the parties

I am very happy that my first go round of classroom parties is over. The morning class went by in a flash and the kids were really good. The party was under control and I felt silly for even worrying about things getting crazy.

The afternoon..different story.

It's funny too, because usually I feel like my PM class has better behavior than the morning group. And, this year my PM class is super small (usually 18, but two were absent today). Yet, for whatever reason, the afternoon party drained me and I was pretty happy to put all my little creatures on the bus and wave goodbye. We did almost the same activities, except the PM class got to make a pumpkin project and the AM class didn't. I realized that trying to do any activity that requires the kiddos to stop and attend to directions during a party makes the activity feel a lot more taxing and stressful. Also, four of the moms who came to help brought siblings, which in my mind makes more work and doesn't necessarily take any of the work off my plate. Luckily, I had extra materials so the 3-4 year old siblings made the pumpkin too. Then there were two toddlers whose moms basically followed them around doing damage control of all the stuff in the classroom they were trying to destroy touch. I love it when parents come to help, but it was clear by the different between the morning and afternoon that when parents bring additional children it just adds to the chaos a bit. I felt like the PM class didn't stop talking the entire time. They weren't bad by any means, but it was just noisy and too much for me.

Anyway, I know both classes had fun and I hope that tomorrow we get back to normal and good listening! I had one little boy who announced upon receiving his snack plate with apples and goldfish that he was allergic to the fish. I told him not to eat them to which he responded by eating every single one. I have spoken with his parents about his allergies and it's not anything that will truly make him sick, but come on buddy...seriously! I am really tempted to forego all snack situations because of how many kids have allergies. I am so afraid of feeding kids food they shouldn't be eating, but I can't keep track of all the different dairy, wheat, gluten, etc. allergies. I ask parents to supply individual snacks for events like today and one mom did, but the other child (who was chowing down on the goldfish) said he didn't have his own snack. ::sigh::

I dressed up as a black cat (lame, but I could not find a single costume at the Halloween store that didn't look seriously skimpy and inappropriate for Kindergarten). I tried to play it off that I was a friend of Pete the Cat rockin' in my school shoes and wore my cool gray high tops with plaid interior. The kids just enjoyed seeing me dressed up, so obviously it doesn't take a whole lot of effort to make them happy. They were so excited for the day regardless of what happened in class.

We had the chance to sign up to get trick or treaters tonight since we are in an apartment building and I opted not to. Mr. Sneaker is leaving for Central America later tonight, so we are hanging out, packing, and trying to get in some relaxing. Next year, when we are back in our house and have a cute baby to dress up maybe Halloween will get some of its pizazz back!

Halloween Monday

So is anyone else not too thrilled that Halloween is on a Monday this year? I am hoping it doesn't set us off on a crazy week full of sugar comas and cranky kiddos.

I am going to attempt to get some instruction in on Monday even though the kids are allowed to come to school dressed in their costumes. But, during the second half of each session we are going to have a Halloween Parade and followed by a party in the classroom. I got parent volunteers to supply a healthy snack and juice, but I am stuck on the activity part. Last year, I had parents who took control of all of the parties and I didn't have to do any planning at all. They bought all the supplies, planned fun activities, and cleaned up before they left.

It was awesome.

This year, I had one mom agree to plan an activity for the AM class but no-one stepped up for the PM class. I don't really want to make it an either you do it all or we won't have a party kind of deal, yet I am tempted. I am not really too into planning it myself and my mind was totally on conferences this week and not at all thinking about Halloween. We are limited to 30 minutes for the classroom party and I'd like to do an art project or something, but I am struggling with ideas and I don't have a lot of time left to plan.

Some ideas I had....
freeze dance with Halloween music (but that doesn't take long)
musical chairs with Halloween music (but then there's always a kid who cries because he/she doesn't win)
an art project (but I have only come across ones that seem too complicated or time consuming)

Any idea for a simple art project or craft that will seem fun and exciting to Kindergartners?

Are you having a Halloween party? What are you planning?

Help!

I have a student who needs a lot of practice with numbers (recognizing and knowing the names). Her parents don't speak English very well, so I want to buy her some kind of game that will allow her to press numbers and hear number words in English since they are not able to help her with her number vocabulary. Any ideas?

