Sunday, September 25, 2011

Busy, Busy, Busy

Oh my goodness, where does the time go?  I can't believe it is the last week of September.  I am so sorry I haven't been posting on my blog.  It has been a very busy time.  I have a student teacher, I have never had one before, so I am getting used to that.  My daughter is playing JV volleyball (practices or games every night).  It has been crazy.  


I would like to share with you what we have been doing in my classroom since the beginning of the school year.  First, I began this school  year with the students' materials being organized in a different way.  A teacher on another blog used the plastic shoeboxes to organize the students' pencils, crayons, etc.  So I decided to try it.  Here is a picture of what mine look like:




These seem to be working better than the caddies I used before, mainly because their are 3 cups with crayons, so the students can each have their own crayons.  When I used the caddies, the students fought over where the caddy should be on the table.  The cups can be taken out of the plastic box and each student can have his/her own cup.


Here are a couple of my centers from this past week:




My students always seem to come to kindergarten needing practice using scissors.  I put newspaper in our sand table and let them cut and cut.  It was one of the favorite centers last week.



At my ABC center, I had snap cubes with letters on them for the students to put in order.  I also have teddy bears that have letters on their bellies for the students to put in order.


At my Puzzles and Games center, the students played a matching game with cards that had environmental print on them.

I am extremely lucky this year to have a student teacher and a full time aide in my classroom.  The At-Risk teacher is also in my classroom at center time.  This allowed me to begin having my students go to centers a week earlier than I usually do.  The students are doing a great job and cheer when it is center time.

Have a wonderful last week of September,




Monday, September 5, 2011

First Day of School

Tomorrow is our first day of school.  It is such an exciting and busy (kinda crazy) day in my classroom.  One of my favorite books to share with the kindergartners is "The Kissing Hand".  Some years it is more difficult to read without tearing up than others.  This year will be a little difficult since my own daughter is beginning high school on the same day.  I can remember when she was in my classroom and I read the story to her class.  How quickly they grow up!


Here is a link to the story being read online if you would like to take a little break and share the story with your students tomorrow.


The Kissing Hand


Good luck if tomorrow is your 1st day of school,