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: