Throw Back Thursday Blog-A Favorite Author!

Throw Back Thursday Blog
We all have favorite authors, when I was in 2nd and 3rd grade I fell in love with the books by Lois Lenski.  She wrote a collection of regional novels of children across the United States.  When my elementary school consolidated with a larger school it sold out the library. The first books I looked for were the Lois Lenski books.

I'm  pretty sure I learned about different parts of the country because of the books and the lives the children lived!

I think one of my favorite books was Judy's Journey.  It was about a migrant family always looking for steady work.

Did you read the books by the author Lois Lenski?

Tell me what you think.

Math

I always thought math was hard when I was in school. I was not confident and always struggled.  In fact I couldn't spell the word "arithmetic" without learning an acronym,

A Rat in the House Might Eat the Ice Cream !!

It really has nothing to do with math, but it was everything to do with how I felt.

       
As a teacher I never wanted the kiddos I taught feel the same way I did about math.  I wanted them to learn, but in a way that it would be in a  game, manipulative, or free play.  I also wanted the kiddos to be able to learn many different ways to get the objective taught.  I taught math throughout the day, but in short time frames, as I said before...games, manipulates, free play, class games, and pencil, paper and scissors.  I had a college professor who opened my eyes even more to the use of manipulatives and hands on experiences. He  also stressed the drawing when working out story problems. 
I think about this every time I set up an activity. 
Working with partners or buddies is also another way to help children enjoy math.   

One of the ways I can work with the kiddos in a short time frame is the Daily Math Journal for each month.  There is variety of activities in each journal  and a sequence to learning.   The kids can work independently or with a friend.  I use them in the morning as part of the morning jobs.  This way I can check what the kiddo is doing before they move to another job. At the end of each month they can be sent home or saved as a portfolio item for the year. 

You can find the Monthly Math Journals in my store for each individual month or I have bundled them Fall, Winter and Spring

Daily Math Journals.  I also have a Shapes Math unit which teaches shape activities in many different ways,but still learning the same objective of recognition and manipulating shapes.

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teacher-Bin

Did you ever have a similar experience with math?

I'd love to hear from you!

A Teaching Tip for Orientation or Back to School Night or Even the First Day of School!

A teaching tip for Orientation or Back to School Night

or Even the First Day of School!

I bring my kindergarten picture to school and show the kiddos what I looked like at their age.  I   hang it  in the classroom and during Writer's Workshop I talk about my stories and experiences in kindergarten.  Having pictures helps to tell a story.

Orientation or Back to School nights are coming up fast. Along with all the information, schedules and paper work collection,  I use this time as a photo  session opportunity. a series of pictures of the kids for art projects, writer's workshop and throughout the year.  The pictures are visuals that help to tell their story.
Family picture

 I use the photo as unit for All About Me, an art project during Valentine's Day, and Christmas Festival.

A picture of the kiddo standing and sitting at the table.
I crop the table picture as just a head shot and make it as a wallet size picture.  I run 3 pages of "wallet pictures of each kiddo".  I have a folder on my computer with one sheet of wallet pictures of each student so they are easily accessible.(27 wallet pictures are never enough) The standing picture I use often too, it's  also used for different projects throughout the year.

Birthday Picture

I'm always ready for the birthday with a picture on the cover of the special birthday book to go home and one for the portfolio.

Patriotic picture

I use this photo during February and November for special occasions,election, president's day
Veteran's day, etc.

I use a site called PicMonkey, it  is a free photo editor that  works in your browser to fix your photos and add beautiful filters and text.

Save yourself time during the school year and have pictures ready to use for your classroom projects.

Throw Back Thursday Cowboy Christmas

Throw Back Thursday
I have been working on Throw Back for the last two weeks.  It's my mom and dad's 60th wedding anniversary and I've worked on a Memory Book for their celebration. It's  very sweet and funny to listen and type all the information they have given me.  To say the least it has been one big throw back party.  I just hope the book will be here in time for the celebration!

Today I'm not doing anything about school for Throw Back Thursday, it's our family Christmas Card when I was in 2nd grade.

