Farms and Fun (my 100th post!)

There was a chorus of moos and squeals 

in my kindergarten room this week!  

These were our favorite books:

(I do a mean Farmer Brown impression!)

 

 

In art class, the children crafted mini quilts with fabric squares and paper.  When these were hung together, the effect was lovely.
If the school had been lice -free, I would have brought in my quilts  :-)


A sampling of our Cow Glyphs:  
tail=fav milk flavor, spots=age, bow/horns=girl/boy 
(Yes, I see the 3-spot cow; must adjust asap!)

We did a write-the-room activity with sight words.  Writing extra words was also encouraged.  Most of the children chose to write vocabulary from the farm!

We used a math box to sort, count, and categorize farm animals.  The spinner was a big hit!

Next week, Mrs. Wishy Washy will make an appearance!  

We'll also try to make butter....

I'm going to do a test run tomorrow!

If you have a farm unit on TPT or Teacher's Notebook, please let me know--I'd love to take a peek and possibly put $ in your pocket!

What's In My Bag? A Linky Party

Abby at The Inspired Apple has literally inspired me 
to clean out my bag!  Great idea, Abby!
This was waaaayyy overdue.

I found this adorable, functional bag in the scrapbooking dept. at Michael's for $15 (clearance).  It's one of my daughter's competition dance bags, but I've nabbed it.  

Our beagle is in the background, as is an ever-present load of laundry!

In the front pocket I found magazine pamphlets from Pizza Hut and Scholastic.  

They aren't doing anyone any good by being in my bag!

Behind that compartment, I found my 2011 pocket calendar, farm animal cards and photo splits, stickers, a random stamp, and free stuff from Office Max.

Yes, I needed the animals this week for work stations.  Where is the tagboard???!!!

Oooh, yummy...two smashed protein bars, a medicinal bag of m&ms, and a stray letter t

This is the mess from the middle of the bag:  my iPad (hurray, Pandora!), sight word sheets, papers to assess, my 2" thick lesson binder, my $1 grade book from Target, books from last week's unit, a fundraising packet, and my clipboard.

I don't know why I roll this thing home every single night!  

I do know that I am grateful for the wheels.  The question begs to be asked, "If I used a smaller tote, would I leave most of this at school?"..... doubtful.  I'm a bit paranoid about something happening to the building!  Please, I beg you, tell me I am not alone on this train of thought!

Oh, Happy Day!

Tara from 4th Grade Frolics gave me an award! 

 Thank you, Tara!!

7 things you may not know about me:

• I was an art education major until I discovered the children's library at my university!
• Andrew asked me to marry him just three months after our first date.  We've been married for 22 years :-).
• I'd love to voice a cartoon.  
• Worship is a form of prayer to me.  In a previous decade, I sang back-up on a couple of worship albums...total fun, dream-come-true.
• When I was in first grade, I told everyone that I wanted to be a mommy and have 12 children.  I birthed five and became a kindergarten teacher!
• My alarm is set for 5:20am; I absolutely must have a cup of coffee in bed, while reading a novel.  I think this keeps me from obsessing over the classroom.   
• Every time I pass a Lexus RX350, I say, "Wow, there's my car!"   Someday!

With great pleasure, I pass this award to:
Mrs. Wills' Kindergarten
Kindergarten's 3Rs
Kindergarten Crayons
Little Warriors
Keen On Kindergarten
Kindergarten Hoppenings
Faithful In First
Mrs. Patton's Patch
Strength To Teach
Mrs. Bee's Kinder Garden
Castles And Crayons
Camp Kindergarten
Deep Space Sparkle
Fairy Dust Teaching
Third Grade Meanderings

Shine on!

Character Study

I like to begin the topic of story elements with character studies.


After Fran shared the photos of Pete the Cat (nice job, Alicia!), I added that project to our study of shapes.  

During Reading, we made a character chart for Pete:

Winding up a social studies unit about communities, we made a character chart for The Little Red Hen:

This chart needs to be edited!  I should have written their thoughts as complete sentences.  Ah, we live and learn.


Next week, we will revisit The Little Red Hen and highlight action words on the chart.


What characters are you studying?

EEEK! The pestilence has arrived....

"That of which we shall not speak" has taken up residence in over 1/3 of the heads in our student body.


School has been cancelled for Friday.


My class is not affected, but I happen to be an unofficial expert--thank you, third grade musical 2009--and ran back and forth all day, confirming the presence of nitz (misspelled on purpose)!

Need I say more?

Weekly Pre-Planning Form~Freebie! (x2)

Before I sit down at the computer and knock out my lesson plans, I use this form to pre-plan the week.  
I'm learning to bring the teacher guide books home with me on an as-needed basis!  
(My back says, "Thanks!".)

FYI, the font is "ribbon happy".
Weekly Planning

Weekly pre-planning form w/out Bible block

Remembering 9/11

Thoughts and prayers for all the innocent who were lost on 9/11/01.

Take A Peek~Amazing Artists!

I teach art to the kindergartners and first-graders, 

during a 45-minute class each week.  

Here are the lessons from September (so far)!

A sampling of ROY G BIV, 
an idea from Mrs. Williamson!

His hair is styling'...and I like his arms!

His hair is all out of order (following directions, um, no)
...but he has beautiful eyes!

The children strategically placed painter's tape
onto watercolor paper.
After the paint dried, they removed the tape.
Voila'!

Tying up our bear unit, the children cut bears
and placed them in appropriate habitats.
See the red oval shapes?  YES!  Salmon!

In Need Of A Hug

I am on a twenty minute lunch break and logged on to ask for kind thoughts today. I can't go into detail, this is just one of those rare days when everything seems wrong.

TIA

Jilly's Cupcakes~A Labor Day Treat!

Imagine my delight when I realized that Jilly's was a mere twenty minute drive away!


With the youngest ones in tow, Andrew and I splurged --more pricey than Starbuck$--
on a cupcake for each of us.  




Clockwise, from top left:
24 karat carrot, Reese's with peanut butter frosting, turtle cheesecake, and simply chocolate...

Are you drooling yet?

Teddy Bear Picnic

We celebrated our study of bears

--habitats, hibernation, etc.--

with a teddy bear picnic!

Every student remembered to bring a bear to school!

The marshmallow, tiny teddy grahams, and chocolate bar were stuffed together, forming a yummy s'more!  Of course, we munched on berries, too.

It is difficult to see in this pic, but we used Unifix cubes to measure the length of our bears.

No peeking!  The children drew a bear from 
the bucket and graphed the chosen color.

Our bears joined the story circle, to experience this fab book.
If you do anything with bears, find this story!