tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27830103912830279462024-03-13T23:40:12.368-04:00Growing my KindergartenAnnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-54053705361424682872015-09-03T17:28:00.000-04:002015-09-03T17:29:08.105-04:00Back to School as a Volunteer<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E-fL6vyXGj4/Vei7om5V-iI/AAAAAAAAAOY/U8Cqa8UMuTs/s640/blogger-image--982458472.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-E-fL6vyXGj4/Vei7om5V-iI/AAAAAAAAAOY/U8Cqa8UMuTs/s640/blogger-image--982458472.jpg"></a></div> <br>
School started without me this fall -- and I am loving retirement! But after talking to the teacher who replaced me, I decided to go help out in my old room today. And I found that volunteering is more fun than teaching!! Here are the advantages:<br>
1. I can park in the visitor parking slot closer to the door, and I can come in AFTER breakfast.<br>
2. I can wear jeans, even if it is not Friday.<br>
3 Everyone is happy to see me -- lots of hugs and smiles from parents, teachers, kids, lunchroom friends.<br>
4 I know some tricks to make life easier for the teacher and assistant and they appreciate everything I do.<br>
5. I can teach whatever I want and leave when I feel like it. I asked to teach the morning message and it was still fun for me, and their new teacher picked up a few ideas that she wanted to try (she was taking notes). She also let me teaching the reading lesson. I love doing that!<br>
6. I don't have to call parents when kids misbehave (I hated that!)<br>
7. I can teach new songs and sing and dance around without looking silly.<br>
8 I can eat lunch without getting up one single time.<br>
9.I can take a break any time I feel like it and stay out of the room as long as I want to.<br>
10. I can relax on the playground because I don't have to keep getting up or blowing my whistle to stop kids from doing the wrong thing.<br>
I love my school family and it felt like home when I walked in the door. I know what a hard job it is and I wish I could help all of them. It is such a rewarding career, but it's also very hard at times. As a volunteer, I don't have to do all the hard parts -- no paperwork or meetings or phone calls or workshops -- or responsibility. Of course, there is also no paycheck --- but I find it very rewarding in other ways,<br>
I have no regrets about retiring -- I have other things I want to do at this stage of life. Like cooking healthy meals instead of frozen pizza. Keeping the laundry caught up. Spending hours reading or chasing ancestors on Ancestry.com. (sometimes until 3 in the morning, but who cares? I can sleep late the next day! Volunteering at church. Working on my chorus music. Taking naps. Reading my Bible. Having lunch with my husband or other retired friends. And volunteering at my daughter's daycare as well as in my old school when I need some hugs and smiles -- I still love the teaching part and I am grateful for the opportunity. And I love seeing my friends and former coworkers -- it is nice to be able to help in ways that a parent volunteer can't. I expect they will see me on a regular basis!!Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-55934803323700354292015-07-08T23:51:00.001-04:002018-08-01T19:37:04.397-04:00Random Suggestions for First Year Kindergarten Teachers Someone recently said that the first week of kindergarten was like turning on a blender without a lid. After 11 years of teaching kindergarten, I have to agree -- it is a pretty crazy time. My niece just got her first full time job -- teaching kindergarten -- and I was thinking about how I might help her and other beginning teachers manage that first wild month. So I'm going to share some suggestions for survival.<br />
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1. Keep your iPad or camera handy all the time. Take pictures of each child alone and with their family when they come to open house so you can use them for the video you make for graduation. You can use the pictures of the children for lots of things. I cropped the faces and printed them all on one page like a yearbook page. Try to take lots of pictures all year.</div>
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2. Have name tags with lunch numbers ready to use for lunch time. You can get plastic name tag holders that clip on at Walmart. Lanyards are even better, but cost a little more. I even sent a letter home before school started to give them the numbers so they could start trying to learn it. I sometimes offered a reward when a child could say their number.</div>
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3. Read The Daily Five book and plan to start teaching and modeling modeling modeling the procedures on the very first day. They can learn to sit in one spot and "read" books independently by the end of the month and that will give you time to work with groups. </div>
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4. Let the children help you compose the RULES OF THE CLASSROOM. I had 5 rules and we practiced them many times every single day with hand motions. Their first homework was to learn these rules. My rules: 1. Listen when others are talking. 2. Follow directions quickly. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">3. Keep your hands and feet to yourself. 4. Clean up your area 5. Work quietly. Heidisongs and Harry Kindergarten both have good songs on you tube about rules. Pin them on Pinterest so you can find them quickly.</span></div>
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5. Print off a Donors Choose permission form and get parents to sign it with the other papers at registration. You will need it if you want to try to get them to fund things for your classroom. I got a wonderful rug, cd players and DVD players from Donors Choose.</div>
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6. Have a signal to get the attention of the children. I had a wind chime that I rang when it was time to gather on the carpet and a few songs loaded on my computer. Sing every day! My favorite was "Ready to Read" by Jack Hartmann. I also recommend the "Whole Brain Teaching" method of calling "Class" and they respond "Yes" and look at me. </div>
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7. I kept a box of Skittles on my desk to reward the quietest in the bathroom line or the first children to follow my directions. It is amazing to see what they will do for one Skittle. The only time I gave one to the whole class was when they got a compliment for walking quietly in the hall. </div>
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8. Teach them the "Quiet Game" I learned this wonderful game from Heidi Butkus of Heidisongs. It is great for the bathroom line or for when you need them to sit quietly while you need to do something else, like talk on the phone or talk to a visitor. Just choose one child to come to the front of the room and look for the quietest kid. They point or call the name of the one they choose, and that kid gets to come up and choose the next quiet one. No call backs -- can't choose the one who <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">chose you. We played it every day while lined up by the boys bathroom and they never got tired of it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">9. Teach them a hand signal for going to the bathroom. We used sign language for toilet. They could give the signal and I just nodded silently and usually no one else noticed. Otherwise it was contagiously and suddenly everyone needed to go.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">10. Take them on a trip around the school on the first day and show them how to get their lunch, how to choose a library book, how to go down the slide, etc. Before they actually need to be there.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">11. I recommend a whistle for the playground. My signal was 3 short blasts that meant Line.up.now. Everyone knew to come running when they heard it.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);">12. Read lots of blogs. There are so many fabulous teachers who share ideas to make your job easier. And if you write your own blog, you can get to know some of them. I highly recommend blogging! Or follow some on Facebook, like Heidi Butkus, Deedee Wills, Deanna Jump, and Kreative in Kindergarten. They also have great stuff on Teachers Pay Teachers.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875);"> What an adventure you will have this year! When I started teaching, there were no blogs or TPT, NO Facebook or Pinterest. Today you have a wealth of resources at your fingertips and soon you will have a room full of eager faces looking up at you. I hope you love this opportunity to teach little ones to read and write -- it will be one of the most rewarding years of your life!!</span></div>
Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-68077331297985385262015-06-13T02:26:00.000-04:002015-06-13T02:26:34.379-04:00My Unfavorite Things -- part 2 Nothing left to do but finish cleaning out my room -- school is out and my retirement will be effective after Monday. I have loved being "Teacher" to so many little ones. It was such a privilege to teach them to read and write stories -- that was one of my favorite things.<br />
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Our retirement luncheon at school was today, and I wrote some new lyrics to sing to</div>
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"My Favorite Things" to reflect the parts of the job that I will NOT miss!</div>
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Head lice and pink eye and kids late for classes,</div>
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Nose bleeds and scraped knees and broken eyeglasses,</div>
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Morning bus duty until the bell rings,</div>
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These are a few of my Unfavorite things.</div>
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Faculty meetings and EOG testing,</div>
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Workshops and SIOPS and no time for resting,</div>
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Making up snow days and writing PDPs,</div>
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These are a few of my Unfavorite things!</div>
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When I miss you,</div>
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As I might do,</div>
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When I'm feeling sad,</div>
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I'll simply remember my Unfavorite things</div>
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And then I won't feel so bad!!</div>
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Writing this blog is another of my favorite things -- and getting to know some amazing teachers through their blogs. Last week I was looking for a certain Heidisongs paper for my class to do, and I could not find it anywhere. I looked in the file cabinets and computer documents and was about to give up. But I took a chance and sent Heidi Butkus a message through Facebook. I knew she was not teaching this year, but didn't really expect a response in time to help that day. But to my surprise, she sent me a link right away so I could print it off that morning! Wow! I told my class that the paper was from the same Mrs. Heidi that we had just been singing sight words with on the screen. One little boy said, "You mean she is real??? I thought she was dead!!" Heidi even offered to Facetime with us, but we just ran out of time. Technology is amazing, but the teachers using it are even more amazing!</div>
