Classroom Makeover

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had my sister paint an old door in my classroom. I'm excited to share the before and after pictures of the makeover!

BEFORE 

AFTER

What a difference a good artist and a little paint makes! It's not completely finished as I still have to add a border. Now that I'm in the crafting mood, I'm off to complete some classroom projects seen on Pinterest!

Click for Creativity!

Abby, at The Inspired Apple, has a great video explaining her idea of having a blogging type of conference. Head on over to her blog, check out the video and leave your thoughts/ comments! :) Wonderful idea, Abby! 

I came across another great website after being directed there by Kristen at Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten. The website is No Time for Flashcards . It has SO many awesome ideas for studying the alphabet, books on certain subjects, seasons, crafts, animals, holidays and other themes. Below is a picture of the many ideas shared for the letter C. Thanks for sharing, Little Miss Glamour!!

Has anyone tried....???

 Has anyone tried Crayola's Dry Erase Crayons?

 

I just saw a commercial on T.V. advertising the Dry Erase Crayons, and I'm really interested in how they work! I thought about buying a pack to try out. On my classroom "Wish List" I added skinny black dry erase markers, which I've used in the past. I like the markers, but noticed that they would dry out after awhile. If the new crayons are a "must" I just might add those to my list instead! But I'm wondering how well do they erase, are they noticeable, easy to use or will I have students breaking crayons left and right?! Hmm, let me know what you think! 

Has anyone tried Delicious?

Yes, that cupcake looks DELICIOUS! But, I'm talking about the Social Bookmarking website called Delicious. I just discovered this as I was researching for Grad. school. I am loving it (just as much as I love cupcakes) !! This website allows you to create a list of bookmarks, just as you would on your computer. However, this list of bookmarks can be accessed anywhere with Internet access AND you can share the bookmarks with other users of Delicious. So if you and a colleague both sign up for Delicious Social Bookmarking, the two of you can share websites that you have found and loved! If you do not have a blog of your own I suggest getting a Delicious account because you can bookmark every blog you come across....... instead of searching through your computer's history to track down that blog you found two weeks ago, but can't remember how. (Or am I the only one who has done this?) :) The best part is that it's completely FREE! Who doesn't love free stuff?

August.... already???!!!

Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE my job and the kiddos! But I have really enjoyed having this summer off! This is the first summer since I've been teaching that I didn't work thru the summer (other then taking grad classes). And let me tell you-- I didn't know what I was missing! Summer has consisted of  enjoy days at the pool, days with family and friends, days catching up on home improvement and gardening, days visiting out of state friends, and days to improve my cooking/baking skills! It's sad to see summer come to a close, but exciting to start with a new bunch of Kindergartners! I've started to work in my room and that beginning of the year excitement is slowly starting to make its way into the end of summer. As I was blogstalking last week, I found a super cute Open House treat at What the Teacher Wants. Click to check it out-- it's a cute and inexpensive way to start the year off. Thanks for sharing your awesome idea! 


As the back to school organization continues in my room, I have decided (with the help of my wonderful aide) that I'm going to paint a door in my room. I have a "door" that used to be a door, but now is blocked off and covered with Styrofoam. My sister is an art teacher, so I have plans for her to come in a paint a scene as if we are looking out of a window. I will post a before and after picture of the door as she works her magic! I'm excited for the end result as the past few years I've had posters that have been stapled and stapled and stapled again because they continued to fall off of the "door".

As I mentioned, I've been working on my Master's Degree in Ed. Technology. I thought I would start to share some of the projects I have created, so they have a chance to be put to use-- instead of sitting in storage on my computer. :)  I've created two WebQuests for Kindergarten students. A WebQuest is a inquiry based lesson with many web based features. (Check our www.webquests.org for more information and more awesome WebQuests!) The first WebQuest is a math lesson based on Shapes. The second is a Science lesson based on a Pumpkin Life Cycle. I have included a link to Little Giraffes in this WebQuest. I love this website, so if you have a chance and haven't before-- check it out! Let me know what you think, hopefully they are of some use to you! 


Click to access the Pumpkin WebQuest.
To access the Shape WebQuest see below:

Back to School Giveaway!

I haven't posted in a few weeks.... been busy, busy, busy! I was on vacation, started working on back to school things and  trying to finish up my two grad school classes for the summer! Today while blog stalking I noticed that Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten Class is having a Back to School Giveaway. Her giveaway includes items from her Back to School unit, Apple unit and Fall unit.

To enter the giveaway:

1. follow her blog

2. follow her TPT store

3. Post about her giveaway on your blog, if you have one! 

The giveaway ends on July 31st, so hop on over to her blog for your chance to win! 

Freebie Linky Party

Who doesn't love to download free printables for their classroom? Lauren at Just Add Clip Art  had the wonderful idea of having a FREEBIE Linky Party! Check out her blog to download many other freebies from some outstanding blogs!My freebie is an addition to the Star Marshmallow activities that I posted about a few weeks ago. This is a measurement activity using the star marshmallows.

 

Marshmallow Measurement 

I am still learning how to upload documents on my blog. I have tried Google Docs and now tried Scribd, so bear with me as I experiment! :)  

Kohl's Cares for Kids

Kohl's Cares for Kids currently has plush characters and hardcover books from Clifford. I just purchased Cleo, Clifford and T-Bone for only $5 each! All proceeds go to the Kohl's Cares for Kids charity!

Linky Party at Little Miss Kindergarten

Little Miss Kindergarten is having a Linky Party on transitions in the classroom. Join the conversation by heading over to her blog! As she is said, some transitions are hard to make in the classroom. How do you make enough time to transition when you look at the clock and realize you need to stop the activity and head to lunch? I admit, it's something I need to improve upon in my classroom instead of shouting, "Hurry and clean up! We're late for lunch!"

Transitions I Do Use:

-when transitioning to our specials we walk quietly in the hallway by playing "Follow the Leader" as we walk. I will make different hand/arm movements and the students are expected to follow along. 

-when transitioning from the carpet to their desk I sit in my chair at the carpet and have students whisper the answer to a question into my ear before they sit down at their table. Examples of questions:  What rhymes with ____? What starts with letter ____? How can we make the number 4 when we add? Or anything that has to do with our theme of the week. 

-during Literacy Centers, Playtime  and Math Tubs I will turn off the lights when it is time to clean up. This prompts the kids to start picking up immediately. 

I have 5 i-Pods to use this year, so I hope to download music and begin to use this as a transition activity. Little Miss Kindergarten has a great list of songs, any other ideas on songs to add to my i-Pod?

Another Giveaway!

Erica at Erica's Elementary Excitement is having a giveaway! Check out her blog for a chance to win a $50 Lakeshore Learning giftcard AND a $25 Target giftcard!

4th of July Star Marshmallow Sorting

I recently purchased 4th of July Star Marshmallows from Wal Mart to use for the beginning of the school year.  I thought this would be a great beginning of the year activity to practice counting, sorting, graphing and identifying color words. I will open up the PDF file on my Smart Board to show the students an example before they begin the activity on their own. As long as the package is unopened, the marshmallows will stay fresh until school starts. Click below for the activity sheets. Please leave a comment or start following my blog after you download the sheets! Thanks! Happy 4th of July!


Star Graphing
Star Sorting

P.S. I'm still working on how to post a Google Doc so that the photo appears. If you have any tips to offer in troubleshooting this, I would appreciate it! 

Free Miss Bindergarten Unit at Kinder Kraziness!

I always start my school year with the story Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten. Now I'll  have a unit to go with Miss Bindergarten books thanks to Kinder Kraziness! Over at Kinder Kraziness you can grab a free unit on Miss Bindergarten and while you're over there check out the rest of her awesome blog! If you like my blog, start following!

How Do You Create A Blog?

After viewing my blog and other fantastic teaching blogs, you may be asking "How can I create my own blog?" Follow the steps below in order to create a blog of your own! 
1. Setting up a Blog.
Access Blogger. If you already have a Gmail account you will be able to use your Gmail log in information on Blogger. If you do not have Gmail, you will need to create an account when you access Blogger. 
2. Design
Now that you have created a Blogger account, you can start designing your blog! Think of what you want to title your blog and how you would like your blog to look. Once you have accessed your blog, click on "Design" in order to work on the design of the blog. Then you will see "Template Designer" This is where you will change the font, background template, and set up of your blog. If you want a background template that isn't offered on Blogger, you can access free templates on Lee Lou Blogs. Follow the step by step directions are provided by Lee Lou Blogs when you select the template or buttons that you want to add to your blog.
3. Adding Gadgets
Look to the right of my blog where you read "All About Me", "Total Page Views" and "Blogs I Love". These are called Gadgets. Under the design tab, you will be able to add any gadgets that are appropriate for your blog.
4. Settings
Now that you have set up and designed your blog, it's time to check the settings of your blog. This is a tab at the top of your dashboard. Once you have clicked on this tab, you will find that you can set your preferences such as the title, blog description, format, archiving of posts and permissions of who can view your blog.
5. Posting to Your Blog
You are ready to post to your blog! On your dashboard you will see a blue buttong "New Post", click on this to begin a new post! As you write your post, you can change the font size, color, add a link in your post, add pictures or videos by clicking on the appropriate icon. Before publishing the post, click on "Preview" to see how your post will look before publishing it to your blog.
Congratulations! You have created your own blog! 
Click here for a printable version of the directions. 

Technology in the Classroom

I'm posting a link to an interesting article and video regarding I-pods in the classroom (this was part of an assignment for my tech classes). The video consists of interviews from the teacher and students who are using I-pod Touches in the classroom. I have 5 I-pod Touches to use in my classroom which I plan to start using during our Math and Literacy Center time. Do you have an I-pod Touch? How do you use it in your classroom? I'd love to hear your ideas as I brainstorm for next year!Click the link below to view the video.

What Happens When You Give Children An Ipod Touch?

