Alphabet Countdown to Summer

I know I’ve been MIA for over a month, and all I can say is that things around here have been 12 kinds of C-R-A-Z-Y!!!!  I have 9 days left with my kiddos and have barley started end-of-the-year assessments (YIKES!!!)

This year I tried something new with my kindergarteners to make the last 26 days of school a little more fun.  It's called an Alphabet Countdown to Summer.  Here is what’s going on…

Celebration                            Explanation

Awesome Art Day                   Bring 2 toilet paper rolls.  We will be making nature binoculars to take with us on our filed trip to McFarland Park.

Billions of Bubbles Day            Make your own bubble wand at home; bring it to school to see how big of a bubble you can create!

Chow Down Day                        We will have lunch and a movie in the classroom!

Dot Doodles in Denim Day      Wear denim.  We will be creating pictures using only dots.

Extra Recess Day                     We will have extra recess!

Farm Day                                 Dress like a farmer!

Grandmas & Grandpas Day       Students may invite either a Grandma or a Grandpa (or another special guest if a grandparent cannot attend) to join us for some fun in our classroom from 9:00-10:00.

Hello From First Grade Day     We will each receive a letter from a first grader telling us all about first grade!

Investigating Nature Day         Nature Detectives Field Trip at McFarland Park.  (Dress for hiking in the woods!)

Joke Day                                 Write a joke on an index card and bring it to school to read to the class.

Kids Love their Parents Day     Parents (or other special guest) are invited to join us for pastries and juice in our classroom from 8:10-8:40.

Loving Laps Day                       Wear exercise clothes and tennis shoes!  The whole school will be walking the trails for Go the Distance Day.  (May bring water.)

Marvelous Music Day              Get ready to sing and dance to some of our favorite songs!

Nifty Necklace Day                We will make edible necklaces out of cereal.

Only Orange Day                    Wear orange!  We will finger paint orange masterpieces.

Pajamas & Books Day                Wear pajamas!  Someone from Ames Public Library will visit our classroom to talk about the library and the Bookmobile.

Queens & Kings Day                 We will make crowns fit for little queens and kings.

"Red-y" for First Grade Day    Wear red and get ready to sneak into 1st grade for a peak around while they are out… Shhhhhh!

Singing Superhero Day            We will be decorating superhero capes!  We will also be practicing for our music concert, which will be held at 6:30 at the Middle School.

Terrific Teams Day                 Wear your favorite sports clothes or team colors.

Unbelievably Special                We will have recess and a special treat with our buddies.

Buddies Day

Very Great Readers Day       We have becoming unbelievable readers this year!  Bring a bag of books and a flashlight for some fun reading time!

Wacky Water Day                  It's a beach party!  Bring a swimsuit, beach towel & beach toys.  NO SQUIRT GUNS!!!

X-tra Snack Day                      Bring a healthy snack to eat later in the day.

Yippee for Field Day!               We will do lots of fun activities outside for the elementary field day.

Zippity Do Dah…                      We will be enjoying our last day of kindergarten!

it's our last day!

You Know You’re a Kindergarten Teacher When…

Babbling Abby, over at The Inspired Apple (one of the blogs that I can't get enough of) is hosting a “you know you’re a teacher” linky party.  My very first linky… I am SO EXCITED  (hopefully I do it right)!!!!

You Know You’re a Kindergarten Teacher When…

1) You’re asked about the latest book that you’ve read and your response involves a picture book.

2) You know who Betsy is (and also why she’s naughty) and you find yourself constantly humming the song.

3) You are an expert at getting knots out of shoe laces.

4) You think nothing of being called “Mommy” by a student.

5) You have addressed another adult by saying, “Hello, friend!”

6) Your heart is bursting with pride every time you hear one of your little pumpkins read for the first time!

7) You have asked your friends and family to save toilet paper rolls, plastic jars, etc.

8) You are a better phonetic speller than traditional one.

9) You regularly say things like… “please don’t chew on your shirt”, “get a tissue”, “honey, are you eating glue?” and “oops, don’t forget to wash your hands”.

10) You answer with an eager “YES!!” to the question, “Do you Tooty-Ta?”

Bird Is The Word!

A month or so ago my aunt (also a teacher) told me about a website streaming a live feed of two bald eagles sitting on their nest in Decorah, Iowa.  The two eagles take turns sitting on and tending to their three eggs, which are about to hatch any day now.  My students can’t get enough of it and little do they know we are starting our oviparous animals unit next week so the arrival of these little eaglets couldn’t be coming at a better time!

You absolutely MUST check this out ~ it’s amazing!!!  (Fair warning though, it is addicting – once you start watching you won’t want to stop!)

http://www.ustream.tv/decoraheagles

Sight Words Activities (with an Irish twist)

Since next week is Spring Break for us, several of the small group activities I did this week had an Irish (as in St. Patrick’s Day) theme.  During the majority of third quarter our kindergarten interventions dealt with sight words.  Here are some of the activities my kiddos did…

Lucky You Game

I love this one because it can be done alone or with a small group; I generally do it as a small group activity.  Each student has a game card and the sight word cards go in the middle, face down.  When their turn comes students draw a card and read it aloud to their group.  If they are correct they put the card in an open spot on their game card and if not it goes back in the word pile.   

Lucky Word Scramble

I have done this one a few times now, using varying themes.  Students select a word bag and unscramble the letters to make a sight word from the provided list.  Once they have figured out the word they record it on their sheet.

Get the Gold

For this activity, students take an envelope and remove the word card, which has one of the letters missing (I told my kinders that a leprechaun wrote the words and he was being tricky and didn’t want them to figure the words out because he didn’t want them to get his gold.  They got a real kick out of that!)  Students figure out the word and then color in the piece of gold with the same word on it.  Once all the words are colored in, they have gotten the leprechaun’s gold.  This one was a favorite this week, so much so that I made another one for after spring break with a different theme.

I am always looking for new ideas.  What fun activities do you do to help your students learn sight words?

Can You Figure It Out?

What do these four things have in common?

If you guessed the makings of a Pinkalicious costume then you guessed right!  (Kiss Your Brain!!)

Today was Dr. Seuss day at my school and everyone dressed as their favorite book character. It was a blast! And speaking of Pinkalicious, Janine over at Faithful in First (one of the many fabulous blogs that I frequent) is giving away the book Love Pinkalicious. Check it out!!!

http://faithfulinfirst.blogspot.com

Teacher by Day, Stalker by Night

By day I am a kindergarten teacher and by night I am a stalker.  That’s right, over the past few months, after teaching all day I have found myself coming home and sitting on the couch with my laptop reading teacher blogs…for hours.  H-O-U-R-S!!!  It’s like an addiction that I can’t stop.  It’s not even just kindergarten blogs either; it’s the whole K-3 gamut.  So, I suppose it’s not a huge shock that with all the stalking reading I have been doing, I have now caught the blogging bug.  Welcome to my blog!