First Linky

Okay one of my New Year's Resolutions is to write more for my blog, so I thought I would begin by joining my first linky party every.  The party is from the blog "A Peach for the Teach" and I found the linky through another blog which was Smedley's Smorgasboard of Kindergarten.  Okay so here goes my first linky post:

My biggest goal on the resolutions is to write more for this blog.  I really want to increase the followers I have so that I have even more friends and teachers to share and get ideas from each day.  Blogs I have found are a wonderful resource and have made me a better more created teacher for the wonderful kids in my class.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and check out the other teachers blogs on their New Year's Resoulution, it hopefully will inspire you like it has me this past year and in the upcoming year.

Linky Party hosted by: 

Chat soon,

Leslie

Almost There!!!!!

Well I just wanted to take a minute and check in with everyone.  I know most of you are feeling like I am which is “when is the holiday break again”.  My classroom kids overall are doing well but you can definitely tell that they have the “HOLIDAY SPIRIT” in them.  I am counting down these last five days telling myself each morning “I think I can, I think I can.”

Onto another topic what I stopped by to share.  Last week we had a three day week due to snow and we didn’t get as much done as I had hoped but one project definitely stood out and I wanted to share it quickly with you.

I call it the Shape Christmas Tree.  In our math series we were working on attributes of different shapes.  So to incorporate Christmas and shapes together we made trees.  We began with different size squares.  We cut the squares on a diagonal to make triangles and then we assembled the triangles to make a Christmas tree.  We added a rectangle tree trunk and ta-da.  The tree part of the project took one day.  I then pulled out a Christmas tree glyph that I found on Shari Sloane’s website and we decorated the trees with circle shapes.  The kids did a wonderful job, we got the  skills covered and we had fun with the project.  The pictures are below, I hope you enjoy them as much as we did making them.

Write more soon,

Leslie

December Fun and Snow Day

Okay who else had a snow day today or maybe this past Friday.  Well I was lucky enough to be among the snow day relaxation crew and what did I do-worked on school stuff or should I say tried to catch up on school stuff.  Yes by the way it is supposed to snow/sleet tomorrow and I am doing a the traditional things to get another snow day or should I call it catch up day 2. 

Anyway I just wanted to stop in for a minute and say hello to anyone reading this and share some of the things that we have been doing in my classroom.

In our math we have been working on 2-D shapes.  I looked through our math series and the word that came to mind was ‘boring’, so I decided on plan B.  First we made shapes our of popsicle sticks and then we used those shapes to make a craft.  The project is not complete as of yet but hopefully we should finish it the first day we are back in school after the snowy weather.  Here are a couple of pictures of our anchor chart and the beginning of our craft project.

Another exciting activity for the week or should I call it teacher holiday sanity activity is the elf arrived this past Monday.  Our elf’s name is Scout and he has been watching over us and bringing notes back about what he has shared with Santa.  One day the kids were so good that Scout brought stockings back from Santa for the kids to decorate.  Wow!

Well I am going to stop for now, since I haven’t heard about school tomorrow I guess I should get ready just in case the phone doesn’t ring in the morning.  (please ring, please ring, please ring)  Don’t get me wrong I love my job and love my class but the thought of catching up one more day sounds really good to me.

Enjoy your week and check back soon I hope to have some new free items to post soon.

Leslie

Thankful

Well what is everyone thankful for this year.

     1. I am thankful for my family.

     2. I am thankful for my blogging buddy, Zoe.

     3. I am thankful that we have five days this week and two days next week and then a five day break.

From now until our five day break we are going to work on Thanksgiving theme stories and projects. (like I am sure many of you are doing or already doing in your classrooms)

I have created some activities that my kids are going to be working on this week and then some activities I have gotten from others blog posts or units on TPT.  Here are some pictures of some of the activities I created.  If you click on the picture it will take you to a link if you would like a copy of the activity as well.

Turkey Place Value to 15

Thanksgiving Sequencing Numbers

Ordering Numerals-Thanksgiving

Your Sight Word Book-Thanksgiving Themed

Well I am going to stop for now and hopefully be back before the week is over with some more activities.  I hope the activities above are helpful during your week.  My blogging buddy has decided to sit in front of my computer screen which means only one thing-feed me.

Check back soon,

Leslie

Another Week

Wow another week has come and gone.  I am blogging on a Monday because I am one of the fortunate ones that has Monday off for Veteran's Day.

First I want to thank all those Veteran's that have serve. You are very much appreciated.  My cousin's husband and both her sons either are or have been in the military and we are definitely proud and thankful for all the do and give up.

Now onto some school stuff.  Assessments have been completed and report cards done so I feel like I am trying very hard to get things on track with what the kids need to work on at this time.

In my RTI small reading groups I am using a resource I was introduced to in the spring of this past school year. The book is by Sharon Walpole and Michael McKenna.  Dr. McKenna was one of my professors when I was working on my Reading Specialist degree so I was familiar with his work before this book and this book supports what I learned while working on my degree.  You can click the picture below to get a copy of this book if you are interested.  

During my reading work area time we are working on several skills here are some pictures of the activities.

