Sunday Songs~Kickoff

 I have been singing my whole life long.

I sing...to hold my body and soul together.

My first response in worship is to sing.

On Sundays, I'll be sharing songs with you.

My first choice played a big part at church today.

(If you know Him, you know what to do :-)

"Owl For You"...Freebie

It's fall, ya'll!  

I am loving the cooler weather, gorgeous sunsets, 

and jewel-toned colors in the landscaping.

Next week, we will be diving into the season of autumn.

Owls, bats, and spiders will round out our themes for October.

This clipart set captured my heart!

During the last two weeks, combining writing activities with our social science themes has been beneficial for my students. 

Our report card includes a grade for social studies comprehension! 

In this booklet, I've also included two pages for 

original artwork and story writing.

I hope you can use it with your kidlets!

Owls

September Art...With Book Connections!

Pete helped us with shape recognition on the third day of school, back in August.  We had read about his shoes, 

his school, and his buttons!  

Like the rest of Kindergartendom, we love Pete!

Watercolor Crayon Resist~ABCs
Book Connection:  Alphabet City
The photo below shows a wide range of ability!
Covering the entire page with watercolor was one of our goals.

Paper & Paint~Construction Zone
Book Connection:  Tip, Tip, Dig, Dig
(Our creations looked soooo much like the illustrations;
the children enjoyed being part of the story!)

Cow Glyphs
Book Connection:  How To Speak Moo

Silly Face Magazine Collage
Book Connection:  The Way I Feel

Q-Tip Painted Fall Tree
Book Connection:  The Apple Tree's Discovery
While the children worked on their projects, I passed an apple that had been cut crosswise, to show the star in the center.
This is a story of an apple tree who asks God to put stars in its branches.  Through the seasons, God points out the amazing gifts the tree possesses, while telling the tree to be patient.
It is a beautiful book!  

What's Working

Today was our 20th day of school.

 I want to celebrate the things that are working!

This is my "work steps" ribbon.  The polka dots make me happy!  I copied, laminated, and cut the direction cards, then added a velcro dot on the backs.  The matching velcro dot is on the ribbon.  Hurray!--easy peasy!

This is our job board.  I rotate the names down each day.
This year, I added the dot cards to correspond 
with the numeral pennants which hang on a clothesline.  
Whenever we line up to leave the room, the children must match their dot cards to their pennant numeral.  
Again, hurray!--instant learning opportunity!
(Please, do not hate me because I have only 9 students.  Small schools have their own set of challenges.  However, I am overjoyed to be a kindergarten teacher and I am thankful to be working.)

Pocket Charts, Pointers, & Playfulness
The glasses are 3-D specs from a movie, sans lenses.  Everyone loves to use these when reading from the pocket chart.  The pointer is a tiger paw--very cool.
(The white card words can be found HERE
The farm cards were found HERE and printed on cardstock.)

What is working for you?

Connecting

During the study of Our Families/Ourselves,
we talked about the differences in our days and nights.
I illustrated my morning commute 
(that is a scary car-I really drive a van) and my nightly routine.  
The children thought I looked like a mermaid--ha!

I loved the connections that were made by the students!
The above drawing shows the construction site that he sees on his way to school.  His night picture includes trampoline jumping!

The drawing on top made me smile--notice the "X marks the spot" for our school.  This lil guy drew a computer monitor on his night side.  The bottom illustration is more straightforward: he gets out of bed in the morning and he gets into bed at night!  Sometimes, his brothers hang out in his room, lol!

I brought my boys' train set to our class for Super Center Thursday.
Wow--this has been a huge hit, plus an eye-opener for assessing/correcting social cues.  We also bring out the PetShop critters, kitchen set, and babies/purses/phones for Super Centers.  There is a three hour stretch on Thursday afternoons....we all need a half hour to let our imaginations roam.  Because most of my students have gone to preschool, I don't bemoan the lack of playtime in my schedule.  But I try to include physical, visual, and auditory learning in my stations during literacy and math.  When we explore topics and themes in social sciences, we have time to cook, role-play, research, create.  At this time of the year, especially, I am mindful that I am teaching kindergarten, not first grade.  Honestly, it's always good to keep that fact in mind.

Do you have time for play?  
(The worksheet was from Ingles360...I don't see it on her freebie page, but there are a bunch of goodies there!)

Community Helpers Book~~Freebie!

We begin our study of the community on Tuesday.

I'm planning a week of focused study about the city 

and two weeks for life on the farm.

Woohoo--I'm celebrating 400 followers!
(update at 9:47pm:  I HAD 400, but lost one somewhere along the way today. Bummer!)
Check out my attempt at 
creating a guided reader...  

it's FREE!

Community Helpers  color version Community Helpers-black/white line art