What to Say????

I can't even imagine going through what has happened in Connecticut. My heart goes out to all of the families, loved ones and everyone touched by this  awful event. Praying is the only thing I can think to do, besides hug my own kiddos tonight and students on Monday. 

Reindeer and No Voice

Soooo......has anyone every tried teaching a room full of (talkative) I mean curious kinders without a voice?  Yes you guessed it that is what I did today!  It was interesting to say the least.  Thank goodness for classroom amplification sound systems!!! I don't know how I would have made it through the day without it.

I started the day with the good old guilt trip...you know....."I need you to be on your very best behavior today and help  your teacher out because it is hard for me to talk.  I know you will all be great listeners and not make me say things over again....you will do them the first time I ask so I don't have to use my voice as much".  So that worked for ohhh about 10 minutes.  But overall it was quieter in my classroom than usual for most of the day....I may have to try whispering more often!

I hope my voice is better tomorrow.  You know it is bad when your secretary asks if she can get you a sub for tomorrow!  But it has to be better by Friday because we have a field trip!  Oh and did I mention it is an outdoor field trip and I live in WISCONSIN!


Oh well!  Since I wasn't able to talk much we did lots of projects today.  I did attempt to read them the story Who'll Pull Santa's Sleigh Tonight? (because the reindeer are sick just like me). I think the kids heard me whisper read it to them.  The hot chocolate made the reindeer better so we will see if I get hot chocolate tomorrow! Then we made this adorable Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer hat.  The kids loved it and they looked so cute!  Sorry no pics of my kids wearing them of course, just a picture of the hat itself. And that may or may not be my hubby modeling the hat for you...and I may or may not have told him I was taking it to put on the blog. I can't take credit for the idea though...my own kinder daughter came home wearing it last week...so naturally I had to borrow the idea to use with my kiddos!

I made a template of the antlers in case you wanted to make it.Just click here to get it. You can print it on card stock and have the kids or a parent helper trace them or you can copy it right onto brown construction paper.  The piece of construction paper that the nose is attached to was about 3 inches.  On the ones I made with the kids we added glitter to the noses (so they would glow of course and what project isn't better with glitter!) Hope you enjoy!

December Currently and a Freebie

This is my first time doing the Currently but I just love reading everyone's so I thought I would give it a try!

I spent my summer reading both the Daily 5 and CAFE books, so I am TRYING to implement them in my classroom this year.  I am doing OK.  I am not really doing all 5 activities and I am still doing some literacy centers.  But my kiddos are doing the Read to Self, Read to Someone, and Listen to Reading.  I was having trouble figuring out a quick and easy way for them to make their choices. So what I came up with is in the picture below.  When my kiddos come in, in the morning they grab their clothespin from the table and put it on the chart by their choice for the day.  If they are reading to someone, the person who is clipped on the same number is their partner.  My original plan was to have 2 or three of these charts and they would clip for each session that we would do, but are only doing one session so.....I only have one chart.  Click on the picture if you would like to download the chart for yourself for free!  I would love to hear from you if you download it!

Be sure to head over to Farley's blog and catch everyone's December Currently!

Gingerbread Sight Word Book Freebie

Ooooh! I am so excited to link up with the wonderful bloggers at Freebielicious for Fabulicious Freebies on the First!!!  My freebie this month is for a sight word book that I made for my class. It is for my favorite unit of the year (or at least this time of the year) GINGERBREAD!  I love love love reading and comparing all of the different gingerbread stories, in fact I have so many we do the unit for 2 weeks! (I think I could probably do it for 3 or 4 weeks) 

Anywho... my kiddos loved working on The Gingerbread Man Ran sight word book this week and everyone (ok almost everyone) can read the word "and" now!  Just click on the picture below and it will take you to the download for this freebie!  I hope you like it!  I would love any feedback you have! Now I am off to check out all of the other freebies in this linky party!! Enjoy!

        Click this button to take you to more Freebies!