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So, I don't know if I will have anything else to blog about since I will no longer be growing my kindergarten, but I expect I will keep reading other blogs. And when I start volunteering in the fall, who knows? Maybe I will have more stories to share!</div>
Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-16875632811457224092015-06-06T16:29:00.001-04:002015-06-06T19:12:16.875-04:00My Unfavorite Things Curriculum maps, parent notes, a child's writing saying "my mom is as hot as a fire", Mailbox magazines, instructional plans, an envelope full of Apple cut-outs, a sweet card from my assistant -- these are just a few of the things I have pulled out of the trunk in my living room.<div> I haven't even started on the basement yet -- where the majority of my school stuff is stashed.</div><div>Or the shelves in my bedroom. Or the trunk of my car. Or various other shelves and baskets and closets all over my house. For 45 years I have saved everything that I might use someday in my classroom. I have a starfish I got from someone's trash. Some wool from a sheep. A crate full of dinosaurs. Enough certificates and stickers for every child in the school. And books!! Do I have books!!</div><div>Every professional book I ever read about on someone's blog -- I bought them all. Daily 5 -- 1st and 2nd edition. How to teach guided reading groups. How to set up math stations. How to teach writing to kindergarten kids who can't even write their name. How to show the wonder of nature. Art books. How to draw books. Whole Brain Teaching. I could start my own library.</div><div> But my biggest challenge so far -- sorting picture books. Yesterday after school I started with 3 crates of books. I was going to take out a few that I wanted to keep, and donate/sell/give away the rest. But as I started pulling out the books, I went off into a world of memories -- and ended up with a huge crate of favorite books that I didn't want to part with. Stories that I read to my own children or books that I read to my class -- I could hear the children's applause in my mind as I remembered reading some of them. I know my husband will not understand if I start hauling things home -- especially since I have no grandchildren to share them with -- but how can I sing "Let It Go!" when I am not ready? I have throw away, give away, and keep piles -- but the keep pile is too big. </div><div> Yesterday I started cleaning out my desk. I put items in a tub and let the children choose one to take home. Some of the things -- a jingle bell left from Polar Express Day, some glasses with a nose attached, a giant penny that I used before the common core eliminated the money unit from the curriculum, combs that I bought to use when mom forgot to comb hair -- especially on picture day. </div><div>Dr. Seuss erasers. Some matchbox cars. A couple sets of magnetic letters. The kids were thrilled and so was I -- a few less things for me to pack up. Why oh why am I such a pack rat??</div><div> The next week is going to be hard -- not because of graduation on Wednesday, but because I have to pack up my classroom and turn in my iPad and key to my classroom. I want to retire -- I am tired of leson plans and assessments and evaluations and workshops and head lice and documenting intervention and surveys and opening ketchup packages and all the things that suck the joy out of teaching. But even with all those UNFAVORITE things, I have loved teaching. I love the kids and my assistant and I will miss them most of all. But for now, I have a lot more sorting and packing up to do.</div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-33832305625382966532015-06-03T21:20:00.000-04:002015-06-03T21:26:30.629-04:00Making the Ordinary Come Alive<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One of my friends posted this "Make the Ordinary Come Alive" on Facebook yesterday, and it really hit home with me. I think that is probably the very best part of teaching kindergarten -- the opportunity to lead the children to "find the wonder" in ordinary things.<br>
This is the last full week of school -- next week will be a short week with "Water Day" and graduation and the last half day when most of my children will not come, I realized that I still had not taught them about the rocks!! So, although the library is closed now, I went down after the librarian was gone and quietly pulled the <i>best rock book ever</i> "If You Find a Rock"off the shelf and took it to my room without checking it out. (Sorry Mrs. L. -- I brought it back today!) I introduced the topic with "Sylvester and the Magic Pebble" -- another of my old favorites. They were very engrossed in the story, but when I told them we were going to find out about rocks, I saw no excitement at all -- in fact, they looked totally bored with the idea. Rocks? Who cares about rocks?<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ig-nNz6rRGU/VW-pEa8-weI/AAAAAAAAAKw/wHDH-Fv-sx8/s640/blogger-image-1297337211.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ig-nNz6rRGU/VW-pEa8-weI/AAAAAAAAAKw/wHDH-Fv-sx8/s640/blogger-image-1297337211.jpg"></a></div><br>
But when I read the story about different kinds of rocks -- skipping rocks, climbing rocks, splashing rocks, a wishing rock, writing rocks, etc. -- and pulled out the treasures from my rock collection -- the excitement started to build. Suddenly everyone wanted to feel the smooth black rock and the chalk rock. The geode was amazing with the beautiful crystals inside the ugly ordinary looking rock. I let each one chose a rock to draw and they wrote a description -- including what made their rock <i>cool.</i></div><div><i><br></i></div><div><i><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fH2zs2aWNgY/VW-pFtB66jI/AAAAAAAAALA/qvoep4zUUsY/s640/blogger-image--1934756745.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fH2zs2aWNgY/VW-pFtB66jI/AAAAAAAAALA/qvoep4zUUsY/s640/blogger-image--1934756745.jpg"></a></div><br></i>
Now I have to pull them away from the display of rocks -- they crowd around every time they get a chance using the magnifying glass to get a closer look. Some brought in rocks they found at home to show me today.Once again, the ordinary has come alive for them.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y7YEGYuE9vo/VW-pDliZ0OI/AAAAAAAAAKo/v-KyfWui0WI/s640/blogger-image-219235932.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-y7YEGYuE9vo/VW-pDliZ0OI/AAAAAAAAAKo/v-KyfWui0WI/s640/blogger-image-219235932.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VGzHXi2sEYs/VW-pE49eHhI/AAAAAAAAAK4/7WoCn6nqrLw/s640/blogger-image-2027356487.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VGzHXi2sEYs/VW-pE49eHhI/AAAAAAAAAK4/7WoCn6nqrLw/s640/blogger-image-2027356487.jpg"></a></div><br>
Since we studied about insects, it is not unusual to see three or four of them gathered around watching an ant or a pillbug on the playground. Today I saw one on my boys crouched down on the floor studying a beetle that crept into our classroom.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T5xUj5hBIsY/VW-pGZBt3cI/AAAAAAAAALI/U2oNja7_3yI/s640/blogger-image--338897180.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-T5xUj5hBIsY/VW-pGZBt3cI/AAAAAAAAALI/U2oNja7_3yI/s640/blogger-image--338897180.jpg"></a></div><br>
Helping them find the wonder in God's creation is so much fun for me. I come home and tell my husband all about it -- and write a blog about it -- and I am really going to miss that. Their eyes are suddenly open to the wonders of the world around them -- earthworms, clouds, penguins, turtles, insects, leaves, seeds, starfish and rocks -- so many marvels!! Its like the light suddenly turns on and they see these ordinary things in a whole new way. And for me, that is truly EXTRAORDINARY!<br>
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<br></div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-72077270300410166482015-05-29T23:41:00.000-04:002015-05-29T23:53:53.924-04:00So Many to Thank! When I first discovered the world of teacher blogs a few years ago, I had no idea what an influence some of these teachers would have on my life. I have had the privilege of meeting a few in person, but mostly I just follow their blogs and get so many ideas that have made me a better and happier teacher. I am amazed by what they are doing in their classrooms, and awe-struck when they read and even comment on the things I have written. I simply don't know how they have time and energy to create all these teaching materials after a day in the classroom, Even if I had a creative thought, I would never be able to do what they do. So, on one of my last blogs before retirement, I'd like to thank some of these incredible teachers.<br />
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One of the first things that caught my eye was a book barn that Reagan Tunstall of <a href="http://tunstalltimes.blogspot.com/">Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits</a> had in her classroom in Texas. I had to have it, so my husband made one for me. Since then I have bought many items from her TPT store, including a Rise and Shine folder that I use a LOT.<br />
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I also love this song that she put on you tube a few years ago. It still makes me laugh.</div>
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Thank you, Reagan!</div>
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Another of the Superstars I follow is Heidi Butkus of<a href="http://heidisongs.com/"> Heidisongs.</a> Not only do I use many of the DVDs she has produced, but she also has shared games and word family worksheets and flashcards that I use nearly every day. My classes love singing her songs and they have learned to read and spell many many sight words by singing along with Heidi. I was thrilled to meet Heidi at a conference a few years ago -- seemed like seeing an old friend. I especially LOVE her Gingerbread Man play -- my class performed the play at Christmas last year and the audience loved it.</div>
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Thank you, Heidi!!</div>
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Another major superstar I was excited to meet was Deanna Jump. <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Deanna-Jump-11">Mrs. Jump</a> is very well known as the first teacher to make a million dollars on Teachers Pay Teachers. I helped her make that million with all her products that I have bought -- and all were worth every penny! I have used the Guiding Kinders Math and Writer's Workshop that she and another of my favorites, <a href="https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Deedee-Wills">DeedeeWills,</a> created. It is way better than anything provided by the county and I am so grateful for their work.</div>
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Thank you, Deanna and Deedee!</div>
