Dr. Seuss Week

Dr. Seuss' Week was a lot of fun.  We had  a week in honor of this author and illustrator.  I will share the week with you through pictures and daily descriptions.  I have also found great websites for parents and teachers.  I may even create a separate section on this blog devoted to Theodore Geisel.

Monday: We read Hop on Pop.  The kids used this book to discuss rhyming words.  Teachers and parents all know the importance of learning to rhyme.  It helps us to be better readers.  The students made a list of rhyme words they heard from the book.  Next we played a game with the rhyme words.

Tuesday:   We had a lot of fun today.  We watched Cat in the Hat short film and then read the book.  We compared an contrasted the two while I read the story.  The kids would put a thumbs up if the book and film matched and thumbs down if it didn't.  We practiced -at words and wrote a summary of the book.  I will post the pictures of this at the end of the week.

Wednesday We read "There's a Wocket in my Pocket".  We discussed how Dr. Seuss uses nonsense words and rhymes to write his stories.  We are writing our own story called 'There's a Wazoom in our Classroom.  Each child has a page that reads " There's a _______ running around the _______". each student chooses a object from the classroom.  We find a fun rhyme, non sense word to match it.  Next we filled in the blanks. Example:  There's a Lobe running on the globe.  Each child will illustrate their fictional character.  After P.E they will make a model of their character with some art supplies I need to use up.  It should be a lot of fun. Our booklet is hanging in our hall for everyone to read.  It's really cute.

Thursday: Today we read Yertle the Turtle.  We discussed what the "Main Idea" was.  We decided that Yertle was "greedy".  We participated in a cloze activity to practice our high fequency words.  It read, "We learned to not be greedy from Yertle the Turtle.  Being greedy means to only think of yourself.  In the end, all Yertle had left was mud.  Next we made paper plate turtles.  Once the glue dries we will stack them to see how many it takes for them to fall.  Today was fun.

Friday: To wrap -up our week we read Green Eggs and Ham.  We also had a field trip to the local library where they had a speical reading hour.  The libraroan read many of Dr. Seuss' books as well as gave us a little history about ed Giesel's life.  A very creative mom sent a Green Eggs and Ham snack for us to enjoy.  Two pretzel sticks (ham) with green modeling chocolate and a yellow M&M on top.  It was cute!

Sentence Starter Idea

Our classroom is ever-evolving and at many different rediness abilities.  Some students are still working on letter recognition and letter sounds.  Some students are ready for complex reading opportunities and writing skills development.  While at a local "dollar" store I found blank, connected party flags.  I bought them not knowing what I would do with them.  Then one night it occured to me to use them as simple sentence starters.  First I cut them in 3 flag sections.  On each flag I wrote one sight word.  For example: I like the, They saw a, and They like to.  The flags are hanging on a clothes line we have hanging from our ceiling.  As I model a sentence or help the children write their own we refer to the choices the student has.  It has worked great for our "Word and Letter" center.  At present time I am having trouble uploading pictures of this.  Our home internet speed isn't the greatest.  I hope to get the pictures of these sentence flags posted soon.

Eric Carle Week

This week we have spotlighted one of my favorite author/ illustrators, Eric Carle.  Usually I save this unit of fun and learning for March, but I was ready to dive into the wealth of learning possibilities all of his books has to offer.  In fact I may stretch it into next week's math lessons just to help our concepts of counting, measuring and graphing. 

Monday we read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.  We focused on the life cycle process and sequencing the story.  We made these cute caterpillar chains.  Each link of the chain has a picture and label of each phase of the cycle.  We also watched the animated version I have on DVD of the story. 

Tuesday we read "The Very Grouchy Ladybug".  If you're not familiar with the story, each page has a small clock and the story follows a time line.  We used this book to double-up on our math concepts through making "grouchy clocks".  First we colored both sides of a paper plate.  Next we glued a clock face page I found in my file of "what-nots" onto the paper plate.  Using brads and two paper arrows we fasend the minute and hour hands to the plate.  Children cut black circles from construction paper to decorate the back of the clock.  They were placed in a center for easy access.  We need student clocks in our classroom.  Since money is scarce we have made our own for the remainder of the year.

Wednesday (today) we read all three bear books; Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Polar Bear, Polar Bear and Panda Bear, Panda Bear.  Using compare and contrast skills we focused on Brown Bear and Panda Bear.  Next we listened to Polar Bear on Cd and youtube.com.  Lastly, each child wrote their own page of a story in the same style as these three books.  Example, Mrs. Nation, Mrs Nation What did you see?  I saw a Robin Bird looking at me.  The children then drew a detailed picture of the animal they chose.