Liebster Award Wow

What a great surprise when I checked in with my blog and found that two different bloggers had nominated me for the Liebster Award!  I am still trying to get the hang of this blogging thing and hope that the things I am posting some people find useful.  I get so excited when I get a new follower....I know my hubby thinks I am crazy!!  So here goes!

First I was nominated by Nicki at Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten....I love her blog! Then I was nominated by Khrys from Keepin' It Kool in Kinderland.  I am so glad she found me I love her blog! The Liebster Award is given by bloggers to up and coming bloggers with less than 200 followers.  It is to show new bloggers that they are appreciated and to help spread the word about new blogs. Thanks for the opportunity Nicki and Khrys.  I will answer both sets of questions below! And then below that are the questions for the people I nominated to answer.

The rules:

• You must post 11 random things about yourself.
• Answer the questions the nominator set for you.
• Create 11 questions for the people you nominate.
• Choose 11 blogs you love (with less than 200 followers) and link them in your post.
• No tag back (but please leave me a comment on this post with the URL to your Liebster post so I can  learn more about you)!

11 Random Things About Me:

1. I LOVE teaching kindergarten! I have also taught 1st and 2nd grade.

2. I am also a wife and a mom to 2 great kids who are 9 and 5!

3. I love to read but I don't really get to do it much during the school year.  In the summer I go through LOTS of books!

4. We are trying to sell our house so we can move to the town and school district where my kids go to school.

5. I love to watch reality tv!  It is my guilty pleasure....it makes my hubby crazy!

6. I am an only child but have a wonderful cousin and a best friend that I consider my sisters.

7. I used to scrapbook and would like to again some day when I have time.

8. We go to Florida at least once a year to visit my cousin.  I love being able to go to the beach and Disney World.

9. I said I would never drive a mini van but I do now (and I love it)!

10. I love trying new things in my classroom especially technology.

11. I love to organize things!

11 Questions Asked by Nicki at Mrs. Thigpen's Kindergarten

1. How long have you been teaching?

This is my 14th year teaching.  I have been teaching kindergarten for the last 11 years (but in 3 different places).

2. What is you favorite holiday?

Christmas....who doesn't love decorating, baking, present wrapping, and family!  

3. Do you have any siblings?

No I am an only child.  

4. If you weren't teaching, what would you do instead?

I would either open my own bakery or do professional organizing or maybe be an interior designer.

5. Do you have a favorite sport to watch or play?

I love watching my kids play soccer. Does that make me a soccer mom??

6. What do you do in your spare time?

Is there such a thing as spare time????  I sneak in as much blog stalking..I mean reading as I can!

7. What is the farthest place you have traveled?

I went to France with my 8th grade french class....I know I didn't appreciate it as much as I should have at the time.

8. What is your favorite movie?

Hmmm...that is a tough one.  Ok another guilty pleasure...right now the Twilight series movies.

9.  How long have you been blogging?

Since August of this year. 

10.What made you begin blogging?

I just love reading everyone's blogs and getting great ideas and everyone seemed like they made friends and I wanted to join in on the fun!

11. Favorite food?

Anything sweet!

11 Questions asked by Khrys at Keepin' It Kool In Kinderland

1.  What is your favorite thing about teaching?

Getting to work with my kinder kiddos and seeing them get excited about everything and my the other fabulous teachers I work with!

2. If you won $2 million, what would be your first purchase?

A new house!

3. What was your favorite movie/tv show as a kid?

The Smurfs

4. If you were a crayon, what color would you be and why?

Purple, I love Harold and the Purple Crayon.

5. What is the last book you read? Did you like it?

The CAFE book. Yes I loved it!

6.  Do you have a special talent (other than teaching of course!)?

Organizing - I love it!

7.What did you want to grow up to be when you were little?

A teacher, I used to bring home my workbooks and then line up my dolls and stuffed animals and teach them.  I even had smelly markers!

8. What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Blue Moon

9. What is your guilty pleasure?

Reality TV.

