am SO proud of my kinder-crew!  Their writing is just amazing!  Not only can they write sentences that are grammatically correct, BUT they can add details from their own research.  WOW!

We used World Book Online to conduct our research.  It's called Early World of Learning and is an awesome resource to have.  Talk to your media or tech specialist to purchase a license for YOUR school!

The question we used to guide our research came from our MMH reading series.  The question is "What are some interesting insects?"  Our note-taking template was super-simple to create.  We just used some legal-sized paper and 3 post-its.  Once we gathered our information, we wrote sentences to tell about our interesting insects.  Our rule for sentences?  Write a 3 star sentence!

1.  Start with a capital letter.  2.  Use spaces between words.  3.  End with a period.  

Want a pre-made template?  

Click here to access a freebie from my TpT store

The following day, I read aloud the guided reader My Caterpillar Report.  Using this book as a model, we created a list to show what needs to be included in an insect report.

And finally, our final product!  My school has a wonderful die-cut machine so the booklets we made came out super cute...  take a look!

Click on the picture above to get your OWN copy of the
Insect Report template!

Go, Ibrahim, go!  

Happy Teacher Appreciation Week

Teachers, we celebrate you this week!  

Take a look at the offers below!  

25% off this week

Into social media?  Come to this site to pick up an icon for your profile pic!

Free sandwich on May 7th.  The problem is, you get a sandwich
you'll want some waffle fries, then you'll want a cookies-n-cream milk shake.  Yummm!

BOGO!  Tuesday only.

I already took advantage of this sale...  PLUS you get a free gift with purchase.
I love DJ Inkers!

And finally, I'm hosting a sale this week at TpT. 

Sale starts TUESDAY, MAY 7 and lasts until Friday.  Click on the picture to visit my store.




Know of any other offers?  Leave a comment and let me know!  I'd love to hear from you!

Fun with Happy Jack and a give-away!

This time of the year is the BEST!  The weather is beautiful, the flowers are blooming and so are my little learners!  Have you started seeing the amazing progress of you kindergarten readers???  I'm so proud of all they have accomplished!

This week we focused on the fairytale, Jack and the Beanstalk.  The kids had so much fun reading, writing, listening and responding to this old favorite!

Here are a few of my little darlings working on the little book Happy Jack.  I love to see them so engaged!

Happy Jack Little Book is available HERE at Tpt!

Here are some great videos to watch with your kindercrew if you are reading Jack and the Beanstalk.  The first one is my FAVORITE-  it's so interactive, the kids really "jam-out" to it!  

*Be careful when viewing YouTube videos in class, I usually let the commercial go on before letting it project full screen!*

This year, my deliberate practice has been finding similarities and differences.  In our district we have one deliberate practice item to focus on throughout our year for professional development.  I have seen such a difference in the way my kinders process, apply and extend new information and skills!  We have all been working on talking about similarities and differences for several months now.  I am so happy to see that they have turned their "talking about it" to "writing about it"!  YAY!  Look at them go!

Character Compare is available here at TpT!

I would LOVE to share one of my TpT products with a few of you!  I am giving away one download of the Happy Jack little book AND one download of the Comparing Characters activity.  Leave a comment below with your email, the download you'd like AND your FAVORITE fairytale to teach.  If your favorite fairytale matches mine, you'll get your choice of download.  Here's a hint, it's definitely been re-made by Disney.  I can't wait to hear from you!