Purge and organize

School has been out for ever a week, but all I have seen are doctors' offices, the funeral home, and the hospital. I'm dealing with 2 ailments -- and my sweet little aunt died, so I made a quick trip to wv for the funeral. I hope my distractions are over so I can get on with my plan for summer.
I am reading 3 books right now that I hope will help me be a better teacher next fall. If I don't change my mind, I will be retiring at the end of the next school year , but I hope I am never too old to learn!
Not only am I planning to organize my thoughts, I have GOT to get my classroom organized!

I have spent a bucket full of money on learning material in the past 9 years. As I plan to retire after one more year, I think I need to get rid of lots and organize the best. I took pictures so I could remember how much work I have left to do.
Bummer!

KINDERWORLD: PBL Cue

Saving this to read this summer.
KINDERWORLD: PBL Cue: Project-Based Learning CUE My amazing colleagues and I presented at the CUE up north. Our focus was project based learning in kindergart...

Last Day uv Skl

Wow! Last day of school is finally here. We had graduation on Wednesday, so most of my children didn't come back for the last day and a half. After having from 25 to 27 children all year, it was fun having a small group. We were able to have an old-fashioned pre-Common Core day with time for painting the dinosaurs that we briefly studied a couple months ago. We got out the dishes and food toys that have been hidden behind a curtain most of the year -- it was fun for the kids, and I got to hear lots of interaction as they sorted and decided to be the chef or the customer. We got out the doctor kit and baby dolls. One girl made the sweetest little momma to the baby doll, and they learned about taking temperatures and blood pressure and giving shots. They wrote stories with the special colored pens and worked with math manipulatives. They sorted and worked together all day. I read lots of their favorite books and a few good ones that I didn't have time to read earlier this year. We sang songs and everyone had a great time.
It was a sweet ending to a challenging year -- all the assessments were over, grades were recorded, and the pressure to keep pushing them to achieve more academically was finished.
As I reflect on the year, I wish I had found a way to squeeze in a few days like this. There was so much to teach to so many kids this year. I am so glad that they plan to have smaller classes next year. I read today that there is a bill before the legislature that would lift the class size limits. CRAZY! But as much as I am looking forward to the months off, I know I will be planning for the new crop of kinders before long. And I write this to remind myself to plan for more developmental activities next year. There has got to be a way to cover all the Common Core and assessment requirements while remembering to have more fun.

The End is in Sight!

We have 8 and 1/2 days left. Three of those days don't count, because we have a field trip to Tweetsie, and Field Day, and Graduation. That means 5 actual days of school. Subtract the last day and a half, because most of the kids won't come back after graduation next Wednesday. That leaves 4 actual days together. It has been a long year, and I think we are all ready for a break -- I have never had so much tattling and whining and TALKING! It seems worse, I think, because I have an ear infection that has made me almost deaf in one ear for a week now.
Here's the to do list as of now:
1. Finish the math Assessment -- it is taking an eternity to give individually to 25 kids
2. Score the writing assessments
3. Write out the Student Support documents for the 4 or 5 who are below grade level.
5. Do the evaluation for the college student who worked in my class this semester.
6. Find the $17. Mistake in my receipt book.
7. Figure out what awards to give each child and write out certificates.
8. Enter grades for report cards
9. Enter scores on county schools website.
10. Find all library books.

Okay, I am getting stressed out and that is just the beginning of the list.
On the other hand, I Am very pleased that all but one child scored at grade level -- "benchmark" on the DIBELS assessment. That is HUGE! We have come
a long ways together, and I have done all I can do to get them ready for first grade.
Please, God, don't let me have such a big class next year!

What Happens in Kindergarten...

One of my kinder moms gave me this little "What Happens in Kindergarten Stays in Kindergarten" shirt -- and a lot of that is true.  But sometimes it is just too good to keep to myself, and this was such a day.  It is assessment time in schools everywhere, and I've been busy with the DIBELS assessing this week.  I finished today, and I am overjoyed to announce that except for one child, EVERYBODY made benchmark. For my non-teacher readers, that means they have reached the goal set for them and have a good foundation for future success in reading. Some made such huge growth that I was doing the dance of JOY!  One of my very lowest ones scored almost the highest in phoneme segmentation -- I just had to call her mom and tell her how happy I was so see her progress.  My assistant has worked so hard to give extra help to the ones who have struggled all year -- and their parents have really worked with them at home -- so I was thrilled to see that their hard work has paid off.