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There are many other teachers across the country who have also shared their hard work, but I have been so blessed to be blogger or Facebook Friends with these -- they inspire, encourage, and excite me and even though I will not need to use their ideas and products after retirement, I will probably keep following them because they seem like my friends. Thank you all for touching these North Carolina children by helping their teacher find new ways to teach effectively. I'd like to sing the "Golden Girls " theme song -- "Thank you for being my friend"</div>
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<br />Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-77786029149141097742015-05-16T21:23:00.000-04:002015-05-16T21:23:30.995-04:00The End of My Teaching Career -- Look at Those Faces!<h3 class="post-title entry-title" itemprop="name" style="background-color: #c0a154; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: 30px; font-stretch: normal; font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; position: relative;">
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One month from today I will not set the alarm clock or pack my lunch. I won't wake up early thinking about what I will do in school today. After 45 years of teaching -- public school, Christian school, home school -- I will be officially retired. I have to turn in my iPad, clean out my desk, delete all the documents on my computer, give my goldfish away, and say goodbye to daily laughter and sharing life with my dear assistant and friend.<div>
Although I know it is time for me to step away from assessments and teacher evaluations and observations and faculty meetings and workshops and Common Core and report cards and lesson plans -- all the parts of the profession that I DONT like -- I am having a little trouble stepping away from the actual teaching. I mean, look at these faces!</div>
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Teaching kids to read and write stories and introducing them to everything from caterpillars to clouds -- seeing their eyes open to the world around them as they learn about growing seeds and building cubes and ocean life and Pilgrims and so many other things -- well, that is just such a joy!</div>
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I'm not saying that it's all fun and games -- there are fusses and rule-breaking and saying "be quiet, keep your hands to yourself, sit down, stop tattling" about a hundred times a day. There are kids who never do homework, kids who can't remember what a 4 is, kids who pinch and choke other kids, kids with head lice and pink eye, kids who have parents in jail, kids who need love but show it in the most difficult ways. I come home so tired and drained that I can hardly get off the couch some days. </div>
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But look at this face! Priceless and worth every hard day when you can see the wonder when they</div>
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accomplish something new! </div>
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So, as I walked through Target this week, I felt a little lost. Nothing I needed to buy, with less than 20 days of school left. Don't need to buy clothes for work. I saw some cute little red polka dotted buckets that I really wanted to buy, but knew that would be crazy. And that stuffed turtle at Kohls would have been great for the Franklin stories and reptiles unit. But I won't be teaching that again.</div>
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Don't get me wrong. I am looking forward to retirement and having time and energy to clean my house and travel with my family and cook meals. I will finally empty the bookcases and closets and baskets full of teaching books and supplies that I have accumulated over the past 45 years. But I have been "Teacher" for so long -- it's who I am -- my identity -- and I don't exactly know who I will be when that is over. I am eager to find my new place in life -- time to read books just for fun, work at church, go to daytime activities, take vacations when everyone else is at school. I'm excited --and tired -- and counting the days. But I will miss my co-workers-- the lunch room ladies that fix my lunch, the custodians who clean my room, the office workers who keep everything running smoothly and intercept phone calls, the teachers who inspire me and especially the hard-working assistants who do so much to make life easier. My own assistant, Mrs. Awesome, is a treasure and the main reason I have kept teaching this long. And the kids who make me want to pull my hair out, beat my head against the wall, and cry -- and who greet me every morning with bright smiles when I walk in, and run to hug me and write love notes. Look at these faces!!</div>
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Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-67995798654057328622015-05-05T23:47:00.001-04:002015-05-05T23:48:15.757-04:00"This is the Best Day Ever" "This is the best day ever!" Said one of my little boys today. I bought 20 plates from Dollar Tree (best teacher store ever) and the kids were decorating them for Mother's Day. Since I could only supervise a few at a time, I let the rest of the kids play with Legos and read books and play with the math stations -- not our usual routine. The little boy was thrilled to make a plate AND play with Legos --- and that made this his best day. It made me a little sad to think that kindergarten is so much about reading, writing, and arithmetic that a few minutes of Legos meant so much to him.<div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9V6sn0GguHM/VUmO41jsFjI/AAAAAAAAAHA/an4Iaz6ciIA/s640/blogger-image--1457698216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9V6sn0GguHM/VUmO41jsFjI/AAAAAAAAAHA/an4Iaz6ciIA/s640/blogger-image--1457698216.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> As we wind up the school year and start the assessment ordeal, I am trying to add more of the fun stuff that we didn't have time for earlier. We planted seeds last week, and the kids hurry over to check out their plants when they come in the morning.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a89TwM2Cpw4/VUmO4akjq6I/AAAAAAAAAG4/ubm784YB9WI/s640/blogger-image--2097643327.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-a89TwM2Cpw4/VUmO4akjq6I/AAAAAAAAAG4/ubm784YB9WI/s640/blogger-image--2097643327.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> I also got out my collection of magnets and amazed the children with the way they could repel and attract, depending on the poles. (they are so easily amazed -- great fun)</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> But the biggest excitement of the week was when I got out the dinosaurs. I read a book</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JIOY-OYxggY/VUmO3oC_3FI/AAAAAAAAAGw/omNvOmmDY2E/s640/blogger-image--1791641118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-JIOY-OYxggY/VUmO3oC_3FI/AAAAAAAAAGw/omNvOmmDY2E/s640/blogger-image--1791641118.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> I</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">"If The Dinosaurs Came Back" and the kids were so excited they could hardly sit still and listen to the story. Probably no one will ever listen to everything I say with such eagerness ever again! They wrote some great stories about dinosaurs, drew a stegosaurus, and begged to take my collection of dinosaurs outside at recess.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0lMYF_nwJt4/VUmO3OxLTeI/AAAAAAAAAGo/xN67kMcHXOs/s640/blogger-image-21665464.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-0lMYF_nwJt4/VUmO3OxLTeI/AAAAAAAAAGo/xN67kMcHXOs/s640/blogger-image-21665464.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> This is Teacher Appreciation week, and I have been surprised to receive flowers and candy and sweet cards, and lunch from McDonalds. It warms my heart to get notes telling me how much their child has learned this year in my class. Kindergarten is such an amazing time of learning -- they come in as a blank slate, barely able to name some letters and numbers. Now they are writing stories and reading books. One was writng a story today -- she was on the fourth page when the bell rang at the end of the day so she will finish when she gets here in the morning. Incredible!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Just a little over 5 weeks to go and still so much to do! But I hope I will take time to have a few more "best days ever" in these last weeks.</div></div></div></div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-88499159384076097102015-04-23T16:46:00.001-04:002015-04-23T16:47:13.350-04:00Wonderful Worms<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ESsqdBhTwBI/VTlaIxiCT2I/AAAAAAAAAF4/j0I7iY6RWJo/s640/blogger-image-1288670071.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br><font color="#000000"> </font><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ESsqdBhTwBI/VTlaIxiCT2I/AAAAAAAAAF4/j0I7iY6RWJo/s640/blogger-image-1288670071.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Since it was Earth Day yesterday, this seemed like a good time to read our Wonderful Worms book. I stopped at Walmart on the way to school and bought some big fat night crawlers. The kids questioned me about why they had a plate at their seat, since it was not snack day. I read the book and showed a great video about the wonder of worms, then I gave each of them a night crawler on their plate to examine. Some were eager to pick them up, but a few-- not so much. We made charts to describe worms, they compared sizes, and gave them a name. It was great fun, and I got several hugs for being the best teacher ever -- and here are a few pictures. Can you guess which ones were not worm lovers?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ofzT4vHfSr0/VTlaHaW2FsI/AAAAAAAAAFg/pmxDX7vUxBw/s640/blogger-image--184562415.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ofzT4vHfSr0/VTlaHaW2FsI/AAAAAAAAAFg/pmxDX7vUxBw/s640/blogger-image--184562415.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9WSWBIdO8Iw/VTlaG_VZR9I/AAAAAAAAAFU/Psf36tD6xfI/s640/blogger-image--56074072.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9WSWBIdO8Iw/VTlaG_VZR9I/AAAAAAAAAFU/Psf36tD6xfI/s640/blogger-image--56074072.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hh-Bruj8NXo/VTlaGRYKlNI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Ko0AL1HxCVY/s640/blogger-image-935308080.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hh-Bruj8NXo/VTlaGRYKlNI/AAAAAAAAAFQ/Ko0AL1HxCVY/s640/blogger-image-935308080.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DthHkabsUZw/VTlaJnWJ_II/AAAAAAAAAGA/VqLIPPxVHB0/s640/blogger-image--989988918.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DthHkabsUZw/VTlaJnWJ_II/AAAAAAAAAGA/VqLIPPxVHB0/s640/blogger-image--989988918.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Olsv9e9IY-Q/VTlaH2Ib2gI/AAAAAAAAAFo/vgvRa6c8u0E/s640/blogger-image-1403056876.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Olsv9e9IY-Q/VTlaH2Ib2gI/AAAAAAAAAFo/vgvRa6c8u0E/s640/blogger-image-1403056876.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5R8z60US_vQ/VTlaKDu0jSI/AAAAAAAAAGI/vpOBgmqwtVo/s640/blogger-image--1278109844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-5R8z60US_vQ/VTlaKDu0jSI/AAAAAAAAAGI/vpOBgmqwtVo/s640/blogger-image--1278109844.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Now they are writing "Worms are cool." </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> But also crawling around on the floor instead of sitting -- oh, well!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oRmJOC4m8dw/VTlaIYqkwlI/AAAAAAAAAFw/aj0O19o4oys/s640/blogger-image--1042270697.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oRmJOC4m8dw/VTlaIYqkwlI/AAAAAAAAAFw/aj0O19o4oys/s640/blogger-image--1042270697.jpg"></a></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-36635696182206374312015-04-21T21:57:00.001-04:002015-04-22T09:12:35.092-04:00I Want to be an Astronaut (NOT!) <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kCEfBONHsQ8/VTcBazsllDI/AAAAAAAAAEI/Ihq7gi_D9D4/s640/blogger-image-2040067651.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-kCEfBONHsQ8/VTcBazsllDI/AAAAAAAAAEI/Ihq7gi_D9D4/s640/blogger-image-2040067651.jpg"></a></div><br>
