A Reading Idea

First, I want to apologize for my TpT widget being at the top of the sidebar of my blog.  I finally figured out how to get it on my blog, and then I moved it down the page. BIG MISTAKE! It disappeared! So what did I do? I put it back on my page. There it was at the top and I moved it to the middle.  Guess what happened?  Exactly right! It disappeared again.  After doing this for 3 or 4 more times, I decided to leave it where it wanted to be.  It is a very stubborn widget.  So for now, it can stay where it wants to be.  Hopefully, I can find someone who can help me move it down my page soon.  If you have any ideas, please let me know.


I promised earlier this summer to blog more.  After finding out that I am presenting again at the IL ASCD PreK/K Conference, I thought this would be a perfect time to share some of the ideas that I show in my power point.

One of my ideas is to make my own puzzle cards.

Here is what they look like:

I use large index cards. On the top, I glue a picture and on the bottom I print the word.  You could also just put the beginning letter.  Then I cut them apart like a puzzle.  I use them when we work on a certain letter each week.

Scholastic has a book that has pictures that begin with certain letters that would be great to use to make this activity.  I was able to get this book as an ebook when they had their $1 sale.

Click here to see this book on Scholastic.

Thank you for stopping by my little blog.

My First Sunday Smorgasboard

Can you believe it?  I'm joining two linky parties in less than a week.  That's pretty impressive for me.

I'm linking up with Fabulous in First's Sunday Smorgasboard.

Click here to join the party.

First of all, my teenage daughter (aka my social media adviser) has informed me that I am lacking in Instagram followers.  So if you would like to help me and my self esteem (which any of you who has a teenage daughter understands howshe can lower your self esteem with just a tone), please follow A Rainbow of Teaching on Instagram.  I will be very grateful and so will my self esteem.

Next, I found out this week that a teacher friend and I will be presenting at the Illinois ASCD PreK/K Conference in March. I love presenting at the conference.  Last year, I got my picture taken with one of my teacher idols, Deanna Jump.

We presented 60 center ideas in 60 minutes last year.  Here is one of the ideas.

To help my students practice learning each others' names at the beginning of the year, I make play dough mats with each students' pictures and names.  I take a picture of each student on the first or second day of school.  Then I glue the picture to a piece of cardstock.  I print out bubble letters of each student's name and glue it under the picture of the student.  The students make long play dough snakes and use them to make each letter in a student's name.

Thank you for "listening" to my random thoughts.  Have a great week!

My First Monday Made It This Summer

So, I hope that all of you survived the 4th of July.  My family tried to squeeze in as much family time as we could.  My son is going to college in September, so we are making family time a priority. Also my sister was in town from Chicago, so we spent time with her.  A drive-in movie, a trip to the zoo, a rained out baseball game, a couple of barbecues and brunch together were all a part of our long weekend.

Yesterday, I was able to squeeze in a little time to create a quick Monday Made It.  I am tutoring this summer and needed something to help my students practice sight words.  So I created some cute flashcards to use for practice or to play a memory game.

I used some border that I bought last summer when the local teacher store was going out of business.  (Better late than never, I always say.)  The package not only had border but it also 4 corners.  The border was seashells and the corners were crabs.

The Border

Next, I cut the border apart.  I used two strips of border to make one set of cards.  I made 4 sets of cards and placed one crab in each set.

After that, I used a permanent marker to write sight words on each seashell.  To make a matching game, I wrote the same sight word on two cards.  I left the crab plain.  I haven't decided what should happen if someone turns over the crab.  The player could lose a turn, get another turn or lose one of his/her matches.

I am tutoring this afternoon, so I will see how the game works.  Once I go back into my classroom, I will probably laminate the cards.  But they seem pretty sturdy for now, especially since I am using them one-on-one with students.

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog.  Have a terrific week!

My First Manic Monday Freebie of 2013

Happy Monday!

If you read my previous post, you know that I started back to school last Thursday.  Today was our first "real" day back, where we followed a normal schedule.  The kids seemed to be in shock at first, but they were soon back to normal.  I needed something for my measurement center this week.  So I made a center with some of my winter clip art.  I decided that it would be perfect to share with you for Manic Monday.

Click {here} to get to my Winter Measurement Center.

Tomorrow is my student teacher's first day.  Keep your fingers crossed for me that it goes well.  this is my 2nd time to have a student teacher.  My 1st one was wonderful.  I am hoping this time goes as well.  I will keep you posted on how it goes.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Have a great week!

My First Presentation

Happy Sunday Eve!

Are you already for Monday?  I hope so.  Where does the weekend go?  I'm so sorry that I haven't posted recently.  My laptop decided to only turn on for 5 seconds and then shut off, no matter what I did or how nicely I talked to it.  It is still being looked at by my brother-in-law.  He says that it isn't looking very good.  He is still hoping to get my important things off of my hard drive.  (I also received a speech from my 18 year old about how I was supposed to "back up everything".  Seriously, who has that kind of time.)  

All of this happened as I was making a PowerPoint to use when another teacher friend and I presenedt at the MAPSA Conference in Detroit, Michigan.  Luckily, I had backed up the PowerPoint on my Dropbox.  So, we didn't lose anything.  Yay!  I have stolen  borrowed my son's laptop to work on now.

Anyways, we presented last Monday.  Can I just tell you how wonderful it was?  This was our first time presenting.  We shared about how we each do centers in our classrooms (I teach kindergarten, as you know, and she teaches 1st/2nd across the hall from me.)  The teachers who attended our presentation seemed to like what we shared with them.  I discovered that I love presenting.  I don't usually like talking in front of so many people.  But the other teachers were friendly and attentive and asked questions.  It was the BEST day ever!  (A PowerPoint, a projector and (this is the best) a wireless microphone makes you feel powerful.)

This is a picture of the board that had our session listed on it.

This is the room we presented in.  We checked it out in the morning before the presentation.
  I was a little overwhelmed by how huge the room was.

Many of the teachers who attended our presentation wanted a copy of the PowerPoint.  So, I thought other teachers might be interested in it also.  If you click here you can download it from Google Drive.  It is a very large file because there are over 80 slides in the PowerPoint.

We are also presenting at the Illinois ASCD Conference for Pre Kindergarten and Kindergarten teachers.  It is being held on March 7th and 8th in Schaumberg, Illinois.  I can't wait.  We get to present on both Thursday and Friday.  

Hopefully, I can continue "borrowing" my son's laptop and post more regularly.  

Thanks for stopping by,

My Literacy Centers

I was blog hopping and I found Mrs. Albanese's Kindergarten Class blog .  She is having a linky party about Literacy Centers.  I decided I should join the party.  So here goes....


My center time lasts for about an hour.  The students do 3 centers each day (Mon.-Thurs.), that is 12 centers in all.  There are usually 2 or 3 students at each center.  My students rotate centers with the other students at their table.  I have a pocket chart that has pictures (on the left side) that match the ones on the students' tables.  There are 3 cards with pictures of the centers that need to be done that day after the picture that matches the one on the table.  I have my students switch centers at 20 minute increments.  I have tried having my students switch centers whenever they want to, it just doesn't work for me.


Here is a picture of my pocket chart:

My Center Pocket Chart

Here is a list of my 12 centers (I try to make them as hands-on as possible) and a quick explanation of what I have the students do at each of them.

1.  ABC Center - The students do an art project based on the letter we are working on or do a sorting activity with beginning, ending or middle sounds.

2.  Computer Center - The students play a game or listen to a story.  I use the Starfall website or ABC Mouse website for this.

3.  Exploration Center - I have my students do a Write Around the Room activity or sometimes make words with magnetic letters.

4.  Handwriting Center - I have my students do activities to strengthen their fine motor activities or write on dry erase sheets or use the Magnadoodle.

5.  Library Center - The students read books that I have placed into baskets by theme.

6.  Listening Center - The students listen to a book on tape and draw a picture of their favorite part or some other kind of reading response.

7.  Make A Book Center - The students read a big book we have shared together at whole group time or complete a book with the sight words we are studying that week.

8.  Pocket Chart Center - The students follow directions placed in the pocket chart to complete an art project.  Sometimes they sort pictures by beginning or ending sound.  Other times, I have them sort letters by a certain characteristic.

9.  Poetry Center - The students illustrate a nursery rhyme or song or poem for their poetry folders and then match words I have cut apart to the lines of  the poem that I have placed in a mini pocket chart.

10.  Puzzles and Games - This one is just like it sounds.  The students put together puzzles or play a game.

11.  Sequencing - At the beginning of the year, the students do different activities to sequence the alphabet.  Other times they put pictures in order correctly or retell a story we have read together.

12.  Writing - The students put words in order to make sentences and then write the sentence on a piece of paper and illustrate it.  Other weeks, they each make a page for a class book.  Still, other times they may choose to make a card or write a list, etc.

Sorry for the very long post, but I wanted to share my ideas for my center time with you.  If you have any questions please feel free to comment.  Thank you for taking the time to let me share.

Have a great 4th of July!

Centers

I thought I would share how I organize my center board in my classroom. My centers are loosely based on Debbie Diller's work stations. I don't think my centers are always as hands-on as they should be, but my goal this year is to make them even more hands-on. My students go to 12 language arts centers and 12 math centers each week. They complete 3 language arts centers on each day (Mon.-Thurs.) and 3 math centers each day (Tues. – Fri.).

Above is a picture of my pocket chart with my center signs.  I have a pocket chart with pictures of each of the 12 centers so the students know what 3 centers to go to each day. Each of the tables my students sat at was labeled with a dinosaur. I had the same dinosaur on the pocket chart. The students at that table then went to the 3 centers that were next to their dinosaur on the pocket chart.  The students spend about 20 minutes at each center.

I hope to share ideas of what I have my students do at each center in other posts.

See you soon,

Sue Lattea