Five for Friday!

I am so excited to be doing a Five for Friday again!  Thanks so much to Doodle Bugs Teaching for hosting this linky.

My report cards are done and went home Thursday.   I had a great week with my kiddos.  And... I went to the best teacher meetup EVER last weekend.  I will be doing a more in depth post on that soon.  I hope...

The #teacherstakesacramento2016 pacific coast meet up happened last weekend.  Over 80 teachers came together for fun, friendship, and lots of great swag and prizes.  What a fantastic weekend!

We did a fun scavenger hunt around Old Sacramento Saturday morning.  I met some great teachers!

You should check out Instagram to see all the great teachers involved.  Search the hashtag above.  I will go into more detail in my post about the meet up.  You will LOVE to see all the swag!  It was an awesome event.  Check back for a post sometime this weekend.

Every morning this week, the big, almost full, moon was shining bright through my kitchen window.  I just had to go outside and try to capture it.  Try is the operative word here.  It was so beautiful!  My crappy photo doesn't do it justice.  I love seeing the moon through the trees...

This is a sweet "origami" love note from an adorable little student.  She gives me beautiful little pictures and other works of art regularly.  She is such a sweetheart!  This is one of the things that makes teaching special.  I love my job.  Kid gifts are the best!

We have been doing a non fiction mini unit on Bears this week.  This is how I set my kids up for success for informative writing.  This is an oral report outline created collaboratively by a small group.  Then I model the wrong way to do the report and the right way to do the report.  I support them with topic/conclusion sentence examples and then each student in the group comes up and does the report on their own using the outline.  They say a full sentence for each idea starting with the topic, then moving through the three star ideas and concluding with another sentence about the topic.  The kiddos did a great job.  I had a few sweeties tell me this is their favorite job.  Yay!!!  Do you use Step up to Writing at your school?  This is my kindergarten adapted way of doing it for little learners.  Tomorrow the kids will make an outline with their own ideas  like this on paper and practice the report orally.  Next week we will use it to write an informational report on bears.  Woo hoo!

Last but not least, I am kicking my feet up as I blog in my cute new socks from Tom's.  They were donated for the rockin' swag bags we got at the pacific coast meetup.  It was the best swag bag EVER!!!

Make sure you check out all the other great blogs over at Doodle Bugs Teaching!

Thanks for stopping by!
Happy teaching!

Five for Friday! 9-25-15

Hi there!  I am so happy to be linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for another Five for Friday.

My blog has a new design and I am having a giveaway to celebrate.  There are three prize packs!  My store has been on sale all week too!  I still have everything 20% off today!  You can go grab a good deal if you need something for your Kinder or First grade classroom.  The giveaway is going on until tonight 6:00 pm Eastern time.  Let me know what you think of the new design.

I promise that I did not plan for  the pocket chart to match my little birdies... just a happy accident!  Ha ha!  So, we did this as a whole group activity and then I taught my kiddos how to make tally marks for this page from my Print and Go! Back to School.  They did a great job and I felt like this activity was a big success.  It was a perfect blend of what we have been doing in ELA and math.  Woo hoo!

OK, and can I just say how much I love my kiddos' names this year... and my kiddos too, of course!  I have some truly amazing little people in my classroom.

This is an image of what the page from my pack looks like:

We did two math lessons with these cards and cubes this week.  We reviewed number order, counted forwards and backwards, wrote numerals and then did the worksheet from my new math program that related to the concepts.  I changed up the lessons to work a bit better for our classroom.  I appreciate a lot of things about this program, but I need to make it work for my classroom.  I thought these materials helped my kids solidify the concepts being taught better than the lesson as it was written.  My kids totally demonstrated mastery on the worksheets, so I think this worked great!  I did this as a center with small groups.  Sometimes the lessons work fine as written, but sometimes the transitions required to pass out materials for the whole group wastes so much time.  I am doing more of the lessons as centers instead of whole class.  I also feel like I get a much better picture of who is "getting it" and who needs help.  This is my first year doing this new math program, so it is a learning curve for me.  But, I am up for the challenge!  You can get those number cards here.