Little Literacy Learners Giveaway

Check out Little Literacy Learners for another Giveaway! Mrs. Mc is giving away a gift card for Target, Amazon or Barnes and Noble (winners choice) because she has reached 200 followers! It's worth taking a look at her blog as she has AWESOME literacy ideas with a lot of FREEBIES! 

A Few of My Favorite Things

I was inspired by Mrs. Jump's latest post to blog about a few of my favorite classroom items. 

1. My Smart Board! Love, love, love it. 

 

2. Post -its of all shapes and sizes.  You can never have enough Post- It notes!

3. Dice of all shapes and sizes. I like dice with the alphabet and with numbers. Many of my math tubs and literacy centers include an activity using dice.... Not to mention all of the dice games we can play during math.

4. Paper baskets. Great mode of organization for student papers, literacy centers and math tubs!!

5. And last but not least, the topic of many of my latest posts, random containers from Target.

What are a few of your favorite things?

Giveaway!

Miss Kindergarten is having a Back to School: Teacher Survival Kit Giveaway offered by Ingles 360. Head on over to Miss Kindergarten and register to win!

School's Out for Summer

Tomorrow marks one week since our last day of school. I have been brainstorming since 3pm last Wednesday in preparation for next year. Today I made another (unnecessary but successful) trip to Target. Every time I walk into Target (of course after I check out the clothes and shoes) I am looking at every item in the $1 Spot wondering if I could use it at school. During today's trip I found small bucket tins that will serve as replacement crayons containers for next year.This year the students were constantly breaking their crayons throughout the year and I realized they cannot do their best coloring with broken crayons. I plan to fill each bucket with extra crayons of the same color and when a student breaks a red crayon they can walk over and get a new red crayon from the red crayon bucket on their own. I will label each bucket with the color name in order to introduce and improve color word recognition. Not only will they have beautiful (I HOPE!) coloring and recognize color words, but it will help the students become independent. Yes, I will probably have a broken crayon epidemic for a couple of days after the buckets are introduced, but I'm confident the idea is an effective time saver. Got to love the $1 Spot! Check out what others are buying Linky Party at Ladybug Teacher Files !
 

Target $1 Spot

I love the $1 spot at Target! Throughout the school year I am constantly buying containers that I might use at school.....even if I have no idea what I'm going to do with it I can't resist! Today was our last day of school and when I started packing up my supplies and organizing my desk I found a use for the vinyl baskets I purchased last week. Each basket fits perfectly into my desk drawer, so I was able to organize the glue sticks, rolls of tape, post-it notes etc.! The mini buckets are perfect for holding dry erase markers or even  sticks with the student's names. I like to hang my bucket of names up on the easel so that I have easy access to it at all times. I also love using the various containers for sight word games. 

I purchased the popcorn containers at the beginning of the year to use for a game. I wrote our classroom popcorn words and the word "Pop" on large craft sticks and put the sticks into the container. The students take turns picking out a stick and reading it, if they read "POP" the student puts all of their sticks back into the container and starts over. A friend who teaches first grade shared that idea with me-- Brilliant!

Countdown to Summer

My students LOVE using paper chains to countdown significant events. They helped to make a paper chain in December as we counted down to Christmas (great way to practice counting backwards too).This month we created a paper chain to countdown to the last day of school. The helper of the day will take a link off each morning during calendar. Currently, we only have 2 left!! 

To prepare for summer break, we completed an ice cream science experiment last week. We made Ice Cream in a Bag from Deana Jump's Simple Science packet. It was fun, tasty and a great hands- on experiment to show the change of liquid to solid. Check out her Simple Science packets on TPT for more!

2011-2012 Calendars

Looking for calendars for next school year? I have been looking for a monthly calendar for next school year that I can edit-- finally found one! Mrs. Meacham has posted an updated calendar on her website. The calendar can be downloaded as PDF or Word. The Word file can be edited so I was able to type in our school's schedule for the year and now I'm able to plan my monthly themes. I'll use the same calendar for my Calendar Folders and will be able to change the font, size etc. Check it out!

Ocean Unit

 Our school psychologist is a former art teacher and wanted to co-teach a lesson together. She read "Mister Seahorse" by Eric Carle and then did a little Art History as she explained Eric Carle's illustration technique. Then the students painted 3 sheets of paper and used different tools (combs, forks, Q-tips) to add texture to the paper. She came back a few days later and we worked the students through the steps to create a tropical fish using the three pieces of paper. We had so much fun and the final product turned out so cute!

We made seahorses using tissue paper pieces. We also made jellyfish and created a math journal using sea shells. 

Great literature to accompany an Ocean unit: 

Getting Started

This is my first post! I'm a newbie, but thought I would join the blog world as I have a " Teaching Blog Addiction"! I started my Kindergarten blog as a final project for a Master's class that I am taking. I hope to connect and collaborate with all of you in order to share, learn and grow! Thanks for checking out my blog-- now start following me! 
I will post the latest photos from our Ocean Unit soon!