  It has taken a village to teach these little ones, and it hasn't all been fun -- but the rewards are great!

It is also the time of year that I get sweet notes that I can actually read!

Just when I get them to a really good place, it is time to get ready to say goodbye.

Six More Weeks

    Six more weeks! At our faculty meeting yesterday, we filled our calendars with all the things scheduled for these last 6 weeks of school, and I am starting to feel the pressure.  Only 6 weeks to finish getting my kinderkids ready for first grade, and that includes time out for 2 field trips, field day, school pictures, a TON of assessing, graduation, and an early release day on the last day.  We also have a "Parent Night" and McDonalds Night and a safety fair and K-2 council meeting and meetings with a few parents to talk about retention. And my assistant will have to go help with testing in the upper grades on a few days, so I have to get my assessing done before then.  So, one more week until I will start.  With 25 children to assess individually, and 4 or 5 kinds of assessing to do, it will take a LOT of time.
    I woke up extra early this morning, thinking about the few who are still not able to read or count or write well enough.  Should I send them on to first grade, or keep them for another year?  It is such a hard decision.  I know they are going to struggle with the demands of first grade, but would it be better to give it a try and repeat first grade if they were still behind?  I'll be calling some parents and talking about it next week.
    One of my little ones is moving away tomorrow, and I got another new student this week.  I hate it when one of my best students moves away!  I will miss his stories! 
    I am not working today, because this is my chorus competion weekend.  I need to pack up my sparkly costumes and get ready to go on stage tomorrow to sing beautiful music in four-part harmony. But for now, I still have kindergarten songs stuck in my head.

   
Here are my  favorite songs for teaching numbers from 10 to 19.  Thank you, Mr. Harry! (But I wish I could stop singing this song in my head at 5:00 in the morning!)

Easter Magic

   Spring Break is finally here -- and I am ready! Today was an optional work day, and the school was empty except for one other teacher and me, but my room was such a mess that I just couldn't enjoy my week off unless I tried to make a dent in all the piles.  I worked until about 5:00, and still didn't even start on plans for when we get back -- but I did find the top of my desk.  The calendar was still on January, so I guess that was the last time I saw it.  I also sorted thru the huge stack of papers  -- I found Christmas and the gingerbread man on the bottom.  So, still lots that needs to be done, but it will have to wait.  I need to do my taxes and work on the piles of stuff at my own house -- and take a little break from it all and go to Gatlinburg for a few days with my family.                              
                               It's time for

                                                                  
                                                                    Five for Friday
                                      and I have pictures of 5 good things about the day!


  It's a good time of year in kindergarten -- the little window after 3rd 9 weeks report cards and assessments -- with about 2 weeks until the beginning of end-of-year assessments. Everyone has been working hard and Easter almost slipped up on us. But Thursday was the day we had been waiting for -- Easter Egg Hunt Day!! I had a long list of things to do -- but first of all I forgot the eggs that I had hard-boiled and ready to go -- and left them sitting by the door at my house. So I had to turn around and go back home to get them.
   When I told the children that we were going to dye eggs, one little boy thought about it for a while, then he raised his hand and said, "Are we really going to bring a gun and shoot the eggs?"
Took me a minute, but then I realized dye -- die -- so funny!  No eggs died today, but it was great fun to hear the "oooh" and "aaah" as I mixed the colors and magically made the eggs change from white to a rainbow of colors. 

We also took time to make some lovely Easter bonnets -- and I told them how all the little girls and old ladies wore Easter bonnets to church when I was their age.

Finally it was the time we had been waiting for -- my wonderful parent volunteers had hidden and scattered the school yard with candy-filled eggs, and soon the hunt was on!

