Christmas Presents for Students

This year I decided to make my kids dry erase boards out of melmac plates as their Christmas Present.

I had a great time dying the socks. I let them sit over night to get really colorful before cutting the rubber bands and  rinsing them.  Each sock is attached to the plate with ribbon and ties tight. 

Inside the sock is a dry erase marker. 

I used glitter bubble paint to write the names. Be sure to plan ahead for this project. The names take a few days to dry. 

Many kids returned from our long holiday break talking about the dry erase boards. I think they were a real hit!

One suggestion, be sure you are able to drill through the plates BEFORE you spend a lot of time on this project. Thick plates are very tricky!

Thanks Dad!!!!!!!!!

Daily 5

This is my first year using Daily 5 in my kindergarten classroom. This week I tried a new organization system for my Daily 5.  I felt like I needed my kiddos to be more involved in the transition to each daily. So I organized it in my pocket chart. Each of my groups is heterogenous. Each group has a helper (or two). This is the designated person for their questions or problems, so I am not interrupted during reading groups. It has been a very important part of my center structure in past years. This year I also am including helpers in my Daily 5 structure.

Here are a few pictures of Daily 5 in my room today.

Word work-water paints

Word work-The kids call this "packages". I cut letters in different fonts from various product boxes like cereal, boxed mixes or games. Students find the letters to make words they are learning. 

Read to Self

Listening to reading with Tag Readers

I will post more Daily 5 ideas as they progress.

50s Day

We had such a great time on 50s day this year! Of course we dressed to go to a sock hop. (I love to see what everyone comes up with for their kinder sweeties to wear to school.)



This year we made a Venn Diagram about bubble blowing. This year's class is able to look at data and really process it. It was a great way to cater the activity to fit my kiddos this year!

    

They had a blast teaching each other to blow bubbles. A friend in my class shared a cool way to flatten your gum against the roof of your mouth before blowing. It was the magic cure for some of them! It sure was a good time. Of course we all pretended not to see the gum wad that flew out of the mouth and was quickly fetched according to the 10 second rule. Ugh!!!!


Hoola hoop practicing with friends was also a hoot!

"Are You My Mummy?"

This year our kindergarten team decided last minute to make masks and trick-or-treat to each of our ten kindergarten classrooms. Each class was to make masks for this purpose. Our class had been working on some cool activities to go with the book "Are You My Mummy?". So we made these masks out of supplies I already had on hand. (Paper plates and white streamers) The kids did a great job with them.

We had a great time. Next week we are going to make a class book where they can guess who is under the mummy mask. Then they can lift it and see if they guessed right.

Apples

A few weeks ago we were up to our elbows in apples.
We made a life size graph with our apples. We graphed
many times after we sorted by several attributes.

Here are their baskets full of sorted apples. Each group sorted by a different attribute.

This group made an apple basket full of apples with stems and leaves and another basket
without.

Daily 5

I have started Daily 5 with my kinder kiddos this week. I can't wait to see the DVD produced by the sisters that highlights implementing Daily 5 in Kindergarten. Since we are waiting its arrival, I had to get started. We read "Dex The Heart of a Hero."
     Our class decided that we would like to be a class of "superhero" readers. They love to try each day to increase their stamina. On day 1 we read for one mi ute on our first try and a minute and a half in our second try.  On the second day I told the our goal was 2 or 3 minutes. Wow! Was I excited when we got to 5 minutes. Our thud day slipped a little on our first attempt, so we tried again. Five minutes again. Today was the fourth day. We read for 6 minutes! I was happy with that especially since we did our Daily 5 at the end of the day on a day that started out with 45 minutes of MAP testing.  I guess it's time to implement another daily. I'm thinking writing, since that's what the sisters now recommend as the second daily.
     I am working on what my Cafe board will look like. It is very important, but wall space and proximity are a bit of an issue.

Here is a view of our cubbies. The top section is much larger than necessary. My wonderful dad made me these dividers that allow our cubbies to serve two purposes. With the divider in place, the bottom half holds our book baskets. The top top half can then be used as a mailbox for take home folders and papers etc.

Here is a close-up of the top of the cubbies. I have used them for several years and the dividers are still going strong.

Our chart about three ways to read a book. They loved the first time we worked on retelling. We used Pete the Cat, I Love My White Shoes.  

Here are a pair of my students retelling the story with the book we made together.

I am excited to see what Daily 5 Brings for next week. My kiddos are earning extra recess when we get to stamina of 10 minutes. They are very excited!

Open house etc

It has been so much fun working with my kindergarten kiddos individually this week. They each have such a unique personality. Their excitement is contagious! We are giving our reading diagnostic as well as the KRAL test. I am looking forward to working with my kiddos on a regular basis. We have a staggered start agin this year. Half of the kinder kiddos come on Monday, the others on Tuesday. Then all come on Wednesday. What fun that will be.
     After meeting with each child they received this special gift Baggie.

The note inside explains the meaning behind each thing in the Baggie. 

Here is the inside note: