Top Book Picks!

Hello Kinder Friends,

Well our Book Fiesta and celebration on Friday was a huge hit. The sun was shining and we all had fun. Anybody can host a Book Fiesta. And this is a super way to celebrate during The Week of the Young Child. In Mexico, they celebrate The Day of the Child on April 30th. In different places all over the world The Day of the Child is celebrated. Adding a Book Fiesta to your celebration is a great way to incorporate some literacy into all of the festivities. Incorporating food, music, games and crafts into your celebration can make this a memorable event with your Book Fiesta being at the heart of your celebration.

We had so much fun with our special day that it really made me want to get some new books to keep the celebration going.

I had to order this book because I have used L is for Lone star and I liked all of the information that the book provided when we were talking about Texas. I have never seen P is for Pinata but I think this will be a welcome addition to our bookshelves for information about the Mexican culture and traditions.

Mexico ABC is a book about the people and places of Mexico.

Frida is a book about the artist Frida Kahlo. I thought this book would be a good way to tie in some art inspiration after reading this book.

Abuelita is a book about when a grandmother comes to live with a family. I thought this would be a good book to read and a great tie in to Mother's Day and Grandparent's Day.

And last... I was pretty excited to find this gem of a book. As we finish our Book Fiesta celebrations we will be reading, Look at the Book by Loreen Leedy. I am hoping to rush home tomorrow and find this book on my doorsteps so I can get it to schoo,l read it and conclude our celebrations with some fabulous bookmaking.

Book Fiesta!

We are gearing up for a celebration to celebrate Children's Day. Children's Day is celebrated on various days in many places around the world, in particular to honor children. In Mexico, Children's Day is celebrated on April 30th. As part of our unit on Celebrations, we are having a book FIESTA. We are having a nice and relaxing Buddy Reading morning with some sight word FIESTA fun. We will be making some Cinco de Mayo props for our program next week and walking to the park for some BaG WhAcKeR fun. It should be a wonderful day.

In class, we have had some great discussions about how each our families celebrate at home. My class has enjoyed asking each other about their own celebrations. Through these surveys above,  we have learned that we may not celebrate the same holidays or the same holidays the exact same way but we have learned that many kids of celebrations have things in common and so do we! Click on the image above for your survey.

From my class to yours, Happy Children's Day!

Bag Whackers!

Hey Kinder Friends,

We are gearing up to celebrate Children's Day in Kindergarten. We are so excited to be able to end a week celebrating children and books. We are having a book fiesta and we could not be more excited.Today we created what I call Pinata Bag Whackers! Oh me, oh my you have to give this one a try. If you were thinking of a big pinata and had visions of children beating a hanging object with a bat blindfolded and then running, pushing and grabbing candy and that vision made you a little horrified, then I have the answer for you! Pinata bag whackers are perfect. First, they are so simple to make. We used left over tissue paper, glue, glitter, brown lunch bags and yarn. The children decorated it on their own. We are stuffing ours with another brown bag, stickers, small prizes and fruit snacks.

The best part is that these are individual whacker bags and each child gets to WHACK his or her bag all by himself. Yep, whack that bag right at school. It is not a typo. Just throw the bag over your shoulder and WHAM~WHACK. When the bag pops open the child will find the empty bag and race to put the treats inside his or her own bag. No fighting or crying over treats. No being upset that someone didn't get to bang the big pinata with the bat, no kinder controversy...darn!

Have fun friends!

It Starts With Me!

Dear Family, Friends and Fellow Bloggers,

I am joining forces to help end childhood hunger in America. In the next few weeks you will see posts that will reflect our efforts to join in and help spread the word and make a difference and leave no child hungry. After watching the No Kid Hungry Campaign on Food Network, I was moved to tears and wanted to help take a stand and do something. I believe in this cause. As I sat alone in my office, I wondered if I could make a difference beyond my donation and blogging about this campaign. And I realized that if we combined our efforts we could make a huge impact.

