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!