Today at Valmead we had the privilege of having a real live astronaut at our school. Not only was it cool having a celebrity, but he really knew how to keep an audience of little kids interested. Our astronaut, Duane Carey, flew on the Space Shuttle Columbia.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mfw35dDjFzM/VTcBXeWzJJI/AAAAAAAAADw/fxXvoqTsmnM/s640/blogger-image-706545570.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-mfw35dDjFzM/VTcBXeWzJJI/AAAAAAAAADw/fxXvoqTsmnM/s640/blogger-image-706545570.jpg"></a></div><br>
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He showed a video he made during his flight demonstrating how they ate and slept and used the bathroom in space -- all things the kids were interested in.<br>
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He answered their questions, and when one little boy asked what it was like to blast off into space, he brought him up front and showed what it was like with vibrations and pressure. He told how the astronauts have to wear a diaper -- ew -- while they are waiting for the launch because they can't get up and go to the bathroom then.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MZlm2lkK_nE/VTcBYyZncEI/AAAAAAAAAEA/5lo1_Kae8m4/s640/blogger-image-1759052457.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MZlm2lkK_nE/VTcBYyZncEI/AAAAAAAAAEA/5lo1_Kae8m4/s640/blogger-image-1759052457.jpg"></a></div><br>
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After the presentation, I took the children to the playground where they pretended to blast off into space and everything on the playground became a rocket ship.</div><div><br></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m4EWHJVdK38/VTcBW5mCH3I/AAAAAAAAADo/aymweBTD7wc/s640/blogger-image-1918132288.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-m4EWHJVdK38/VTcBW5mCH3I/AAAAAAAAADo/aymweBTD7wc/s640/blogger-image-1918132288.jpg"></a></div></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lanOuZI6IJQ/VTcBWKqfcTI/AAAAAAAAADg/QBhJagmPzyk/s640/blogger-image-1100714121.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-lanOuZI6IJQ/VTcBWKqfcTI/AAAAAAAAADg/QBhJagmPzyk/s640/blogger-image-1100714121.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aMZwwr80mR0/VTcBYAP5JSI/AAAAAAAAAD4/C6CYCEDKqIU/s640/blogger-image-891542253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aMZwwr80mR0/VTcBYAP5JSI/AAAAAAAAAD4/C6CYCEDKqIU/s640/blogger-image-891542253.jpg"></a></div><br>
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After playing, the children drew pictures and wrote stories about the astronaut. Some were so enthusiastic that they asked for more paper so they could write a second page!!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ACOyimL84H0/VTed1tVO7FI/AAAAAAAAAE4/zZzYA19T4CE/s640/blogger-image-1264471829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-ACOyimL84H0/VTed1tVO7FI/AAAAAAAAAE4/zZzYA19T4CE/s640/blogger-image-1264471829.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J05bKB6oIAM/VTcBbahJ_9I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/A1AfiWH8EgY/s640/blogger-image-970620212.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-J05bKB6oIAM/VTcBbahJ_9I/AAAAAAAAAEQ/A1AfiWH8EgY/s640/blogger-image-970620212.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f57yIkJPcn8/VTed1BrvcbI/AAAAAAAAAE0/iRIs4YESvMw/s640/blogger-image-933288743.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-f57yIkJPcn8/VTed1BrvcbI/AAAAAAAAAE0/iRIs4YESvMw/s640/blogger-image-933288743.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sz4lVkeTbrI/VTed0ix5wmI/AAAAAAAAAEs/BQU9nlqgaUU/s640/blogger-image--2119503086.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-sz4lVkeTbrI/VTed0ix5wmI/AAAAAAAAAEs/BQU9nlqgaUU/s640/blogger-image--2119503086.jpg"></a></div><br>
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On the way to the bus, one of my little boys said,"I want to be an astronaut when I grow up!" We are thankful to Mrs. Mood for arranging this inspiring event.</div><div><br></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hfdvbk4JtaI/VTcBVB9r0RI/AAAAAAAAADY/MalVniApxCs/s640/blogger-image-464720384.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-hfdvbk4JtaI/VTcBVB9r0RI/AAAAAAAAADY/MalVniApxCs/s640/blogger-image-464720384.jpg"></a></div><br>
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</div>Annhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03039207044123523685noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-7518981915558284272015-04-02T23:12:00.000-04:002015-04-02T23:12:25.754-04:00Happy Easter Egg <br />
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Spring break is finally here! </div>
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It has been a busy, fun-filled week in kindergarten. We interrupted our insect study to concentrate on Easter for this week. I read lots of good books -- everything from the Ressurection of Jesus -- the real reason for Easter -- to Easter Bunny and Ukranian egg decorating and egg hunts.</div>
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I brought my hand-painted Ukrainian eggs that I got when I went on a mission trip to Ukraine a few years ago. I read the Patricia Polacco book, "Rechenka's Eggs" </div>
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One of the highlights was coloring the eggs. The children are always amazed to see the eggs dyed into beautiful colors. They all gathered around to table to see the transformation and make me feel like a magician.</div>
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Look at all those boys!</div>
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I took the eggs to the lunchroom and let them peel off the colorful shells and eat them. I was surprised that some have never seen a boiled egg before -- one brought the yolk to me to ask what it was.</div>
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But the BIG EVENT was the egg hunt today. I had several moms and other volunteers come to hide hundreds of eggs in the school yard while we were at lunch. And, oh, the excitement!!</div>
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Everyone had a big bag of candy-filled eggs to take back to the classroom. I let them sit down and feast on the candy -- they were all going home in an hour -- then they wrote about the egg hunt in their journals. I love this one.</div>
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I am looking forward to celebrating the Resurrection with my family, then working on my "to-do" list. I've signed my retirement papers, and I need to start figuring out what I am going to do with the tons of teaching materials I have accumulated over the past 45 years...</div>
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Happy Easter! He is risen!</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-49861430935995872832015-03-07T19:54:00.001-05:002015-03-07T19:54:31.385-05:00Dr. Seuss and Cat in the Hat We celebrated Read Across America and the birthday of Dr. Seuss this week. I love sharing some of my favorite Dr. Seuss books with the class -- the same ones I read to my own children many years ago. One of my favorites is The Sneetches - I have a ratty old copy that used to be at my mother's house. Every time we came for a visit, the kids would get it out and ask their Grammie to read it to them. I read Yertle the Turtle and Horton Hatches the Egg and Green Eggs and Ham, and several others. <div><br></div><div> Dr. Stone, our school superintendent, came to Valmead and read a Dr. Seuss book to my class. Doesn't he look nice in his red and white hat?</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yJRHJI6dZo8/VPudvjdIBfI/AAAAAAAAB_0/FsF3mooQ4f0/s640/blogger-image-2011732174.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-yJRHJI6dZo8/VPudvjdIBfI/AAAAAAAAB_0/FsF3mooQ4f0/s640/blogger-image-2011732174.jpg"></a></div></div><div> </div><div> Mrs. Austin created a bulletin board so we could display a few stories written my my class. I am so happy to see the progress they have made in writing. We write every day, and it is really paying off. Some are writing 2 or 3 pages at a time now.</div><div><br></div><div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CfPkcuU2FM0/VPudxmZPYuI/AAAAAAAAB_8/nJa_1CUiOic/s640/blogger-image-1233972806.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-CfPkcuU2FM0/VPudxmZPYuI/AAAAAAAAB_8/nJa_1CUiOic/s640/blogger-image-1233972806.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bFtcJt7kDks/VPudqqAeU9I/AAAAAAAAB_c/hWI9vomtXC8/s640/blogger-image--325583257.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bFtcJt7kDks/VPudqqAeU9I/AAAAAAAAB_c/hWI9vomtXC8/s640/blogger-image--325583257.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> I found a cute little snack idea on Pinterest -- the class enjoyed this version of green eggs and ham.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UWwMZ_fkBgU/VPudsYvOb0I/AAAAAAAAB_k/vrQThUOoZZI/s640/blogger-image--442326134.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-UWwMZ_fkBgU/VPudsYvOb0I/AAAAAAAAB_k/vrQThUOoZZI/s640/blogger-image--442326134.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> We also made hats -- the children like to wear them down the hall.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T1P8IMrZZYg/VPudtxbTU4I/AAAAAAAAB_s/LG8cDk4A4-Y/s640/blogger-image--1006182620.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-T1P8IMrZZYg/VPudtxbTU4I/AAAAAAAAB_s/LG8cDk4A4-Y/s640/blogger-image--1006182620.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> A few parents came to our Dr. Seuss Parent Night on Monday -- everyone who participated had a good time, and the children all got a free book to take home. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Next week we will start learning about St. Patrick's Day and soon will celebrate the first day of spring and Easter. The few warm days we had this week make us eager to be finished with the snow and cold. The school year is 2/3 of the way finished -- just a little more than 60 days of school left, but still more to learn before they are ready for first grade!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div></div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-27072436732346759322015-02-26T09:15:00.000-05:002015-02-26T09:25:34.365-05:00Snow Days<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YbsrSNNXXXc/VO8s3ekTXVI/AAAAAAAAB-s/IOyhpLd3J1I/s640/blogger-image-1334649023.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-YbsrSNNXXXc/VO8s3ekTXVI/AAAAAAAAB-s/IOyhpLd3J1I/s640/blogger-image-1334649023.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div> Watching my woods fill up with snow -- today is another Snow Day. Last week we had 2 Snow Days and 2 three hour delays. This week we will only have 2 days of school, because I expect the snow will cause a cancellation for Friday, too -- it's getting pretty deep out there. Not like Boston, but deep for North Carolina. Snow days are fun at first, but then you remember that we will have to make them up, and that might mean no days off in March, April, May, and June. That's a long, long time without a break.<br>
