Happy Valentine's Day!

Hey Kinder Friends,

Wishing you a Happy Valentine's Day! I think this year could have been my favorite Valentine's Day of all. It seemed like it was the easiest by far. I have to say our Valentine bags were my favorite. I swore I would never make anything with those accordion legs...ever. Somehow, someone changed my mind. The kids loved the bags and in the end I did too. I might even make them again next year.

The kids had a lot of fun working on Valentine projects throughout the week to give to their loved ones. Just simple paint and paper and everyone was excited to have these projects to look forward to as they finished their work.

I was sure glad to have this little reader on hand because it gave us a chance to review some sight words that we had been previously working on. If you need a copy of this freebie just click here.

We have enjoyed reading new favorite Valentine books and even enjoyed reading the old favorites. We were even lucky enough to find a Splat book in the library this week.

My class even got a little festive when working in their math notebooks. Considering this is a totally independent task that I use to check for understanding of the focus lesson, I was surprised at how creative they each were. As they were walking by my small group table they were holding them up for me to notice them as they walked by. I swear I tried hard to keep working even though I really wanted to look!

We have been working our way through our Math Fables book and talking a lot about different ways to solve problems and tools that can help us. It was nice this week to see some reluctant friends give it a try and explain their thinking.

We even had time to squeeze in one more gift to send home. You know no holiday would be complete without a painted hand print keepsake!

We even had time to make crowns to wear for the special day.

And envelopes to send everything home! All in all, it was a great Valentine week and we were able to accomplish our goals and keep busy with a lot of fast finisher projects. I can't wait until next year!

SPLAT! How About That?



Happy Valentine's Day Kinder Friends,

We are on a roll and don't want to stop! I think we all needed this holiday to remind us about caring, sharing and friendship. We all seem a little more willing to help out and even do our part. We were so busy making lists and editing our writing today that we forgot to make our valentine bags. I even learned a new lesson in Kindergarten today.

Apparently my kids love Splat the Cat. I really had no idea how much they loved Spat. But each week they have been searching for Splat books in the library. And each week they were disappointed if they were all checked out. And I was informed today that someone hid a cool Splat book in my room and I had no idea all this was going on since...November. I read my first Splat book this year in November. And my kids fell for Splat. I kind of did too. So, the following week I checked out the only Splat book I could find. And the kids hid it from me from then until now. Magically, it appears front and center on my library shelf today...perfect! Especially since it was a Valentine's book. The minute I sat down to share the news with my class, I get an email...from the librarian. She is checking on the SPLAT book that I have had since NOVEMBER because apparently there is some secret group of Splat loving kids that have been waiting on this book...since NOVEMBER! Honestly, I wanted to hide it too for the fear of never seeing Splat again. He is so cute and fuzzy and I am kind of smitten with that white girl kitten too. And don't think I haven't been on Amazon to find my special Splat book...the ones the kids wanted were on...back order. WHAT? No Splat, forget about that! I turned the book in and wanted to ask...how long is that class going to keep dear old Splat! So, just when I thought Splat was over...my kids asked me if we could MAKE a valentine Splat just like the book with a big heart and all. WHAT? I now have to create Splat for Valentine's day? All of the sudden Splat is all sorts of controversial. To make it worse, kids next door were visiting and they chimed in on the Splat talk too!

Better make sure I have this book on hand before the field trip!

 For information on the prints (not Splat) at the top click on the image above!  



Valentine Express!

Happy Valentine's Day Kinder Friends,

I can't resist the paper, the hearts and the glitter that scream Valentine's Day! Isn't it true that handmade Valentine's are so much more beautiful than store bought ones? Each year when I see the heart shaped doilies popping up early I always sneak a few in my cart. It doesn't matter if I have a plan to use them I just know I will. To me they just scream that special element of collage. Who doesn't love a cut paper collage? You almost can't go wrong with a collage of any kind. They always seem to take on a personality of their own!



Before a new area of focus begins in class, I spend some time looking at what I have and trying to find new resources to add. Quite unexpectedly, I was searching around for things to add to my science rock unit and I found some great new books to add to my collection which can serve as books I read for science and also integrate into other curriculum areas during the month of February.

To find out how we are using them in science click here!

 I am patiently waiting for these books to arrive and I can't wait to use them in class this week. And since I was doing a little Valentine sprucing up, I decided to look at my own files I had saved for Valentine's Day. I guess between a hard drive crash and a backup or two later I discovered I had little on hand. So I sat down and stared creating the things I had always wanted in one little place. I want a file I can open up at home and school and print and...run with it!

It wasn't hard to make a pretty long list of the things I wanted or wished I had in my file.

After all, I am a busy teacher!

Just like you, I do not have time to worry about all of this during a busy week. One thing I new I needed to have on hand was emergency cards for the kids who do not bring them. That was a lesson learned my first year of teaching...it happens. I really didn't want to spend my morning grabbing supplies and worrying about all of that. And then I started worrying about parent gifts. I wanted something the kids could do and do successfully on their own. And yes, I didn't want a lot of prep time on my part because I have objectives to master and really not a lot of time to devote to the perfect parent gift. I created a few different versions of parent gifts that are print and run and a lot of fun. I was kind of getting a little excited about this week in Kinder. But then I remembered that I needed a gift t give to the kids in my class! So, I was inspired and created some print and attach cards. I am all kinds of excited about that too!

But like I said, I have objectives to master and a whole lot of assessment and progress monitoring to attend to this week. So, I added writing, language arts and math to the ever growing file... And now I think I am ready to tackle this week of love and learning! If you are a busy teacher like me and need a little help to pull this holiday of friendship and love off, just click on the images above!

Sending you and your class Valentine wishes!