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Showing posts from 2011

Kindergarten Smiles Giveaway

Kindergarten Smiles is having a giveaway! Check it out!

Christmas Gift Idea

Donors Choose!! This is a great deal! This would make my Christmas!! Really - this is all I want! If 8 people bought one gift card, I could get my project fully funded! What a present for me and the kids:) Just make sure it goes to my project! lol http://www.groupon.com/deals/gx-gt-donorschooseorg
Here is our field trip! What a fun day!!
This is our Vocabulary Parade! Each student was a letter of the alphabet. Some got to be the letter that starts their name. If there was more than one student with the same letter then we did rock, paper, scissors to see who got the letter. :) The whole school participates and goes around the town dressed as a vocabulary word. I was the word fairy. We came back to the classroom and made the letters into words. It was great seeing the students see how letters and sounds turn into words!!
Hickory Dickory Dock - Listen to us as we work on fluency! http://kmoritz.edu.glogster.com/hickory-dickory-dock/

Donors Choose

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http://www.donorschoose.org/kmoritz                                                                                                             This is the link to my Donors Choose project! If you are able to donate, it would be greatly appreciated. I would love to have this cabinet for my workstations time! It would make it soo much easier to organize the activities. If you know anyone that might be willing and able to donate, please pass the information on! Thanks!  This is a picture of what I would get if my project gets funded!  http://store.schoolspecialty.com/OA_HTML/xxssi_ibeSearchResults.jsp?type=search&minisite=10044&query=32+tray+cubby
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Mrs. Baker, our literacy partner, read A Teacher For Bear. It was about a bear expecting to get one teacher and then getting a different one because they had so many kindergarteners. Sounds familiar! It also talked about being your own self and learning to accept differences.

Green Day

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Look at all that green! We worked hard on learning our color word and ended the week by wearing green! :) Always fun!
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Mrs. Redding, our literacy coach, read us Chester's Way by Kevin Henkes. What a great book about making friends and accepting differences!
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Dr. Clippinger, our superintendent, read us It's Hard to Be Five by Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell. The students could certainly relate! He showed them a LOT of reasons he reads every day. 

Guest Readers

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Dr. Frey, our principal and assistant superintendent, was our guest reader! The students love seeing her in the cafeteria every day! She read us The Grumpy Day by Miriam Moss. We all have those kinds of days! 

Giveway!!

Teachers Cannot Live by Apples Alone has a great give away! Check it out!

Beginning of School

What a beginning of the school year! I love that we start with 2 four day weeks - it makes it easier on all of us:) But 2 four day weekends!! That is crazy! We had our first week - which I also love! First day - meet the kids and I get to talk to the parents. 2nd and 3rd day - 1/2 the class comes each day. Makes it much easier to teach the first things we need to learn. The 4th day - we are all together:) Then 4 day Labor Day weekend! Good for all of us. Then we had 2 days to start the next week and 2 days off because of flooding! CRAZY!! The 2 days we were in were also indoor recess. Boo hoo! So we had another 4 day weekend. This could prove to be a long 5 day week. We have not built up any stamina! It will come, but it will take awhile. I'm hoping for sunshine all week so we can at least get out to recess. There were a couple criers - they were pretty good on Wednesday but I have a fear that it will start over on Monday when we go back. All will be fine - eventually. :) We are wo

New Curtains!!

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Yes, I made new curtains for my classroom! They are polka dot and match much better! The sewing machine cooperated very nicely today so I had them done in about 2 hours. Ran into school quick to hang them up so I won't have to be doing that Monday morning. YEA! That made me feel so good. I think they look great. Amazing how one thing makes everything feel better. Looking forward to Monday and meeting the kids and parents!!

Finished Classroom (?)

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It is ready to go. Well, at least for now. Is a classroom every done?? The desk is still a little messy but most everything is done! Now it is just getting the materials ready for the kids. 26 students and counting.... can't wait to meet them all! :) Don't tell my hubby, but I bought new material to make curtains... hope to get them done before Monday.... keep your fingers crossed. 

Before Pictures

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Here is what the room looked like when I walked in after summer vacation. The custodians did an AWESOME job cleaning! This is looking into the classroom from the hall door. This is right inside the classroom door. I call it our mud room. I really need to clean the tops of these cabinets. Inside - BOOKS! (Don't tell my husband!! LOL ) These are the coat hooks. Don't worry - all that stuff will be put away before the kiddos get there. This is my teacher table, guided reading table and what ever else I need it to be. I got rid of my teacher desk a year or two ago. I haven't missed it at all. :) Never sat it anyway!! I love my built in bookcases for my teacher books. This is really fuzzy - sorry! I'm not sure what happened... This is the back wall of the classroom. I use part of the bulletin board for me. The book center is back here also - book cases on the right. I'm moving it a little this year. I'll post those pics when I'm done:) This is the word w

Back to School

Well, tomorrow I will be headed into the classroom. Mixed emotions - excited for a new year and meeting new kiddos, but summer is fun too! I want to remember to take pictures of the room before and during the transformation of getting it back to a classroom. There is a list a page long of things that need to get done in the next two weeks- both home and school stuff... maybe it will all get done! OK - getting up early tomorrow will be the hardest part:) OH- I have to pack all the stuff that I bought this summer too...