My first thought was to look into the Leap Frog games, but after looking them over, I am hesitant to just buy one because they aren't cheap and I really don't know how well they work. I don't want something super complicated...but a laptop type game where she could hear and practice numbers as well as letter and letter sounds would be awesome.

I would love some advice about what's out there. Even a number puzzle with some type of sound output would be great.

Advice please!!!

Made it

I survived my one and only field trip of the year! The kids will go on another one in the spring, but I will be on maternity leave by then, so today was it.

We took a nice little 45-minute long bus ride to a pumpkin patch and spent the morning riding a train, riding a boat, picking out pumpkins, running through a hay maze, and then eating lunch before we headed back to school.

When we go on field trips, I have both of my classes at once, which is always stressful. I have a total of 38 kids, but 5 ended up not coming, so it was me and 33 kiddos. Luckily, we had a lot of parents who came along--27 of 'em.

Yep, you read that right....33 kids and 27 adults.

Good deal.

I don't take a group so that I can kind of go back and forth between classes since they only have one class at a time for the initial talk about the farm and the ride out to the patch. Pretty much each kid had their very own parent to stick with and only a few parents had to take on another child from the class. It was also nice to have a lot of parents because they take their kiddos home with them, so there were only 9 children left on the bus for the ride home.

I always have a fear that someone will get sick on the extremely long bus ride, but we had another successful puke free year. We did have one bee sting, but the little girl was okay and didn't have an allergic reaction. And, her mom was there, so that made me feel much better.

I successfully made it through the event without having to use the porta potty (which is hard for a preggo), but I just made sure not to drink a lot and used the real bathroom back at school.

The kids were all so excited about their pumpkins and it was a fun day.

But, I'm glad it's over.

Next up: Conferences tomorrow, Thursday, and Friday.

Book Art

In my last post, I wrote about a book called Press Here that my kiddos LOVED. On Friday, during choice time, I was working with some children at the bingo stamper art table and we made a little discovery that bingo stampers make dots just like the dots in Press Here. We spontaneously started making our own pages with dots and directions like in the book Press Here. It was nearly the end of choice time when we started, but I have a feeling there is going to be some fighting over the dot stamp table next week. The kiddos were so into the idea of making their own Press Here books and they were coming out so cute.

We just had regular white paper, but I think I may cut some smaller paper and staple pages together to make books that they can fill in. I was doing the writing, but they were dictating what the directions would be and they LOVED it. Choice time is limited to 15 minutes once a week, but boy do I love all the creativity and enthusiasm that is filling the room during that brief time. I wish more of Kindergarten could be like that, which is why I feel that it's so important to squeeze it in once a week.

Great Books

I finally joined the club and read Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes to my kiddos yesterday. I got the book along with a CD of the author reading it from the Scholastic book club this month and it was well worth that $7.00. First of all, it's kind of fun to listen to a story along with the kids instead of reading it myself because the author's version is most definitely a better telling of the story than my version. Secondly, it was just so fun to see how much the kids LOVED the book and the song and the funky beat. They started to sing along and they insisted that we read it again yesterday and then again today.

We also read a book that my teaching partner let me borrow called Press Here. Have you heard of it?

 If you haven't and you teach Kindergarten run out and find it now! The kids were SO into this book I can't even describe it. It's not really a story...the pages actually contain only pictures of colored dots and instructions like rub the dot gently, tap the dot five times, or press the dot hard, but they were so excited to see what each action made the dots do on the subsequent page. When you tap the dot five times on the next page the one dot turns into five. When you press the yellow dots hard the background on the next page turns black. The text on the page is funny and really engaging and it was seriously as if the author was watching us read it and writing the text based on the kids' reactions. It was so fun. I have a feeling that I definitely need to add that book to my own collection because the kiddos will be looking for it on the shelf.

I thought the kids were obsessed with the Pigeon books last year, but I think Pete the Cat and Press Here are bringing it to a whole new level.

Speaking of a whole new level...have you heard of Candy Corn M&M's? They are orange, white, and yellow and filled with white chocolate. YUM. Sadly, they are apparently a Walmart exclusive, so I had to track them down on amazon and spend way too much for a 9 oz. bag. They arrived today and made me a very happy camper. I heart prime shipping.

Travel Tuesday

This year Mrs. Bee and I decided to try a new routine during the time when some of our students are pulled out for 30 minutes of English language development lessons. We are doing a rotation that repeats every week, so the children who stay with us do a different activity each day.

