SOOOO CLOSE

Oh my goodness!  I'm soooo close to having 50 followers.  I know that isn't many for some of the blogs, but I'm so excited.  I would love to have a giveaway.  So once I get one more follower, I promise to have a great giveaway.  (I think I hear a Target gift card calling my blog's name.)


Now a little off topic subject.  I wanted to share something else that happened this week.  There is a robin's nest in our front tree.  One visited our front window (and drove our cat crazy) this morning.  Unfortunately, that picture is on my phone and I'm not able to get it off of there and put it on my blog.  But I have another picture of one of the birds to share with you.

Isn't he cute?????

I'm hoping to use some of the pictures of the baby robins during Writer's Workshop with my kinders at the beginning of the year.

Stay cool,

A Beginning of Year Assessment

Happy Sunday!


I know that I just posted yesterday.  But, I came up with a great idea at about 4:30 this morning.  I'm not sure why I get my best ideas during the night or in the shower but that is usually how it happens.  Anyways, I was thinking about the assessment that I give my students on the 1st or 2nd day of school and then again at the end of each quarter.  (This isn't an original idea, I have it on another teacher's website several years ago and of course I don't remember where I found it.  If you know, please let me know so I can give that teacher credit.)  The assessment shows how the student writes his/her name, draws a picture of himself/herself, and writes the letters and numbers he/she knows.  The paper has 4 different boxes for the students to write/draw in.  The boxes have shapes in the corner so the student can easily find the correct box.  Before, I just drew the lines to divide the paper into 4 parts and drew the shapes in the corner.  But early this morning, I thought it would be a great idea to make a worksheet that looked more professional.  So that is what I'm sharing with you today.


In the box with the circle in the corner, the student writes his/her name.  In the box with the triangle in the corner the student draws a picture of himself/herself.  In the box with the star in the corner, the student writes all the letters he/she knows.  In the box with the heart in the corner, the student writes all of the numbers he/she knows.  As the school year progresses, many of my students can write more numbers than fit in the box.  I let those students turn over the paper and write the numbers on the back of the paper.  Also, don't forget to write the date the students take the assessment on the papers.  This makes it easier to put them in the correct order when sharing with parents.


My school has student-led conferences at the end of the 1st quarter and the end of the 3rd quarter.  Even my most outgoing students can become VERY quiet when 2 or 3 adults are listening/watching them.  So this assessment is a great way to get my students to talk during the conference.  Both the parents and students (and I can't lie, me too) love to see the students' progress during the school year.  Many of my students come to school barely able to write their names and by the end of the 3rd quarter the student is able to write his/her first and last name (with correct letter formation). 


 Here is a link to get the freebie.

Assessment Freebie

Thank you for looking at my blog today.

I have linked up with Classroom Freebies Manic Monday.

Classroom Freebies

One of My Favorite Websites

Hi Everyone,

I'm so sorry that it has been forever since I have posted on my blog.  The end of the school year is a SUPER busy time for me.  I planned our Kindergarten Graduation, complete with my students singing 6 songs, diplomas that I bought and printed names on using my computer and printer and a slideshow with 4 songs and approximately the same number of pictures  of each student.  (A great use for my tallying skills, as I watched the slideshow and made a tally mark next to each student's name.)  WHEW!  Thank goodness I made it to summer vacation.

I wanted to share a great website that I found a few months ago.  The name of the website is Reading Teacher.  Here is the link to the website:

Reading Teacher

I used it as an intervention for a few of my struggling students.  They loved being able to read the printable stories.  I was very surprised that the website was free.  For fear of revealing my age, the characters and stories are the same ones that I used when I learned how to read in kindergarten.  We didn't have the letter cards the website uses or of course, the online part.  Please check out the website and let me know what you think.

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer!