Crayons and Crayon Boxes

Yesterday I searched Fran Kramer's blog to see just why she had chosen the title Kindergarten Crayons for her blog. I was totally impressed by the poster and quote she based it on:

Today I as I was blog hopping ( really blog stalking!) I looked at this cute classroom theme on Cole's Little Pups: Crayon Theme - FREEBIES GIVEAWAY! How awesome her idea was based on the book, The Crayon Box That Talked. I thought another idea on diversity and so often we don't teach it, but yet we long for our children to embrace the ideal of acceptance in a diverse nation. So if you get a chance check her blog out and enjoy. Have a great Sunday, y'all!

Little Wonder/ Author

I love it when my students go to a center and make cards and start writing. My first little author bloomed today, what a wonder she is. The best part about it was I didn't have to tell her she was an author, she told me! Love my wonders, they make my day!

My budding wonder author

One week down!

I finished the first week of school. If you had asked me at the end of the day how I felt, I would have said, "Nap-time, please." Now that I have had my little snooze and feeling perkier, I can assess with clarity and realize that we had the most wonderful first week! I was proud of my Wonders! They started out unsure of rules and procedures, but you could hear them tell one another as the week went on what was a good choice and a poor choice. The conversations ranged from what they were doing, reminding each other of where to put things as one of the clean-up song/transition songs began, "Shout" by The Isley Brothers , to telling their own personal stories about how their pets sometimes made good choices and bad choices just like Ms. W's pets Blaze, Lucky, and Ace.
You maybe asking yourself, why I use transition songs such as, "Shout", "Sugar, Sugar", "All Star" and "Iko, Iko" to name some of the pop rock songs I use. Its because I enjoy the transition, the students enjoy the transition and the introduction of music that is something other than child-like is expanding to them. I have found their response time is quicker, they often recognize the tune because they may hear it on the radio with their families and it makes all of us happy because we dance as we transition ( the music just makes you want to dance.) I judiciously pick oldies and newer pop songs that have an upbeat and words.

Third Day of School...Dot the Glue lesson and Our first letter in our name

I have made it through the third day of school. Every day is a new day with my 28 wonders. It's exciting, it's joyful, it's wonderful and that is the only way to describe it. I will be honest though this old wonder has had to come home every day and take a nap, age has its credits, you are wiser and a little smarter, but the energy level is not quite what it used to be. I still would not trade a day without my little wonders who teach me and make me stretch as a teacher.

Today we worked in rotations with the first station being the glue dot lesson. You know the phrase, "just a dot not a lot", it's how we roll in the KD Wonders class. We did this by making dots around the first letter in our name and then added little pieces of paper to cover the dots to highlight that first letter. Take a look at them, the wonders did a great job!

Just a dot, not a lot

adding the cut-up paper

The Wonders work on display!

More Wonders work on display!

All I can say is I love my KD Wonders!

New beginnings with Little Wonders

A brand new year! I woke up this morning, nervous with butterflies in my stomach. One of my little wonders said, "I feel all nervous inside" and i knew just how that little child felt. They are excited for a new beginning, just like me. They are unsure of what to do and where to go, and I fully sympathize. eating lunch is a whole new experience, going to recess is all new, listening to procedures and rules are new too!
Where they felt confident at the end of their 4 K experience, they now feel jittery with this new Kindergarten, being part of "big school" stuff. Its as mind boggling and tiring for them as it is for their teacher. You got to love them, because they automatically think you are the best teacher they have ever had. That is why I love Kindergarten! They come in with joy, there maybe some tears, but they leave each day feeling accomplished and older than the day before!

Matching upper and lowercase on alphabet trays.

Making an alphabet train.

These little wonders are so eager. In case any of you are wondering why the yellow ribbon around a child's arm, my assistant came up with the idea of placing a ribbon around each child's arm as a way of having a quick glance to see if they were bus riders (hence the yellow ribbon), car riders (with a green ribbon), walking students (red ribbon) and  after-school care (a braid of all three ribbons). It worked perfectly...everyone got to the right place and the day ended with a sigh and peaceful feeling of knowing everyone was safely home!

Found a website by Kleenex that helps schools with funding for Field trips. You can like them on facebook and check them out. With budget cuts slashing items in school budgets, this is an opportunity for schools to get extra funding for a specific field trip or field trips. Take a look-see and apply for your school, or support your school :http://www.facebook.com/kleene​x/

SaveOurFieldTrips/images/badge_left.jpg"
border="0" alt="Kleenex - Save Our Field Trips" />

href="http://www.facebook.com/kleenex/
SaveOurFieldTrips/">

Meet the Teacher part 2...other Teachers rooms at my school

KG's room with a Tiki/Surfer theme. KG is my next door neighbor  at school , so the surfers and the pirates will be hanging out!

KG's Door....cute, cute, cute!

KG's surfer Board....Looks like Tacky the penguin made it to Hawaii!

KC's door.... KC does the bee and gardening theme. They plant a clas garden every year!

Inside KC, the meeting area.

KB's room...Sea turtles...so cute!

KA is doing the movie theme. My friends, Rachele and Jamie Lee from  Teach, Blog, Repeat have worked so hard  on their room and it looks marvelous. Check them out!