They ended the day by gobbling up as much candy as they could hold -- then I sent them home!
When we get back, we will work hard again to try to master all those Common Core goals.  I hope they don't forget anything over this long break.  The end is near -- less than 40 days to go -- and there is still a lot of  learning to do.  Plus we have 2 field trips, many days of assessing, and graduation, so the time is really getting short.
   But now -- let the vacation begin!!

I look forward to celebrating Easter with my church family -- He is Risen !! Hallelujah!!

What Still Excites Me About Teaching

    I was greatly honored -- and surprised -- to be voted "Teacher of the  Year" at my school, and tomorrow I will go for the interview that is part of the process.  So I've been thinking about representing my school and pondering the question -- why do I still look forward to going to work, even after all these years? What do I still find exciting about teaching?
 
   I first started teaching in 1970 -- before many of my co- workers were even born. But when my first baby was born, I decided to stay home and be a full-time mom.  It was a wonderful decision, and it was 27 years before I came back to teaching in a public school. So much has changed since my first job as a teacher in a little 3 room school! But, change can be good -- and I am grateful for the opportunity to come back to the classroom.

   Many days are stressful and tiring, yet I love my job and consider myself blessed to have the chance to touch so many little lives. I love the hugs and notes that I receive from my sweet little ones. But more than that, I love being able to teach them to read and write! One mom told me that she cried the first time her son read to her. And I have felt emotional many times when someone wrote a sentence for the first time, or got excited about a new book or math station. It's pretty amazing to hear a child shout,  "I can read!"

   But two years ago I took a technology class at the Education Center that changed things for me.  Keep in mind, I am not from this technology generation -- I used a typewriter when I was in college, and I need my son or daughter to program the VCR.  But I took that class about blogging and a whole new world opened for me. I soon had a little blog of my own, and even a few followers.  I used to have to go down the hall to show someone the great work one of my kinder kids had produced, but now I can snap a photo and show it around the world! But even better than that, I am able to collaborate and learn from some amazing teachers all across the country.  I have purchased -- or received for free -- wonderful teaching materials to help me implement Common Core Standards in my classroom. I have been encouraged and entertained by other teachers who face some of the same challenges that I have experienced.  I have been inspired to try new things and equipped to provide a better kindergarten experience for my children.
    I learned about Whole Brain Teaching and clip charts and Dojo and Daily 5.   All these have made a world of difference in classroom management. I got ideas for ways to encourage parent involvement through homework activities,  a "Dads and Donuts" event, and a math night that brought out half my parents on a cold rainy night. I was introduced to some fabulous books, both to entertain and teach my children and to educate me.  Our class was able to participate in a gingerbread exchange with 25 other classrooms all over the country -- we even traded one with a class in Germany.
    One of the biggest influences in my class has been from  Heidisongs and Heidi Butkus, a teacher in California who writes songs that I use in my classroom every day. She taught me about multi-sensory learning -- that children will retain more when they see it, say it, hear it, and do it all at once.  Through her DVDs, my children have learned many more sight words to enrich the Letterland curriculum that I teach every day.  One of my students even drew Heidi's picture and wrote about her in a creative writing assignment this week.
    Blogging gives me a place to reflect on my own teaching.  Rather than tossing and turning on sleepless nights, I get up and write about what worked and what didn't.  And I can go back to see what I was writing about last year -- that has helped me remember lessons that I had forgotten.
   I heard another teacher today say that she told her daughter NOT to be a teacher -- and I understand her frustration -- but I still think teaching is a wonderful, rewarding career and I can't think of anything I would rather do.  I am still excited about trying new ideas to reach my little learners -- and I still do the dance of joy when they learn new sight words or write a cool story or make a great connection.  I love my job.

St. Patrick -- Will There Be Cake?

It's always a shame to have a holiday on the weekend -- and here comes another one. St. Patrick's Day is on Sunday. So those cute little green socks I bought will be wasted --- I am definitely not wearing them to church!
One of the advantages of teaching kindergarten is that they are so excited about EVERYTHING and nearly everything is brand new to them. We started with a chart about the things they wanted to know. You notice that the first -- and last -- question was about cake. Great question for any occasion -- "will there be cake?" We have been busy with assessments this week, so not much time for making crafts, but they did write stories and draw some cute guided drawing pictures, thanks to directions from Heidisongs.