We only have 69 days left, and I still have so much that I need to teach them! But I am pretty proud of all they have learned so far. Several of them have asked to write the morning message, and I am always a little surprised at how well they do. Here's my helper this week.<div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R93sgtTNJng/VO8sy7GGxPI/AAAAAAAAB-c/Zm48qjQb_LQ/s640/blogger-image--259582654.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-R93sgtTNJng/VO8sy7GGxPI/AAAAAAAAB-c/Zm48qjQb_LQ/s640/blogger-image--259582654.jpg"></a></div><br> I am trying to give them more opportunities to practice reading -- the only way to build fluency and vocabulary is to READ MORE. I love the Daily 5 -- it's the structure I use to teach them to read and write independently. Here are a few pictures of them practicing to build stamina.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1Id63FtyQOE/VO8svKYzXmI/AAAAAAAAB-M/8Hq4x8cNipQ/s640/blogger-image--1511685303.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-1Id63FtyQOE/VO8svKYzXmI/AAAAAAAAB-M/8Hq4x8cNipQ/s640/blogger-image--1511685303.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y6dSOayXEoQ/VO8sw2aAakI/AAAAAAAAB-U/dx3Eto8BB9c/s640/blogger-image-1481788522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y6dSOayXEoQ/VO8sw2aAakI/AAAAAAAAB-U/dx3Eto8BB9c/s640/blogger-image-1481788522.jpg"></a></div><br>
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Next week we celebrate Read Across America and Dr. Seuss's birthday. I have a stack of books I wanted to read this week, but I guess they will have to wait. I read "The Sneetches" yesterday, and they were totally sympathetic to the poor Sneetches with no stars. My mother used to read that book to my children when they went to visit, so I have a warm spot in my heart for it. My assistant has been out this week, so it seems like the days pass quickly and I can't get everything done.</div>
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I am glad to have some days to work on my house and practice my music. I hate to lose our momentum at school. But the snow is lovely!!!</div>
</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-11690195519447877292015-02-06T20:06:00.000-05:002015-02-06T20:06:05.433-05:00One Hundred Days Down and 80 To Go!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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Woohoo! We have been celebrating 100 days since day 99. There are so many fun ways to observe the 100h day that it took us 3 days! One of my kids said, "This is the best 100th day EVER!"</div>
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I have a feeling that he hasn't had all that many 100th days...but I was glad they had fun.</div>
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After 100 days, several of my kids have become pretty good little writers. One asked to write the morning message, and this is what he wrote all by himself.</div>
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"I will teach you about the one hundredth day". I love how they sound out the words.</div>
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They worked hard to make a necklace out of Fruit Loops. I finally got smart after all these years and put the cereal and ribbon in a Baggie so we didn't have so many spills and they could eat the leftovers. Some chewed on their necklaces until there was nothing left but the string! Several made nice patterns -- I was impressed.</div>
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I appreciated out volunteer mom who helped!<br />
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The absolute favorite activity was making a 100 piece snack. I could hear them counting 23, 24, 25.... As they collected skittles, M&Ms, goldfish, Cheerios, etc. yum.</div>
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Speaking of food -- I also made 100 pancakes. The kids loved those, too -- told me I should be a chef! </div>
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And one last sweet activity -- these were not all on the same day -- I hid 100 Hershey kisses around the room and they tried to find all of them to put on the 100 chart. They found 96 of them. So -- either I am a really good "hider" or someone stuffed them in their pocket!</div>
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Everyone helped make a 100 link paper chain. Today I pulled off all but 80 links, and we will pull one off every day until school is out as we count down to summer vacation.</div>
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This was fun -- I gave them 100 red cups to build with. With all the academic requirements, they really don't get to do much building anymore. So they really liked the 100 blocks and 100 Legos and 100 cups.</div>
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We did several writing activities, including this one about how they would spend $100. Sorry, Sweetie, but I am not for sale!!!</div>
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Maybe this was the best 100th day ever -- and my last one -- and now on to Valentines and presidents!</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-8257828621749268232015-01-16T23:03:00.000-05:002015-01-16T23:14:10.947-05:00Assessment Week Fun It is the end of the first semester of kindergarten -- it really does seem like the time has flown by, even though some weeks have seemed l-o-n-g. We have become a family -- we know each other well -- and my babies are growing up and reading and writing. Some days they drive me a little crazy, but other times they make me laugh out loud. This a good time of the year -- they pretty much know the rules and routines and the basics of the 3 Rs, so now I can do more science and writing with them. We are just starting one of my favorite subjects -- penguins -- and the kids are excited about becoming experts. I have so many great books about penguins, and I am eager to share them. We are also starting a writing unit that will teach them to write "all about..." stories. Many of the children are writng pretty good sentences now, and I am eager to see what they will write.<br />
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So, there is only one thing that ruins this great time of year. ASSESSMENTS. The state and county required assessments are very thorough -- almost all have to be given individually, and with 19 kids, that takes FOREVER! Writing assessment and spelling assessments are pretty quick. But the math assessment takes several days, and my awesome assistant is a huge help as we check math understanding one at a time. The most time consuming assessments are the literacy ones -- DIBELS and the reading assessment. Because of the new teacher evaluation standard, I am not allowed to assess my own class this time -- I have to test another class. The scores of the students will be used to help determine if I am an effective teacher, so I guess they want to make sure I can't score my own students higher than I should. I am a little offended by that lack of trust. Besides that, no matter how hard I try, there are some little ones who just can't make the expected progress, and it is not the fault of the teacher. This means my entire planning period and every spare minute during this assessment week is spent assessing children from another class. And children are called out of my class all day long as the first grade teachers do their required testing. Needless to say, we lose a lot of instruction time, even though the instruction book says that "instruction should never stop for the rest of the class." </div>
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The good news is that I am almost finished -- just 5 more reading assessments to go! And although I feel like the children might have done better working with their own teacher, it has been enlightening to see the first grade assessment. I see how important it is to teach comprehension skills because their assessments have a lot of "tell me what happened in the story" questions. And several of the first graders I assessed are my sweeties from last year, and I enjoyed seeing their progress, but was distressed to see that a couple seem to have lost ground. I wonder why they can't remember the things they knew last year. Maybe no one read with them all summer?</div>
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I am grateful for MLK, Jr. and the long weekend -- my report cards are finished and I am ready for a break so I can take my assessment data and regroup. The rest of the year will fly by and I want my kids to learn everything they can to get ready first grade, but I don't want to leave out the FUN, I loved the sweet note I got this week from one of the first graders from last year's class.<br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-2957328897462914152014-12-31T19:09:00.001-05:002014-12-31T19:09:17.253-05:00After Christmas Sales <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aWLtpnFp_wg/VKSQKmNQj2I/AAAAAAAAB6Q/rq-T9G1ow2A/s640/blogger-image-694269889.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-aWLtpnFp_wg/VKSQKmNQj2I/AAAAAAAAB6Q/rq-T9G1ow2A/s640/blogger-image-694269889.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Tomorrow is the beginning of the new year -- 2015 -- and I have one more day at home before I go back to work. Friday is actually an optional work day, but I want to get all the Christmas stuff put away and get my classroom ready for January, so I plan to be at school. It has actually been a little weird to go to the after Christmas sales. I walked through Walmart today and saw that all the Christmas stuff was 75% off. I paused in front of the stockings -- I usually buy about 25 of them when they go on sale so I will have them for next year's kindergarten class. But next year I will be retired, so I don't need to buy anything. Not ANYTHING for my class. I found that I don't hardly know how to shop when I am not filling my cart with things for my class. I don't need a new Christmas shirt because there will be no little kids to enjoy it. No New Christmas story books for next year. I still have half a year to teach, but I am already starting to feel a little lost. I mean, I WANT to retire -- I have other things to do and maybe I will finally be able to get my house cleaned up when I get rid of all the teacher books and supplies that fill baskets and shelves and boxes and closets. But I haven't exactly figured out who I will be when I am not "Teacher." I have a few months to figure that out though -- and lots of teaching left to get my kids ready for first grade.