I urge you to take the pledge and make a small donation. And maybe consider joining me and take it to another level. Together I know we can make a difference and work towards helping end childhood hunger. Just a small donation of one dollar can give a child ten healthy meals. Please click on the No Kid Hungry image above to learn how you can help.

The Great Graph Contest!

Can you just imagine this... I was checking my email this morning and I noticed that I had a comment from Loreen Leedy. It took just about a split second to figure out how I knew this name. I remembered The Great Graph Contest book and that she wrote the book. This book in one of my favorite books of all time. I love this book because it is about graphing and data. I have used this book for Math and Science. Another thing I like about the book is that there are not too many books for young children about graphs, so that alone makes it a treasured book in my mind. I have no idea how LOREEN LEEDY ever found my previous post on this book but I am so glad she did. And I thought that maybe just maybe, if she read my blog once, she might read it twice and come back and talk to me. Come back Loreen and let's talk! 

The Happy Sound Of Kindergarten!

It's only halfway done but this week has been busy. It has been busy this and busy that for the last few days. With all the things going on sometimes it is hard to take a moment and just listen. As part of our regular routine we have had Read to Self and Buddy Reading like most Kindergarten classrooms. And we have worked hard to build stamina and we have modeled inappropriate and apporopriate behaviors and we have had moments of self reflection and when needed just a little of some fun reteaching.

Today we had a few minutes after our normal Calendar Routine so this week we have been practicing our Calendar Chants that we have learned each month this year. We recently added these to our calendar folders. After our calendar routine was over the children had time to revisit those chants and poems. When everyone was gathering their things and picking the "just right spot" I noticed the children were beginning to cluster in groups together. I noticed one group of children quickly find a corner, arrange themselves in a small circle and start clapping and chanting. It sounded like music to my ears. Actually we all noticed and looked at them. The other children saw what the first group of children were doing and quickly grouped themselves just like the first group had. I asked the group closest to me why they grouped themselves like that. One child told me they were making "chant teams" so they could help each other. And I thought BRILLIANT IDEA!

I heard a few children talking about who to "grab" for their team and the reasons why they wanted a particular person. It seems that if you remember the AUGUST chant you are considered a hot commodity in my classroom. And if you can figure out MAY, on your own, then you are considered QUEEN BEE!

What was interesting is that the children independently came up with this idea and organized themselves. They created the rules and rather quickly started working. I can honestly say that everyone was 100% on task and engaged and they did it...independently. I noticed the noise level was a little different and a little louder than Buddy Reading but it was a joyful noise for any Kindergarten teacher. As they sang, clapped and chanted different months, I realized how much time has passed. The time has gone by quickly. I kind of got a little sad that we will soon be learning our last chant together...

Can you think of all the possibilities for Chant Teams or Reading Teams? I think the kids are on to something! 

Happy Blogoversary!

New Blog and a Sale!

Well, didn't I tell you that it has been a lucky few weeks? I was lucky enough to win a grant and a new blog. How exciting! I really wanted a place that I could blog about all those "homey" things when I just needed to take a break from my teaching life. I hope you join me there and share your ideas and inspiration too. With summer just around the corner I can't wait to garden and dig in the dirt and spend some much needed time in the great outdoors.

I also thought I would join my fellow teacher bloggers and friends and throw a sale! You can find me at TeacherspayTeachers and Teachers Notebook. Instead of 15% my sale is 20% off. It just seems like a great time to grab those goodies that are on our wish lists.

If you have been following this blog in the last month you know we have worked on our Texas unit for a while. We finally finished and I have finally uploaded all of the new additions. We added some landform activities and I have to say we have had a lot of fun this time around. We ended the week with awards because we have worked so hard and I was so proud of what each child accomplished.

I was finally able to add I Can Be A Scientist My Rock Investigations to Teachers Notebook so if you requested this...it's now on sale!

