Where, oh Where Have I Been?

Me, in front of Surprise Glacier today - so cool!!! (please excuse the hair, it was super windy and my hair is not quite long enough to pull back, but I had to do something!)

I have been spending the last couple weeks of my summer helping with Americorps/Hope Youth Corps. We had a group of 20 young adults come up from all over the lower 48 to help renovate the Boys and Girls Clubhouse in Kotzebue, Alaska. I spent 7 nights sleeping on the floor of the clubhouse and 8 days helping to organize, clean, gut and paint the space where the kiddos hang out. Plus we got to hang out and connect with the kiddos.

We flew back on Wednesday, hung out downtown yesterday and today went on a Glacier Cruise (we got to see one of the glaciers calve!!!).

I will be back next week with some fun back to school craft ideas and hopefully pictures of my classroom, although I can't get in to my room till next Thursday (seriously??? we have to report back for trainings and meetings on the 10th!!!!).

Have a great weekend!

My Favorite Target Find

I'm linking up with Target Treasures to share my favorite find from Target this week.

These are going to be my supply caddies. Each kiddo will have one of the long, skinny baskets to keep their crayons and pencils in; each table will have one of the handled caddies with glue and scissors on the shelf {they don't need them on their tables all the time}. The letter size trays are for their journals/supplies for projects etc. There are four colors because I have 4 hexagon tables and each table is named for a color and shape {ie Blue Circles}

And a non-teaching related purchase. "Turquoise and Caicos" by Essie {It's the perfect matte teal shade for summer}.

My Epic Shopping Trip

I have to report back to school August 10th {Of course I will be in my classroom before that getting organized}, but I am leaving for Kotzebue {a small village up north} on Tuesday and won't get back till the following Wednesday so I decided to get a lot of my school stuff today. Plus I had coupons to use.

Of course I had to get some Starbucks to get me going.

Cute, comfy shoes are a must {I LOVE my Keens!}

This was the high temp today - much different than most of you

All my purchases

I went to:

Office Max: $1 for 12 Sharpies (with coupon); 2 packs of bright cardstock and 1 pack of white cardstock.

Michaels: Glass Gems {$1 a pack}; Plastic Jewels; Scrapbook Paper {to make paper lantern stars}; A large R and K with hooks attached {my name starts with R and my TA with K}; Stamp Pads {for $1}

Target: Plastic Cups {for name, chant, cheer sticks}; Plastic Baskets and Caddies for student supplies

Costco: 1 inch clearview binders {for my STAR notebooks}; Lysol wipes and Ziplock Baggies {I have students bring these in, but I got a stash for me to use before school starts}.

I will go to Wal-Mart once I get back from Kotzebue to get supplies like pencils, glue, crayons, markers etc.

This was my view at 9:30 when I got home from Small Group - I love living in Alaska!!!!

My Teacher Always Says

Mrs. Bainbridge is hosting a link party! Here is her description.

"We've all got those "things" that we say. What is something you always say to your students? Maybe it's something cute that you love... or maybe it's something that you heard them start to say to each other that made you go "uh oh!". "

Here are those things I find myself saying all the time.

1.) "Is that a good choice?" I typically say that when one of my kiddos is starting to make a bad choice.

2.) "Big problem or small problem" This is used when my kiddos are coming up to tattle. If they have a small problem they need to make a "Kelso's Choice".

3.) "Stop, Look and Listen" {in a sing-songy voice} Used to get my kiddos attention

4.) "That's okay, we can try again tomorrow" If one of my kiddos has a tough day {I got an email from one of my parents this summer thanking me and telling me about how her son had said that when he didn't get to do something he wanted to do because he got in trouble - it made my teacher hear happy}.

Reading Parent Survey

Authors Note - Hallelujah! I FINALLY figured out how to create PDF's of my Word documents without having to mess around with Illustrator. Expect to see many more printables from me!

This is a Parent Survey I created after reading the Book Whisperer. In one of the "Whispers" Donalyn shares about the surveys she has her 6th grade students fill out at the beginning of the school year. Teaching Kinder it's tricky to have my kiddos fill out a survey {or really do any "writing"} at the first of the school year, so I created a survey for my parents to fill out to help me get to know their child.

Writer Survey

Rainbow Popcorn

I was thrown into Kindergarten last year, so I wasn’t as prepared as I like to be so I’ve been spending my summer searching for ideas to make each of our themes in Kindergarten special {I mean really, a 3 week theme about numbers?}.

One of my favorite themes that I get to teach in Kindergarten is “Colors All Around” {Houghton Mifflin – Theme 2}. I mean in what other job do you get to dress up in all one color and do fun Art projects. In my all my searching for each theme {10 reading themes, plus all the extras my team chooses to do} I came across a ­fun snack idea for our color theme.

Jello Popcorn Recipe

or you could save the cute recipe card I made (click on the picture and "save as")

Enjoy!

10 Things About Miss W.

I'm linking up with Mrs. Owens to share 10 things about me. Enjoy!

Schedule Cards

One thing I've learned is that my Kinder Kiddos love schedules. They want to know what is going to happen during the day. I made up these nifty cards to help show exactly what we will be doing on a given day.

I've uploaded the cards that I use, click below for the download.

Schedule Cards

Book Whisperer - Chapter 3

I have been loving the Book Whisperer! I have it for the Kindle on my iPhone and I was reading it during my free-time at camp last week {one benefit of having it on my phone was I could read it after lights out {I used to hide books in my desk and read during class}.

I teach Kindergarten so I can’t do exactly what Donalyn suggests in the book, but I love her suggestions. As a teacher one of the most important things I can do is instill a love of reading in my students

Book Boxes

I love my book boxes! My kiddos keep their books from Guided Reading as well as their Library book {they don’t let Kinder’s take home their Library books at my school – stupid!} and 2 “interesting” books. My kiddos use these boxes during our Workstation Time.

You can purchase these boxes from Really Good Stuff, or you can find them at Target for 2.50 a piece.

I couldn’t find them last year when I went to purchase them, and shipping is outrageous {to Alaska!} so I actually purchased ice cube holders at Wal-Mart. They work perfectly and were only $1.95 a piece.


Time For Reading

At the beginning of the school year my Kinder Kiddos don’t have a long attention span for anything, let alone reading independently. We start of talking about what the room should look like and sound like during reading time. We make Anchor Charts that we go over every day for the first 2 months. Then we practice getting our books, finding spots to read and actually reading. We start off with just 5 minutes on the timer and me walking around providing reinforcement and redirection. As they get more capable we increase the amount of time.

Along with reading from their Book Boxes I have my kiddos read in-between activities if they finish early – it’s so cute to see them on the rug, reading books together {it makes my teacher heart so happy!}


So. . . . .those are my thoughts on Chapter 3. What do you think.

Check out Swamp Frog First Gradersfor Heidi's thoughts on Chapter 3, and don’t forget to stop by Thinking about Teaching for more book study goodness!

My Loot!

I purchased tons of stuff for my classroom while I was visiting the lower 48. These are some of my favorites!

I'm here, I'm here!

I've been having problems with our wireless and getting my computer to connect. I promise I will be back soon. I can't wait to share some of the new things I purchased as well as my thoughts for the Book Whisperer.


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