Wednesday, August 24, 2011
WELCOME!
It's just around the corner, friends! School is starting in just a few short days. Are you excited?
We can't wait to meet you!
We've been working hard this summer. We are learning and planning about reading in our training classes.
We have so many fun stories to share with you!
We look forward to writing with you, talking with you, and most of all... learning with you!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Getting Ready For School To Start
School starts around here after Labor Day, so that means it's time for me to start organizing. As a teacher, I know first hand that there is a direct relationship between how organized a child is and how well they do in school. Every day I see kids who are rushing in with no backpack, folder, or snack. Then I see the kids who are prepared, calm, and organized. I know which kid I'd rather be. (And which kid's mom I'd rather be.) Don't get me wrong, we have chaotic mornings around here too, but there are a few things I like to have in place to help fight off the craziness.
The Homework Station and Art Cubby
This week I reorganized our art area. My kids like to do their homework at the kitchen table. Our art cubby is on the backside of the kitchen cupboards so it's the perfect place to store everything they need for special projects, writing assignments, and book reports.
If you haven't noticed, there are a few school supply sales out there right now. NOW is the BEST time to stock up on school supplies for your home as well as school. I always restock my kids' home art supplies in the fall, but I also buy enough so that when the markers dry up in February, they are ready to go. Guess what, if you buy them in February they will cost 3 times as much.
I need to say one more thing about homework. The kids in my school, as well as my own kids, have a folder that they bring home every day. THAT FOLDER NEEDS TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY! It's really important and drives teachers CRAZY when kids don't have their folder. So, have kids put their folders in their backpacks as soon as they are done. Nothing screams, "My parents and I are so disorganized!" like a kid who never shows up to school prepared. (Stepping off my soapbox now.)
Entry Way Organization
That brings me to entryway organization. This week I also made sure the coats, bags, backpacks, and shoes were ready to go. I put away the swim bags that used to hang here. Sadly, they don't need to be ready to go anymore. This is the room the backpacks are hung in. Let me tell you, my daughter's folder is already in her backpack, ready to go. Yep, it's that important!
Library Books
The coat room is also the place for library books. The brown bag is filled with books ready to go back to the public library. The white bin stays there. It's for library books we are still reading or haven't started reading yet. Let me just tell you how devastating it is for a five year old when all of their classmates get to check out library books, but they can't because they couldn't find their book before school. Keeping the books in one central place helps kids have less chaos as they are heading out the door for school.
Reference Papers
Teachers send home lots of papers. With two kids in school now, I know I'll have lots to keep track of. I bought one of those magnetic, stick to the fridge, file holders at Staples. Then I bought five folders and labeled them. I have one for each kid, one for me, one for my hubby, and one that just says Home. That way when I need to know what time my son has football on a particular day, I know the schedule is right there. I also keep classlists, teacher contact info, PE days, and all that good stuff in there.
Home Management Binder
That brings me to my favorite part of my back to school organizing week.
My home management notebook has so many wonderful forms and checklists in it. I have dividers for menus, shopping lists, chores, emergency contacts, babysitter information, family birthdays, and much more.
I think I'm well on my way to an organized start to the school year. Then the Holidays will get here and everything will be thrown into a tailspin. Oh well, at least in September and October we'll be organized. I even organized my junk drawers earlier this week.
What is your best back to school organization tip? Leave your best ideas in the comment section. We can all use all the help we can get!
The Homework Station and Art Cubby
This week I reorganized our art area. My kids like to do their homework at the kitchen table. Our art cubby is on the backside of the kitchen cupboards so it's the perfect place to store everything they need for special projects, writing assignments, and book reports.
If you haven't noticed, there are a few school supply sales out there right now. NOW is the BEST time to stock up on school supplies for your home as well as school. I always restock my kids' home art supplies in the fall, but I also buy enough so that when the markers dry up in February, they are ready to go. Guess what, if you buy them in February they will cost 3 times as much.
I need to say one more thing about homework. The kids in my school, as well as my own kids, have a folder that they bring home every day. THAT FOLDER NEEDS TO GO BACK TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY! It's really important and drives teachers CRAZY when kids don't have their folder. So, have kids put their folders in their backpacks as soon as they are done. Nothing screams, "My parents and I are so disorganized!" like a kid who never shows up to school prepared. (Stepping off my soapbox now.)
Entry Way Organization
That brings me to entryway organization. This week I also made sure the coats, bags, backpacks, and shoes were ready to go. I put away the swim bags that used to hang here. Sadly, they don't need to be ready to go anymore. This is the room the backpacks are hung in. Let me tell you, my daughter's folder is already in her backpack, ready to go. Yep, it's that important!
Library Books
The coat room is also the place for library books. The brown bag is filled with books ready to go back to the public library. The white bin stays there. It's for library books we are still reading or haven't started reading yet. Let me just tell you how devastating it is for a five year old when all of their classmates get to check out library books, but they can't because they couldn't find their book before school. Keeping the books in one central place helps kids have less chaos as they are heading out the door for school.
