The Great Kindness Challenge- Week Highlights

My school participated in The Great Kindness Challenge last week.  We had a week full of school wide kindness activities and of course each classroom is doing kindness focused lessons, also.  Here are some of the highlights of the week in my classroom.

Each day of Kindness Week had a theme, think dress-up days. Kinder teachers are made for dress-up days!  Monday started off the week with "team spirit" day where we were encouraged to wear sports or dance team clothes.  Considering that I have to borrow a shirt for every sports team spirit day I decided to re-work the 'team' in team spirit.  I give you, KINDergarten Team, complete with our names on the back... in glitter (nothing is really 'complete' in Kindergarten until you add the glitter!)

One of my favorite whole school activities was the door decorating "contest" (everyone won in the end).  We had a great time decorating our door and even more fun going on a tour around the school to check out the other doors. My door was already covered in snowflakes and will need to be redecorated for Valentine's day and the 100th day so I went for the minimalist approach.  We also expanded our door decorations to include a portion of the wall (part of my master plan to be able to decorate for the 100th day and not have to be, "that person" who took down the Kindness Week decor the day after). Our "Flurry of Kindness" was made by asking students to pick the one word that was the most important in their idea of "how to be kind."  Once a word was selected, the word was written by an adult in Sharpie and then written (and written, and written) by the Kinder using rainbow writing.

We even made the local paper with our all school heart photo! It's "KIND" of awesome.

Check out my original Great Kindness Challenge post for more information/ideas.

Keep up the kindness!

Valentine Love!

Are you ready for the love-fest that will be invading Kinder classrooms everywhere starting tomorrow?  

I always get some kick out of how Kinders turn the holiday that happens during a month into something that begins on the first day of that month.  We all know the moment that the "October" calendar title gets placed on the classroom calendar there are cheers of, "Halloween!"  We go through the same process in December (oh man- December), and February brings us to "I got Trolls valentines!" "My mommy said I can get Shopkins cards!" Today brought a special moment where one of my students informed everyone that she would be wearing special leggings for Valentine's day and that people should touch them because they will be really soft. (Teachable moment of the morning- reminders about keeping hands to ourselves even if we want to touch someone's clothes.)

This year I had a chance to try out three sets of Valentines from my favorite game company, Peaceable Kingdom. (If you don't own a Peaceable Kingdom game yet- get one! You won't regret it.)  These cards are really fun- one set is even scented! (Flashback to your own childhood memories of scratch and sniff stickers and of course, getting dots on your nose from smelling a scented marker a little too close).

I've ranked the three sets I tried for cuteness factor and how user friendly they are for my Kinders. All three of these packs are adorable and well constructed. I tested out writing on the "To" and "From" lines on each of these cards and I was able to write on the Valentine with a pencil- no permanent marker required here! You'll be happy with any of these!

The frog bookmarks are sturdy enough to survive being tossed between the pages of an early reader chapter book (or even a not-so-early reader chapter book.)

Each bookmark pops out of a rectangular card which fits neatly inside the enclosed white envelope.  The envelopes have enough adhesive to actually stick (envelopes that don't stick are one of my teacher peeves.)

Next up I'm putting the Tic Tac Toe Valentine.  This Valentine has a fun bonus- you get to pop off the X's and O's and play the game.  The game pieces are made of paper and can be reused for multiple rounds- best game of three, perhaps? 

The kit comes with envelopes and stickers.  My plan was to use the stickers on the envelope (even though the envelopes are sticky enough to stick shut) so that the envelope is reusable.  I love the idea of playing the game, don't so much love the idea of finding little X and O game pieces everywhere- easy fix if you use the envelope to hold the pieces!

Okay- I am partial to a pencil "gift" for my students.  These scratch and sniff pencil toppers have a sweet grape or strawberry scent to them (even though I was nervous about smelling the skunk- don't worry, all good!)  The holes in these cards made for easy assembly.  The only thing to know about these is that while the box seems large enough to have pencils included, it does not.



You can get any of these Valentines here!

What ever way you celebrate with all your little Valentines, I wish you a month full of love! All holidays are month long after all, remember?

The Great Kindness Challenge

This week I won't be teaching Kindergarten.  This week I'll be teaching KINDergarten.

January 23-27, 2017 my school will be participating in The Great Kindness Challenge. Check out the event website- it's loaded with activities and resources!  Each day this week has a different kindness theme, complete with wardrobe options to match (we all know Kinder teachers are great at dressing up- it's basically an unofficial requirement for this grade level).