KF's door is Roaring with Pride! This is Jamie Lee's room. Click on her name and check out their blog!

Teaching is a TEAM sport and with all these awesome teachers on my team, we are going to have a great year!

Meet the Teacher

The room is ready. The Smartboard presentation is on. Now for the parents and the children to come

Teaching and library corner with the calendar area ready for  Monday.

Writing corner set up.

The Blue fish and Red fish table set and ready with folders filled with parent stuff. My assistant, Mrs. Bolton resting and waiting for our little wonders ten minutes before the come in. It is always good to breath the quietness before we begin.

The back of the room with microwave for  treats, meals, and other things.

Computer corner where treasure is! We use the Waterford System and the kids get to go twice a day to computers to work on reading , math and science.

Listening corner

The welcome sign with all the children's names

My news board where I post a weekly newsletter, class merits earned for good behavior in specials , lunch and hallway walking. Oh and i forgot my schedule.

Begin the adventure in the Pirate room, KD is sailing away for Adventures in Learning. It's going to be a great year!

Workday, Workday!

The mess

making a dent in it all

My color poem created by ME!

The birthday wall and nursery rhymes

Treasure wall

Computer corner

My door

ROCK procedures for PBIS

Today was a full workday for teachers. We were pulling out items for the shelves, cleaning, organizing and hanging things on the walls or magnetic boards. Right now it looks all asunder, but by tomorrow and by Monday it will be all ready for my 27 little wonders and I can't wait to see their faces and meet them.

Sponge Blocks....not Sponge Bob

I just read this on a blog (and now I am following this blog), SPONGE BLOCKS! I love the game, Jenga and this is a new twist on that made with different color sponges. The plus for me is I don't have a heartattack when the blocks fall, but can still have the joy of building a tower and making them all fall down!
The Blog is Toddler Approved and has this neat idea. After a day of Staff Development, this was refreshingly fun to look at and sparked my idea of quiet fun! I think I am going to make these and have some fun in the class with my little wonders this year! So head on over and check this blog out.

Classroom Prep for Beginning of School

I spent the day in my classroom. I made for things for the walls: a pirate girl, a pirate boy, parrot and a pirate boy peaking over the top of a treasure chest. Now to get them laminated and on the wall. Tomorrow is Staff development and reviewing all that beginning of the year stuff that has to be covered, meeting any new folks and then back in my room to finish it off. Pictures will be posted later, because there was no camera today....Ooops forgot to bring it in my excitement to get to school.
I got my class list with 24 names ( which will probably increase with new students registering). But for right now 24 little wonders who are probably wondering about me as much as I am wondering and excited about meeting them. Plan on sending out a little letter about me. I got this idea from a friend, Kristi, who teaches kindergarten at my school. She borrowed it from a teacher's website so the credit goes to all of the above for this letter...the idea is not original with me,but feel free to borrow the idea as we did (that is Kristi and I).

click here if you want a copy

Here's to a great year for all of us!

Smart Notebook for Listening Rules With A Pirate Theme

I was making a set of listening rules for Pirates and I thought make a Smart Notebook of the listening rules so that I can review them everyday for the first month. So here is "A Pirates Life For Me" Click here 

Productive Day!

I finally got the help to move classroom furniture and get my room set up! Tables in place...check. Chairs around tables...check. Bookcases in place...check. Teacher's desk in place....check. Cubbies in the right spot...check. Classroom set in place...priceless feeling. Now to work on the walls, and Calendar area and set out items on shelves. I also got my Meet the Teacher Brochure ready! "I feel good....danananana...feel like I should now!", to quote James Brown. I revamped the brochure that I had from several years ago and used my purchased clip art from ThistleGirl Designs and Scrappy Doodles. It now looks kid and parent friendly. Now to run it in full color at Staples. I am so proud of it.

TBA...Best site for teachers!

Teaching Blog Addict is the a wonderful site for bloggers to join. The whole point of blogging is sharing ideas with others, learning from others, and being able to vent those frustrations to others about problems and finding solutions. TBA is just that site.
Teachers need support and to support others. TBA is just that kind of support with the articles, announcements of giveaways, or interesting blogs to look at. So whether you are a newbie blogger like myself, an old hand at blogging, or a new teacher head over to TBA and join their site. Let's see how big we can make this grow!
Be the links that support each other in the field and career we love!

1000 Followers for Finally In First Giveaway

Jenn in Finally In First is having a giveaway for reaching 1000 followers. Go and check it out at http://finallyinfirst.blogspot.com/2011/08/1000-followers-giveaway. There are a few things you have to do, but they are simple and easy and i am quoting from her blog on what to do:
How Can You Win These Amazing Bags?
Terms: Winners must be a follower of my blog and live in the U.S. or Canada. Please leave a comment for each entry.

1. Like Mixed Bag Designs on Facebook. Tell them I sent you!
2. Like my blog on Facebook.
3. Spread the word by blogging about this giveaway! (Or Facebook /Twitter if you have more followers.)

4. Follow me on Twitter.

5. Visit Mixed Bag Designs and come back and comment on which of the NEW Fall designs you like.

This giveaway will end on Monday, August 8th at noon Pacific time. Good Luck!

So get on over there and check it out!