Kindergarten Kindergarten

And so it begins...

I ventured back into my room, yesterday. It's always such an odd sight...furniture stacked, shelves empty, everything so clean. I feel just like Miss Bindergarten (minus the parrot).

I didn't get a lot accomplished...I mostly just sat there and stared. I like the way I did my room last year, but I'm changing the way I do reading workshop, and think I need to change my layout accordingly. Maybe a wave of inspiration will hit me today.

I do know this--

I love the shiny, waxed floors. And I love the possibilities.

A Couple More Emergent Readers

Enjoy!

Download Goodbye Summer

 

Download I like lunch
 

Back to School Emergent Reader

One more oldie but goodie:

   

Here is the first emergent reader I will be using this year. I start teaching basic high frequency words and 1:1 correspondence the very first day! It uses mostly Discovery School Clipart (my absolute favorite clipart!!)

Download Book_back_to_school 

Getting My First Week Together

Here's another post from my old blog:

OK...so I'm a nerd. I love school and I cannot wait to get back. The kids are so adorable those first few weeks, during their "Honeymoon" phase. You know, when they're still too scared to try any nonsense.

I've been busy getting my lessons together for the first few weeks. Here's some stuff I'm doing. Of course I have to read the No David Books by David Shannon. The kids love them--they're simple and funny, and make a great springboard for the big "classroom rules" discussion.

One of the things we do is make David puppets. They are very easy to make (essential for any week 1 art projects!) They are copied on cardstock and glued to a tongue depressor. The kids color them in. It's a good time to talk about coloring expectations (Yes...you have to teach them how to color!) Because his face is a big wide space, it allows them to practice coloring in "all the way," and not just scribbling. They also have to cut out his face a nose, which is good, simple cutting practice and lets you see quickly who has scissors skills and who does not. When we're done, we use the masks to roleplay different things kids do in school (sharing, hitting, making messes, raising your hand, etc.) and we decide if those are acceptable behaviors or not. (The kids love to roleplay the bad behaviors). Then we brainstorm our class rules together and I write them on a chart pad as an early shared writing experience. (Of course--I pare the rules down to a few simple ones for our final set of rules.) I made the mask template into a PDF file you can download if you want.

Download No_david

Another activity I do revolves around the song and book The Wheels on the Bus. It's a simple song that most of the children already know, and it's just plain fun to sing. I have the song and book by Raffi, which I love. (You can download the song on I-Tunes). Again--this can be a great springboard for discussing dismissal procedures and bus/crosswalk safety.

For an art activity, we make construction paper busses. I give the children half a sheet of yellow constructuion paper (so 8 1/2" by 5 1/2"). I show them how to cut a square out form the corner. I give them 3 pre-cut white rectangles for windows and have them draw 3 friends.I pre-draw the circles on black construction paper with a white crayon) and have them cut them out (again--good cutting practice). Of course, you have to attach them with brads so the wheels actually go 'round and 'round. I pre-cut the red octagon and show them how to add the details with crayons. (Of course, that is my sample--look below for a kid version!)

We also make a predictable chart featuring the words is and on. (Joey is on the bus. Mary is on the bus.) I then have them write three friends' names on a worksheet. Here's one from last year. (I see now that my bus is a little different. Oh well!) It makes a really cute beginning of the year bulletin board!

One more activity I do is based around the book The Colors of Us by Karen Katz. I absolutely adore this book...it celebrates the different skin colors we all have! Then we read this poem:

Wouldn't it be terrible? Wouldn't it be sad?
If just one single color was the color that we had?
If everything was purple? Or red? Or blue? Or green?
If yellow, pink, or orange was all that could be seen?
Can you just imagine how dull world would be
If just one single color was all we got to see?

Then the kids get to make their own crayon self-portraits. I got this activity from KinderArt: Crayon Box Activity . Here's my example. I let the kids use hand mirrors to really examine the details. We talk about eye color, hair color, whether or not they have freckles, etc. I also let them use multi-cultural crayons to color their skin. (There's nothing worse than only having brown, black or peach to choose from when trying to match your skin color!) When you're all done, it makes an adorable bulletin board or class book! Here's a template for the crayons--

 

Download Crayon_templates 

Here's another cute poem to tie in about crayons and sharing:

I had a box of crayons,
All shiny, straight and new.
I lent a friend one crayon,
And--oops--it broke in two!

My friend said she was sorry,
But I said "I don't care,
'cause now we both can color
with one crayon--we can share!"

My Favorite Books for Teaching Classroom Expectations

Here's a post from my old blog:

I love books! I spend WAY too much money buying books. I went a little crazy this summer, and bought some new books to introduce routines and procedures. Here are some of my favorites:

Manners at School by Carrie Finn. Beautiful illustrations and a great all-around book. Talks about raising your hand, quiet voices and paying attention.

Respect and Take Care of Things by Cheri J. Meiners. Really good! Great for reminding children how to take care of classroom materials.

Be Polite and Kind by Cheri J. Meiners. (She actually has a whole series. I want them all). Goes over please, thank-you, excuse me, kind words, etc.

Words Are Not for Hurting by Elizabeth Verdick. Powerful book that kinders will understand. Also has good discussion points in back.

Hands Are Not for Hitting by Elizabeth Verdick. Another great one in her series.

Germs Are Not for Sharing by Elizabeth Verdick. Great for introducing bathroom/sink procedures. I got the board book version of this. It's a little simpler and makes a good, quick read.

