Holidays Around the World

Whew!!

We have been very busy in my kindergarten classroom. We have visited 11 countries in 2 days, learning about holidays, making crafts, and tasting food. This was a fun unit. I got it off Teachers pay Teachers. It's actually 2 units that I combined to get more countries. I think for next year that I will add more countries. The kids enjoyed it and we were about to do reading, writing, and math within the unit. All while having fun and travelling the world. I made passports and the kids made suitcases out of cereal boxes. Their suitcases were stuffed full by the end of the day today - good thing they were taking them home. Now I am exhausted, and glad that I only have 1 more day until Christmas break. Added to this - lots of testing for the end of the semester. I managed to get all my testing done and the crafts. Woo-hoo!
Here's one link for one of the units: Holidays.. Part II
And the other one:  Holidays... with passport

Here are some of the suitcases.

Maternity Leave!

She's here! Clara Emily Shipman was born October 4 at 4:22 AM. Weighing in at 7 pounds, 10 ounces and 20 1/2 inches long. She is beautiful and her brothers are smitten. I am officially on maternity leave now for 6 weeks. I miss my kinders already though I know they are in good hands with my long term sub. My project for this time off is to create a 4-day unit on Thanksgiving as well as a 5-day unit on Holidays Around the World. I'll be scouring Pinterest and Teachers pay Teachers for ideas - if you have any, send them my way. I only wish I had my lap top as I'm working on projects for my classroom. Had to leave it for the sub. LOL First order though, is making Halloween costumes for my kids. They want to be minions. Should be fun!

Loving Kindergarten

I am loving kindergarten. My kiddos are great and we are having such fun. The reading program we use is Success for All and I love the KinderCorner part of it. It is very engaging and I even get to use puppets! There are challenges in learning a new program, but so far it has gone very well. It's only been 3 weeks but I've sent home 4 books for my students to read to their families and keep. They are so excited that they are able to read these books all by themselves.

Welcome to Kindergarten!

Two days down. Today went much smoother than yesterday. I was more on my game as were the kids. Yesterday I had so many people coming and watching me - my principal, tribal officers, a newspaper person, parents. Much quieter today.

I have been having so much fun these last 2 days. I love Success For All - the new literacy program our district is using. The kindergarten program is fun with lots of activities. Byron did this program last year and I was amazed at how much he learned and grew especially in reading and writing. I'm excited to be able to watch the growth in my students this year.

Any teachers reading this - how is your year going so far?

Ready for Kindergarten!

I've been working hard in my empty classroom to fill it with lots of activity learning labs. I'm still waiting on furniture that has been ordered, but I'm making do. I'm super excited for the new reading program we are using, Success For All. The KinderCorner part is so fun and it really helps kids be able to read. I have one more day, Tuesday, to work on my classroom. Then I'll try and post some pics. Training on Monday, in my room on Tuesday, then school starts on Wednesday!

What a summer! Swimming lessons, soccer camp, moving, hanging with the kids, setting up house in our new house. I report back to school on the 14th - how time has flown. I still need to move my classroom stuff to my new classroom and set up. I've been assigned to be the kindergarten teacher in Towaoc ("toy-oc"), which is the town on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation. This is a "guinea pig" position as it's a trial year. There hasn't been a teacher on the reservation since 1963 and the district wants to bring school back to the tribal kids who are being bussed up to Cortez. So they are trying out a small kindergarten (it will be capped at 16 students) and they want me to be the teacher. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I've been thinking and getting my mind ready for kindergarten. It will be lots of fun!

Mathematician Definition

This year I created a math vocabulary game that my students really enjoyed playing. This became one of their favorite games. It helped them to know and practice the vocabulary required in math. So much of testing uses these words, and if kids don't remember what they mean, they could get very lost. I made a board game and cards. Every time a player lands on a space, they need to choose a card and tell what the word means. The other players look up the word to check. If the player gets it right he/she gets to stay; if not, he/she has to move back a space.

Anyway you can get it from my Teachers pay Teachers store here

While there, check out my other products - I have some free stuff on there.

Another teacher renamed this Mathematician Definition.