10. If you were stranded on a desert island, what one thing would you take and why?

My computer...to blog stalk of course!

11. What is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for you or that you have done for someone else?

It is hard to pick just one....but I think everyone who has made me feel welcomed in all of the new places I have been in my school and teaching career.

Questions I am asking my nominees:

1. What is your favorite theme or subject to teach?

2. How long have you been teaching?

3. What is your favorite read aloud book?

4. How long have you been blogging?

5. Do you have any hobbies?

6. What is your favorite place to visit?

7. What is your favorite thing about teaching?

8. Would you still teach if you won the lottery?

9. What is your favorite food?

10. Do you like to read for fun?  What is your favorite book?

11. How many blogs do you currently follow?

Blogs I am nominating:

Crayons and Whimsy

The First Grade Dream

Teaching Times 2

Sunshine in Kindergarten

I Dream of First Grade

The Heart of Reading

Teacher Tech Freebies

My Life With a Cherry on Top

Perfectly Primary

Smart Tarts Learning

Joy Button's Journey with Whole Brain Teaching

Well I think this is officially my longest post yet but I found some really great new blogs to follow! I am looking forward to learning more about everyone. Don't forget to leave me a comment with a link back to your post so I can learn more about you and find even more new bloggers to follow!

I LoveTeaching Writing

OK I never thought I would ever utter or write those words! Teaching writing has never been something that I have ever loved - disliked OK loathed probably would be a better way to describe my feelings about teaching writing to kindergartners until now. So what has changed??? I discovered the blogging world and some wonderful kindergarten teachers! I am in love love love with the writing units from Deedee Wills and Deanna Jump!  Did I mention I love them!  My kinders are doing sooooooo well with their writing.  It has taken some time to get up and running and some tweaking in my schedule but I think we are finally on the right track. They are sooooo excited to finish our first writing unit and have our first publishing party tomorrow.  What is even better is that they are super excited to start our next unit! Here are some examples of what they have been doing during this first unit.

 This one says "I see a house on fire.  My cousin was in there."  Can I tell you this freaked me out a little!! But when I asked about it he laughed and said "I just made it up!" But don't you love the fire and smoke coming out of the windows and the big black hair!

 This one says "I see the sun go up." Don't you love the arrow pointing up from the sun and the arrow going down from the moon!

This one says "I like to play on the swings down and up." We were talking about making detailed settings, I love the big flower!

 This one was made on the day I finally had to say no more drawing rainbows and writing I see a rainbow.  So this little guy figured out a way around it!  He wrote "I have a rainbow tent."!

This one started by saying "I saw a castle." When I asked her if she could tell me more she wrote "A dragon lives there." I just love the dragon sticking out of the side of the castle!

Hope you enjoyed a peek into our writing unit!  I will try and get some pictures of our publishing party tomorrow.

Common Core Math Freebie!

I know it has been awhile since I blogged anything, I feel like I have been running a race to keep up lately!! But a rainy Saturday here is a great excuse to get caught up on some blogging!

So I will admit I am feeling a little (OK a lot) overwhelmed with the Common Core transition but I am lucky to have a great team that works together to make things easier!  Our district is starting with math, so we are working on developing math activities and curriculum that is aligned to the Common Core.   I am loving all of the new activities we are finding and trying out....but not having a text book makes me a little nervous. Not that I have ever found a text book that I thought was perfect.  What we really need now are good assessments to go along with our activities so I can make sure all my kiddos are "getting it".  I love good data!

We are focusing on numbers 0-10 right now so I thought I would share one of the activities I made for my math centers this week. The students will get 10 two color counters (the ones that are red on one side and yellow on the other).  They will place all 10 in a cup and then shake and spill them onto their table.  They will then fill in the 10 frame with the number of counters that were red and yellow.  They will record their numbers in the boxes underneath.  If you would like a copy of the sheet I am going to use click on the picture below to grab it for free!  Hope you like it!  If you have any great assessments that you use or if you like the freebie I'd love for you to comment!