Five for.... oh well, *sigh* it's five things from our week

I never seem to make the Five for Friday post on Fridays. *sigh* But I am not giving up! I will post even though Saturday will be over soon! I love the idea of Five for Friday. Five random things from the day or the week using pictures and a short description. Thanks Kacey for hosting every week! Now head over to Doodle Bug's Teaching and read about everyone's week!

1.  Math centers. It's a little time consuming to set up and teach expectations for these, but they are so good for the kids! They learn social skills, hone their math skills, and learn collaboration/cooperation skills.

Stop, Gumdrop and Roll! A 2 person game using simple addition and dice. This game came from Miss Kindergarten's December Math Centers. I have the same game called Cocoa Cover Up from Miss Kindergarten Love.

This game is called Catch Me If You Can and is from Miss Kindergarten's December Math Centers for Kindergarten.

Cocoa Cover Up!

2. Build the number. I chose one card with a number on it and placed it on each table. The table had to build the number any way they wanted. If they didn't want to use manipulatives, they could have drawn a picture. Everyone chose to use a mixture of base ten blocks and single count unifix cubes. Two tables worked together and at two tables each student worked independently to build the number. Then they counted it for me and made sure it matched the number on the card.

3. We worked on writing skills in a reading group! They built the sentence using the individual words. When they wrote them, they made sure that: They used uppercase/capital letter where appropriate, put appropriate punctuation in, and used their best handwriting formation according to our Fundations program! Then they illustrated the sentence!

4. Writing Center update! I sorted through all the writing center supplies and organized them Friday after school.

New cards for writing notes to people we love!

Different kinds of paper.... 1/2 sheets to fold into cards, postcard sized paper, and left over paper strips from our Thanksgiving turkeys.

Major organization storage here! Die cuts, small colorful papers, things to cut out, stickers galore and sentence strips with words on them (for instance, I have the word From on one sheet).

Should be fun!

So what do you put in your writing center? Is it more guided? Or is it more student choice?

Last, but certainly not least. I posted a donorschoose project this week. I have started several before, but never finished writing them and so this is my first project to post. Please help support my class! Check out my donorschoose project here!

If you would be interested in donating to our project, there is a code to use until the end of the day on the 25th! If you use the code LIFTOFF then donorschoose will match the amount up to $100!! Please help my students gain more valuable skills by having iPads available in our classroom!

Our week in review....

In our small group reading group we read An Orange in January. We made connections to the story. We talked about our favorite fruit. Then we shared a juicy orange.

 Sixth grade reading buddies! Mrs. Goertzen's sixth grade class came and read with us! First we read our early readers to them, then they read books to us! We are planning to make this a regular event!

Cool Beans! If you have missed it, here's the story about Cool Beans! It is our whole class reward system for behavior that is on track or above and beyond expectations! This is a hard-working bunch of students and they earn rewards very quickly! Because it is so important in Kindergarten to learn about ways to organize numbers and learn number sense, I put ten frames around our beans over the winter break. Students did a fine job knowing when we had a row of 5 before, but it is organized in a way that makes sense and should help them count even faster now.

Once they get 20 "big beans" they earn a whole class party. As I "catch" little behaviors in the room I might give them a small bean in a little can. The goal is to get 20 pinto beans moved from one can to the other. Once this happens, we get a whole class bean, or a "big bean." Another way to earn big beans is fill their individual behavior sticker charts.  Compliments for our class from other teachers is a one of our favorite ways to get a bean for our whole class reward. When they earn a whole class party, we take several suggestions and then we vote on the one we like the most. This time they voted for a whole class fluffy friend day. They did a great job!

Introducing her fluffy friend names Peach.

Introducing his fluffy friend named DarthVader.

 We are working really hard to bring in more technology! There are some obstacles to overcome, like long tedious passwords for computers. But we are getting some tech time to happen! We have the privilege of having an Osmo system now (Thank you usd 308, it is super cool!!!) for iPad. So.... the Osmo was in rotation on Friday, and we had computer rotations! For fun Friday students could choose math or reading games, but what activities they are allowed to choose usually goes with whatever rotation time we are in.... during reading rotations, they can play reading/phonics games, during math rotations, they can play math games. 

Mr. Galindo comes in our room to assist us. Here he is making sure this learner gets to the right place!

 We have been reading about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the ways he made our country a better place. We were somber when we realized that we would not be allowed to go to school with many of our friends at one time in our history.

