Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Santa's Stuck

Inspired by Pinterest...
We sponge painted the chimney red.  Then, cut the chimney's black trim, Santa's legs, feet and white fur trim from construction paper.  The kids illustrated and wrote about their favorite character that helped Santa.

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Elf on the Shelf

The Elf on the Shelf had his first visit to our class last Monday.  We had a special gift under the tree with the return address...North Pole!  The gift was even COLD! 
His name is Jingles and he watches everyone from the top of our SmartBoard.
So far, Jingles has brought a movie (starring himself) back from the North Pole and a friend named Frosty to help us countdown the number of days until Christmas!

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Coming Home! Kindergarten Version

I have to share my SWEET, touching story with you all!  Today we had our Kindergarten Christmas Program.  My kinders did GREAT!  Here they are singing their little hearts out!

The best way to spread Christmas cheer...is singing loud for all to hear!

But then....my principal announces that last night she was working in her office when she heard something on the roof!  It was Santa with a special delivery for my student!  She asked her to come down and open the huge package Santa brought for her!  Inside was her uncle!  He arrived home from a long tour in Iraq!  OMG!  It was sooo touching....not a dry eye in the room!  It was HER reaction that touched me most because she started to CRY!!!  She was so happy to see him!  Mom said they have always been super close and his being gone had really been a change for her!


Just had to share!!!

Merry Christmas!!

Thursday, December 1, 2011

Where Is Santa-FREEBIE!!!

Hey Ya'll....Nothing major but we needed a Christmas book for the kids that focused on our sight word "is".  I whipped up this one and thought I might as well share!  Enjoy!
Click HERE to grab your copy!

Merry Christmas!

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Gifts for the Class

As teachers, we always want to think of something special to give our students for Christmas.  This year, inspired by Pinterest, I made each student in my class a fleece scarf.  I dusted off my sewing machine and got busy.  After six hours of cutting and stitching, I had made 22!  Although, it doesn't get very cold in Texas, I hope the scarves will be a hit!
For the boys, I made a football and race car version, too.

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Free Christmas File on TPT

Merry Christmas!  Enjoy a Roll-a-Tree SmartBoard file on TPT.Click Here

Friday, November 25, 2011

Happy Thanksgiving & Happy Cyber Monday

First of all, Happy Thanksgiving Blogging Buddies!  We had lots of fun in class leading up to Thanksgiving!
We compared the pilgrims to us today!  This idea came from Chalk Talk.  We read lots of books about pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving!  The kids could'nt get enough of it!  They were so in to learning about the first thanksgiving!  It was fun!

We read books about the Mayflower and the pilgrims' journey to their new land.  We discussed why they sailed, who sailed, and what it was like on the Mayflower.  This came from Deanna Jump.

We talked about turkys!  This idea came from Chalk Talk.

These are our Five Fat Turkeys hanging up!  Sooo cute!

These are our leaf-pile kids!  They were fun to make!  I can't remember where I saw this!  If it's yours let me know!!  We wrote about what we can do in the fall.
Our Turkeys!  My favorite says, "Eat more cucumbers!"  Ha!

Our thankful pilgrims!  Our Native Americans!  These are my take on some that I saw on Pinterest!
The kids wrote what they were thankful for on the Pilgrims and their number words on their Native Americans in the 1 little, 2 little Indians poem.
My little turkeys!
Some of my little Indians!

Soooo....I truly love this time of year!  Hearing what kindergarteners are thankful for truly warms my heart!

Cyber Monday Sale!!!!

All our products on TPT are 20% off until TUESDAY!!!!
On Monday TPT is offering an additional 10% off using the promo code
CMS28
soooo....it would be 30% off!!!!

Just in time for this awesome sale we have uploaded our December Calendar Notebook, December Math, and December Literacy!!!  Also, don't forget our December Jukebox with suggested song lists!!!!




Looks like loads of fun....huh?

Go to our TPT store and check it all out while it's ALL on sale!!!!!

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear!

Last week we studied bears and two of my favorite stories...Brown Bear Brown Bear and Goldilocks and The Three Bears!  We make these adorable bear purses!
They cut out their bear heads (2), I staple them together up to the ears and add curly ribbon for the strap.  They then add on circles for eyes, ears, and nose.  They draw a smile and sequence the characters from Brown Bear, Brown Bear!  They LOVE them....even the boys! :)

I snagged this idea from Kimberly Jordano at a workshop one summer!

We end our bear unit with a Teddy Bear Parade!!!


Our entire school Pre-K - 4th grade sit outside their rooms and we parade the halls with our favorite bears!  We make these cute little hats!  We adapted this idea from Pam Greening at Overall Success!
I add this picture and their individual pictures with their bears to their scrapbooks that I mentioned in an earlier post.  I copy this poem on bear-themed paper:

Parading by for all to see
Just my little friend and me!
I am loving the following things right now:
1.  This Initial Sound Fluency Packet  from Donna Glynn- you can get it on TPT!  I put each colored page under my document camera and we do a page each day!  We say the names of the pictures, the first sound/letter for each picture, the last sound for each picture, and then we stretch the word (like stretchy word snake) and say the middle sound!  It is working soooo great!
2.)  I am loving that 14 out of my 18 Kinder Kiddos know all of their letters and sounds!  WOO-HOO!  We use the fun, motivational Chicka Chicka Trees from Deanna Jump!  Each kiddo makes a tree!  When they know the letters and sounds they get to add that letter to their tree!  When their tree is full it goes up on our board and they earn a trip to the treasure chest!
She earned her goofy glasses!
This is where they go up when completed!  Several more have completed their trees since this photo was snapped!  YAY!
3.)  I am loving these cute kids from Deanna Jump that are hanging in my hall!  They are almost as cute as the kiddos in my class! :)


We will be studying the farm for the next 3 weeks!  I will be back with some more "MOO-velous" pictures!!

Sunday, August 28, 2011

A Glimpse into my classroom!

I thought some of you out there might want to see what my classroom is looking like lately.  I have a "beach monkey" theme in my room and as you'll see on some of my boards we have been busy!

This is the sink area, birthday banner, and our little stores from Poco & Pop- We use these a little later in the year for practice with money.
This is our tree where we will track all of our letters from our letter exchange with Brooke Perry from Primary Perspective!

Our door- Welcome to Kindergarten!
No More Monkeying Around- behavior clip chart
Our "compliment" tree...for whenever someone compliments our class- 5 bananas = Party!!!


Shelf above our cubbies- My birthday balloon pixie sticks are in the cute monkey!
Smartboard..."stage" is underneath (my awesome hubby made it)...Document camera....student of the week board





Our class library and word wall


Where we will track our "Rainbow Words"- each child will get a rainbow to put on the board to track with


Letters on the bus from Deanna Jump!

We learned how to do our calendar opening on the SMARTboard!  They loovvee it!

More practice!
We practiced using "raindrops" of  glue.....NOT "puddles"!  Rainbow names from Deanna Jump!

We've been reading Chicka Chicka Boom Boom....so we did our first science experiment!  Will a coconut sink or float?
More practice with "raindrops" of glue...our initials!

We graphed boys and girls!
All of this WORE US OUT!!!!

30 minute naps just are not long enough!  Good thing we have WEEKENDS!!!
Stay tuned for more!!  I forgot to take pictures of my outside bulletin boards and what we did there!