We also did a lesson where the kiddos were telling stories about teddies and I modeled writing number sentences.  Then they did a flower picture and wrote their own number sentence.  We just did this with small numbers.  Since we told teddy stories for 3,4,5, I let them do flower stories for 3,4, or 5.   We did this lesson with part/part/whole (2+1=3) equations and then did another lesson later in the week with whole/part/part number sentences (3=2+1).  So far, my kiddos are keeping up with the pace and getting the concepts.  Although the worksheet for the whole/part/part number sentences was tricky! 

My Print and Go! Back to School pack is sure coming in handy.  I needed a letter sound independent center that my kiddos could handle.  This was perfect!  They LOVED using Do-a-Dots to stamp the answers.  Woo hoo!  I love it when they are doing serious academics and feel like it is fun:)

And I just have to say this, because as kindergarten teachers, this is a constant line we have to walk.  I am very concerned about the balance of academic rigor with developmental appropriateness.  My students PLAY every day in my classroom.  EVERY DAY, and I'm not just talking about recess.  The way I do my centers has open ended play and exploration built in.  It works great!  I just felt like I needed to mention that because this post is so academic.  Even though my kiddos are doing very important learning, they are also doing very important playing, as they should be!

Thanks so much for stopping by!  Don't forget to go check out all the other great blogs on Doodle Bugs Teaching.
Happy teaching!

Five for Friday!

Hi there!  I am soooooo glad it is Friday.  I had another busy busy week and I am looking forward to sleeping  the weekend.  I had Back to School night on Wednesday so...  you know how it is.  I know that at some point in the future I will feel caught up and on top of my game.  Still have too much on my to do list to say I am there yet.

1.  This is what my main bulletin board in my classroom has looked like the first two weeks of school.  I finally got it up last weekend to get ready for Wednesday night.

This is how it turned out.  I am pretty happy with it.

The kiddos did name puzzles and I also traced their sweet little hands on the first day of school as my center (job).  It brightens up our room.  Now I need to think about what I want to put up to replace it... hmmmm.

2.  This is bulletin board number two.  This activity was done on the second day of school after reading The Kissing Hand  By Audrey Penn.  This board is actually bigger, but this gives you a good idea of how it looked.  I have 20 kids in my class right now.

This is the response page that the kiddos filled out with my help.  I covered up the name on this one, but you can tell the name would go on the top line.  I wrote in the feeling word or words each student wanted me to write.  This little guy didn't want me to write a feeling.  He just wanted his little heart.  Who am I to argue?  It's fine with me for the second day of kinder...  Nice job on the hand tracing, right?   He did it all by himself.  Woo hoo!  You can get a response page like this one for FREE here:  Kissing Hand Freebie!

3.  I finally opened up my new set of flair fine tip pens.  I bought these especially for my thank you notes.  I often add a little doodle in my notes just for fun.  I had seen some other teachers talk about these on Instagram and I am such a sucker for fine tip pens in many colors.   LOVE them!

4.  Speaking of Instagram...  I am so happy because I finally figured out how to post on Instagram at my school.  We have a website blocking system for kiddo safety and unfortunately my school is out in the boonies, so I don't have enough juice on my phone to post without using wi-fi.  My school secretary told me how she was able to use the fb app so I tried it with Instagram on my phone and it worked!!!  Yay!!!  I wanted to post some fun things going on in the classroom this year.  This was my first post from my actual classroom this week.   If you want to follow me on Instagram, you can find me right here: @mrsbyrdslearningtree.

5.  I have been fighting my first bug of the year.  I had a sore throat first.  So I fought it off with these goodies among other things.  I am a believer in coloidal silver.  I always use it whenever I feel something coming on.  I just drop it right down in my throat.  You can drop it down your nose too!  I also had some ginger tea with honey and lemon.  YUM!!!  Nothing like that to soothe a sore throat.  Zinc lozenges are a must.  My husband is an acupuncturist, so we use lots of natural remedies for all the cold and flu symptoms throughout the year.  He really likes olive leaf extract, too.  That is what is in the little green and yellow tincture bottle.  I took a dropper full in a little water three times per day.