Travel Tuesday consists of the kiddos rotating through table stations with their very own passport that we stamp upon completion of the activities. We started out having the kids move from one table to the next freely as they completed activities, but that made for a very hectic work time. It was too noisy and I felt pressured to stamp passports and direct kids where to go next while not having time to really sit with kids and interact with them as they worked. Maybe it was because the activities were still new, but it just didn't feel right.

I decided to have the kids stay at their tables for a certain amount of time rather than letting them switch as soon as they finished something. As a result, some kids finish before the time is up and some kids don't finish, but everyone gets a full 10 minutes at each table. We provide a list of instructions at a few of the tables (the "important" ones) so the kiddos can always repeat the activities if they have time.

At one table, the kids have to choose a book (sight word books, Bob books etc.) and they read the book using one of those green witch fingers to point to each word. Then, they use a whisper phone and read into that. Then they take a little stuffed animal from the box and read to their furry friend. Last, they read to a buddy or they read to me. I try to stay at the book table so that I can hear kids read and then I write down what book they read in their passport so I have a record.

At another table, the kiddos practice the sight word of the week. Mrs. Bee and I got very brave and made paint bags. Basically we poured Tempura paint into a gallon size plastic bag, then folded over the top and sealed it with duct tape. The kids use Qtips to write the sight word five times in the paint. These bags are great because when you smooth the paint out again, the words are erased. After writing in the paint, the kiddos use bingo stampers to fill in a bubble letter version of the sight word. Finally, if they have time, they use letter stamps to write the sight word. I have three different types of letter stamps in the box and I put the correct letters for each week's word in a separate plastic baggy for each kind of stamp (small, large and dot).

Those are the two "important" tables and then I put out one or two "choice" tables depending on which class it is. Sometimes I put out pattern blocks, science exploration trays, or a phonics game--something that the kids can do without needing help. We rotate so that each group of kids gets to do two of the stations. I stamp their passports as a way of keeping track of which stations they do each week.

Now that they have done the stations for several weeks, they know the routine and our Travel Tuesday goes much more smoothly. Especially in the PM class where I have a high school helper every day. She does the sight word table and I do the book table and that works out really well. I love that I have a chance to listen to each child read and it's fun to see the kids reading the sight word books successfully.

I feel like I am doing a better job with reinforcing the sight words this year and we finally completed our collection of Heidi's Songs CD's so we now have a song for every single sight word except for saw. This week's songs are super cute and the children have such a fun time singing the songs every day. It's nice to have a component that lets the musically inclined kiddos shine and shake it a little bit.

Wednesday is our Words on Wednesday day, so maybe I will post about that tomorrow. We have been using Words Their Way materials and making our own letter sound sorts each week.

Plate=Full

Yes, I am "eating for two," but right now my plate is just a bit too full.

We moved this weekend.

From a two bedroom temporary housing apartment to a smaller apartment we will be in for the next 6 months. Our stuff doesn't exactly fit..nevermind having room for person #3 that arrives in March.

When I say "we" moved, I actually mean that Mr. Sneaker and his mom moved most of our stuff because I had class Friday night and all day on Saturday.

But since they were working the entire time I was in class, plus during the day on Friday, I felt compelled to help as soon as I got home from class both on Friday night and Saturday evening, which means free time has been pretty non-existent.

I was supposed to turn in a finished first draft of my specialty paper, so it has been weighing on my mind all day that I have to work on it, but I finally decided that I need to just sent what I have off to my advisers and continue working on making the draft complete this week. I met with both advisers after class yesterday and talked about the paper, so based on their feedback I already know I need to make some revisions, but I am going to let them read what I have and give me feedback before I officially make any changes.

I can't believe tomorrow is Monday and I want a nap!

Sweet

On Friday I sent home a note announcing my pregnancy to my students and their families (with a bit of trepidation because Kindergarten is a unique year, especially for families who are sending their first child to school and I was worried families would be upset that I will be leaving and that the kids have to go through a transition). 

Today a little girl from my PM class came in and gave me a present.

Her mom is also pregnant and she sent me a chocolate bar, decaf herbal tea, and some bath salts and said they are some things she has been enjoying and she hopes I enjoy them too. 

What a thoughtful thing to do!

