1 Year Bloggiversary with freebie

OMG! I can not believe I have been at this for a year. I have learned so much and became a better teacher because of you all. SO THANK YOU!



Here is a little freebie I have been working on this week for my amazing Kindergarten coworkers. There are WBT Rules posters, cards for students to put into pockets for breaking the rule, super student cards for students going above and beyond, and a weekly parent communication sheet. (graphics are from Scrappin Doodle, border from Graphics From The Pond)

Here is another freebie I have been working on. It goes along with WBT for the Super Improvers Wall. (I wish I had a finished picture to show you, but its not all hung up yet) The idea is the students will each have a set of these 10 point star cards on a circle ring. When they improve in ANYTHING being academics or behavior they add a star sticker to the star point. When all ten points are filled they take that home and start working on the next level. In addition on this ring is a half pipe cleaner. They get to add the same color bead to their pipe cleaner. At the end of the year they have a cute key chain to take home, hopefully filled with beads. 

I will post pics within a few days to better clarify.

Daily 5 chapter 5 read to someone

Sorry for the delay in continuing my posts with the Daily 5. I have been caught up in back to school stuff.
How many of you are guilty of saying "read to yourself quietly?" I know I am. Now, there's this concept of read to someone. What was I thinking for hushing my kiddos when they wanted to talk to someone about there book. Read to someone allows students to hear fluent and expression from others. Plus what a great way to get them talking about a book. Like everything else in D5, read to someone needs to be modeled over and over.
I get the EEKK model, sharing the same book. One student read one page the other read the other page and checking each other for understanding after each page. However one thing I loved about this chapter was where the sisters said students at different reading levels can read their own books to each other. I love this concept but I would be lost reading a page from my book, and then listen to Johnny read a page from his book, and so on.  What are your thoughts on this?

Voice level is always a concern for me when students read to someone. Last year I used voice level poster and it really helped. These will go  back up and be refered to the daily.

I found a really cute book that would be a great lesson on voice level. It's called "Holler Loudly" by Cynthia Leitich Smith. It basically tells a story about a boy that is so loud and everyone tells him to hush, but when the town is in danger he hollers loudly and the town realizes its ok to be loud sometimes and quiet at other times.

I like how the sisters used the demonstration of everyone yelling out "I need a partner." Their respons was- a quiet hand raised signals you need a partner, make eye contact with another person whose hand is raised, and ask in polite voices to be partners. Love it!
Read to someone seems like a pretty simple concept, I hope now I can execute it correctly. Any tips I may need that you veteran D5 teachers have?

This busy week

My kids were at VBS this week, so I got a little time to myself. Oh how I love "I" time. Anyways it gave me a good chance to scope out Target for any new back to school stuff.

My four year old Maddie- so cute!

Maddie and Mason my 8 year old- had so much fun!

I started putting my classroom back together and still need to buy border but couldn't wait to put some things up. I am excited to try out Daily 5 this year.

My Daily 5 board and my BUILD tubs- still need to print the smaller tub labels.

Wall hanging file holders- put roll book at the bottom so students can access incase of an emergency with a sub. The picture on the right isnt yet finished but I spent a few hours working on it and had to show. The pink clips will hold my Anchor chart. I still have to add my Mr. Potato Head pieces to my rules and I needed a few more 3m hooks for my bucket fillers. (that tables not staying there either)

I love this part... gumball math. I did this with my 1st graders last year and they LOVED it! Thank you madeforfirst.blogspot.com. Click the picture to purchase.

However, I needed to change it to work for Kindergarten, so this is how I am doing it. click picture

On another note, I decided I needed a change and went from blond to red.

(Of course I have no recent pics of me, but you can tell how I have aged Ha Ha)

I now have one!

OMG! My first cutting tool and its a Silhouette Cameo! I am so excited to use it, but a little very much overwhelmed. I have been watching youtube videos to figure it out, since I am a visual learner. The instruction manual said "blah, blah, blah" to me.

If you have any hints or tips please leave me a comment. All the help is greatly appreciated. Now to see what I can create :)

New Behavior Management System

Every year we all change up our behavior system, either it wasn't working for the students or for us. Sometimes I even change mine up half way through the year if it starts to loose its fizzle. I have tried the colored card system, the money system and the clip system to name a few. None of those have worked for me.