I also took some of this.  I ALWAYS take this when I feel like I am sick or getting sick.  It is the best stuff ever!!!  Diagnosis with Chinese medicine is totally different than western medicine.  I usually take this with some other Chinese herbs as well, depending on my symptoms.  Since my hubby is a licensed acupuncturist, all I have to do is ask him what to take.  If you are considering taking Chinese herbs or other natural remedies, I strongly urge you to talk to a professional health care provider that you trust before you take anything.

They did the trick and I was feeling much better...

...but there are LOTS of snotty noses in my classroom right now.  OMGoodness!  I have been helping babies blow their noses!  So, now I am sneezing and feeling a bit congested.  Time to start back with the herbs and tea again.

I never should have stopped taking them.  (This week kicked my butt!)
 

Why is it so hard to take care of myself when I am teaching???


I think I will just sleep all weekend.  Ooohhh that sounds so good.  Sleeeep...
I might do laundry too.

But, that's it.  Sleep and do laundry.  That's my agenda for the weekend. 


Make sure you go check out all the other great blogs over at Doodle Bugs Teaching for the linky!
Thanks for stopping by!  Hope your weekend is way more exciting than mine.
Happy teaching!

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!

Make sure you go check out all the other great blogs over at Doodle Bugs Teaching.

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

Five for Friday! 8-21-15

Hi there!  I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching again for some random Friday fun.  I am in the thick of back to school right now.  My first day back is Wednesday August 26th.  Only five more days, YIKES!

1.  So, I was happy to get these notes out to my new little students.  I keep it simple because it is one thing on a very long list of things to do this week.  You know how it is.  I was so glad to find these fun stamps at the post office to go on them.

They say from ME to YOU.  

2.  Yea!  My last supply order arrived!  Woo hoo!  OK, a girl can never have too many sharpies, can she?  The Velcro dots are sooooooooo handy.  I love the big post it notes with lines.  LOVE THEM!!!
Did you notice the fancy pencils?  Noir  by Ticonderoga.  LOVE!!!  Shimmery silver outside.  Black wood inside.  The most perfect no. 2 lead.  Need I say more?  Pure pencil LOVE.  Those are my special teacher pencils, btw.  The kiddos use the yellow ones.

3.  When I got home on Wednesday, I found the dishwasher  'clean' light on and I looked inside to see all the classroom stuff that I had brought home on Monday inside.  Guess who ran the load for me?  My sweet husband, Duane!   OMGoodness!  He is so darn good to me!  (I think he is feeling sorry for me that summer is over.)

Those are all my magnetic trays, scissors, and my classroom bowl.  The magnetic letters were on the top rack along with all my plastic clothes pins.  Now my tray for literacy intervention in the afternoons is ready.  I keep the other trays stacked without letters and prep the letters as needed for activities.

4.  My new printer came!!!  I ordered this specifically so that I could sign up for hp Instant Ink.  I like this printer pretty well so far.  But, the jury is out.  There were a few little glitches with the paper feed and a few pages had to be printed again.   Hopefully it will work well for me.  I printed some stuff...

... like my new cards for my Kinesthetic Alphabet.  I just put this on TpT and will be doing a more in depth post on it soon.  I am happy with how the cards turned out and I think the kiddos will enjoy learning our alphabet chant with them this year.

I printed my new Classroom Character Posters too!  I think they came out looking great.  The printer doesn't really do perfect photo quality, but they are good enough for me.  I got this printer because I think it will be a work horse and that is what I really need.  But, mostly I am really excited about the instant ink program from hp.

5.  This is my new teacher plan and prep tub.  It's where I keep my current thematic unit files along with all my prep for each day.  There are two full weeks worth of big folder envelopes where I put materials and papers that are prepped ahead.  I try to stay planned out a week ahead and prep the following week each day throughout the current week.   It works pretty well and keeps me a lot less stressed.  I know some people who prep for the next day each afternoon.  That is just a little too crazy for me and I also think it makes it harder to do more prep intense projects.  OK, just one more thing about my sweet hubby... he painted the tub for me because we couldn't find anything this size in colors, so we just bought a cheap clear one and he painted it blue for me.  Doesn't it look cute with the birdies on it?

Hope you are having productive and happy days back at school!
Go check out all the other great blogs over at Doodle Bugs Teaching.
Thanks for stopping by.  
Happy teaching!