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> HAPPY NEW YEAR!</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-12463857274312589092014-12-12T17:22:00.001-05:002014-12-12T17:22:14.074-05:00A visit from Santa! <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AnyiStAXaDk/VItqdCg7L6I/AAAAAAAAB5c/EYnfatfCuPI/s640/blogger-image-1427755235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-AnyiStAXaDk/VItqdCg7L6I/AAAAAAAAB5c/EYnfatfCuPI/s640/blogger-image-1427755235.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> My students thought it was funny when I sat on Santa's lap.....</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p_WI4GnDqms/VItqhGEwJ_I/AAAAAAAAB5s/9nbt1fWOmBs/s640/blogger-image-1912060263.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-p_WI4GnDqms/VItqhGEwJ_I/AAAAAAAAB5s/9nbt1fWOmBs/s640/blogger-image-1912060263.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> But they roared with laughter when he kissed me under the mistletoe!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ERakEQrUO98/VItqfflQB7I/AAAAAAAAB5k/W92lgBEVH_M/s640/blogger-image-82935238.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-ERakEQrUO98/VItqfflQB7I/AAAAAAAAB5k/W92lgBEVH_M/s640/blogger-image-82935238.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Every child got to get their picture taken withSanta Claus. One little boy said, "This is the best day of my life -- I can't believe I got to sit on Santa's lap!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Here are a couple pictures for moms who I know will look at my blog. If your child is in my room, please let me know that you look at my blog and I will be sure to put pictures on for you, too!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OOXi2nvxUCY/VItqjDMZvyI/AAAAAAAAB50/Pdk5FnQ2nvg/s640/blogger-image--1172988146.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-OOXi2nvxUCY/VItqjDMZvyI/AAAAAAAAB50/Pdk5FnQ2nvg/s640/blogger-image--1172988146.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rsj7fC8wqhI/VItqlIr1ySI/AAAAAAAAB58/qN8zK87EEb8/s640/blogger-image-1901594359.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rsj7fC8wqhI/VItqlIr1ySI/AAAAAAAAB58/qN8zK87EEb8/s640/blogger-image-1901594359.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Merry Christmas!!!</div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-89383001864095679882014-12-10T23:56:00.001-05:002014-12-12T18:38:18.429-05:00Lots to Do in December!<div><br></div> <div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-auwXwWicV-g/VImByg4ecnI/AAAAAAAAB5M/cIe-iYC0olA/s640/blogger-image-1065632502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-auwXwWicV-g/VImByg4ecnI/AAAAAAAAB5M/cIe-iYC0olA/s640/blogger-image-1065632502.jpg"></a></div>We only have 14 1/2 days of school between Thanksgiving and Christmas, so the days are jam-packed with activities as we try to squeeze in all the learning and fun we can! <div> Last week was all about gingerbread stories. I have plenty of versions of the "Gingerbread Man" to share and compare, and we are also working on a musical play to perform next week. I plan to invite the families to come to the performance of "The Tale of the Gingerbread Man" one afternoon next week. The </div><div>Children made cinnamon gingerbread ornaments That made our room smell really good, and did a lot of writing and math activities that involved gingerbread.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S0HSmvVLWck/VIkjAcneNWI/AAAAAAAAB4Y/wjpuKTV7x3A/s640/blogger-image--494973294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-S0HSmvVLWck/VIkjAcneNWI/AAAAAAAAB4Y/wjpuKTV7x3A/s640/blogger-image--494973294.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PwO1Bs9Px-8/VIkin4eYQ0I/AAAAAAAAB3A/SDQc4SmstJo/s640/blogger-image-296681840.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PwO1Bs9Px-8/VIkin4eYQ0I/AAAAAAAAB3A/SDQc4SmstJo/s640/blogger-image-296681840.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>One of my favorite assignments was the family project to make a disguise for a gingerbread man so the fox would not recognize him. The had a LOT of ninja turtle disguises, but I loved the creativity. They made a great bulletin board, too.</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_mPWSexgpKY/VIkimXsc3tI/AAAAAAAAB24/deTAmKpmRc0/s640/blogger-image-1977888488.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_mPWSexgpKY/VIkimXsc3tI/AAAAAAAAB24/deTAmKpmRc0/s640/blogger-image-1977888488.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Here are a few close-ups.</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DC0Rghdq7jc/VIkjEAmUXiI/AAAAAAAAB4g/qMnRas2t4_A/s640/blogger-image-1559389243.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DC0Rghdq7jc/VIkjEAmUXiI/AAAAAAAAB4g/qMnRas2t4_A/s640/blogger-image-1559389243.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fz5YS1nuxAc/VIkixI61fOI/AAAAAAAAB3o/qS_48PK8NrU/s640/blogger-image-1349552119.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-fz5YS1nuxAc/VIkixI61fOI/AAAAAAAAB3o/qS_48PK8NrU/s640/blogger-image-1349552119.jpg"></a></div></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LfIkmpMh4KY/VIkip4uLZQI/AAAAAAAAB3I/G2tGiAJ3m0A/s640/blogger-image--1716561525.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-LfIkmpMh4KY/VIkip4uLZQI/AAAAAAAAB3I/G2tGiAJ3m0A/s640/blogger-image--1716561525.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Our school Christmas performance was Monday evening. The kids did a good job -- first time on stage for some of them.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aKhcI0-rEWI/VIkj-dbDUCI/AAAAAAAAB48/YiR5IlZ736U/s640/blogger-image--311209177.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-aKhcI0-rEWI/VIkj-dbDUCI/AAAAAAAAB48/YiR5IlZ736U/s640/blogger-image--311209177.jpg"></a>G</div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;">We have been learning about Christmas and other holidays around the world -- Germany, the Netherlands , Mexico, China, etc. we will bind these in a book for the kids to take home.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1xh-7X8-K7s/VIkj8rQkEaI/AAAAAAAAB40/-I4fM1Kz7Og/s640/blogger-image--1580155921.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-1xh-7X8-K7s/VIkj8rQkEaI/AAAAAAAAB40/-I4fM1Kz7Og/s640/blogger-image--1580155921.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> Today I read a Jan Brett book, "The Hat" and gave out warm woolen hats to each child. They were made by Mrs. Carney, a former teacher who generously gives these handmade hats to my class every year.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-270HqxKJkLo/VIki9FT0O4I/AAAAAAAAB4Q/FdtriN_ixYo/s640/blogger-image-814197187.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-270HqxKJkLo/VIki9FT0O4I/AAAAAAAAB4Q/FdtriN_ixYo/s640/blogger-image-814197187.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> After each child chose a hat, they made thank you cards and colored a picture of their own hat.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PlP1Qe1vw3E/VIkiy66bFHI/AAAAAAAAB3w/c3NAtPL-N_0/s640/blogger-image--2106726558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PlP1Qe1vw3E/VIkiy66bFHI/AAAAAAAAB3w/c3NAtPL-N_0/s640/blogger-image--2106726558.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fQinr-Dhz5w/VIki02HBegI/AAAAAAAAB34/NnW8ts_e_y0/s640/blogger-image-460799396.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-fQinr-Dhz5w/VIki02HBegI/AAAAAAAAB34/NnW8ts_e_y0/s640/blogger-image-460799396.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oyU3h7FHBsU/VIkjFyWmMII/AAAAAAAAB4o/IA8dQW3O1N0/s640/blogger-image-1485590895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-oyU3h7FHBsU/VIkjFyWmMII/AAAAAAAAB4o/IA8dQW3O1N0/s640/blogger-image-1485590895.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-yi9OsX3xGQ0/VIkitQhyNzI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/HXCOZRVF1RQ/s640/blogger-image-2060759766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-yi9OsX3xGQ0/VIkitQhyNzI/AAAAAAAAB3Y/HXCOZRVF1RQ/s640/blogger-image-2060759766.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> The most exciting part of today was a visit from Mrs. Santa Claus. The kids had lots to tell her about what they want for Christmas!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EZQqhkSd6A0/VIkivMIgikI/AAAAAAAAB3g/2sg2WII1OEQ/s640/blogger-image--2127221807.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-EZQqhkSd6A0/VIkivMIgikI/AAAAAAAAB3g/2sg2WII1OEQ/s640/blogger-image--2127221807.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DLmV1s73K9U/VIki2pNE5eI/AAAAAAAAB4A/ymopwHCuHi4/s640/blogger-image-35233756.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-DLmV1s73K9U/VIki2pNE5eI/AAAAAAAAB4A/ymopwHCuHi4/s640/blogger-image-35233756.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> We even squeezed in time to make another Christmas ornament -- thank you, Mrs. Austin for getting it ready! And thanks to everyone who donated tp rolls.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Psy8Pa3c7u8/VIki4oTDG1I/AAAAAAAAB4I/tPMIO9HN_po/s640/blogger-image-622537203.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Psy8Pa3c7u8/VIki4oTDG1I/AAAAAAAAB4I/tPMIO9HN_po/s640/blogger-image-622537203.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>And merry Christmas to all!!</div></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-88693669569423436932014-11-03T08:32:00.000-05:002014-11-03T08:32:18.695-05:00Field Day -- What Happened to October?<div class="separator" style="clear: both;">
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What happened to October?? Seems like we just had time to carve a pumpkin and make bats and it was over! Making a jack-o-lantern was lots of fun. The children voted on the shapes to use and all but one stuck their hands in to pull out the yucky stuff before I started carving. Afterwards they drew pictures and wrote in their journals. Unfortunately, the inside got all moldy before Halloween, but it made a really creepy looking decoration for trick or treaters!</div>
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I am really pleased with the progress the class is making with their writing. Look at this --</div>
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capital letters and lots of words spelled correctly. She even wrote 2 sentences!! And in case </div>
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you can't read kid writing, that says "Bat Woman." She did this with no help!</div>
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We also used the pumpkin theme to make math more interesting.. We were doing lots of practice on counting to 20 and recognizing numbers to 10 last month. The next goal will be counting to 30 and writing numbers in the teens. </div>
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We enjoyed seeing the creativity of the family jack - o - lantern project -- some really put a lot of effort into making pretty pumpkins. Here's one with lots of color.</div>
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And then, as if Halloween and thoughts of trick or treating was not exciting enough, we had Field Day! Here are a few pictures of all that fun.</div>
