Saturday, August 31, 2013

~Five for Friday~




Phew! What an exciting and exhausting first full week of kindergarten! I must say, having 25 little five year olds all day has worn me out! However, I am excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some cute ideas and tid bits for my Five for Friday! Let's not waste any time! Here we go!




1.) For my number one I am excited to share my Student at a Glance Assessment Checklist that I recently listed in my Teacher's Pay Teacher's store! It is a great little sheet that can be used to progress monitor and assess your students. I have used it for the past five years teaching kindergarten and just recently revamped it to include elements from the Common Core curriculum standards! It covers everything from letter naming and sounds to Common Core sight words to math skills involving addition, subtraction, number recognition, and 2D/3D shapes, just to name a few! Take a peek at it, it just might work for you, too!                            
Click Here

2.) For my number two I want to share with everyone my behavior plan that I am implementing this year. I have actually been using this for the past three years and it works great with my little ones and with my birdie/polka dot theme. Each child has a behavior nest. The ultimate goal of their day is to keep all of their eggs in their nests. As we all know with kindergarteners, they need lots of chances, which I readily give them. After 2 (or more) verbal warnings, the student loses an egg out of his or her nest. With each lost egg comes a consequence. If a student loses one egg, it counts as a warning. If a student loses 2 eggs, they miss 5 minutes of recess. If a student loses 3 eggs, they lose a portion of recess and a portion of center time. If a child loses all of their eggs, their parent is contacted. Luckily for me, this system works so great that I rarely have any children that lose more than 2 eggs. If they keep all of their eggs in their nest, they earn a special treat, which is usually a sticker or something yummy! They love getting their reward, so they usually keep all those eggs in their nests! I bought the little nests at a teacher store. I believe they are simply Carson-Dellosa cutouts. The eggs were made from laminated and cut out scrapbook paper. They are adhered to the nests with velcro! Perfect for removing and putting back!



3.) For my number three, I wanted to share one of the best center boards that I have ever used in my classroom. I work with an awesome team and they used this board before I began teaching kindergarten! It is perfect for rotating centers and calling small groups to my table to teach guided reading. These pictures aren't the best, but they at least show how the system works. By November, the children are pretty much able to understand the center board and where they are expected to go. And, of course, my teams are different colored...birds! Go figure!



4.) For my number four, I wanted to share with everyone a couple things that helped me to alleviate my stress with starting school...shopping and eating. Two of my favorite things! What is better than buying an adorable outfit for back to school? Not much! What is better to take the edge off of a stressful back to school week? A great dinner! So, here is my back to school dress that I wore for Open House and a picture of some yumminess that I treated myself to in celebration of back to school!

   Polka Dots...Go Figure!          Wasabi Sushi...Yummo!


5.) For my last Five for Friday, I want to add a celebration photo in honor of our "first day off" of the school year! I am excited about Labor Day Weekend and took this picture of Annie the Golden Retriever enjoying the view at North Myrtle Beach! Happy First Holiday of School, y'all!


Did you do something awesome this week at school? Head on over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up and share your stories or ideas! Click on the link below!



Here's to a relaxing, LONG weekend,

Friday, August 23, 2013

*Five for Friday*

Phew! I am so excited to be back on my blog! I am excited to link up with Doodle Bugs Teaching to share some ideas! The past few weeks have been HECTIC, to say the least, with going to back to school! Today marks the third official day of school for me. I have 25 sweet kindergarteners who are full of energy! Needless to say, they have worn me out in these three short days! However, it feels good to be back and I am anxious to get them into a "routine!" 

For my Five for Friday, I have a few ideas to share that I used this week with my kindergarten students to get them excited about the school year! 

1.) One of my favorite stories to read to my kindergarten students is The Best Nest by P.D. Eastman. My classroom theme is polka dots and birds, so I start them off early by letting them know that they are my "tweethearts." By the end of the year, they know the Mrs. Melton is obsessed with two things: birds and polka dots. If you haven't read this story, it is totally cute and worth the time. After reading the story, my students created paper plate birds to hang in the classroom! I forgot to take a picture of our birds that we made, but I have attached the idea that I "borrowed" from pinterest! The kids loved the story and they really loved making their own class birds! 



2.) One of my favorite games that we played this week was our "Jack Be Nimble" game. It is so simple and fun and it helps the kiddos learn each others' names! I bring a candlestick to class and place it on the carpet. Each student has a chance to jump over the candlestick while we recite the well known nursery rhyme: "Jack be nimble, Jack be quick, Jack jumped over the candlestick!." On the Smartboard, I replace the word "Jack" with the a student's name! It is great to see their eyes light up when the teacher writes their name on the board and they get to jump over the candlestick! It makes it even more fun (and they find it hilarious) when I tell them to be careful not to burn their hiney! After, they color a picture of the nursery rhyme. Here is a link to the coloring page (click the picture):

                                                                   

3.) Another fun name game that I like to play is called "Higgledy, Biggledy Bumblebee, Can you say your name for me?" I play this game on the first day of school! It is super easy. All you need are students and a stuffed animal bee (or you could use a picture of a bee). Basically, you sit in a circle with the children and say the rhyme together: "Higgledy, Biggledy Bumblebee, Can you say your name for me?" Whoever is holding the bumblebee says their name! I got my stuffed bee at the Kohl's Cares for Kids sale and it is perfect for this game!

                                                     

4.) One thing that I love about going back to school is decorating and getting my classroom ready! I love all things polka dot and birds, so I wanted to make sure that my class door showed off my theme! Here is a picture of my door! K-D is a hoot!

                                                    

5.) And for my last Five for Friday, I finally got around to making a multi-colored Word Wall Alphabet to go along with my Common Core State Standard Word Wall! Here is a little preview of what it looks like! Head over to my TpT Store to check it out!

                                                        

Thank you for reading my blog and make sure you link up over at Doodle Bugs Teaching to see other beginning of school ideas!

                                                     




Happy Back to School!

Sunday, August 11, 2013

~*Back to School Sale*~




Well, the time has finally come! These past few weeks have been filled with lesson planning, classroom preparation, staff get togethers, and  professional development meetings ! Pretty soon, the students are going to be back and school will be in full swing! 

Maybe the thought of "going back to work" blows your mind. It sure does for me, but remember, routine is good and pretty soon, you will be back into the old swing of things...and you might even enjoy it! 


To soften the blow of those early morning wake up calls (that has to be the worst part, doesn't it?), I am kicking off my back to school week by offering 15% off of everything in my entire Teacher's Pay Teacher's Store! Mosey on over and see if there is anything that strikes your fancy! I have everything from Common Core Word Wall Words, Alphabet Cards, Open House Forms, Number Lines, Behavior Management Ideas, and so much more! If you're like me, every little discount helps and finding that perfect "something" for your classroom certainly makes going back more fun!



Happy Shopping!