I was a fan when I heard of the idea of a week devoted to Kindness.  After checking into the program I discovered that one of the bigger sponsors is Peaceable Kingdom.  Peaceable Kingdom is my favorite company for the cooperative games.  Check them out here!  The games are age appropriate and entertaining.  The games are also made from recycled materials and parts are replaceable (just call the company- they are super helpful and 'get' the mystery of where game pieces disappear to within classroom walls.)  I reviewed the company a few years ago, I still think they're fabulous!

I don't have too many exact plans worked out, yet (the inspiration moments that happen in the shower or on the way to school haven't hit yet).  Here are the two ideas I have plotted out on my particularly blank plan book for next week.

• One of my lessons is going to be to make a Kindness Quilt (out of paper).  We'll be reading the book The Kindness Quilt and making our own quilt as a class. When I was in Kindergarten my teacher had an annual family project where each Kinder's family decorated a fabric square which was sewn into an actual quilt.  I have always wanted to bring that project back and feel that this paper quilt may eventually become my version.  For now, this is an in-school project.  

• We're also participating in a door decorating contest (school wide) where our classroom door will be transformed from sparkly snowflakes to a, "flurry of kindness."  (Taking down all of the snowflakes to put them back up in a week just isn't a good use of any of my prep blocks- this would be an example of 'working with what you've got').

So what will you be teaching?  Ready for the challenge to teach KINDergarten? You've got this!

MLK Day Projects

Part of my MLK Day mini-unit includes one of my favorite projects of the year.  

I've always been a fan of the Curious George movie soundtrack- it went from the stack of nap time CDs in my 3 year old classroom, to being a regular supplier of background music for the end of Kindergarten slide show.  If you don't own it- add it to your teacher collection, ASAP!



The track that I use for this project is, "My Own Two Hands."

How often do we have to reassure our Kinders that they can do things? They live in a world where they are frequently the smallest, where adults often complete tasks for them, and where things take practice and perseverance to accomplish with independence. Yet, from 8:35am - 3:00pm there are these teachers (that's us, of course) who help them each discover the many things they can do!

Here's the break down of what I do for this project:
1. Begin by reviewing the important characteristics about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Talk about some of the changes that happened because of what he dreamed.

2. Have students turn and talk about what they could do to keep MLK's dream happening. (Be kind to a friend in the class, play with someone who is alone, help someone tie a shoe).  Try to have students be specific when they say, "be kind" ask one way they could be kind.

3. Each student picks one idea that they talked about.

4. Provide students with a large piece of white paper.  You will need to write the sentence stem, "I can _________ with my own two hands." Read the sentence stem to students and model where the words go.  I do not model adult spelling, I use the same strategies I have my students use and have them 'help' me spell my words.

5. You will need to do the hand tracing for this project to work.  While students wait for you to trace their hands they can write their words.  I trace both hands with thumbs together.

6. I explain to my students that they need to sketch and color inside of the hands.  When these are hanging on a hallway bulletin board it makes a nice visual to see all of these hands amid the white of the larger paper. (It really is OK to leave a paper without coloring in every inch of it as blue sky!)

Alternative version this year!

After completing the "My Two Hands" project with my Kinders we worked on a combined effort with our 4th grade buddies.  This time we had students trace and cut their hands out of construction paper.  Students worked together to complete this paper, focusing on what they could do together. 

These projects came out so nicely we decided to share them at our all school meeting. Who doesn't love big and little buddy sweet projects?!

Remember, you, too can do many things with your own two (teacher) hands!

New Year, New Blog

New year, new blog... well, kind of new.  Taking on an old blog and making it new again is more like it. This teacher's New Year's (blogging) Resolution is to create a resource for other Early Childhood Educators to be able to find monthly home and school projects. Got to put all of those face-less, name-less, work photographs to good use!

Speaking of New Year's Resolutions...
In January, my student's work on planning a New Year's Resolution at school and finalize their choice at home for the January home project.  We connect New Year's Resolutions to our Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr study by focusing on making goals and planning ways to make those goals happen.

How exactly do you teach Kinders to make a realistic goal?

• I start this project by reading Squirrel's New Year's Resolution.  We 'stop and talk' after almost every page quickly asking if Squirrel had figured out a New Year's Resolution yet.  

• After the read aloud explain to students how New Year's Resolutions help people be kinder, more helpful, and/or get better at something.  Have your students turn and talk about things they want to learn/do this year and have a few students share out ideas when they turn back.  

• Show students the following paper (this link is being fixed).  Students should each pick two goals. I use two versions of this paper to allow differentiation between my students.  The idea is that students each brainstorm two goals which they will take home and select from with their families.