The kids mentioned my baby and asked if it's a girl or a boy. I asked them what they thought and the majority said girl. 

November 10th should be the date we can find out... if Baby Sneaker cooperates.

P.S. 25 pages down on my paper and still trying to rock the rest out before Saturday!

Show me the number

As part of our Daily Math Routine with the Expressions math program, one of the exercises we do involves me showing a giant number card and the kiddos holding up that many fingers. My PM class has really taken to showing what the program refers to as number partners.

Rather than just holding up their hand with five fingers, they've started to show me 2 fingers on one hand and 3 on the other or 4 on one hand and 1 on the other. I have been really happy to see this and I feel like it's a way that the kids who are more advanced are able to take this exercise to the next level.

So, the kiddos have been experimenting with using different fingers to show each number.

2,3,4, and 5 were really successful.

1...not so much.

You have to chuckle when you look at our your little friends and several are giving you the finger :0)

Mochi

Have you ever bought Mochi ice cream from Trader Joes? 

Good stuff.

My favorite is chocolate, but they also have mango and green tea flavors.

And, the greatest part is that the containers they come in are absolutely perfect for holding paint.

I saved a few last year and used them today for our painting project. 

Worked like a charm :0)

Bullet Points

• I went to a training on culturally responsive instruction today. I felt more tired after being there all day than I do after being with 5 year olds all day! Guess I prefer the activity of the classroom...but I am so not jealous that my sub had to do star of the week snack today while I was gone.

• I tried to watch Gossip Girl when I got home, but promptly fell asleep. Hopefully I fare better for Top Chef Just Desserts tonight.

• I have a ginormous mountain of laundry to put away, which does not look appealing right now. Fortunately, my sluggishness in getting household chores done as of late has motivated Mr. Sneaker to volunteer taking on dish washing duty. Score!

• I am going strong with my daily reading/writing for my paper. I have about 18 pages and still have a long way to go, but I am working on it every single day after work which is good.

• Speaking of working on my paper....I need to get going on that.

• I haven't posted on my classroom blog in over a week. I hope the parents don't think I'm a slacker!

•  I am SO thirsty. I feel like I have been drinking TONS of water, but I am still thirsty...and really loving orange juice. Although, I try to just drink water and then juice or something flavored only on occasion.

• It is pouring rain out...welcome to fall in Portland :0)

• I am cooking up a spaghetti squash with meat sauce for dinner. Yum!

• I can't wait until Friday. PJ's and a movie with Mr. Sneaker are calling my name!!

Back Today

I had a student who was out all last week because he was pretty sick. The day I found out he wouldn't be at school all week, I had his classmates make him cards because he had to spend some time in the hospital.

After being out for 6 days, he finally came back today and it was SO cute to see how excited the other kiddos were to see him. One girl at his table kept telling me that she thought he should get to pass things out instead of her or the other table mate.

Several kiddos told this boy how excited they were to have him back and he literally bounded to his table and just dove right back into all of our classroom activities.

It was really nice to see how connected the kids are and how much care they show for one another.

Really sweet.

I am out of the classroom for a training tomorrow, so I prepped for my sub and I feel pretty good about leaving the kiddos for the first time. I am sure they will do fine and although it's hard to be out, it's always interested to see how they do with a sub. Hopefully it will show that they have all of our routines down and can just continue the flow without me!

fastforward

I am amazed at how fast the days go by. Without specials to break up the flow of the day this year, we can just seamlessly go from one activity to the next. If I'm a little off schedule, it's no big deal and before I know it, it's time to take the kids to the bus.

Half day Kindergarten is seriously short!

The kiddos are doing really well in math. Today I did some informal assessment to see which kiddos are able to put their number tiles in order and the majority did really well. I had one child in the PM class who struggles with number recognition and counting and several in the AM. When I laid out their tiles and asked them to point to each number, however, they did fairly well (some better than others), so I am hopeful that all of the practice we are doing is helping them remember.

During our daily math routine, one of the activities is to pass out number cards (one per child) and have the kids put them in order by standing in a line in number order. I remember the kids struggling with this task last year and this year they are doing great. Even the kids who are having a harder time are doing well with it.