A special thanks to What The Teacher Wants for providing the sale image!

Under One Sun...

It's been a lucky few weeks around here. I had to share the news. I was awarded for a grant.

 Under One Sun...Celebrating Diversity For Everyone!

To say I was excited would have been an understatement. I share this story with you because I learned a few things along the way this time around.

This project has been near and dear to my heart for a couple of years now. From the year that I tested and tried out new activities and lessons with my Kindergarten class, and the following year that I retested and retried and reworked the lessons, the year I submitted the grant proposal and didn't win to this year and 26 edits that made me almost quit.

In print it looks easy.

You hear the story and it seems simple.

After about the 10th rejection email I was really beginning to wonder if this was even worth it to try. I had so many versions of the same grant proposal I was starting to assign letters to each version. I will admit I was a little stubborn and didn't want to change a few things that I felt was the foundation of the project. Every single time I thought I had it right, I got another email...REJECT! In the last hours I got a call from the grant office. Just when I thought it was finished... A phone call this time around. On my way home I was thinking about another night of countless edits and little sleep just to wake up and do it all over again. And I sat looking at my computer and thought what really would be the point in another edit and another submission just to be followed up with another reject? But I remembered the last thing that was said in that phone conversation.

I believe in your project...you can do this.

Simple words at just the right time. And those simple words made me think and then take action. Just as I sent the last version I thought about what she had said and how powerful words can be. It made me think of making sure I use those powerful words with the children in my class. It made me think of the strugglers. I felt like a struggler in this process. I wondered if powerful words could push them to do it just one more time even when it seems to feel hopeless. And it made me also think that it was in that last and final conversation that I had with the grant office that made something click. I FINALLY understood what they were asking me to change. It took me 26 times to get it right. It took someone 26 times to help me through the process. I guess the outcome would have been different if she had given up on me at edit 25.

Source: Uploaded by user via Nancy on Pinterest

So, thank you PL.
And a special thanks to the Education Foundation for believing in me SEVEN times over!

Had To Share!

Source: kindergartencupcakecrumbs.blogspot.com via Little Miss Kindergarten on Pinterest

And that's just the short list!

Emergency 911!

It's a Kindergarten Emergency...call 911.

I went out of town and left behind,

All those Capital letters for my kids to find.

Capitals should be here.

Capitals should be there.

I looked at their writing and capital letters were...not even there!

Tell me what happened.

What should I do?

Can you imagine if this happened to you?

It's a Kindergarten Emergency of the worst kind.

All those lessons and capitals they left behind.

I needed some help and I needed it QUICK!

So out come the Alpha Pops right on a stick!

Source: drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com via Little Miss Kindergarten on Pinterest

It was an emergency and we needed some more.
So out come the capitals dumped on the floor.

You ask how this happened and I have not a clue.

But if it happened to me, it can happen to YOU!

We got out the anchor chart and had a good look.

And then we found capitals right in a book!

Source: zeekszoo.blogspot.co.nz via Little Miss Kindergarten on Pinterest

We've searched and we've sorted letters a lot.
And talked about what gets a capital and what does NOT!

It was a Kindergarten Emergency of the worst kind.
But I have checked in their writing and capitals I now find...
; ) 

For a freebie click on the image above!

Pinning!

 

Did you hear the news? TBA is ranked #50 on Pinterest! So excited to see TBA is number 50! Did you know that each week TBA hosts pinning parties? If not, you have to look for the TBA pinning party post each Wednesday. You can link up your board at these popular pinning parties. Shhh, do not tell but Mother's Day Pinboards and Patriotic Pinboards are coming up. So get your boards all jazzed up and ready to link up. Just remember to link your Pinterest board and not your blog. If you are not a follower of the great TBA pinboards you are really missing out! So many great ideas from so many wonderful teachers will get you hooked. If you need an invite just comment on the TBA pinning party post so you can get an invite. So, what are you waiting for?