• The family home project connection for this project is using this paper.  Students work with their family to pick one of the two goals from their brainstorm.  Families should talk about how their Kinder can accomplish their goal and how their family can support them.

When family home projects return to school (I always leave a week for families to work on these projects) students take turns sharing what they worked on.  Sharing family home projects allows students an opportunity to connect family work with school work.  I also feel that by being clear with the families that the projects get shared, more families work on completing these projects.

Happy Resolution Planning!

Bring on the Kinders! Day 2 2013

With day 1 accounted for I was ready for day 2!  Here's some basic information/ ideas from Ms C's attempt on day 2, which was also approached armed with the name tags, a pile of books and invisible bag of teacher tricks.

Day 2

Schedule "routine" items for day 2:
Playground rules, quiet sign, attention getter ("bump-ba-da-bump-bump" is the only one I use), clean up bell, fire drill, morning meeting, and jobs.  I also had to re-teach how to use the sink and the process for washing hands before snack.  Day 3 may include another round of this- I really want to get the sink routine under control before I spend the entire year cleaning up puddles and running out of paper towels.


Activites for day 2:
After reading Wemberly Worried we talked about things we worry about in Kindergarten.  Students drew a picture of his/her Kindergarten worry, again with the option to write words if they were ready.  Here's a link if you're interested: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By1GkRIpToipY0EtNG5mclFySk0/edit?usp=sharing

The second must-do for Day 2 was the start of a project using the Kissing Hand.  This project will take a few days.  Before working on this project students explored scissors.  We talked about how to safely use scissors and then students were asked to cut a piece of paper into strips.  This is a great way to quickly tell who has used scissors before and who will need hand-over-hand support for a while.  The first part of the Kissing Hand project was to cut out a tracing of his/her hand (I did the tracing).

One other teacher must-do is to take the class outside for photos on the playground.  I love the colors of the playground!  Make sure that you take your class outside when no other class is using the playground.  I have my class sit in the shade so that each picture is of only the child and some of the playground.  I do this again at the end of the year (for the slide show).  The beginning of the year photos are used in the Art Gallery, hanging next to each child's self portrait spot all year. 

Books for day 2: 

Day 2 "things to send home": 
The only items I sent home at the end of Day 2 were from the school.   


Good luck everyone!

 

Bring on the Kinders! First Day 2013

Ok- #1 Blogger slacker here.  I have lots of Kinder D5 items to post at some point.  For now, I want to share some first day items.

Day 1

Armed with name tags, a pile of first day of Kindergarten books, and of course my teacher "bag of tricks" (the invisible one), I started off my year with 17 new friends (#18 hasn't arrived yet).

Schedule "routine" items for day 1:
Supply sorting, cubby routines (lunchbox on top, backpack on the hook), bathroom "how to," School Listening Look, School Walking Style, cafeteria rules, school tour, classroom tour, preview of Choice Time (teacher selected choice), quiet time with books, and lots of extra time for dismissal!  I saved a few items for day 2: Playground rules, quiet sign, attention getter ("bump-ba-da-bump-bump" is the only one I use), clean up bell, fire drill, morning meeting, and jobs.

Activites for day 1:
Every year I create a book of self portraits that each student draws, monthly.  The first entry in each book is a drawing from the first day of Kindergarten (the last page is for the last day of Kindergarten).  Before students complete this activity we explore the crayons.  We look at the crayons and talk about what we do and don't do with them.  There is a space on the portrait page for writing- this is not an expectation but I want to provide an opportunity for students who are ready to write or at least ready to try.  My first day portrait paper: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0By1GkRIpToipQ2lsZnBQUlJBWXM/edit?usp=sharing

Books for day 1:

Day 1 "things to send home":
I send home a first day letter to the parents letting them know of some classroom policies and procedures that I need to share prior to Back to School Night (in late September).  Mainly, I let them know about my birthday policy.  I ask that families do not send in gift bags and that if they would like to send something in they can send in something for classroom, preferably a book.   As far as "celebrating" birthdays, I ask that parents send in a special book (they are also welcome to come in and read the book).  Attached to the letter is a copy of the supply list/ wish list, a dismissal log, and an allergy alert (from the nurse).  I also send home a small home project, a "me bag."  Each student is asked to bring in 3-4 small items in the bag to share the following week.  Lastly, a small postcard from me, saying some of the things we did on our first day.

I had a great, exhausting day with my new batch of Kinders and I hope everyone else did, too!


Happy School Year!