We also do an activity where I show a number and they have to show me that many fingers. The kids are getting creative and showing me different ways to make each number. For example, typically when we show four, we show all four on one hand, fingers up and thumb tucked away. Today I saw a few kiddos showing two fingers on each hand and a few even showed three fingers on one hand and one on the other. They are getting the concept of number partners, which is something we work on later in the year. It's nice to be able to stretch math out a little more and do some things I didn't do last year because of behavior/management/crowd control issues.

I wrote sub plans after school today since I will be out Wednesday for a training. It took a long time because I always write extensive plans. Since it's the first time writing them this year, I am getting everything down so in the future, I can cut and paste the routine and procedure parts. Writing sub plans, is one of the times teaching two sessions really has its advantages. I write for half a day and then basically just include times for the PM class and write same as AM for each activity. All of my subs are great and they always do fine, but I think I tend to leave a lot more information than necessary.

I am off to bed to read. I still haven't finished my chapters for book club, which meets tomorrow and I haven't gotten in my daily quota for work on my paper. I didn't feel well at all after school, so I got in bed and tried to relax. Mr. Sneaker made dinner, cleaned up, and emptied the dishwasher so I could just chill. Love it!

Still here

It's been almost a week since I last posted. I keep thinking about things I want to write and then I get home and have other things to do and I just don't do it. I made a deal with my advisers that I would have a final copy of my specialty paper completed by October 15th, so I am feeling the pressure and trying to work on that for at least an hour each day after work. So far it's going well and I have made a good amount of progress. Here is a little bit about what I have been up to and what's been going on in the classroom in bullet points.

• I got a new student last week, but he is adjusting well and hasn't shifted the dynamics of the group

• I am still loving my small classes and new groups. I was so impressed on Friday that they were working independently and I could grab kids that were finished to play a phonics game with them. 

• I have been working on getting assessments done and I was really pleased to see a few kids really connecting with the phonics lessons that we have done. A few kiddos don't know the letter names at all, but they knew the sounds that we have covered, which tells me they are tuning in and it's working for them. Yay!

• I am seriously in love with my carpet. It is awesome for management, organization, and saving time. Best. Purchase. Ever.

• I did choice time for the first time on Friday as it was the first week that the kiddos had to keep their sticks all week. I did it differently this year and chose 6 activities, which I put out on the tables. It went really well and felt a lot more organized than last year. I was a big meanie and took out the play kitchen that I had last year, so the activities available were all pretty academic (bingo stampers with sights words written in bubble letters, science trays with magnet activities, counting cakes, connecting cubes, stamping markers and regular markers for coloring, and a magnet/building activity). The kids were totally fine with the choices and had fun. I was so happy to not have the drama involved with everybody wanting the kitchen. Yes, I LOVE dramatic play, but we only provide 15 minutes of choice time, so the table activities are great. I am going to try to include math, science, sight words, and art each week along with something for building. Creativity can manifest itself in other ways with those choices. 

• I had a few parent helpers cancel this week, but I have been loving my Friday helpers who put together the kids' Friday folders for me. One less thing I have to do on Thursdays after school and a great job for classroom helpers. I am also LOVING my three high school helpers. One comes every day in the PM, which is absolutely fantastic. The other two come every other day, each for an hour. All three girls are terrific and I am finally at a point where having help is not scary because I feel like I am more organized this year--therefore organized enough to know what to have them help me with. The high schoolers are totally hands on with kids and it's wonderful to have extra hands and helpers. I had some technical challenges getting a video set up on Friday so I just passed a story to my helper and got the projector working while she was reading. What could have been stressful and chaotic was totally fine because of her help.

• I am starting to attend a writing group with other members of my cohort on Thursday. We meet for two hours each week just to write. I am hopeful that I will be able to get a lot done so my draft is ready in two weeks! I am really excited about my paper and have been continuing to read about reading instruction, curriculum theories, whole language, culturally responsive instruction etc. etc. I got two new books and they are both awesome. I just wish I was a speed reader because there is so much literature I need/want to read for my paper and I am short on time.

•  Speaking of reading, I started a new book club and we are reading Cutting For Stone. Anyone read it? I started it, but didn't really get super pumped about it. I have to read four chapters by Tuesday and I am hoping I can get that done.

• Last but not least, I had an ultrasound on Friday and everything is looking good. Baby Sneaker is looking good and the doc said we will be able to find out the gender at our next appt. I had no idea we would be able to find out this soon, but we are excited. 

Hope everyone has a great Monday!