At recess time I ask "why did you move your clip?" The real reason I ask this is because I FORGOT what they did. OMG!  I also forget to move their clips up when they are being good. Am I loosing it or what?! So with all that, I made a new system.

The new system was based off the fabulous Deanna Jumps Mr. Potato Head Rules Posters. (By the way I made my own- thanks Deanna for the Ok) I needed one to match my room.

So anyways, I asked Mel from Graphics from the Pond if she could create me some body parts to go along with this system. THANKS MEL!

And the Grand Finale........

This comes with Body Bit cards and a Royal Crown card (for those having a Royal Day). The students all start off the day with a Royal Crown in their pocket beause I expect them to all be Royally. I am using a hanging shoe rack pocket  just because the pockets are deeper and no sneaky hands or falling out pieces. I also start with all crowns in the pocket just so I dont have to remember to add a crown throughout the day. When a child is exhibiting poor behavior they choose the card that matches the behavior and put it in their pocket. I am going to put the body bit cards into extra pockets or into tin buckets.

Now at recess I can see what they have been doing- talking, not keeping hands to self, not listening.... So at the end of the day, it is all upon them. They have a monthly calendar in their folder that looks like this. 

The student circles the body parts for that day or the crown if they had a ROYAL day. Then they have a shoulder buddy check their calendar before packing up. Me on the other hand, I'm getting notes passes out, etc instead of coloring folders and writing notes on calendars. YEAH!

 

I hope you like it. Let me know your thoughts and ideas below. 

Blinku Micro Monsters

How many of you have heard of Blinku Micro Monsters? I guess these are the cool things for kids. Both my 4 year old and 8 year old love these things and collecting them. The good news is that they are at the Dollar Tree. They come in a package of 3 with 3 stickers. So cute!

So teacher mode kicks in and I tell the kids I'll make them a game to play with them. So here is what I came up with. I took a file folder and attached the stickers that came with each guy, to make the spaces, then added some starbursts and now to play.

Heres: how to play, we had a few of the same guys, so the kids choose who they want to be and place their monster on start. Then they roll a die and move that many spaces. When they land on a monster sticker they have to find which one it is from the pile and they get to keep it. Hint: they dont look the same as the stickers, but there is a number on the sticker that matches the monster key at the top to find what he looks like. They keep rolling and playing till someone ends up with all the monsters or they have had enough :)  I put a switch seats, and "Micro Day- Free Monster" starburst. Adds a little fun to it.


In addition, the back of the stickers has some really cool facts about the monster. My 8 year old loves reading these. I might have to make them into a little book.

Any ideas of what else to do with these fun guys? Have you seen these before?

Kindergarten Daily 5- Chapter 4 Read to Self

Mrs. Minner is hosting the Chapter 4 Linky Party.. hop on over and link up.

Ok, get you a cup of coffee or cold drink. This one is long again!

I know you all are laughing right now, just like I had done before I started reading this book. READ TO SELF, how in the world am I going to get my kids to read on their own, especially 5 and 6 year olds for 30 minutes. You mean they're going to sit with a book, not roll around on the rug, not talk with their friends, not get up to ask me a Million questions, and actually enjoy reading by themselves! Ok I gotta know how to do this.

I have never taught with Daily 5 before or Kindergarten, but I am up for the challenge estatic to do both of these this year. So here goes.....

What I have found out with READ TO SELF is it needs to be REVIEWED everyday, even when you think your kids got it. I'm sure your going to have some moans and groans when you say "lets review what you know about Read to Self from our I-Chart." However, I am thinking about my four year old and how she thinks she is soooo cool that she knows the information. Don't you think your students will feel like this too? Those that may not have confidence will gain confidence through this review session.

So on to the book.

Day 1- (really day 1?) Three ways to read a book: Ok, I can do this on day 1. Students love to look at new books (your books are all new to them), why not teach them they can read from day 1, even if it is for 1 minute. Ha! 

