School Year Success

Ladybug Teacher Files is having a School Year Success Linky Party and I thought I would join in.

I would consider our entire year as a success! (Can you do that?)
The year was filled with many academic and behavior challenges, added to this, it was the first year I have ever taught kindergarten. Although I have taught for eighteen years and have taught grades 1, 2, 3, and 4, kindergarten was a whole new ball game. I am thrilled that we all finished the year happy and knowing more than we did when the year started! Yes, this includes me too!

All students made improvements! WOW!!!!

Now that our year is coming to a close, I know that I will be a better teacher for having taught kindergarten for a year.

I am looking forward to next year and the surprises it will bring. The main question now---What grade will I teach?

Check out Ladybug's Teacher Files to read many success stories.

Classroom Management

Mrs. Randall's Learning Library is having a classroom management linky party and I thought I would join in.

I use a Behavior Management Pocket Chart from Lakeshore in my kindergarten classroom. The chart comes with cards that are green, yellow, orange and red. Green is for good behavior and red is for poor behavior. Students are given one verbal warning before having to flip their card to the next color. All students on green at the end of the day receive a small treasure such as a sticker, pencil, etc... Students on red will usually pay a visit to our principal.

Students behavior is documented each day in a "daily" folder. This folder goes home each day and I mark the color the student's behavior was for that day. I also mark why the child's card was flipped. Parents initial the calender in the folder each day.

Attached to the inside of the folder is a Behavior Code chart. When I am in a hurry I just have to write the number for the reason the card was flipped.

I am looking forward to reading all the different classroom management styles. Please check them all out at Mrs. Randall's Learning Library.

ABC Summer Countdown "G"

Wednedsay, April 27 was our "G" Day in our ABC summer countdown. The students were asked to wear somthing green to school. We planned to visit the garden that the Extended Day Program is growing. We also planned to use gloves to pick up garbage around our school. However, our day did not go as planned.

Central Alabama awoke to severe storms coming through our area with high winds. Due to the weather our school system delayed opening by 2 hours. I was able to teach reading before lunch. Then we dismissed school early due to the severe weather that was expected Wednesday night. Our state suffered a massive loss Wednesday night. Our thoughts and prayers go out to each and everyone affected by the tornado outbreak.

Our ABC Summer Countdown will contine when school is reopened.

ABC Summer Countdown "F"

Today was the Letter F in our ABC Summer Countdown.

We read Fancy Nancy Books by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss-Glasser. We then talked about Fancy Words.
Mrs. Walker came back today and we fingerpainted flowers on painted plywood donated by Will's mom. These paintings were AWESOME!! Our paintings our not finished just yet. We are going to decoupage a poem on the paintings. These paintings will be our Mother's Day presents.

In today's journal we drew and labeled items that began with the letter F.

When the students went to library class today, Ms. Wiggins, our media specialist read Just Plain Fancy by Patricia Polacco to the students.

We had fruit today for snack. Most children brought in bananas, applesauce or fruit juice. Two children brought in a different fruit--cantaloupe and pineapple. I love how creative some of the children and parents are getting in our ABC summer countdown.

ABC Summer Countdown "E"

Monday we continued our ABC Summer countdown with the letter "E". We began our day by reading An Extraordinary Egg by Leo Lionni.Mrs. Walker, our art teacher, came in and helped us make elephants from paper plates.

We also wrote the letter E on envelopes.

At the end of the day we did exercise activities. The students did great! Our physical education teacher, "Coach", taught the children simple exercises that they learned as part of a routine during their PE class. The children did jumping jacks, twisted like a washing machine, and moved like a surfer.

ABC Summer Countdown "D"

Today in our countdown was the letter "D". We had a full day planned without any extra countdown activities. We did not have many D activities today because of our school's annual Easter Egg Hunt. Each child had to bring a bag to the hunt to hold their eggs. We decorated our bag with Dots since today was "D" day.

We used the shaving cream from the landforms activity to write the letter D and simple words.We also had a wonderful snack today! Krisy Kreme Doughnuts YUM!!!

Earth Day

Friday, April 22 was Earth Day. Our class talked about Earth Day all week in conjunction with our unit on landforms. We used many activities from Mrs. Saylor's First Grade Blog. We used her idea of shaving cream landforms. This was a great activity and it also helped clean our tables.

Our Mountain:

Our Valley:

Two Hills:

On Tuesday, we made the Earth from markers, coffee filters and a little water. I saw the activity on ProTeacher and on Techy Teacher Blog and I thought they turned out great!

On Friday, the students did a writing assignment on "How would you make the world a better place?" Below is pictures of their work. If you would like a copy of the template click Here.

The lunchroom staff celebrated Earth Day by giving each child a Earth key chain at lunch.

ABC Summer Countdown "C"

We continued with our ABC Countdown Today with the letter "C".

Students brought in caps to wear. We were allowed to wear the caps in our classroom, however, they had to remain there when we were in other parts of the building.

We read the book Caps for Sale told and illustrated by Esphyr Slobodkina.

We made a list of C words on the board.

For handwriting we wrote colorful C's on a cup.

We had cookies for a snack.

ABC Summer Countdown "B"

Today was "B" day.

Our class wore blue today. Children also brought beach towels to school. We graphed our towels by character or design.
We made butterflies from the coffee filters we used yesterday.

We read beach books throughout the day. A special thanks to Ms. Wiggins, our school media specialist, for her help if finding beach books.

We had planned to go outside after break to blow bubbles. However, the rain kept us inside.

Posted today In The Teacher's Lounge blog is a freebie with a beach theme. It is a non-standard measuring activity. It is open ended so students can use any items you have in the classroom.

Listening Center

Primary Inspired is having a Listening Center Linky Party and I thought I would join in.

My listening center is usually used once a week by each child in groups of two. This is used as one of their center rotations. After they finish the story, the children draw a picture of their favorite party of the story and then write about the story.

The children will pull two chairs up to the counter where the listening center stays. We have a cassette player and headphones. This was a conscious decision because our school's resource room has many books with tape. They are grouped in bags with a cassette tape and two books each. We just have to check out the bags each week.

Below is the listening centers of my fellow kindergarten teachers.


After viewing the other listening center, mine will have improvements next year.

Please check out Primary Inspired's Linky Party and view all the wonderful listening centers you will find there.

ABC Summer Countdown "A"

Today was our first day of our ABC Summer Countdown.

Today was Amazingly Awesome Art Day!

We began our day by reading Mouse Paint by Ellen Stoll Walsh and Little Blue and Little Yellow by Leo Lionni. We discussed the colors and how you can mix primary colors to make other colors.

After reading the stories Mrs. Walker, our art teacher, taught us a lesson with the color wheel. The students each made their own "Happy Hands Color Wheel".

Our Hall Display:

We also read The Art Lesson by Tomie dePaola and The Art Box by Gail Gibbons.

We finished our day by having Apples for a snack.