Saturday, August 25, 2012

Our First Week

Well, we all survived our first week of Kindergarten!! I am sure some of my sweet kiddos slept in today. Back to school is always hard on some. Our day is jam packed full of fun and learning and I know that by the end of the day, I am exhausted!! Here are a few pictures from our first week!! (Thanks to all of my parents for allowing me to post pictures of your kids!! I hope you enjoy using this all year as a way to see what we have been up to in the classroom!)
Of course, our favorite thing to do this week was play on the playground!




 
 
 

A few pictures from our Pete the Cat Rocking In My School Shoes tour!
 
 He wasn't in the music room!

 Listening carefully to Mrs. Bailey to see if he was in the gym!
 He is not in the Art Room!
 
 Looking carefully for him in the Library! He even left footprints!


Gluing and Cutting Practice! 





 We had a great first week! Be sure to ask your child about all of the fun things we did!!

Guided Reading Cards

Head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers Store and check out my Guided Reading Cards! You will love having these during your small group time and they can also be used during your whole group time as well! What is included:

Guided Reading Cards-

Use these cards to help students practice reading from left to right! Green means go and red means stop!

These cards also help students use reading strategies! A great way to help students use pictures clues (Eagle Eyes) and get their mouths ready to say the first sound in a word (Fish Lips). These cards will make a great mini lesson and can also be used whole group as well!

I also use these for students to practice using their pointers to touch each word when reading.

There are three different levels included.

*Just letters to practice reading left to right

*Sentences with a green dot (start) and a red dot (stop)

*Sentences without dots for those students who know where to begin and end reading.






I hope you find them as useful as I do!!

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Pete the Cat Tour on the 1st Day Of School

Friday was my first day with some of my sweet kiddos and it was great! The boys and girls had a great time on our Pete the Cat school tour!! If you have not been to
and checked out her Pete the Cat Rockin In My School Shoes school tour FREEBIE, you need to go there now and get it!! This was the best school tour I have ever done! After reading the book,
Pete the Cat: Rocking in My School Shoes
 there is a note from Pete the Cat and it leads you on a tour through the school searching for him!  Our Related Arts teachers thankfully didn't mind us coming around and our librarian even put down some "footprints" for us to find! The boys and girls had a great time looking for Pete even though we never found him. (It leads you back into the classroom where he leaves a coloring page for them to complete and a note that says he had to go back to his school.) They were so excited and engaged! I cannot wait to do this again with my kids on Monday and Tuesday! Check out the video below that gives you a short preview of the book!!
Also, our 1st Day of Kindergarten pictures turned out super cute! The blue frame really popped with our brick background. I can't wait to share a few with you!!
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!! :)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Ready or Not, Here They Come... Finally :)

Well, the day is finally here!!  I get to meet my students tomorrow :) Well, some of them anyways. In my county we do a phase in, so tomorrow I will only have 7 students. Then on Monday I will have 7 more and on Tuesday I will have my final 5. I can honestly say I am super excited for this year! I have probably spent more time this year preparing than I have in the past. You would think it would get easier the longer you teach, but the reality is that you just keep getting new ideas and always want to change things! All of the hard work and long hours will hopefully pay off!! As I was walking out my classroom tonight (at 9:00!!?!?-again) I decided to snap a few pictures to post. My room is ready to go, except for a few files I want to go through and organize. I am pretty happy with my classroom setup. I guess the real test will be next week when all 19 students are in there!


My pinterest inspired crayon drawers! Crayons will go in the labled drawer so that kids are able to easily find the color crayon they need!

I LOVE my red and green tubs! (I got them from Target a few years ago) When students are finished with a paper they put it in the red tub (stop) and then if there is a paper in the green tub (go) they take the paper out and get started! The highlighter in the red tub is used by students to highlight their name so that they remember to write their name on their papers. As you can see I have my sign in sheets in the red tub and Mrs. Miner's Monkey Business first day of Kindergarten coloring sheet in the green tub. We will be doing both of these right away tomorrow to help us get used to this procedure.

And finally...


Mrs. Campbell (another fabulous k teacher) and I  made our 1st Day of Kindergarten frame for our 1st day pictures!! I know we are missing a few letters but Mrs. Campbell is picking them up tonight and will have them ready to go by tomorrow! I think it turned out cute :)

Well, that is all for now. I am heading to bed. I am happy that I can cross "blog post" off my long "to do" list! 

I would also like to say "Welcome" to all of my new Kindergarten Parents and Families who may be checking out our class blog for the first time! I hope this helps give you an idea what we are doing this year!! Please check back often :)

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Getting What You Need

I have been thinking about and praying a lot about my upcoming students. Although I do not know who I will have yet, I have been praying that I will get the students that I need in my classroom this year. Last night, I received this as my fortune. Pretty cool huh? Have you received any fun fortunes lately?

Friday, August 10, 2012

MIA

So I have obviously been M.I.A…. I mean look when my last post was! Please do not think that I have just been taking a break. (I wish!!:) I have been spending my days at school! (shocker right?!?) Of course when I am not at school I have been watching the Olympics but that counts as a pretty good excuse right??  I did get to go to a few conferences two weeks ago that my county pays for (which is amazing!!!!) I was so excited to listen to Dr. Jean and Debbie Diller!!! Here is a picture with my Kindergarten team (minus one) with Dr. Jean. (I am the 2nd on from the right) Isn’t she just the cutest thing??

dr. jean

 

I was so excited to see her and I got so many ideas! If you have never been to her page click here to go to it! Click on Free Activities to go to a HUGE amount of FREEEEEEE ideas and activities :) I recommend the July 2011 Parent Pak and the January 2011 High Five Page. I cannot wait to use ideas from both of these and share them with you!

Now on to Debbie Diller… I have been going back and forth and back again about what to use this year for my Literacy Stations. I have seen so many things on the Daily 5 but can honestly say that I do not know enough about it and do not feel comfortable enough to do it. After going to a few of Debbie Diller’s sessions I am breathing a sigh of relief and sticking to my guns and doing her Literacy Work Stations. I am very excited about them and cannot wait to share with you some pictures and ideas! Although I did stations last year, I feel that this year will be better now that I have been able to listen to her and get a better understanding of the way they are supposed to go :)

We have been testing our Kindergartners the past two days. We have one more day of testing (Monday) and then we can place them into our classrooms. I am SO excited to meet my new kiddos!!  I will be back soon with some freebies and pictures of my classroom.  I will be heading up there tomorrow to do some work and plan on posting again tomorrow night. Thank you for your patience!!

Go USA!!! :)