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The sack race looked like so much fun that Daniel's mom tried it too!</div>
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<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> This boy really knew how to kick that ball!</span></div>
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All ready for tug of war. The teenagers who were running the event told them to line up boys vs. girls -- but since we have 14 boys and only 5 girls, that didn't quite seem fair...</div>
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We all had a wonderful time, and I appreciated having a few parents there to cheer them on.</div>
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And it was not all about winning, since we didn't give out trophies or ribbons -- it was all about FUN!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-71060998184129607792014-10-20T00:47:00.001-04:002014-10-20T00:47:47.569-04:00Fire truck!<div> Such a busy week -- learning all about bats and starting math assessments and progress monitoring -- but we did squeeze in a little visit with the firemen when they came to Valmead for the Boys Book Club. We just had 10 minutes before dismissal, but I got a few cute pictures to share. It is past midnight and I have bus duty in the morning, so no time to write an actual blog. So here are the pictures and I am going to bed!</div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zKqtQDTDeF0/VEST4Aw6HuI/AAAAAAAABxw/09ESU7hARb0/s640/blogger-image--1805854553.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-zKqtQDTDeF0/VEST4Aw6HuI/AAAAAAAABxw/09ESU7hARb0/s640/blogger-image--1805854553.jpg"></a></div></div><br><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-crKnT4MY-bM/VEST2KcfCOI/AAAAAAAABxo/GBelyZxkQME/s640/blogger-image--19552788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-crKnT4MY-bM/VEST2KcfCOI/AAAAAAAABxo/GBelyZxkQME/s640/blogger-image--19552788.jpg"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-crKnT4MY-bM/VEST2KcfCOI/AAAAAAAABxo/GBelyZxkQME/s640/blogger-image--19552788.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gRC4qFGAdq0/VEST8bPU9XI/AAAAAAAAByA/UL5oiERIgMY/s640/blogger-image-826460305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-gRC4qFGAdq0/VEST8bPU9XI/AAAAAAAAByA/UL5oiERIgMY/s640/blogger-image-826460305.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N-DNe5NZ63c/VEST6_v2ieI/AAAAAAAABx4/N-G4sI4ErcE/s640/blogger-image--1241688158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N-DNe5NZ63c/VEST6_v2ieI/AAAAAAAABx4/N-G4sI4ErcE/s640/blogger-image--1241688158.jpg"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-N-DNe5NZ63c/VEST6_v2ieI/AAAAAAAABx4/N-G4sI4ErcE/s640/blogger-image--1241688158.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-75T6ZfCEca0/VEST0QXfOkI/AAAAAAAABxg/R4Zw2dB-VDU/s640/blogger-image-2006846281.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-75T6ZfCEca0/VEST0QXfOkI/AAAAAAAABxg/R4Zw2dB-VDU/s640/blogger-image-2006846281.jpg"></a></div></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> </div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-64207347841619576602014-10-11T22:49:00.000-04:002014-10-11T22:49:39.665-04:00Help! Teaching Math to 5 year Olds -- STRESS! If you read my blog regularly, you probably know that I sing with Carolina Style Chorus, part of an international organization of woman who like to sing together in the barbershop style -- a Capella -- the Sweet Adelines. This was the weekend of our big yearly fundraiser, so I left school and went straight to work setting up tables and chairs and gathering all my best dishes and table decorations for the event, the Festival of Tables. My son made cupcakes for the dessert table, and by 2:00 a.m. we <br />
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were done for the night. This morning I left the house at 8:00 to continue the preparations. We had about 27 tables to decorate, served the food to our guests, then took off our aprons and put on our sparkly outfits and stepped up on the risers to do what we love -- sing. It was great fun and we got a standing ovation. But then it was time for all the clean up and pack up. I got home at 3:30, left all the decorations and dirty dishes in the car, and stumbled to the bed, where I collapsed and slept for about 2 hours. Here are a couple pictures -- the first one is my table. Can you tell that I love cardinals?<br />
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Here's another pretty one</div>
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And my favorite, the dessert table!</div>
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Although I love my job, it can be stressful, and singing helps me unwind -- and makes me a happier and more relaxed teacher.</div>
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Speaking of stressful -- it has been one of those weeks as I tried to find a way to cover the required math standard. "Decompose numbers less than or equal to 10 into pairs in more than one way... And record each decomposition by a drawing or equation." In other words, I need to get them to understand the different combinations of numbers that are equal to each number -- like 5 is 1+ 4 and 2+3 and 0 +5. We always try to give them hands-on manipulatives, so I started by giving each child a set of 6 connecting cubes. The plan was to let them trade one cube with a partner so they would have 5 + 1. But before I could even get all the cubes given out, they were making guns or crosses, taking their partner's cubes, losing part of the 6 -- it was impossible. I was ready to beat my head against the wall. So I took up all the cubes and just demonstrated with magnetic buttons on a cookie sheet.</div>
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Then I saw an idea on another teacher's blog, so I made some little bracelets with pony beads to demonstrate the concept the next day.</div>
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These helped - at least they weren't making guns -- but still didn't seem like they were getting it.</div>
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Back to the drawing board.</div>
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Then my blogger friend, Heidi Butkus --creator of many songs and games and videos we use in my class-- shared an idea about using a jack-o-lantern picture to make combinations using teeth. </div>
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I had the little equation cards that I bought from Teachers Pay Teachers -- Guiding Kinders Math Workshop by Deedee Wills and Deanna Jump. These worked very well to help the kids start writing equations. </div>
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Heidi also sent me a pattern for trees to use for this activity, and I already had some little apple erasers that I bought a few years ago, and this worked great -- they finally got it and were even able to work with a team to do some equations.</div>
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So, looks like they are starting to get it -- and I am so grateful for all those teachers across the country who are helping me teach in a way that the children understand. You can't always just turn to the next page in the workbook in kindergarten -- sometimes you have to explore other ways to get the lesson across and go beyond the book. It will still take lots of practice, but that is what kindergarten is all about!</div>
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We learned about fire safety this week -- a subject very near to us, since 2 of my students have had house fires in the past year. I asked them to sit down with their family and work out an escape plan, and so I feel a little better about that. The " stop, drop, and roll" message was fun, but had to correct the misconception that some had -- you only do that if your clothes are on fire. "What do you do if your house is on fire?" STOP DROP AND ROLL!! " "No, you get out of the house and call 911!" </div>
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Look at the cute fire trucks they made.</div>
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I am seeing progress in their writing, too -- some wrote describing sentences this week about apples. They were so proud.</div>
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Still working on spaces between words....my job isn't finished yet....so I will keep singing!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-90759871408660527722014-10-01T20:09:00.001-04:002014-10-01T20:10:00.705-04:00We Survived the Field Trip!<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RnWVJyp1TjU/VCyXvHy2BTI/AAAAAAAABvQ/U7kWQ9s1qGY/s640/blogger-image-1374405074.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-RnWVJyp1TjU/VCyXvHy2BTI/AAAAAAAABvQ/U7kWQ9s1qGY/s640/blogger-image-1374405074.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> <span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;"> Today we went to the apple orchard on our first field trip, and thanks to some great parent and grandparent volunteers, I think almost everyone had a good time! The bus ride was kind of long, but we sang lots of songs and that made the time go by faster..</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> First off was a trip on a wagon pulled by a tractor through the apple orchard. We saw apples growing on dwarf trees and bigger trees and even some baby trees.<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2R1HS4vRcns/VCyXkbW0UrI/AAAAAAAABuo/Y9rHLGYq_7I/s640/blogger-image--2001659700.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2R1HS4vRcns/VCyXkbW0UrI/AAAAAAAABuo/Y9rHLGYq_7I/s640/blogger-image--2001659700.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rrRFIHjd7oM/VCyXsRTFfDI/AAAAAAAABvI/7wPD3n0Ej1U/s640/blogger-image--640087063.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-rrRFIHjd7oM/VCyXsRTFfDI/AAAAAAAABvI/7wPD3n0Ej1U/s640/blogger-image--640087063.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> After the wagon ride, we went in to see the conveyor that graded the apples as peewee, small, medium, and large. We found out that the best apples are sorted to be sold, the slightly bruised ones are squished for cider, and the rest are called deer apples because they are fed to the deer.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-isqp7hRiK5U/VCyXmsprdrI/AAAAAAAABuw/ENKmr36bXOU/s640/blogger-image-396615399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-isqp7hRiK5U/VCyXmsprdrI/AAAAAAAABuw/ENKmr36bXOU/s640/blogger-image-396615399.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_tDeDJ37KAg/VCyXqVRIx3I/AAAAAAAABvA/johiRdR8zjw/s640/blogger-image-885798659.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-_tDeDJ37KAg/VCyXqVRIx3I/AAAAAAAABvA/johiRdR8zjw/s640/blogger-image-885798659.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> After we saw the cider mill, we were able to taste a cup of cider and some apples. We even got to choose 6 apples to take home with us. Then they let us go in the cooler room where they store the apples. It was COLD!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NmGz4086v4A/VCyXigtx5CI/AAAAAAAABug/Xv8WVrm9OCE/s640/blogger-image--478231373.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-NmGz4086v4A/VCyXigtx5CI/AAAAAAAABug/Xv8WVrm9OCE/s640/blogger-image--478231373.