Beginning Sound Sort

Letter Sort

Sight Word Book(sight word-this) click on the picture for the book it is attached as a freebie

Ordering Numbers-click on the picture for the activity it is attached as a freebie

Pig Art Project-is this not just too cute-I hope my kids enjoy doing it this week.

Writing Area Project

Now for a few pictures that recap last week.  We worked on skills with the Scarecrow theme (that is why this next week you see a lot of farm activities).  I think the kids work looks great.  

We read the book The Little Scarecrow boy.  After reading the book we made this graphic organizer where we identified main topic, details, characters and setting.

This is our bulletin board where we displayed the scarecrows the kids made along with their crows. 

Close up picture of the bulletin board.

The math art project the kids worked on last week.

Well I hope you enjoyed reading about last week and what we have coming up next week.  Check back soon for more ideas and freebies.

Leslie

Survival, Report Cards and Scarecrows

First, I have been in front of my computer what feels like most of the weekend and yes I know that is not what I actually did but still.  This week marked the end of our first marking period at school which means report card time.  Our report cards are standards based and skills is listed on the report card.  We are fortunate enough to be able to do them on the computer but after looking at all those little boxes for 24 kids and then writing comments my eyes are extremely tired. By the way NO I am not done yet I still have 8 more sweet little children to write comments for but that probably won't happen until tomorrow.  

Our Halloween festivities are over and done and we survived.  I hope all of you did as well.  We were lucky our staff day was Friday so hopefully by the time the kids walk in the door in the morning they will be off their sugar high and ready for an exciting week of learning.

We are going to work with scarecrows this week and then move in to farm activities the following week, before we get down and dirty with Thanksgiving fun.  Below are a few pictures of activities that we will be doing in class.  Some of the pictures are links that will give you a copy of the activity.  Hope you can use them in your class.  If not this year maybe save it for next year.

We are going to use this scarecrow graphic organizer to work on main topic  and details.

This is in my writing area.  The kids will use the directions to make a scarecrow and then write about the scarecrow.  The directions on how to make a scarecrow comes for Kinder by Kim TPT store. 

This is a sight word book I wrote to help my kids work on the sight word find. Please use this in your class if it would help your students.

Here is an activity where the children color the scarecrow, cut it apart and then glue it down in numerical order.  This is also an activity you can use in your class. 

I guess that is all for now.  I will check back in with you all later.  I hope you have a good week at school.

Leslie 

Oh My, Where does the time go?

Super short post tonight.  Things seem to be flying by lately and I am not really sure where the week or weekend goes but I sure would love to get my head a little above water again.  Anyone else feel that way.  

Well enough venting I just wanted to stop by real quick and post a freebie.  My kids are working on numeral recognition and putting numerals in order.  I started making these cute little puzzles for them and they love coloring them in and putting them together (not to mention it is helping with their fine motor skills).  I am posting the link to it here so if anyone else would like to use it with their class this week please help yourself.

Check back soon, hopefully I will be more organized and can post more things.

Who knows????

Talk soon,

Leslie

Bats and Owls

Well back again with some classroom updates.  I hope each of you have had a wonderful week at school.  Mine was good just EXTREMELY busy.  The kids were only in school for three days and then we had two days of parent/teacher conferences, but the was I felt on Friday I was thinking I had been going for at least three weeks straight.  Does anyone else find that short weeks are harder than normal five day weeks or is it just me?

Well here are some pictures of some of the learning this week.

Bat made from directions in 

Deanna Jumps' Bats Math and Literacy Fun Unit

Have, Are, Can Tree Graph about Bats

  

These three pictures are what our discovery area looks like in our room.  The kids can go here and explore nocturnal animals on their own.  A favorite area in our room.

In our writing area we will work on learning to draw an owl and then writing about our owl.  The children love to show off their wonderful art skills this year.

Last is a freebie.  My kids are going to work to put together an owl puzzle.  Below is what it looks like complete.  If you click on the picture it will take you to the activity sheet.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  I am really working on being a better blogger this year and sharing ideas.

Stop back soon,

Leslie

October and Fall Break is Over

Well my week off is coming to an end I have spent the week on house projects and catching up on sleep.  Today I am dedicating to getting ready to go back to my wonderful Room 10 kids and getting down to business.  I wanted to stop by my blog for few minutes and catch everyone up with pictures. Here are a few things we have been working on before our break. 

Here are two mini lessons that I did with the class during writing workshops.

Below is a picture of the materials that the kids use during their independent time.  The alphabet chart is from Deanna Jump and Deedee Wills writing units.

We also spent the week before our break on learning about Johnny Appleseed.  Here are a few pictures of the kids work.  I love when they work so hard the display just made me smile.

A tree graph about Johnny Appleseed.

An Apply Glyph (this is from Shari Sloane's Website).

Results of our glyph

Our Final Display

Next week is another short week for the kids.  They will be in school Monday through Wednesday.  Thursday and Friday will be Parent/Teacher conference days.

We are starting our Nocturnal Animal Theme tomorrow so check back for pictures and information on what we are working on and learning.

Talk soon,

Leslie