Please Play Safe: A Penguins Guide to Playground Safety by Margery Cuyler. I lucked into this one! I found it at Half-Price Books! It's perfect to read before your first recess and talks about slide, monkey bar and even general playround safety. Very cute, too!

The Recess Queen by Alexis O'Neill and Laura Huliska-Beith. A classic--another one to read before recess (addresses bullying). Kids love it.

I Ain't Gonna Paint No More by Karen Beaumont. BRILLIANT book! Great to read before you introduce paint--where it goes and where it doesn't go. Illustrations are wonderful, it rhymes, and it almost has the word "butt" in it. One of my all-time favorites!

Little Tiger is Loud: A Book About Using Your Inside Voice by Susan Hood and Barbara Nascimbeni. I just got this last night at Barnes and Noble. It's a pop-up--usually a no-no in my room, but it was too cute to pass up, and does address an issue that's always a problem in my room--loud voices!

Hmmm...I wonder why I'm so broke? 

Setting Up Math Problem-Solving Notebooks

 

We do math problem solving in my kindergarten class everyday! I will probably write a lot about it this year, so stay tuned! So I thought I would start off showing how I set up my Problem-Solving Notebooks (some people call them math journals). I use a notebook so I can keep all of the kids' problem-solving together in one place. I find that when I use loose papers, they just end up stuffed in backpacks and crumpled on the bottom of backpacks. Besides, It's amazing to look through them and see the kids' growth over the course of a year!

So how, you ask, do parents know what we're doing in math? I send the journals home once or twice a quarter so parents can flip through them. I constantly communicate with my parents through e-mails, my classroom blog and even Twitter to let them know what we're doing and how they can reinforce what we're learning at home. And I use the journals during conferences to show parents evidence of how their child is performing in math.

So, where to start...

1. Choose your notebook. It's really up to your own personal preferences (and what's on your school supply list!) I prefer marble composition books, because those things can take a beating and never fall apart! Pages are sewn in, so they don't fall out. The cover is nice and sturdy. There are plenty of pages. (I do wish they came in a regular 8 1/2 x 11" size).

You can also use spirals, but I hate how the metal spiral parts can get all pulled out of shape and/or twisted together...and they're dangerous (ouch!) The covers rip and pages tear out easily.

You could also use blank copy paper in a 3-brad folder.

2. Label the notebooks. We use composition notebooks for everything in my room--science notebooks, writing journals, reading workshop notebooks--so I have to make each one unique somehow. This year, I was able to get different colors of notebooks at Walmart, 4/$1.00 (What a deal!). I use mailing labels to put the kids' names on their journals. I print out a full sheet for each kid at the beginning of the year and then pull one off anytime I need to label something with their name. Super easy! If you want this label, you can download the PDF here:

 

Download Math Journal Labels

 

 

 

3. Put helpful information inside the front cover. I put a page that has numbers 1 through 20 (because although most kindergartners can count at the beginning of the year, many need a visual reminder of how to write the actual numbers). You can download this PDF here:

 

 

Download Math Journal Reference

4. Glue in the Problem-Solving Notebook Expectations. I actually do this as a whole lesson with the kids. We go over each expectation. We learn how to find the next blank page (so the kids won't flip to the middle of their notebook to do a problem). We learn how to use the glue properly (both glue stick and bottle) to glue problems and activities in our notebooks. I continue to revisit these expectations throughout the year. You can download this PDF here:

Download Math Journal Expectations

5. Now you're all ready. Please remember that the first few days weeks of problem solving might be a little ugly. Despite your best efforts, kids will still glue their pages together. They will still flip to the middle of the notebook to do a problem. Their drawing/fine-motor/writing skills are still developing, so the journals will be messy (messy...messy!) And I promise you at least a couple of kids will flip their journals completely upside down and start in the back--happens every year! But everyday, it gets a little better. You'll be amazed at how different their notebooks look in a month or two. Don't give up!

OK...off to check the next thing off my list! Bye!

Back to School--Again!

It's Back-to-School time! How do I know? Because, Walmart already has their school supplies out! (And, as luck would have it, some really good sales! Composition books are 4/$1.00!)

Back-to-School is my favorite time of year. I love thinking about all those little sun-kissed five-year-olds, bouncing up and down with excitement, already in love with their teacher and eager to learn! The chaos of kindergarten graduation and end-of-the-year parties is all but a memory now. I am well-rested and ready to start a new adventure!

This is my time to reflect--what worked well last year? What do I want to expand on? What do I want to let go? How have the standards changed? What new books/research am I interested in investigating?

I know I want to continue problem-solving as my primary means of instruction in math. (OK--so I am required to by my district--but I am truly convinced it is a great way for kids to learn. More on that later!) I I am reading the book Using Science Notebooks in Elementary Classrooms by Michael P. Klentschy in the hopes of making my science notebooks more student-directed and inquiry based. And I have fallen in love with Debbie Miller's Reading with Meaning and am looking forward to trying a modified version of her Reading Workshop this fall.

So now, the work begins. There are so many little things I can take care of now, while the Janitors are busy scrubbing and waxing and cleaning. (Did you see my list?)

Let's see how many things I can get checked off. As I finish things up, I'll post pictures and maybe a few little surprises along the way (like PDF files!). Have a great day and take time to enjoy the summer sun while you can!