Monday, January 23, 2012

Oh Happy 100th Day!!

It's that time again!! We are all 100 days SMARTER!!! I absolutely love the 100th Day of School! It is always such a special time in Kindergarten, because it is a HUGE landmark for them! Today also marked my 200th day teaching :) YAY!!
We had a lot of fun activities today! I told all of my students on Friday when they left that I would have a surprise for them on Monday morning! Here is my surprise:
Kindergarten Teachers were 100 year old ladies!!! This was so much fun, and the kids loved it!! Some of them were hesitant at first, but once they warmed up, all I heard was "Man Mrs. Gates you sure look old," or "Mrs. Gates is that your real hair?" I ate it up!!
I had all of my kids make a poster showing 100 things to get them practicing counting to 100! I had some really cute ideas!! Here are a few examples:
The last thing we did for 100th day was take a 100 step walk to see where we would end up. I had all of my students make a prediciton on where we would end, and then we walked to test our predictions! It was so cute! One of the students actually predicted it correctly! We ended at the 2nd grade wing:
All in all, we had a great 100th day! I hope you did too!

Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Makin' Green Water

Child- "Mrs. Gates, you're the greatest teacher ever!"
Me- "Well thank you! Why do you think so?"
Child- "'Cause we're makin' green water!"
This conversation occurred today during our math lesson. We were learning about recipes and measuring cups, and we made a recipe for green water by mixing yellow and blue water. Simple right? To us maybe, but to this child it was just beyond unbelievable. Sometimes I forget that my kids are only five. Days like today, and moments like this make me feel so blessed to be a teacher! I love watching them loving learning!!
We have had some pretty fun days in Kindergarten since my last blog, and I have some cute art to show :) I love bragging on my kiddos!! The first thing we did when we came back to school was talk about the New Year. We also talked about how people celebrate (using blowers, counting down, wearing hats, etc.). After we celebrated the new year, we talked about New Year's resolutions and goals. I had the kids brainstorm about a goal they would like to have for 2012. I had some pretty cute responses! Here are some examples of our New Year's lesson activities:
Our Calendar's Decorations:
"I want to read":
"I want to be better at monkey bars.":
Before Christmas, all of my literacy centers were mobile centers. I was having problems with my "friends" wandering around and talking to other friends at different centers. I have been racking my brain trying to find a solution to this problem, and I think I finally have one. I have moved colorful carpet squares into different areas of the room to make my centers. (no extra furniture in the way :) YAY). I also have baskets at each center which has everything in it the students will need at that center (pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, paper, etc). This was a suggestion from my wonderful reading coach. The students also know they are not supposed to leave the carpet unless it is an absolute emergency.
This has seemed to work pretty well over the past few days, so I hope it stays this way :)
This is one of the center set ups:
Last thing for tonight I promise! I have recently discovered that the students can write on my small group table with washable markers, and it will wipe right off with a baby wipe or Clorox wipe! Talk about a time and paper saver. Yet another suggestion from my wonderful reading coach. Check out her website for a TON of fantastic resources for grades K-5! http://www.pcboe.net/les/elderweb/index.htm
Here is an example picture:
Well I'm off to bed for the night! 4:15 AM comes very fast each morning! I hope everyone has a fantastic end of the school week! Keep on teaching on :)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Back to the Grind

As I assume it is for most of y'all, tomorrow is my first day back with my kiddos! I for one am pumped about everything that I have planned for them to do, and all the fun things we are going to be learning!

The first thing we are doing tomorrow is talking about the New Year :) I have my calendar decorated with a cute Happy New Year Banner (I should've taken a picture of it today) We are going to use party blowers and count how many days we've been in the "New Year"! Depending on how they handle that, we might use the blowers to celebrate things throughout the day!

We will also be decorating 2012's during our social studies time. I will have a template and examples tomorrow. I am very excited about this because I feel it will reinforce the new year.

Well I'm off to bed now... I work on Eastern time and live in Central time, so 4:15 comes very fast in the mornings!! Night :)

Sunday, January 1, 2012

Here Goes Nothing

Hi all!! I have recently entered the fabulous world of Pinterest, and let me just say I am completely addicted! All I needed was one more thing to occupy my time, but the benefits that it is having on my classroom are tremendous, so I keep on pinning! I have been reading all the fabulous blogs I have found on Pintrest, and I thought I might as well give it a try.
My husband is going to be so pleased I am doing this because that means he doesn't have to listen to all my stories. I now have an outlet for all my cute stories and projects! I hope you all enjoy my journey as a teacher as much as I do!
We are learning about dinosaurs in science next week, so my latest project for tonight is this cute little dinosaur! I am going to have the students decorate their own dinosaur, and then allow them to name their dinosaur and complete a writing project describing their dinosaur. (We have been learning about descriptive writing as well).
Well that is all for tonight guys! I am heading to bed! I have a long day of crafting tomorrow, so expect another blog soon! Happy New Years :)