 It was the "time" when Cowboy shows were on TV, Sky King, My Friend Flicka, Gunsmoke, Fury, Bonanza, Rawhide, Wagon Train, and Roy Rogers just to name a few.  My mom ordered from JC Penney or Sears the Cowboy/Cowgirl outfits for our family Christmas Card.   I hated my Cowgirl outfit. My sister was able to get a Cowgirl skirt with fringe!  I had to wear COWBOY PANTS!
Mom wasn't able to get a skirt in my size.  I remember being so jealous of my sister.  Of  course my Mom pointed out I had the beautiful flowered shirt and also she had me watch The  Roy Rogers Show on TV so I could see Dale Evans (Roy's wife) wore cowboy pants too!  Ha, she wasn't fooling me, I wanted the skirt!

Well to say the least the Christmas Card picture was taken, but I will always remember those outfits!

Writers Workshop-Topic Picture and Word Cards

How can children become authors in Writer’s Workshop? 
It's important they think and write stories that they relate to, or have lifetime experiences. (Stories that are close to their heart.)

I found it was difficult for my kindergartners to come up with the stories.  I would model in a mini lesson with a story or topic, but there still needed to be another component to give the kiddos ideas. It needed to be a picture, a visual piece.  By having the picture topic cards visible in the classroom on a bulletin board or tag board for ideas, writing became much easier because it sparked those little brains visually.

I would point to the picture card, introduce the topic, and share my story with the kiddos.  The children sit together as partners, (writing buddies) knee to knee with good eye contact with each other.  They have turns sharing their own stories and ideas from the topic pictures,using a set of chimes as a signal.

 It’s important this starts as a teacher directed activity by modeling a story, interacting, and brainstorming with the kiddos on the topic.  We spend a great deal of time sharing our stories throughout the year in a large group and partners.  
Topic Picture Cards are a great way to encourage good language experiences and help them understand the concept of  stories that are close to their heart.  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teacher-Bin

Back to School is Right Around the Corner

School is right around the corner.  Teacher brains become preoccupied with thoughts of school and what needs to be done.  I always think I've left the classroom in good shape in the spring, and maybe there will not be so much work to do in August, WRONG!  Getting organized in the classroom takes so much time.  The custodian came into my room  after a summer weekend and seriously thought that there was a school break-in and my room was vandalized.

Prior to school starting in my school district there is  an all school open house, but kindergarten has kindergarten orientation a week before open house! The pressure is on, but no different than any other teacher!

My main  list looks like this...
Room clean-up and organization.
Moving furniture
Class lists
Schedules
Label the room with student names-cubby, tables, coat hooks,etc
School supply organization
Orientation organization- folders, letter, school supplies, Parent,teacher, student meeting
Open house organization
Student binders
Teacher Binders
Teaching Topic Binders
Bus schedules

 I feel like I can't stay on task to get it all done. I start working on one project and jump to organize another project.  It's crazy!  Well to say the least after all of this is done, it is the weekend before school starts and now I have lesson plans to do!

I created a zip file of August-September Lesson Plans with all the resources from my store to go with it.  The lesson plans don't include specials(gym, music,etc.) because it can vary from year to year and school to school. It's complete and would give you everything you need in a month of teaching. It's organized so you can plug everything into your own lesson plan template.  My plan has the daily plan and it also has a second page for materials preparation for the day. It includes morning jobs,tub work, morning meeting, books, readers workshop, math, writers workshop, and free play.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/The-Teacher-Bin

Good Luck and Hop Back into a 
New School Year!

My First Reading Book

It's Throw Back Thursday on my Blog

Today I am writing about 1st grade.  I could hardly wait to start reading. My First Grade reading books were, Dick Jane, and Sally by Scott, Foresman and Company. I loved the characters in the book!
I especially loved Baby Sally and Puff the little Kitten.  I 
thought they were both so cute.  I also thought Tim the Teddy Bear was very funny.

 I was in a combination first and second grade classroom. There were about 10 first graders and about 15 second graders.  My teacher would alternate teaching between the two classes. While one class would work at their desk with seat work, she would be instructing the other class.

I could hardly wait to start reading!There were little brown wooden chairs placed in a circle at the back of the room and my teacher would call all the first graders over.  We had to sit on the chairs with our feet flat on the floor and our hands on our lap.
First we would go over the vocabulary(bowcabulary) words.  She had a pocket chart with the long words cards and a pointer stick to point to each word as we read them.  Finally we would get our books! We would practice reading our books aloud, each having a turn, around the circle of chairs.

It's fun to remember!