Donor's Choose Walkthrough

This school year has been a new adventure in my career.  New school, new grade, new programs- eek!  I went on a massive supply hunt over the summer to get myself and my classroom ready.  I explored Craigslist, Savers and other thrift stores, Freecycle (if you don't know what that is get on Google now!), and a few donation sites (Adopt-A-Classroom and Donors Choose). 

I put a project up on Donors Choose to help get leveled readers for Daily 5.  Here's what I learned from the experience:

You start of with a certain number of points.  Projects cost different amounts depending on the type of project you are submitting (supplies, author visit, trip).  If you are putting up a supply project, the point cost depends on where you are getting the supplies, more points for using a vendor not in the "mall." 

Once submitted, Donor's Choose will approve (or not) your project.  It will not post instantly.

If this is your first project you will get a special code for friends and family to get donations doubled up to $50.  Unfortunately, you can not donate to your own project.    The code is only good for about a week so post it everywhere!

It is important that you quickly post on your project wall thanking each donor.  This is used to determine how many points you earn toward your next project.

Any donations over $50 will require a personal thank you card from your class.

When your project is funded Donor's Choose will send the items to your school.  These items technically belong to your school now.  There is a notice on the DC website explaining this policy.

You will be required to upload 6 photos of your students using the materials.  There is a release form on the DC website.  My recommendation is to get these release forms out to parents while you are still waiting for funding. The form says something about the teacher either having a funded project or working on a project, so it shouldn't confuse the parents if you start early (although, we all know that this will happen anyway). 

Using Donor's Choose was fairly easy to do.  I was able to get a few sets of books for my Just Right Daily 5 baskets.  The part that I didn't like was how much DC added on for their costs.  However, considering that there were a few donations from strangers it balanced out.

Here's the link to my project (it was funded in about a week!):
http://www.donorschoose.org/project/building-a-classroom-library-to-build-a/874092/

Good luck!

Seuss here, Seuss there. Seuss EVERYWHERE!

This week, one of the things my class of Kinders learned was that, Ms. C loves Seuss books!  We did not stop our Seuss fun with Read Across America Day.  Rather, that was part of our kick off.  Here is a little of how we celebrated Seuss.  (Still working on remembering to take more photos, you may have to use a little imagination.)

My favorite Seuss book of all is Hooray for Diffendoofer Day.  This book was written by Dr. Seuss, Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith.  I emphasize to every class I read this to, that Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith helped write this book by using Dr. Seuss's notes and thinking like Dr. Seuss.  Doing this sets the stage to have your students work like Dr. Seuss as Jack Prelutsky and Lane Smith did. 

My students illustrated a teacher that they think could teach at Diffendoofer School.  Lane Smith and Jack Prelutsky had to create additional teachers (who teach silly things like smelling and laughing) to fill in Dr. Seuss's notes.  After students illustrated his/her teacher, they named the teacher and what that teacher teaches.  Of course, in true Seuss style, the subjects and teacher names rhymed!

How do you celebrate Seuss without a little science experiment?  Seuss and science?  It's true- it's not the first connection people usually make.  Until you remember about a little boy named Bartholomew Cubbins from the Kingdom of Didd, where Oobleck rained from the sky.  First, I showed my class the process of how to use water and an eye dropper to slowly add water to the cornstarch.  We determined that a small plastic spoon (from the cafeteria) full of cornstarch took 5 eye droppers full of water to make Oobleck.  Students each mixed a cup of Oobleck and were given time to play with the substance.  I really wish I had photos of what the tables (and let's be honest, the floor) looked like afterward!  Since the Oobleck in this story resembles more of a green silly putty we made silly putty later in the week.  Students used the ball of silly putty to make letters during Word Work (Seuss inspired Daily 5).

We used There's a Wocket in my Pocket for non-sense rhyming.  The first part of this project was to create a creature who rhymed with 'pocket.'  Students were given a half sheet of paper for this.  After coloring the creature students cut out the creatures.  They were given the direction that it was OK to cut around small parts (we have been working a lot to cut right on the lines).  Completed creatures were traded for a pocket on which they completed the sentence: "There's a __________ in _____________'s pocket."  Student glued pockets on three sides, leaving the top open.  Students then decorated the paper where the pocket was attached.  Later, I taped string to the back of the creature and then inside the pocket.  The  projects were displayed with the creatures peeking out of the pockets.  

As for The Cat in the Hat, we took on two projects.  First, we made hats by using cut outs of the cat's hat and attaching it to a band of red construction paper.  Students used a red crayon to create a red and white AB pattern on the hats.  Simple and Kinder-cute!

