Eric Carle Fun

This isn't about Kindergarten (except for relationship to Eric Carle). It's just about cute.  My friends and I made these onesies and favors for our dear friend's daughter's baby shower. We plan to hang the clothes on ribbon with the favors for decoration.

These are some of the onesies and bibs we made.

We made about 50 of these. Each has its own personality.

Sight Words, Sight Words and more Sight Words

There are chair marks on my thighs and a cramp in my shoulder but -- I got all my Super Sight Word Success  put in a zip file. Phew! After typing away a beautiful day I couldn't even download the file to TeachersPayTeachers because they were too busy. That hurt (even if it was my own fault). I'm afraid no one will ever see my great packet as there are literally 100s of sight word products.

I am super proud of my Super Sight Word Success packet although not nearly as proud as I was of my kindergarteners last year. They were Sight Word Sensations! I know my methods work and now it will be even easier for me to implement them this year and think of more ways to improve.

My cover page - dogs of course.

There are 105 sight word pages like this. AND 105 in a traditional font. 

This week I will figure out how to put a free game page on this blog. It was a class favorite. Anyway check out the packet Super Sight Word Success  Over 300 pages of information, flashcards, worksheets and activities. Spread the sight word.

Monster Glyph DONE

Stayed home today with my granddaughter. She wanted to sew. So - I let her. Then I finished a project that will surely raise the I.Q. of every student in my class. I sewed basket liners for the 2 baskets that hold tracing pages and plain drawing paper.  They currently have ugly plaid liners that came with the baskets. NOW they will have brown checked DOG print liners. That is about as useful as the curtain toppers I made.

I did FINALLY finish my unit for Glad Monster / Sad Monster by Ed Emberley and Anne Miranda. Since I can't stop in the middle of making these units and sew, I don't know why it takes me so long. I hope someone else gets some use out of it.

Here's what one of the template pages looks like.  Besides the glyph information I put in lots of writing pages and display pages too.

Monster Lesson
Time to sort the posters!

Classroom Set UP!

I should just set up a bed considering all the time I spend setting up my classroom. Every year I am sure THIS is the year it will be fast and easy. That might be possible if I wasn't so in love with change improvement and growth. Some rules I made for myself as I cleaned out and set up:

1. If I didn't use it last year - GET RID OF IT!!
    I know that is a super hard rule and maybe I fudged a little BUT oh what a relief to finally say good bye to that pile of chalkboards that no child has ever touched; those cute but poorly written letter books; the fake leather fabric swatches that are never going to be Native American anything; . . .  Be brave.  You can and should do it too. (Unless you have a huge storage room with lots of open space.  I'm sure there is some teacher out there somewhere with this. Well, kinda sure.) Also, if something is missing a piece/part and the piece didn't show up during your cleanse - get rid of it.

2. All new games must fit in a plastic shoebox.
    This will enable me to make lots of new games and learning activities and actually have somewhere to put them.  Also the additional materials won't turn my room into visual overload. I may even find the game I'm looking for WHEN I'm looking for it.

My new shelves - already pretty full:(   These are Literacy activities.

My "magic" storage unit.  

This thing held almost all those shoe boxes. Now it has all the puzzles, my ridiculously large collection of Guess Who? games, and TONS more. It rolls out, has space for a basket underneath and was FREE.

3. Sort it, level it, categorize it, color code it, order it  - BEFORE putting it away.
    Which probably explains why it is taking me FOREVER to set up my room.  I do not want to dig through stuff once school starts. I want to know what I have and where it is.

This is one side of my shelf of Guided Reading books - the ones I use to teach lessons. I like these cloth bins because they are visually plain AND deceptively roomy. I am considering hanging tags on the handles that tell the level. But I'm thinking once I bend down to read the label I can see in the bin anyway.  Besides I just put them on the shelf in order from AA - H+. 

    I have a great methodology for my Sight Words. Today I sorted and inventoried the take home books I use. I might even put them in a data base. Next week I attack the Writers' Workshop supply area. That's going to be tough since I think the shelf is too small.
    I also waste make time to change the decor a little. This summer I bought a rocking chair for the reading corner and painted it.

We are the "Rainbow Class."