More Shopping!!

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OK - My family and I just returned from vacation in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It was beautiful in the Smokey Mountains and very relaxing. We spent the day shopping around town. Found this GREAT shop with the CUTEST stuff! It's called U Name It -everything has letters on it!!  http://www.unameit1.com/   I spent waaaayyy too much $$$ but it was worth it:) The picture ( I even figured out how to change it to go the correct direction) shows what I bought. The black is a rug, the green a flag, a clipboard, an id holder, a pen and stick on polka dots!! Everything is POLKA DOTS!! That is the theme of the year, hopefully.  I got the M's for my last name.... then half way home it dawned on me I should have gotten K's for kindergarten... why can't my brain work faster!! It will be fine - I figured it will be more letters for the kiddos to recognize! :)  I loved this store! I could have bought one of everything. I think it will make the room happy! Check out the web site!!

Back to School Shopping!

It's been awhile, I know. I had an unexpected trip to NYC with my son to go to the Paul McCartney concert at Yankee Stadium - thanks to my cousin!! :) AWESOME!!! So that put back the schedule a little. Oh well, well worth it. So we started doing some shopping for back to school supplies for the kids. While at Walmart today I found these http://www.sterilite.com/SelectProduct.html?id=482&ProductCategory=198   These are to put spiral notebooks in or two pocket folders fit also. I am thinking of using them for games or puzzles - since we all know the boxes never last long. I know most of the game boards won't fit but some might and other center type activities will fit. I got one red and one blue. I did contain myself by only buying 2:) Although I am sure we will be back at Walmart before school starts:) Puzzles would be great in here too - can tape the box cover on or lay it inside so they know what it is - or take a pic of it after the kiddos put it together:)  They were $
http://ladybugsteacherfiles.blogspot.com/ Here is another great giveaway!! So much to share with everyone but trying to catch up on emails right now and finding new blogs:)

IKEA

I heart Ikea!! Actually got out of there with very little today but still a fun trip with my son and fellow teacher friend! So last year I bought the round rugs at Ikea to spruce things up around the room and add some fun. http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=round+rug    So they matched the colors of the tables. I ended up not using them too much because we had 27 k's in the room when we started so I needed to rearrange and put anything extra away. We ended up hiring a third k teacher and we dropped down to 20 kids. By that time though I never really got them back out. Now with the Math Station blog going on and the mind going.... when I went today I found these bath mats ( washable:}) and the mind clicked! http://www.ikea.com/us/en/search/?query=bath+mat I can use the ones from last year and this year as the places for the kids to take their math station to work on. :) I can use the shapes and the colors to distinguish where they should go! Nice to be able to think of a reas

Portaportal

Ok I am getting into this blogging thing! I love finding all the other blogs to check out! Although I have blogged away a few afternoons this summer by stalking! lol I wanted to share one of my favorite web things! Portaportal! This is a site where you can save and categorize your bookmarks! I was always frustrated when I would find a site at school and then get home to work on something and couldn't find the same site! Then I found portaportal:) I heart portaportal! You can make categories and put the sites under the category you want - centers, math, reading, BLOGS! Then you can access it from any computer!!!!! I have been at in services and used other people's computers to find a site we were talking about, I have been at a grad class, and I have been at home on any of the computers and been able to get to the site I wanted! You can also add notes - you know to remind yourself why you liked the site! You can even add little icons:) I can also share my portaportal with st

Chapter 6 and 7

Place Value: I like the idea of getting to know numbers first. This will be the basis for year. I always start counting by 10's, 5's and 2's before the Saxon series does. This is a great thing to practice in those minutes when the kids are lined up and ready to go on time:) I also try to use that idea of counting eyes, ears, etc. that Debbie Diller mentioned. I also open up both hands as we count by 10's -get it? The hands are closed and then we open them to show 10 fingers. I also alternate that as we count by 5's. I remember my dad doing this with me when I was little. It still makes me smile when the kids count their fingers to get to 5! I love the idea of the paper clips in groups of tens with the calendar. I am trying to think if it would work on the smart board - or should there be something there for them to physically see and touch?? Glad to hear that the 100th day is helpful! Like we would have stopped celebrating! lol Geometry: I like using the Math dv

Chapter 5

Story Problems and Story Mats! That is what we are all about in kindergarten! The students love making up stories to practice some, some more and some, some went away! This will be easy to incorporate into the stations. We do these types of  lessons often. The biggest part - as always - will be to model, model, model appropriate behavior for doing this activity in stations.I love watching the kids while they work with these mats - you can really see them click when they get the concept of what they are doing and not just moving bears on and off. :) I think that my motto for this year is to relax and NOT worry about taking the extra time to work on stations and behaviors and activities. Somehow there is always that little voice in the back of my head reminding me about the extensive curriculum that needs to be covered. I need to just remember that it will all get done and better to be done well than done in a hurry!