Our second project was for math.  Students were provided with a blank hat cutout (which they cut out), two different colors of paper (which they selected), and a form for writing an addition equation.  Students cut strips from the two colors of paper and arranged an AB pattern on the hat.  Students then counted the number for each color and put the number in each of the boxes, writing the total in the last box.  To help associate the numbers with their work, students outlined the boxes in the coordinating color. 

We also used our buddy time last week to read Seuss books.  Our big buddies were great sports tackling all those rhymes!

We did so much Seuss that I may have missed an activity or two!  I hope some of these ideas are useful for someone.  

 

Happy Seuss'ing!

DIY Truffula Trees! (Dr. Seuss's The Lorax)

Appropriately enough, my last post was about New Year's resolutions of which I am realizing I never actually made (for myself).  Here's my Spring time resolution: remember to take photos and post more often. Here's the first step to accomplishing that goal!

I recently helped host a Dr Seuss themed party.  As center pieces for the party I had this idea to make Truffula trees and place them in bottle 'vases.'  Personally, I think it turned out pretty cute.  Here's what I did (sort of step by step... that whole taking photos as I go thing is a work in progress).

Ok, so I will be honest about the fluffy top material- it's about $5 for 6 feet. When you are doing just a few and you want multiple colors you're going to end up with some left overs.  If you are a cost-aware teacher (I love my bargins) you might want to make a whole bunch of trees, or at least go to the store with one of those 40% off coupons AC Moore and Michael's always has out.



Materials:

• Dowels (I used 1/2" thick, 3ft dowels)
• White paint (small bottle of 'craft' paint)
• 1 inch foam brush
• Glue gun and glue sticks 
• Something to cut your dowels (I used a little saw and cutting box made for dowels)
• Marabou Boa medium weight 
• Black marker (Sad to say, my trusty Sharpies failed on this one.  Mr. Sketch worked perfectly though!)
• Some sort of working surface you can dispose of (I used a large poster board), the feathers will get messy!

Step 1: Cut the dowels to 18".
Step 2: Paint the dowels with two coats of white paint.  The stems need to be bright white.
Step 3: (When the paint is dry) Use a black marker and make zig-zag esk rings randomly around the stem.
Step 4: Cut the Marabou boa into 8 inch sections.  Glue one end of the piece to the top of the stem.  Twist and wrap the piece around the stem and attach with dots of hot glue to make it stick but remain 'fluffy.'

 Step 5: Repeat with other colors until you're work space looks a little like Big Bird and friends may have exploded and you have something like this:

I used my Truffula trees for a party so they were added to these vases and Seuss-esk ribbon was added around. To finish off the tables, Seuss books were added next to each vase.  My trees are currently sitting in a tall, shiny metal 'vase' (bucket) in my classroom, appropriately being 'recycled.'

And just think, this is pretty close to planting that last Truffula seed!

I am Ms. C and I speak for the crafters of these trees! (Hopefully you're picking up on the Lorax spin-off quote).

New Year's Resolutions

It took 2 days and some small group work but by the end of the day today I was holding 17 completed New Year's resolution goal setting organizers.  Tomorrow, the plan is to send home this sheet as home work.  The idea is that the parents will talk to their children about why they chose the resolution that they chose and help their child think of ways to reach that goal.  Crossing my fingers that at least half of these resolutions come back on the due date assigned.

The only thing different about this PDF and what I am handing out is that I am handwriting on "My resolution is" onto the top line to help the parents see how to use the lines.

PDF link: https://docs.google.com/open?id=0By1GkRIpToipN0dPQjJUOTI3czQ

I hope this is useful for someone! 

Happy New Year!

New Year's Resolutions, Kinder-style!

Happy New Year!  Today my Kinders worked on the first part of a project to create New Year's resolutions.  I really wanted to do this as my January home project but I was concerned about there being too many variables to this project for homework.  I am still pretty set on wanting the writing of each resolution to be a home project so I took the process apart. 

First, I read Squirrel's New Year's Resolution.  Squirrel has a hard time making a New Year's resolution but helps her friends throughout the day.  The focus of the book was that a New Year's Resolution is something that makes you a better person or helps you help other people.

I found an idea on http://littlemissglamourgoestokindergarten.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/new-years-resolutions.html to have each student break down what they can do, almost can do and want to do before creating a resolution.  I felt that my Kinders needed a little more space to work with.  I also added an area for an illustration and removed the resolution writing piece.  With these elements in mind I created this paper (for the best effect you'll need to print on 8.5" x 14" paper.) https://docs.google.com/open?id=0By1GkRIpToipT1AyTHBQajI4dmM

Once I create the form for the New Year's Resolution writing I'll upload those as well. 

Here's to a new year full of special moments with special little people!