I have triangle curtains on the windows to the outside and the front hall windows. I decided to spruce them up a little.

There used to be only the 2 blue pieces.  I added the yellow and the bone print fabric at the top. I use magnets on the shade to hold them up.  The middle window has 3 coordinating dog prints.

My BIG classroom decorating tip:  Use fabric for your borders. There are tons of great themes and prints to choose from. I snip the edge and then riiiiiiiiip.  Do this every 2 - 3 inches. Staple around your bulletin board edges. Use them to divide a large bulletin board into 2 or 3 sections. I also cover our bulletin board strips. They still work and look much better. I use fabric to cover any display tables. This includes outside the door of my classroom or for when I set up a table with materials for parents. Confession: I change the fabric on the display tables outside my classroom every month to go with our theme or the time of year.
      I'm always looking to improve my system. I have my posters sorted into artist portfolios by subject: Artists, Composers, Science, Seasonal etc.  I bought some more portfolios and am going to try sorting by month. This should make taking down and putting up new posters easier - I hope.  Until I think of a better idea.

Caps for Sale

It's only taken me 3 years to make a Emergency Substitute Packet with a days worth of activities. Last year I made a nice folder of information for a substitute teacher and even put in an emergency CD. But each time I was gone I had to spend hours planning for the substitute. Do you think people who teach older students have any idea how long it takes to plan for a kindergarten sub?  Luckily I didn't have any emergency absences last year - but the year before I got stranded in an airport and had to make plans on my iPhone and send it. ACH! So when someone at a workshop showed their bag full of substitute activities for one full day I vowed to make some.

I've created a day's worth of lessons based on the children's classic Caps For Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. Now these plans also took me forever to make but hopefully they will be useful for years to come. I am putting enough copies for each activity in a XL Ziploc with all the necessary materials.  Substitute in a Bag? Day in a Bag? I need a snappy name. See it on TPT Caps for Sale

Big Flowers / Georgia O'Keeffe

I feature an artist and composer each month in my classroom, so in April when I introduce Georgia O’Keeffe my students are primed to learn about another great artist. 

Each month I hang up works of art by the artist-if-the-month. I have a large collection of Georgia O’Keeffe works. There are also a few really good picture books about O'Keeffe as well.  This makes integrating lessons on Georgia O'Keeffe a snap. We read: Through Georgia’s Eyes by Rachel Rodriquez; My Name is Georgia by Jeanette Winter; Georgia O’Keegffe by Mike Venezia; Georgia’s Bones by Jen Bryant; Georgia O’Keeffe The Artist in the Desert by Britta Benke.  These books provide ample information on her life and art.

My students complete 2 major art pieces for this unit: a still life and a large flower. We also make a large group painting of clouds inspired by her work. See previous post for still lifes.  The BIG FLOWER paintings are the biggest hit with the parents and ME! They all look great - especially when hung en masse. It reminds me of the old commercial  "Kid tested, Mother approved."  But it's "Kid MADE, Mother approved."


I wanted to give directions on how to make this flower so I made a unit packet on Georgia O'Keeffe with all the different O'Keefey things we do. Find it here: Georgia O'Keeffe Unit

The kids do all the drawing and painting - I outline with puffy paint.

Too Long

I can't believe I haven't posted in almost a month.  I have tons of great pictures and ideas to share - and I will as soon as school is finished. May is busy for nearly all kindergarten teachers - add to that the IEPs and meetings for special education and sleep is a luxury. I started an end of year program a few years ago and it gets better and better each year - but not really less work.  The class this year looks and sounds great. We are even going to sing for the school board. One song is Shari Sloan's School is Cool. I modified the words slightly to fit the end of the year.  I also wrote new lyrics for My Favorite Things from the Sound of Music. I slowed the tempo a little so the words are clear when the kids sing. The FDKers never fail to impress. I also have 4 "plays" so all the kids get parts.  We recreate Are You My Mother, The Grouchy Ladybug, Chicken Big and The Fourth Little Pig. It is fun to see which children are "performers."  It is not always the obvious students. ALWAYS some surprises.  Aaah, kindergarteners.  Look for lots of art and learning project ideas soon.

My class in front of the backdrop they painted - before the performance.