Thursday and Friday I have similar projects planned through the books "The Greedy Python, The Foolish Tortoise and The Very Busy Spider"

Eric Carle's Website:www.eric-carle.com/home.html

Khol's stores are selling a few of Carle's books and plush toys for only $5.00 right now.  What a deal!

Happy Valentine's Day! This month our class along with many other K-2 classrooms participated in a Valentine's Exchange. We sent 10 classrooms "love bug valentines" to connect and network with other children across our nation. We met (through the exchange) seven classes who were not all that different from our class. It was a lot of fun.

Kaleidoscope Workshop

My earlier post did not display very well. I was updating it from my Kindle Fire. For two days I attended many workshops that have inspired me and awakened the creative side of me. Last night, while watching the Broncos vs. Patriots game, I worked on three new "Word Wall" bulletin boards and activities. Also I have decided to make some small changes our daily schedule to make room and "time" for more Writing and Math opportunities. Last week a new "work station" was introduced. It's our Word and Letter station. It has a basket of flash cards, rubber letter stamps, letter blocks, paper and pencils. It's a way to encourage more writing and less picture making during this block of instruction time. Have no worries, the children have plenty of time for free and creative doodle and picture making. Lastly, I heard of a great new way to set-up a behavior chart and manage classroom behavior. At present we have a chart of Blue, Green, Yellow and Red. Everyone has a wooden star with their name. Each day the child begins on "blue". We say that "our stars are in the sky". If poor behavior persists after warnings are given then a child can "drop their star". This "new" idea has another direction for children to go for good behavior ...Off Into Space. Any child can move their star up for helping others, being kind and/or modeling respectful behavior. It is a more positive and proactive way of helping children make good choices in the classroom.

Long Time, No Blogging

Hi all.  Wow how time has flown by.  Transitioning into Kindergarten has kept me busy, creatively challenged, topsy turvy and yes, slightly grumpy at times!  Eeek.  Mrs. Nation needs a "bucket filler"!!!  I haven't posted nearly as much "stuff" as I had hoped to.  Over Christmas Break I plan to share some photos, Differentiated Instruction ideas  as well as lessons using the Common Core. 

Hope you have a blessed Christmas!

Parent Teacher Conferences

Last night was our Fall Parent Teacher Conferences.  We had a great turn out in Kindergarten.  I appreciate my Kindergarten Parents.  Some of them like to challenge me sometimes to a "dual" on key issues and I enjoy it...to an extent.  With moving towards a "Standards Based" report card has some confused and concerned. 

Here is my note of encouragement.  Common Core and a learning standards based reporting system is not a fad or a new gimick.  It is coming!  It becomes another way for school districts to insure the proper "stuff" is being taught in classes.  Parents, take peace in knowing that with this "different" way of grading students, it is also grading teachers.  Just like what I told a parent last night.  "The teacher and their quality of instruction is key".  Common Core is not just a "student" issue, it holds teachers to a standard also.  If mediocre teaching is happening, then mediocre learning will be the result.  School districts have to decide what type of teachers they want teaching their youth. What is the common core thread in teachers that make them excellent teachers?  Parents and School Districts....Ask yourself this question.  Who do you want in the classroom preparing and assisting children for thier future paths?   Student's learning is important. "Report Cards" or "Progress Reports" are important too.  There is a way to mesh the two together.   There are many of us (educators) out there with foresight and fortitude to help solve and fine tune "Common Core" issues.  All of this "stuff" will get sorted out.
It's a fact, teachers get "dumped on" all the time.  If only we had "instruction and teaching" to be concerned with solely.  Often we are asked to help or to do many other duties on top of our own classroom duties and lesson preparing.  We get clouded to quickly with additives. That's the wonderful thing about teachers.  Most of us are 100% dedicated to the "learning process" and will do whatever we can to make "school" a good experience for all.

 Some of us at my school district have spent quite a bit of time learning about Common Core and developing a system of rating the child with the standards.  It is an ongoing model and not perfect.  Hopefully by next school year, with guidance from the District, we will have the kinks worked out.  I will post a sample of this soon.  Likewise, it also may be a good model to add to teacher evaulations...just athought.  Feel free to contact me if you have questions or concerns.