 

I love it when they write stories that I can read without a translator.  Several of mine are able to write a few readable sentences now.  And if I could just get a few more to remember to leave spaces between the words, there would be more good stories.  We have sung the "I need a space" song many times, but I think they just get excited about getting their story down on paper and don't think about spaces.  But they are getting better!

  This one really shows that he is getting more details in the drawing, as well as showing evidence of comprehension.  He put boots inside the trap, because our story said that leprechauns like to make shoes for fairies.

 Obviously we haven't worked on the /tr/ sound enough, because trap is spell "chrap" -- that's always a hard one for kinders to get. --The  /tr/ is spelled with chr, and /dr/ is usually jr -- like jress instead of dress. But I am very proud of the progress they are making.

 And no holiday is complete without hats -- thanks to Smedley's Smorgasboard!

I

Birthday!

This was my birthday week -- it was the 29th, so I didn't have a real day. But I had 2 cakes, so who needs a day? I have enough cake for a week!
My daughter got a Pete the Cat cake for me, and my assistant made a yummy lemon cake -- I think I will be skipping the weigh- in this week...

President's Day Writing

       In honor of President's Day, we have been learning about our country, it's symbols, and a few of the presidents. I love the pretty flags they made for the hall bulletin board!
     It's also the time of year that things are starting to come together for the children -- they can read books, spell words, and actually write sentences that you can read!  Woo-hoo!!  I have started assigning a writing activity for homework every week, and I have been so pleased with some of their work.  I taught them about "5 star writing" -- \

• Starts with a capital
•  spaces between words
• ends with punctuation
• makes sense
• neat

They can get a 6th star for a good picture.
Here are a few samples from this month -- remember, they are only 5 years old!

   These are from a homework assignment -- I wish I had enough assistants to guide each child with their writing at school, but the parents are doing a great job with them at home.

 

Here's one from our bird study week.

And here are a few that were written in the classroom independently.

I love how she sounded out "our" as "ewur"

               "He read books to make him smart" -- just the message I hoped would get across!

      I am always amazed when we get to this part of the year -- they really have learned, even with all the difficulties of large class size, discipline issues, interruptions, wet pants, broken arm, tears and everything else -- THEY ARE LEARNING!!  THIS IS WHY I LOVE MY JOB!

Daily 5 Revisited -- Launching

  For some unknown reason, my dear friend and co-worker, Allison Franzen, wanted me to help her with a Daily 5 presentation for other teachers in the county.  We have worked together on this a couple times before, because we both love the Daily 5, but it makes me a little nervous to think about teaching other teachers.  I am no expert, but it has changed the way I am able to teach, so good news should always be shared, I think.  And this literacy/classroom management system makes such an  amazing difference -- so I thought it might be helpful to add a little "how-to-launch" to my blog, even though others have covered the topic very well. Daily 5 is just a way of structuring the reading block so that every child is engaged in independent and meaningful literacy activities.
  In my kindergarten, I start the first day of school by establishing my "Gathering place" -- which is the carpet in front of my whiteboard. 
I will already have book baskets prepared, loaded with an ABC book, a color book, Ranger Rick magazine, a number book, an ABC Letterland Chart, and a familiar storybook.

I have chimes that hang from my ceiling, and I teach them to stop whatever they are doing when they hear the chimes. Since the first part of Daily 5 is always "Read to Self" I teach them the 3 ways to read a book: 

  I demonstrate that with a  great book, like "No, David."

I create the sense of urgency by telling them how wonderful it will be to read your own books about things that interest you.
  Now we make the first Anchor Chart or "I Chart"  -- they will brainstorm ideas about behavior, and I will write it down on a chart.

  The next important step is modeling the behaviors we have listed.  I will also choose a child to demonstrate the undesirable behaviors. When I am pretty sure they understand the procedures, I will place the students around the room, give them a basket of books, and let them practice.