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Qg8tmfxDGIw/VCyXohKO5QI/AAAAAAAABu4/isRyKsMIQBc/s640/blogger-image--1350761206.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-Qg8tmfxDGIw/VCyXohKO5QI/AAAAAAAABu4/isRyKsMIQBc/s640/blogger-image--1350761206.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5FOXv6mlvd8/VCyXw4Qme3I/AAAAAAAABvY/bguXfBJl4YI/s640/blogger-image-1926725956.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-5FOXv6mlvd8/VCyXw4Qme3I/AAAAAAAABvY/bguXfBJl4YI/s640/blogger-image-1926725956.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> We had a picnic lunch, then got on the bus for the trip back to school. Everyone had a good time except for one of our little friends who had an ear ache. He was in great pain, and he cried until he finally fell asleep on my lap. I am so grateful for the moms, grandma, and a dad who came along to help. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> This is one tired teacher now, but I am sitting at the eye doctors office, waiting for my eyes to dilate so he can finish the exam, and trying not to fall asleep. Tomorrow we will write about our adventure at the orchard</div></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-55776842046853567912014-09-30T19:29:00.001-04:002014-09-30T19:31:58.944-04:00We Love Apple Week<div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-K8uoqQJ3y2w/VCsrMolgGCI/AAAAAAAABtw/bLbE9KNo3n0/s640/blogger-image--769812558.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-K8uoqQJ3y2w/VCsrMolgGCI/AAAAAAAABtw/bLbE9KNo3n0/s640/blogger-image--769812558.jpg"></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> This is apple week in kindergarten, and tomorrow we are going to the apple orchard for our first field trip. The children brought in all kinds of apples, and they have described and compared them this week. Today we did a taste test to see which kind of apples were the most popular. The winner was the green Granny Smith apple, but yellow and red were close behind. Mrs. Austin used some of the apples to make applesauce in the crock pot -- it was very yummy. She brought her cool apple peeler to speed up the peeling process.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rtuG79wVMRA/VCsrDt0vjVI/AAAAAAAABtI/kXO-MS0eJog/s640/blogger-image-515027163.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-rtuG79wVMRA/VCsrDt0vjVI/AAAAAAAABtI/kXO-MS0eJog/s640/blogger-image-515027163.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j7T8BpcOQz0/VCsrFpaodgI/AAAAAAAABtQ/JWgEPDAtdBs/s640/blogger-image--1436199943.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-j7T8BpcOQz0/VCsrFpaodgI/AAAAAAAABtQ/JWgEPDAtdBs/s640/blogger-image--1436199943.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AmkmDs-NrIQ/VCsrHb4wiFI/AAAAAAAABtY/ZIf_iGcXadM/s640/blogger-image--626534693.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-AmkmDs-NrIQ/VCsrHb4wiFI/AAAAAAAABtY/ZIf_iGcXadM/s640/blogger-image--626534693.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DTk4dn8lbIE/VCsrKt4EowI/AAAAAAAABto/2rQFOMVErpY/s640/blogger-image--1154460861.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-DTk4dn8lbIE/VCsrKt4EowI/AAAAAAAABto/2rQFOMVErpY/s640/blogger-image--1154460861.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"> The other new activity this week is learning to read with a partner. It was amazing to see them sitting in pairs, engrossed in their books. After reading back to back for about 10 minutes, they turned side to side to share books. I want them all to be book lovers, and they are on the way.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nVpv2B9E_nc/VCs88h3z9YI/AAAAAAAABuQ/dqHsCc0_amE/s640/blogger-image-334022096.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-nVpv2B9E_nc/VCs88h3z9YI/AAAAAAAABuQ/dqHsCc0_amE/s640/blogger-image-334022096.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DlPlV6qBtq0/VCs86k_FUcI/AAAAAAAABuI/_-9xwhzM9gQ/s640/blogger-image-1435351564.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-DlPlV6qBtq0/VCs86k_FUcI/AAAAAAAABuI/_-9xwhzM9gQ/s640/blogger-image-1435351564.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PpW_l848HdY/VCsrI_8FjsI/AAAAAAAABtg/KZZSHWPi-vg/s640/blogger-image--1545297423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-PpW_l848HdY/VCsrI_8FjsI/AAAAAAAABtg/KZZSHWPi-vg/s640/blogger-image--1545297423.jpg"></a></div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-90896155147171474652014-09-23T22:11:00.001-04:002014-09-23T22:13:07.899-04:00Things A Kindergarten Teacher Says Since some of my readers will never spend a day in kindergarten, I thought I would share what you might hear. Some days are a little crazy. <div>"Have a seat. Have a seat. Have a seat. "</div><div>Get you fingers out of your nose and go wash your hands.</div><div>Get your hands out of your pants and go wash your hands.</div><div>Do not crawl under the stall -- now go back under there and unlock that dook. Wash your hands.</div><div>Line up. Line up. If you can't be quiet, you will all have to go back and sit down.</div><div>I like the way some of you are standing so quietly!!</div><div>I love you, too.</div><div>If you would stay in your seat, you wouldn't spill your food.</div><div>Who does this belong to?</div><div>I'm sorry, but you can't get another library book if you didn't put yours in the book basket.</div><div>Listen when others are speaking, especially your teacher!</div><div>KEEP YOUR HANDS TO YOURSELF!</div><div>We don't play guns at school. No, not swords either.</div><div>Do not throw rocks!</div><div>You know all the ABCs? Yay!!</div><div>What is the month? No, Monday is a DAY - see d-a-y day.</div><div>You wrote a sentence! I am so proud of you!</div><div>What is that rule about hands???</div><div>What a good helper! Thank you for picking up that mess!</div><div>Yes, I can snap your pants.</div><div>Yes, I can tie your shoe, but please ask someone to teach you to tie your shoes.</div><div>If you didn't scratch your scabs, you would not be bleeding.</div><div>Go get a tissue.</div><div>What a good job of reading! Was your mom happy when you read that to her?</div><div>You know all the color words! Wow!!</div><div>A new student? Oh, come on in -- you can sit here......sigh.....</div><div>It is time to start more assessments? I just finished the last ones!</div><div>Don't forget your field trip money.</div><div>Name on your paper!</div><div>Again? You just went to the bathroom 20 minutes ago!</div><div>I love you, too.(more hugs) now go sit down.</div><div>No, it isn't time for lunch. I promise I will tell you when it is time for lunch. Don't ask again.</div><div>Just a minute -- I'll get the mop. </div><div>I called your mom. Go sit by the trash can until she gets here.</div><div>What stinks? (I only say this inside my head)</div><div><br></div><div>Oh, what fun. Sometime I can't get a complete sentence out.</div><div>Today I have a -- stop that! -- a story about -- get your hands off him -- a story about a -- I love you, too, but go sit down -- the story is about -- </div><div><br></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--BPGXMtmHoA/VCIoQOPQ58I/AAAAAAAABss/N1kG0_sxxOU/s640/blogger-image-1553954567.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/--BPGXMtmHoA/VCIoQOPQ58I/AAAAAAAABss/N1kG0_sxxOU/s640/blogger-image-1553954567.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div><div>But, they are learning! Somehow, with all the craziness and interruptions, they are learning to read and write. Today I talked to them about using details when they draw a picture, and I was so tickled when one drew himself and made stripes on his drawing to match his own shirt. And I am seeing sentences. And some are sounding out words and using sight words in their writing. </div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CcoG7ZHSMUY/VCIoSYAPqJI/AAAAAAAABs0/HyCG-aS9Iig/s640/blogger-image-60471374.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-CcoG7ZHSMUY/VCIoSYAPqJI/AAAAAAAABs0/HyCG-aS9Iig/s640/blogger-image-60471374.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div>Through it all, I still love my job. I love opening little eyes to a whole new world of words that gradually make sense -- I love the random hugs that I get all day long -- I love to sing songs and tell stories and teach poems -- I love being able to look across the room to my assistant and know that she knows what I am thinking. And I love when the bell rings and the last child is loaded on the bus. I am blessed.</div><div><br></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2783010391283027946.post-16195966711240513442014-09-20T01:23:00.000-04:002014-09-20T01:34:14.124-04:00Endless Assessments We have been in school for 19 days, and I spent many hours doing assessments this week. In the perfect fantasy kindergarten world that the lawmakers imagine, teaching continues during the assessment weeks. But in my real world, that is not exactly how it goes. Oh, there is still teaching going on, but my assistant is teaching the whole group while I work one on one with each of the 21 kids. I assessed letter naming and first sound fluency last week -- "What is the first sound you hear in the word _____?" This week I've been checking to see if they know a word, a letter, a period, a capital letter, etc. etc. etc. as they read thru some little books. I pretty much have to take them individually down the hall to a quiet room while Mrs. A. takes care of the other 20. Luckily, she is a wonderful teacher, but you just can't do much small group teaching by yourself. I have also assessed naming numbers and shapes, word recognition, and letter sounds. So I have a real good picture of what each child knows, and that is helpful. But I'd rather be teaching! I will be working on progress reports this weekend to share all this information with their parents, then we can go back to our previously scheduled program!<br>
On the bright side, some of them started writing actual sentences this week. That is a huge step for little kids. and a big thrill for their teacher. Quite a few can read the color words now, several passed the first list of sight words, and we gave out award certificates to those today.<div><br><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-iNLttvZFtVQ/VB0Risuc9UI/AAAAAAAABsU/R6OWj5r68IQ/s640/blogger-image-392120899.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-iNLttvZFtVQ/VB0Risuc9UI/AAAAAAAABsU/R6OWj5r68IQ/s640/blogger-image-392120899.jpg"></a></div><div><br></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-eGI5txy2fJ0/VB0RfJuQADI/AAAAAAAABsE/QjoPvdU4Uyo/s640/blogger-image-1718386323.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-eGI5txy2fJ0/VB0RfJuQADI/AAAAAAAABsE/QjoPvdU4Uyo/s640/blogger-image-1718386323.jpg"></a></div><br>
<br> Next week we will start our apple theme in preparation for our first field trip to the apple orchard. That will be a lot more fun than assessing.</div><div> Still reading!</div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qAi5tqWefhw/VB0RhBnieNI/AAAAAAAABsM/YmgXKOYI0xA/s640/blogger-image--1081854642.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-qAi5tqWefhw/VB0RhBnieNI/AAAAAAAABsM/YmgXKOYI0xA/s640/blogger-image--1081854642.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div> </div><div>
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