My Hot Air Balloon Adventure

Last year my kindergarten students bought me a hot air balloon ride for my end of the year gift and today I finally got to use it. Going on a balloon ride has always been something on my bucket list and today I was able to cross it off. Let me start by saying THANK YOU to my class for giving me the opportunity to do such an amazing thing, I am so thankful for being given this opportunity to do this. For those of you who have never done this, I highly recommend going.... it is amazing the silence you experience as you float in a balloon 9,000 feet above ground. A little scary at first but worth every second.

Thank You again to my Kindergarten class of 2010-2011!!!!!

Using our Senses to Observe a Pumpkin

In Science we are learning about properties. As an introduction to our unit we have been studying the 5 senses. Properties describing how something looks, tastes, feels, smells and sounds. What better way to put our senses to use than by observing a pumpkin??? Each child completed a senses observation chart as he/she observed the pumpkin. After using the pumpkin for science we carved our pumpkin with a funny face and I took the seeds home and baked them for the taste portion of the lesson that is not on the observation sheet!

How many pumpkins tall?

We recently took a field trip to the pumpkin patch and had soooooo much fun. Students had the opportunity to explore a corn maze, the pumpkin patch and the farm animals on the grounds. We had a great time watching a video all about pumpkins! When we returned to school as a follow up activity we took each child's picture next to pumpkins to see how many pumpkins tall each child was. We are creating a class book called Pumpkin's Tall. Each page will read... I am _______ Pumpkins Tall. Students will fill in the blanks and glue their pictures on their own page. Stay tuned for our finished book!

What Do Writers Write About????

During writers workshop we talked about where writers get their ideas. Students shared with me where they thought stories came from and where they get their ideas when they write a story. After we made an anchor chart to hang in the classroom, this is what it looks like!



Literacy Centers

Each day in my kindergarten class my students visit three literacy centers. Students visit a variety of centers from word work, ABC, listening, SMARTboard, computers, names, writing, handwriting, poems, guided reading, buddy reading, housekeeping, and phonics. My students use this chart to find which three centers they will visit for the day. I have made it kindergarten and ESL friendly by using picures of each student. Each child finds his/her picture and rotates to their first, second and third center of the day. When it is time to rotate I will ring a bell and say "hands up, stand up, tools down, freeze." When students hear this message they are to get cleaned up and stand next to their chair to switch to the next center. We do this throughout all three centers. Above each table in the classroom is a picture matching the icons on the center chart to help students navigate around the room to their centers.

Mr. Bow Cow

Like BART, Mr. Bow Cow comes out once a week. Mr. Bow Cow works with students on rhyming. He picks two pictures out of the box. If they rhyme the students take a bow. If the words do not rhyme they shake their heads and say mooooooooo. This is another fun and interactive way for students to learn rhyming words, best of all it is fast and easy, but very educational! Mr. Bow Cow is also stored in a box that was decorated. You will have the chance to meet more characters as the year goes on!

BART the Letter Sound Dog

This is BART, he is the letter sound dog. On Monday's Bart comes out and likes to help the kids with their letter sounds. I usually pick the letters we have been using through our phonics program called FUNDATIONS. Bart digs in the box and comes out with a letter stuck to his nose (magnet inside nose). He then sings Who let the e out and the kids say /e/ /e/ /e/ the sound the letter makes (sung to the tune Who let the dogs out).

 I store Bart in a box made with a dog on the top. I painted it to make it fun and cute!!!!

Chair Cubbies!!!!

In kindergarten we do not have desks which can make storing supplies very difficult. In the five years I have been teaching kindergarten I have always wanted chair cubbies... but the problem with that is I can't sew!!! So this year I have a wonderful grandmother of a student who offered to make some chair cubbies for my class. She brought them by this week and I am soooooooooo excited to use them. Thank you Carol Balley, you are amazing :)

Where Writers Get Ideas

This week we focused on where writers get their ideas. We talked about how most of the stories we write come from things we know and do. Through the process of discussion we created an anchor chart to help us remember what writers can write about when we aren't sure where to start.

I'm an Aunt!!!!

On Monday, September 5th, I became an aunt to beautiul Joey. She is so precious and I am excited to spoil her. While I had to miss her birth due to my plane being delayed for six hours from my weekend in Iowa seeing her Tuesday was worth the wait!!!

Apples, Apples, Apples

Way up high in an apple tree.
Two red apples smiled at me.
I shook that tree

as hard as I could.
Down came the apples!
 Mmmmmm they were good!

Today we sampled red, yellow and green apples. The kids LOVED this and it was a great way to serve snack. After tasting all three apples each student had to color their apple to show their favorite color apple. They placed their apple on the graph and we discussed the terms more and less!!!! 

Snack Bus

The first week of school is a fun and exciting time. To wrap up the week we made a fun snack bus. In order to create the bus we needed the following items.

1. A plate or paper towel

2. Graham Crackers

3. Icing (yellow)

4. Chex Cereal

5. Mini Oreos

First, place a Graham Cracker on the plate. Take a spoon and place icing all over until there is no brown showing. Place four chex cereal bites on the bus for windows. Add two Oreo's for the wheels. Finally, you are ready to eat your creation!!!! Yummy :)

Scavenger Hunt

I set up a scavenger hunt when the kids drop off their school supplies. Each child picks up a to do list and scavenger hunt to drop off all of their school supplies. I printed DJ Inkers icons and placed them around the room, in baskets and on tables to make it fun and challenging. After completing the hunt students will head outside for juice and donuts!!! WOW, what a fun reward!!!!

Take a look at our room...

Here is our kindergarten classroom at a glance...



Each week students are assigned a helper job for the week. The jobs I have are attendance, star of the week, caboose, line leader, lunch counter, weather bear, number cruncher. We also have afternoon clean-up jobs like chair stackers, table cleaners, floor pick up, take downers!





Each day we have an hour of literacy centers. Students rotate through three centers a day for a total of 12 cneters a week.





Classroom Library



Guided Reading

 

 



Writing center





Smartboard









Math tools





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  The Classroom

Bathroom passes and wash area