 At the first sign of undesirable behavior, I ring the chimes and bring them all back to the carpet to check in and talk about how they did.  This may only be about 2 minutes-- or even less -- but that's the way we start to build stamina.  I will chart it on a graph and eventually they will be able to read for about 20 minutes -- independently -- and it is amazing!
  After they build some stamilna -- maybe 8-10 minutes, I will start adding the other parts of Daily 5.

                                                                     Word Work

                                                                 Read to Someone

                      And I teach them how to talk to each other about the books they are reading.

                                                                  Work on Writing
                                                                           
and Listen to Reading -- sorry, no picture for now.

Daily 5 gives me more time to work with individuals and small groups while the rest of the class is engaged in meaningful literacy learning experiences. You don't have to worry about setting up "centers" or busywork, and everything can be adjusted to fit the way you like to teach.  I would never have believed that 5 year old children could stay in one spot and work independently for 20 minutes -- it is incredible but wonderful when it is working!

Meeting Heidi!

Not only did I get a day off school today, but I had the pleasure of meeting the one and only creator of HeidiSongs, Heidi Butkus!

My school made it possible for two of the kindergarten teachers to go to the North Carolina Conference on State Standards in Greensboro.  And I was very excited, since Heidi Butkus was going to be one of the presenters.  I have been reading everything she has written , both on her website and in her blogs, for several years.  She has written a ton of songs that teach sight words, and my kids love to sing them -- so have learned to read and spell a lot of tricky words. 

As she said today, children need to hear, see, say, and do in order to retain information. Her songs have certainly made a difference for us with tricky words like "what" and "the" -- and she is lots more fun than flash cards! 
She reminded me today of lots of games and activities that I have used in previous years -- but with  the slightly overwhelming number of children in my class this year, I forgot about all these great ideas.  How could I have forgotten the "Quiet Game?"  If she can teach a class of 28 AND publish books and songs AND travel all over the US sharing her ideas, I can surely manage my large class.  Thank you, Heidi, for giving me a much needed boost -- and the reminder of ways to increase learning for even my struggling kids. You are amazing!!

Love Notes Link Up

                                                         Amy at "Literacy and Laughter"
                                                                   is having a linky!

                          

Name: Ann

Grade you Teach: Kindergarten 

State: North Carolina

Birthday: February 29 -- no birthday this year

Favorite Colors: Red and blue

Lucky Number: 13 -- met my husband on Friday the 13th

Favorite Subject to Teach: Literacy!!

Go to Snack: Trying to make it bananas or apples -- but Lindt Truffles call...

TV Show: NCIS

  Last Movie You Watched: March of the Penguins

  Music You are Loving Right Now: "10,000 Reasons" and "The Song Has Ended"

Always shopping at: Wal-mart and Dollar Tree and ..."Teachers Pay Teachers"

  Word of the day: Snow?

“Love Links”

share links to…

                             a blog you are loving right now: 

                              Heidi is one of many that I love...

 Going to see her at a conference in NC in a couple weeks -- so excited!!

More things I love...

What do I love doing in my free time?

Sing with my Carolina Style Chorus barbershop buddies,

Go to church,

And read other teacher blogs -- there is no other free time!

Favorite vacation spot?

Bar Harbor, Maine and Charleston, South Carolina are the places we have loved in the past few years.  We also had a great time in Pennsylvania Amish country a few years ago, and San Antonio was fun, too. When we lived in Germany, our favorite places were Holland and Switzerland.

Beautiful Maine

Charleston

And the loves of my life --

                           My son-in-law and my 3 children give me so much joy --

and the best show-and-tell ever --- my husband of 38 years, Sam --

He's retired now, after serving 25 years as  helicopter pilot in the Army.  We met on a mission trip right before he went to Viet Nam.  He always comes to school on Veteran's Day.
Here's a Animoto video I made for our anniversary
Happy Anniversary 

                                                                                                                                                                                          

I also love teaching kindergarten -- here is the door to the magical place where my babies learn to read and write and turn into first graders...