Happy New Year SALE!!!

I just wanted to thank you all for a fabulous year! I have appreciated all of the support you have given me. To show my gratitude, I am throwing a sale in my shop for the next two days. Best wishes for a healthy and happy year in 2015!!

We made it to Christmas Break! Phew!

I am so glad to be on break for two entire weeks!!! I need the R & R for sure! Here is how I closed up the classroom before we left for vacation....

Gifts:

I found this cute little number on Pinterest. Seriously, I love that place for great ideas. I made these for all of the aides and special teachers that interact with my son in our building.

I couldn't forget my own little kinder darlings. They each got a special book with candy cane to take home. 

Craftivity:

I loved how these came out! I don't like when we return from the holiday break and Christmas stuff is still hanging up. I am one of those people that takes the tree down as soon as we have cleaned up all of the wrappings from Christmas day. So needless to say, I am the exact same way in the classroom. LOL! We winterized our writing wall and decorations. These snow globes are hanging on our wall!

These little numbers were taken down and sent home but the kids had a great time with them! We made 

Writing:
Writing is a huge component in our classroom and the kiddos rely on our writing station from morning until afternoon. I try to switch it up as much as possible. We do a daily write the room with thematic words that are also posted on our station wall. When I am ready to set up a new unit, I pass out the cards to the kids. They try to write a sentence with that word before posting it somewhere in the classroom for their peers to find.  I love the excitement I hear when I tell them it is time to do a switcheroo!

 We all have at least one friend in the class that is a spectacular writer. I just adore this guy's writing. He does such a super job that it is difficult for me at times to keep him challenged in this area! He did make me laugh when he asked why I don't put ALL of his papers on our wall of fame =)

Getting things ready to share with my kiddos in the New Year! Hope you are having a wonderful holiday season!

December goodies!

Hello!

I have been so busy during this holiday season that I have't had time to update my blog but I have TONS to share. A little bit of personal with lots of classroom goodies =)

My boys started in my school district this year and I just love it. Both of them are still adjusting with social and academic changes but I love to see them smile in school. My oldest joined the band in middle school and it definitely is the bright spot to his day. It was exciting to see him play in his first concert!

We needed to get our room updated for the holiday season and created our very own elves. They cam out way too big so I just changed the venue from the bulletin board to the hallway. I will have to tweak this one a bit for next time. LOL! When we were part time Kinders, I always liked when I had the opportunity to fix things when I had to do them the second time. There are no dress rehearsals anymore =)

Well, since the hallways was looking so festive, I couldn't forget our door. Since those little elves took quite some time to complete, I needed something a little simpler for the door. I was going to do a reindeer but the snowman can stay up until April in Ohio. LOL!

I have been really working on completing assessments for our upcoming report cards. My kiddos are having a hard time remembering their 3d shapes so I changed our table assignments (which were previously numbers) to all of the 3d figures with samples. I use these to line them up so I hope it sticks like glue this time around!

Along those math lines, one of our assessments is ordering items by length. We made our Christmas trees from shortest to longest strips and used hole punchers to create the ornaments. Great for those fine motor skills!

Another assessment is spelling our sight words and writing our sounds. I made up this little ditty trying to give them some clues with the puzzle pieces. I think they were in shock when I told them what we were going to be doing. LOL! I had them get writing boards and spread around the room while I conducted the test. They did a fantastic job for the first time. Stapled those to all of the other assessments we have been doing.

With all of this work, we needed a few brain breaks to give us time to refocus. There are some cute holiday brain breaks on YouTube right now. The fan favorite was definitely the one with Santa!

Part of our reading program, Wonders, has the kids learning quite a bit of grammar. We have been working on adjectives recently. The kids and I generated some ideas of adjectives that would be used to describe the perfect reindeer. We then wrote letters to Santa using some of those adjectives in telling him why we would be the best reindeer for him. I love their creativity!

 We are already knee deep in cold and flu season here in Ohio. Unfortunately, my youngest was not feeling well and I had to call in reinforcement. Sometimes, I think it is easier to just be here than get ready for a sub =)

Just one more week until the holiday break. We can do it!

Five for Friday Linky Party: November 21st

I am so thankful the weekend is here and it will be a short couple of days next week! Then it will be December...but who is counting ;-)?

My art teacher is fabulous! She decorates our building in the best projects and has new ones every year. As we are getting read for the holiday season, you will find many characters dressed in their holiday garb. 

We wanted to get our own room ready as well and made our writing station a little festive. The kids made reindeer out of their feet and hands but then some Christmas bulbs with tissue paper. It was the first place they went to during our stations the next day!

I was so tickled with our pilgrims this week. They came out so cute! We read "The First Thanksgiving" and discuss the long journey of the pilgrims. The kids then did some writing related to the Mayflower. If they had to choose only one thing they could bring with them, what would it be? Some responses were very logical and others were as I expected =)

It has been freeeeeeezzzzing in Ohio. When the temps get super low, my classroom is an ice box. We came into a 62 degree room that only reached 66 by the end of the day. My son likes to ham it up in the morning in my room before he departs to Third Grade. We went and saw "Big Hero 6" this weekend. Awesome movie!!!

Personally, I have had a very challenging week and I am so glad that it is almost over. I was barely able to get this post done but I hate to miss this Linky Party! My husband was out of town all week on business and a lot of personal things happened in his absence. I had my middle son throwing up as we were walking out of the door to leave for school, my laptop broke, and I am getting ready for a dental appt for an infected tooth. I absolutely hate the dentist but the darn thing in throbbing! Wish me luck. EEEEKKK!

Have a great weekend!

Five for Friday: November 14th Linky Party

Sooooooo glad that Friday is HERE! A little humor to start your day....

 I love doing this little activity with the kids during this time of the year. We make one side together and then turn it over and they start giggling when they realize what we have done to create two different things. Many kids think it is magic =) I like to hang these in the room so you can see both sides when they are turning in the air. Great fine motor practice for those little hands!

flip me over....

This is one of my all time favorite books. If you haven't read this to your class, you need to check it out. It is a funny story about a turkey that fools an entire town. The story is written in rhyme and the kids made their own WANTED posters. I was brave and let them use different mediums from our closest. Who doesn't love paint and markers? LOL!

 

Organization is key to keeping my sanity when I'm a single mom for the week! Well, that and my running. LOL! I actually set these up on my supply table every week so that everything is out in case a sub would ever have to jump in. I start preparing for the following week on Wednesdays, lesson plans done by Thursday, and blog/newsletter on Friday. Can you tell that I am a bit OCD? =P

I am so glad to be done with my evaluation this week. Even though I put 110% in everyday, I still manage to worry about the eval. In Ohio, we go through a process called OTES (Ohio Teacher Evaluation System). This is how the framework is laid out.... It is a little crazy but I am a bit different being in Kindergarten since we don't do the state testing like the older grades. My student growth score is based on the district score. 

 

So begins the winter season. If you live where there is snow, you know what I am talking about when the first snow falls.......the squealing!!!! They were so wound up the rest of the day. I wonder how long it will take for the excitement to wear off? For me, I am good with one day and being done the rest of the year. LOL!

 Have a great weekend!