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.
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!