Reference Papers
Teachers send home lots of papers. With two kids in school now, I know I'll have lots to keep track of. I bought one of those magnetic, stick to the fridge, file holders at Staples. Then I bought five folders and labeled them. I have one for each kid, one for me, one for my hubby, and one that just says Home. That way when I need to know what time my son has football on a particular day, I know the schedule is right there. I also keep classlists, teacher contact info, PE days, and all that good stuff in there.
Home Management Binder
That brings me to my favorite part of my back to school organizing week.
My home management notebook has so many wonderful forms and checklists in it. I have dividers for menus, shopping lists, chores, emergency contacts, babysitter information, family birthdays, and much more.
I think I'm well on my way to an organized start to the school year. Then the Holidays will get here and everything will be thrown into a tailspin. Oh well, at least in September and October we'll be organized. I even organized my junk drawers earlier this week.
What is your best back to school organization tip? Leave your best ideas in the comment section. We can all use all the help we can get!
Saturday, June 18, 2011
A Great Day at the Beach
It really was a great day at the beach!
The divers brought up so many amazing animals for us to observe and touch. The tide was low, so we were able to explore the beach and look for animals on our own too. The shrieks of joy and excitement over finding a new creature brings smiles to the faces of parents and teachers! (There was a shriek of another kind when Mrs. Ross was shot in the eye by a squirting clam, but that's a different story.)
The divers brought up so many amazing animals for us to observe and touch. The tide was low, so we were able to explore the beach and look for animals on our own too. The shrieks of joy and excitement over finding a new creature brings smiles to the faces of parents and teachers! (There was a shriek of another kind when Mrs. Ross was shot in the eye by a squirting clam, but that's a different story.)
One of the divers brought up this bottle with a baby octopus inside. AMAZING!
How cool is it to find an animal on the beach, hold it in your hand, and then gently let him go about his way on the beach again?
Thank you to the parents who joined us and a HUGE thank you to Mother Nature! The weather was beautiful!
Monday, May 23, 2011
A Few Fun Projects
We've had a fun and busy few weeks in kindergarten. A few of our kids performed a Reader's Theater. In our new reading curriculum, we have a reader's theater component. We read books and practice fluency and expression. Then, we can perform for our classmates. It is so much fun for kids to have an audience. Mrs. Zayats has been pulling groups of kids to make masks to go along with their reading. Each child reads their lines, rather than simply memorizing.
I also wanted to share this project that one of the girls brought in for show and tell. She made a diorama at home with her sister. When she brought it in to share, she told us all about the animals and toys she used. She told us about the land and water, and what she thought the animals might do. I loved the way she was able to express her ideas through art and story telling.
More From Our Poetry Unit
We shared many poetry books during our poetry unit. Here are a few favorites from kindergarten kids.
I love this book because it shows how poems can be written about anything. It is also a great book for young kids because their homes are things all 5 and 6 year olds know a lot about. They have schema and background knowledge of their homes. When they think about their homes, they immediately have mental images. After reading this book, kids had many new poetry ideas.
I love this book because it shows how poems can be written about anything. It is also a great book for young kids because their homes are things all 5 and 6 year olds know a lot about. They have schema and background knowledge of their homes. When they think about their homes, they immediately have mental images. After reading this book, kids had many new poetry ideas.
This book tied in very well with our work on the 5 senses. It was also a wonderful model for how writers use their senses to describe.
We wrote poems together. This was written as a whole class.
Yesterday I shared our poems and paintings. Here is the display in our hallway. It is so colorful and makes me smile every time I walk down our hallway. Each child picked their favorite poem, had it typed, and painted a picture to match. They are absolutely stunning!
Many kids in the class really connected with poetry. Often, kids will finish an art project and then ask if they can write a poem to go with it. OF COURSE THEY CAN!!! Art is such an inspiration for poetry. Do you share poetry with your kids? Ask the children's librarian at the Lynnwood Library to help you find a few poetry books that your 5 or 6 year old will enjoy. I guarantee they will love the books you find!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Painting Poems
This week we wrapped up our poetry unit. The kids really enjoyed writing poetry. It gave them the opportunity to be creative, have a lot of choice in their writing, and relax a bit with the idea of using conventions in their writing and staying in the lines. Poetry is a fun time to think outside the box.
There is a lot of modeling that happens in the poetry unit. I use samples of kindergarten poems from previous years to show kids different types of poems. We read lots and lots of poems, some rhyming and a lot of free verse poems.I also model the process I go through to write a poem. In kindergarten, we tend to focus on writing free verse poems. Rhyming poems are hard and we never want writing to be frustrating in kindergarten.
One of our final poetry activities was to select a favorite poem, from our poetry notebooks, and have it typed up. Then each child painted an illustration to match the poem they had written.
There were poems about submarines, flowers, gardens, and (of course) rainbows.
My favorite had to be the poem about the contents of a lunch box. If you have been in our classroom during lunch time, you know that the painting below shows this little girl's froggy lunch box.
Poetry writing was a great experience for our kindergartners. Everyone had the chance to feel successful in writing and we ALL love to paint!
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