Chapter 4 part b

OK - things are somewhat quiet today :) I have really enjoyed this book. It is making me rethink my entire math time. I loved Kindergarten Crayons blog  - tons of great things! I know that I really need to work on developing beginning number concepts. I am hoping to incorporate more numeracy centers into my classroom. This will need to include vocabulary to go along with it. I already had plans in my head to make more book baskets in the reading library that have a math theme. This will help with the math vocabulary and a math station. I am really thrilled with the technology of sharing documents from these different blogs and saving them in google docs. Technology is fascinating! Thanks for all those who share! I am hoping to be able to share somethings one day....

learning with Mrs. Parker give away

This is another great site with a Heidi Song give away!! I'm keeping my fingers crossed:) I'm loving this Math Stations Book Blog to help find all these great resources! What a great sharing community!

Blogger Help Needed

I make a new post and can post it to the blog. BUT... the blog always goes back to the oldest post when I open it up. Does anyone know how to get the newest post be the first one that people see when they open the blog? I am sure it is just a setting but I can't figure out which one:( Thanks for any help a fellow blogger can give this new blogger! I really need to get going on this math station blog too! Thanks again!

KInerglynn Giveaway!!

This is an awesome give away! Hopefully I will win something:)

Chapter 4

WOW! I thought I would check out Kindergarten Crayons first! I am way overwhelmed and jealous of her things!!! I think I work hard to be the best I can be for my kiddo's, but she is incredible! So are the other bloggers hosting this book party. I finished reading ch 4 but I need to digest some things before I post my thoughts. I am taking a make and take workshop next week - now I know I will be concentrating on math:) Thanks for sharing all the great ideas and resources!! I wish there was a book party for Debbie's literacy stations also...

Check out this blog to win a contest!

http://bit.ly/ipIjUw Check out this blog! _Kindergarten Works - I need to check out the whole calendar set... that might take some time :) You could win a set!!

Community Day

We had a great time today with Community/Fun Day! We certainly built a lot of community in our school! Each student went to four different "stations" around the building. They were mixed K-6th. They played bingo, minute to win it games, carnival games (outside in the heat! and I didn't hear one kid complain!) and board games. It was a little sad to me that many of the kids didn't know how to play the board games - Cooties, Yahtzee,etc. I guess families don't sit around and play them anymore. They had fun once we got started though! It also made the last full day go really fast! Now we just have to get to 12 noon tomorrow:) Well, and in service on Monday...

Chapter 3

What should your math work stations, look like, sound like and feel like?   I have not done math stations this year. That is the plan for next year:) I hope they look like the ones in this book!! lol I do want to make sure that I MODEL all the materials before I put them out in the stations. I want them to be a great place for the students to work and learn and have fun. What does your management board look like? I will be making a pocket chart- I think. I will be using their pictures for the board. I want to see some more ideas from all the other great bloggers. How do you support math vocabulary (math talk cards) in your stations?   WOW - do I need to work on this. I have thought about making a word wall of sorts with math vocab. I want to add more of this and make sure that it is included in the stations. I also want to connect it with some Whole Brain Teaching concepts that use gestures for the words.  This is a great chapter! I need to sit and look at the schedule to fit

Chapters 1 & 2

1.  How do you (or will you) differentiate your math stations? {I added this from the bookmark...sorry} This is something I will need to make sure is happening when I start math stations in the fall. I liked the idea of color coding - so the kids would know what items they would need. 2.  How and where do you keep your math stations? I think after I reorganize all my math materials, I will be able to use a rolling cart with 2 shelves for this. It holds some of my math materials now. I know I have enough bins or containers to make the stations. :) 3.  How do you keep your math materials organized.? Well, I have a very small cabinet with some materials. I have a rolling cart with containers of materials. I have some other containers on top of another cabinet. These were mostly for math stations. I often thought "wow, these are great but there is some wasted space in the containers." I know that we will be looking at some of the materials this week in school. I will be getting t

End of School

Well, this will be the last week of the school year! Hard to believe it goes so fast! We will be having a Fun Day on Thursday. K-6 will be mixed together to go to 4 different stations throughout the day. We have 4 rotations of the 4 stations. The kids will get to work in computer labs, play bingo, play board games and carnival games. It should be a great day! We did something similar at Christmas and the students had a great time. The teachers did too! It kept them occupied and no one was trying to fill up the day. :) I hope we have good weather and it goes just as well! I have started read Debbie Diller's Math Work Stations .  (That is also why I started this blog:) ) I think I will have the students help sort some of the math materials also. That will keep them busy putting all the linking cubes into towers of 10 by colors! Productive for all of us! I can't wait to get some new ideas of this topic! I want to change some things up for next year, so this will be a great place