I love this photo for so many reasons! This lovely little learner is working diligently! I love, love, love that she "gets it" about how much glue to use! :)

That is a peak at our week. So much more happened that I did not capture! We have been working on sight words, or know-by-heart words! Our phonics program calls them "trick words" because so many of them are not words that can be phonetically sounded out. There is no color song for gray, but your child knows how to spell their color words thanks to the color word songs. They also know many of their number words and we've introduced a LOT of trick words already. This week our early readers focused on the sight words: I, am, a, the, little.  Most students soared through these because they knew these sight words already. I have to give a big, big thanks to parents, grandparents and older siblings for helping these kids practice sight word flashcards! Thank you so much!!

If you go to youtube you will find a plethora of color word songs, just like the this one. I woke up with this song in my head this morning.

January Currently with one little word

So here it is.... new month, new year. I usually get nostalgic and reflect on the previous year. But for whatever reason I have absolutely no interest in that this year. I am not sure why because life is really good today and little reflecting would only solidify that in my mind. But it is time to link up with Farley for Currently, a linky that I enjoy. I enjoy posting and reading. and reading. and reading. I identify with all the other teachers out there giving a quick glimpse into their life via this blog link up. 

Silence is golden, is it not? Even the dogs have gotten lazy and sleep in these days! Oh what a rude awakening awaits us all on Monday!

I have loved making goodies, present preparation, sewing, crafting, playing games, hanging out with my family (loved that special time with my Dad yesterday), cooking, time with my kiddos.... and today I am going to see some dear friends. Excited? Absolutely.

My mind has hit the frenzied mark for getting ready for January in Kindergarten. There are centers to print, cut, laminate and prepare! There are groups to evaluate and move and change and revamp. Seating to change.... you know, the list goes on!

Wanting.... to add more blankets for comfort, whether at rest time or whenever, pillows, stuffed animals and other comforting touches to make our classroom the best/homiest place it can be.

Needing.... a different kind of financial reality to make it all happen.

One little word: momentum. Okay, momentum can be good or bad. It's my one word because right now I have a positive momentum going in my life and I know that I am the one in charge of whether or not it stays this way. I know that when I focus on the good things in life, the good increases. I also know that it might this simple, but it's not always easy. I might have to do some work.... emotionally, mentally, intellectually. I want to increase the good stuff and keep building the momentum of becoming an excellent teacher and a decent human being. It's a lofty goal, but not so unrealistic as some years. What is your one little word for 2016?

Gratitude

Thanks Michelle for this linky! I love this!

My friend Michelle at BTL (Big Time Literacy) is hosting a gratitude linky. What am I grateful for? Oh where to begin....

1. I am so grateful for my job this year. It is 1000 times more of my teaching dream that what I did last year. Don't get me wrong, I was grateful that I had a job and I totally believe in project-based learning, but having a team of teachers and admin who stand behind me and support me makes me want to be the best that I can be.  And let's face it.... I LOVE Kindergarten!!!

2. I am grateful for..... gratitude. Sound corny? Of course it does. But practicing gratitude gives me the ability to change my life in immeasurable ways. Did you know that practicing gratitude makes you happy? content? and more able to learn? Truth.

I am not one of those people who naturally sees the good in life and always sees the bright side.  But guess what? After years of practice, I am starting to become one of those people? Last week, we hit a deer. Our van is toast. But here's what I'm grateful for: if Mr. Buck would have hit our car a little more centered we probably would not have been able to drive off and get to work on time, and the chances that he would have come through the windshield and the thought 1000 lbs. of buck coming at our faces.... well, freaks me out. I'm also grateful that I did not sell the car. I have had offers. I kept it because you never know when you'll need a 2nd vehicle. lol. Now I have a car to drive. I don't love it. Because I love, love, love my van. But.... I am so grateful for these things. Also.... near death experiences (real or imagined) really up a person's gratitude for the things that matter, like the kid that was sitting by me in the car.

3. I am grateful for my checkered past. I makes me a better teacher and a more compassionate person who cares about not only my students, but their families as well. I could expound on this to great length but I will just say, I am so grateful for the families and kids I teach and that I don't have to adopt the attitude that so many teachers (in my past anyway) have adopted: teacher vs. parents/families. "Their Mom/Dad/grandma (insert family member name) doesn't care whether their child learns to read or not because they don't sign their reading log every night!" Etc. I don't have to buy that. And I'm grateful for that. I'm so glad my families love their kiddos, and if they can't meet my expectations every night and practice reading skills, I know it is because they have life stuff going on, because I've been in their shoes (like yesterday, or last week).

