Five for Friday

Hi there!  Whoo-eee!  This tired teacher has been a busy bee.  My first day of school was August 26th.  Here are a few fun things we have done to get kindergarten in Room 5 off the ground.  I love my little class.  I have some really neat students this year. 

1.  This project is close to my heart.  I write the kiddos' names on poster board in black marker.  The sweeties then glue on black beans to cover the letters as they learn or review them with the teacher.  It is a perfect first week of kinder activity.  The three center sessions to make the self portrait people are also great for fine motor and setting up procedures and expectations for art materials.  This project is great because it becomes a permanent reference for students' names in the classroom.  They use it all year long to write each other notes during choice time.

2.  This was a quick set of weather cards with a little graph I made to use during calendar time.  I am trying to get the NGSS into my routine this year  even though implementation for CA is a year or two down the road.  This is not something I made to sell.  Notice it doesn't even have snow as a type of weather.  Just did this for my little classroom.   It's pretty basic stuff.  I had a chart we were using to track the weather each week.  But the cards were UUHGG- LEEEEEE!  I couldn't stand them anymore.  So I made these new ones and the graph to go with it.  I LOVE that we are recording the data from our daily observations.

3. We got our September calendars done and sent home.  This was one of my few sweeties who already had some experience with writing numbers.  She got to 14 with a little help and then I did the rest for her.  Do you like the apple?  This was my vision when I planned this art project.  The kids painted card stock with apple colors.  I demonstrated a somewhat painterly version, but this is the first week of kindergarten, so what was I thinking?   Most of them were chunky stripes of color.  We had a wide variety of interesting apples when they cut them out and added a stem and leaf.   If you want some monthly calendars for number writing and pattern practice, you can get them here: Calendars for Number Writing - Perpetual

4. On the third day of school, I facilitated a conversation with my kiddos about rules and why we have them.   Together, we decided on these for the year.  (They are always the same.  Wink, wink.) I have never had a situation that didn't fall under one of these rules.  I actually think these rules work for everyone at all times, even adults!  They are my life rules.  They work for my classroom and my kiddos.   I also sent home a paper explaining each one and the behaviors that are covered with each rule to the parents after we made them.

5.  I don't often get gifts on the first day of school, but this was absolutely precious.  There is a special reason I got this Kona coffee as a gift.   This little boy is such a cutie patootie!  Boy, he sure knows what a teacher really needs the first week of school, right?  Totally HIS idea.  Got it in Hawaii this summer.  Lucky ducky!  (I have NEVER been to Hawaii)  But I LOVE this coffee.  And I LOVE him!

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Hope your school year is off to a great start!
Thanks for stopping by.
Happy teaching!