How do you get students to think they are readers? By boosting their self esteem- showing environmental print that they can read, like McDonalds sign, Walmart sign, etc.. What a great time to use that environmental print word wall.

Here is a cute one

Teaching how to read a book 3 ways is a great tool for any readers. Why not do this with an environmental print book. Hum, this gives me an idea for an emergent reader book, then they can go into their book boxes to practice :)

I like this... but would like to make one to tie into our sight words.

Dont forget to create those I-charts. If you are like me, I hate having a boring poster with words, I am a visualist and need pictures to remember. So may want to add one of those cute posters next to your I-chart we have all see on TPT.

I love this one from Frogs and Cupcakes

How many of you use 'looks and sounds like' in your classroom. I do this for everything. What does a line look and sound like? What does it look and sound like at the rug? What does it look and sound like while I am reading? and so on. This way all I have to say is 'looks and sounds like' and the students remember what they should be doing.

Students need a purpose (a challenge) of what they should be doing when being read to. "I want you to put your I spy eyes on and hearing ears on (yes, you may do some actions for these- screw on your eyes and ears- kids love it)  while I read JUST the pictures to you. At the end, tell me what reading the pictures looks and sounds like."

Then move on to reading the words. Have students turn and talk about the two ways they learned. Do some modeling, student modeling the correct and incorrect ways for read the pictures and read the words. Add to the I-chart what it looks and sounds like for students and what it looks and sounds like for the teacher.

I would then tie in building stamina. Get kids up and moving. Check out this great idea from Seusstastic Classroom Inspirations.

 Practice, Practice, Practice. REMEMBER to place your students in spots you want them to sit and if someone is unable to focus in his or her spot, its time to stop and check in. Teachers, sit at your table out of the way and DO NOT MAKE EYE CONTACT. I'm guessing it may only last about a minute or two, but I'm sure they are hyped up to try something new.

One thing I need to get better on is check-in. This is used to get student to start self reflecting on what they were doing.

 I have bought these super cute chairs from walmart to add around my room. My daughter is using them for now :) But what a fun way to get kids to want to read to self.

Day two: introduce the third way- retell a story. Add look and sounds to I-chart, model, students model correct and incorrect ways.1 minute is added to stamina.

Day three: is when they say to allow students to choose where to sit. I am a little unsure of this so soon. Those of you that have done D5, what are your thoughts?

Day six: Same but teach how to choose good-fit books. I love how they teach to choose good fit books. See chapter 3 for a run down. Here.

Note to end on- can kinders really read for 30 minutes? I'm thinking 15 minutes would be huge. I am hoping to get them to 10 minutes by the end of the second week so I can start reading groups. We are really suppose to start reading groups after 1 week, but COME ON it will be pure CAOS!

Leave me a comment of what your thoughts and ideas are. Cant wait to here.

Classroom Decorations

OMG! Yesterday my husband and I went to Target and they are unloading back to school stuff. I LOVE Target! If you are anything like me, your brain is going in a hundered different directions when you see all the cutesy stuff. "What can I use that for... Where would I put that... What can I make with that..."  Right away when I saw these cute rugs for $2.50 each, I thought Read to Self rugs.

Then I spoted this corkboard sign and my husband gave me a great idea to do with it. Stay tuned to see what it will look like. I love those closepins for an anchor chart or maybe to hang my rules on. I should have bought more... UGH!!

Then I bought these wall file folders at a garage sale and knew I could use them. So I made some cute labels and they will be hung by my door.

If you would like the signs click the picture above. The cute rainbow border is from The 3am Teacher

Like many of you I have a ton of Pintrest ideas planned to make before summer ends. That date is creeping up on me sooner than I wish. Three and a half weeks left. Oh, where has the time gone.

Give aways!!!

I know you all love some freebies!!! Check out these awesome bloggers who are having some spectacular give aways.

Oh, my.. I have never been to a blogger meet up, but this one is soooo close to TN. I would love to go?

On another note, Mrs. Minner will be hosting Chapter 4. Dont forget to link up tomorrow.



One last thing... I have 36 followers, don't forget to follow me. I'd love to have my first give away at 100 followers! In addition, my 1st blog anniversary is coming up at the end of the month. I see another give away in the near future :)