4. I'm grateful for new/old ways to relieve stress. Like coloring. Adult coloring is making a comeback in the world today and did you know that coloring relieves stress? Duh. Here's a free turkey I found and downloaded. Okay, I lied. I can't find WHERE I downloaded and it is bad form to just provide the download without the credit, so I am just putting in a link to my search results, which were awesome!

Getting ready to color with The Punky-girl! 

Okay, I just found this and had to add it.... Look HERE for Christmas coloring papers!

5. I would be remiss if I failed to give thanks for my home. I am grateful for my H4H house and the warmth and laughter it provides us. My house payment is REASONABLE and makes it so I could afford to a) go back to school to become a teacher and live off those student loans when I needed to, and b) to drive to my job and still pay my house payment, and c) live in a nicer, newer house than I ever could have dreamed possible! Love, love, love our home.  Thank you God and McPherson Area Habitat For Humanity.

There is so much more to be thankful for: good friends (I have had low-quality friends and high quality friends, I know the difference today), a good cup of coffee, my pets who love me when no one else does, electricity and running water, clothes that fit and shoes that keep my feet warm. If you focus on gratitude, it changes your heart. The truth is, WHATEVER you focus on increases. So I leave you with this quote: "I must keep my magic magnifying mind on my acceptance and off my expectations, for my serenity is directly proportional to my level of acceptance. When I remember this, I can see I've never had it so good."

A Peak at Our Week

I didn't get posted in Five for Friday. At all. But I haven't blogged for awhile! So I thought I better catch everyone up! Here are some highlights from our week.

 1. We celebrated our Cool Beans behavior chart getting filled! $.97 package of balloons and ten minutes of balloons and music (they wanted some 50's music). You would have thought they were in heaven! They had SO. MUCH. FUN! It was delightful to watch them.

2. This note from Tom Turkey went home on Monday. I have looked and looked to see who I got it from and here it is! I found it! I got the editable letter from: Hide Tom Turkey by Teacher's Take Out on Teacher's pay Teachers.

When I got the copies back from the copy center, I also got a Mike Wazowski from Monsters Inc. too! (Thanks Jane for playing along with us!)

Our first returned student project: Batman. Who is NOT a turkey! 

3. Addition Bingo! It was fun to watch their minds work! The card gave them an addition problem, but the Bingo sheet only had numbers on it! Some students used white boards, some used connecting cubes, some used their bingo counters. But everyone was working hard to join the numbers!

Here are a couple samples!

Dry erase boards work well

4.  Teacher Love!

 

I got this from a student one day. I ask her what it is for. I am thinking maybe milk money or lunch or books, who knows. She says to me, "It's for you. To pay you to keep being my teacher. You are the best teacher ever!" Aw. I totally wanted to keep and frame this crumpled up dollar, but I gave it back to her and tried to explain that I can't take her money. 

One the same day I then got this picture! I love you too little learner! I love them all! We've been focused on more hugs this week. There have been a few hard times in our room this week and hugs go a LONG way to righting the wrongs.

5.  We read the book "Thankful" that finally came in our Scholastic Book Order. (Yay for Scholastic Books)! We have already learned the sight words: "I" "am" and "for". I put the word thankful on the board. Students were supposed to use their resources (they have been practicing spelling these sight words for a while now, as well as being on the word wall bulletin board) to write "I am thankful for..." and then finish the sentence by writing the sounds they hear when they say the word they want to use. Many students said they were thankful for family, Mom or Dad.

I am thankful for rainbows.

6. Some classroom needs. We need snacks. I love my kiddos, but it hurts my heart when I am telling my daughter to put things back in Walmart because we have to "be very careful with our money" and she watches me purchase classroom snacks. I feel like I am sending a message to my child that my students are more important than she is.  If you are a teacher, you know what I'm talking about, because it may not be snacks, but this has happened to all of us at some point.

1 box = 2 days snack. 4-5 boxes = 2 weeks.

1 box (family size)= 4-5 days

1 box = 2 days

This is what we serve snack in. A package of 200 lasts about a month.

Super-size bag = 3 weeks! Whoot! This is the best value by far!

I hate to be a beggar. But my Kinders still need a snack and my paycheck needs to start being used to take of my own family first, and students next. Not the other way around.