Parent Gift and Liebster Blog Award

I realize that it is probably too late for y'all to use this for 2011, but you can file it away for next year if you like it! I found this card here: http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/christmas-cards/crafty-christmas-cards/handprint-santa-673633/ . I love this website! It has so many fun craft / gift ideas. Below is a pic of how ours turned out:

I glue a poem on the inside left of the card, and on the right I glue a picture of the kiddos in Santa's lap. You can click here to download the poem. What do you do for parent gifts?

On to my new blog award...

 
Thank you so much to Cindy at For the Love of Kindergarten, for nominating me for the Liebster Blog Award! The ideas that I get from your blog are AMAZING and I am honored that you thought to give me this award.

What does Liebster Blog mean? The origin of this award is obscure, but it's probably German as the phrase "Liebster Blog" translates into "most favorite blog". The award is given to blogs that have less than 200 followers and deserve more recognition and encouragement.There are some guidelines that have to be followed while giving or receiving the Award.

The rules for receiving the award:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your top five picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you’ve sent the award to forward it to their five favorite bloggers and keep it going!

Here are my top 5 picks:

Ms. Emily Shell
Kindergarten Khronicles
Love For Kindergarten
It's Elementary My Dear Teacher
C.E. Kindergarten Kids!

These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things...

Okay. I have three things to blog about tonight. First, I wanted to share this awesomely easy DIY ornament that we made today.

The ingredients:

Yes, that is floor cleaner. I got it at Wal-Mart. You will also need clear glass ornaments and...GLITTER!!! I love all things glitter, don't you?

Follow this link to see how to make them: http://youtu.be/55g0oEhj78I

Here is a pic of how ours turned out. We used "chunky kid glitter" and I think they turned out just fine. My kiddos and I are in love with our ornaments!

On to #2...
I purchased a license from www.scrappindoodles.com so I can share things with you guys that I make with their clipart. To celebrate, I made a graphing activity to go along with There was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bell. I included an "I Can" chart so you can use it in a Math Station. Just click the pic below to grab it :) Please leave me a comment if you download it!

 On to #3...
I was surprised to find this little treat in my Inbox from Emily Shell at Ms. Emily Shell a few days ago...

 

The Sunshine Award rules are...

1. Thank the person who gave this award and write a post about it.

2. Answer the following questions below.

3. And pass the award to 10 fabulous bloggers, link their blogs and let them know you awarded them.

* Favorite Color? Green

* Favorite Animal?  Dogs. I have a Terrier mix, Bentley, that we rescued from a local shelter earlier this year. I couldn't resist sharing a pic of him with y'all...

* Favorite Number? 7

* Favorite Drink? Mountain Dew (it wakes me up every morning)

* Facebook or Twitter? Facebook

* Your Passion? God, my family & friends, and of course...TEACHING!!!

* Giving or Getting Presents? Both

* Favorite day? Friday. I love knowing that Saturday is right around the corner :)

* Favorite flowers? Roses (not red ones)

Here are the blogs I am passing the award on to:

 Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten

Mrs. Bremer's Kindergarten

Keen On Kindergarten

Chalk Talk: A Kindergarten Blog

Kindergarten Crayons

Class full of "Special" Kinders

A Teeny Tiny Teacher

First Grade Blue Skies

Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

Herding Kats in Kindergarten

Thanks again Emily!

There Was An Old Lady...

This is one of my favorite books to read in December! I was just about to search for some clipart to use for retelling the story when I realized that someone had probably already done this. Why re-invent the wheel, right? So, I searched and...voila! Here is the link to the site I found with all kinds of cute literacy activities to go with the story: http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/OldLadyBellLiteracyIdeas.htm .

I am going to use these activities tomorrow. I will take some pics and post them this weekend!

This pic is of the retelling activity that I got from the Making Learning Fun website. My kiddos really enjoyed making these, and loved putting the pictures in the old lady's "stomach" while they retold the story.

Save A Turkey! Eat more...

Found this cutie on Pinterest. I am going to use this to go with a writing project that we did last week. We talked about the Chick-Fil-A advertisements, and made our own advertisements to help save a turkey (I got this idea while browsing the walls at another school I was at for a meeting). It is a simple stem: "Save a turkey. Eat more ____!" You can click here to download the file.

Money, Money, Money

We are about to introduce coins (penny, nickel, dime, quarter). These are simple take-home readers that I made to go along with our money unit. I read the corresponding Welcome Book before we make each one. If you do not have these you can check them out here.

October Bookmark



These are the bookmarks that I hand out to my students in October. We use these for writing prompts. I print them on cardstock and have the kiddos keep them in their pencil boxes until the month is over, then they take them home. Click on the pic above to grab it for yourself!

Goodbye Apples, Hello Pumpkins!

At the end of our Apples unit, I always let the kids make apple pies. This is a kid friendly recipe that I got several years ago from a very wonderful parapro:

Ingredients:
Canned biscuits (large)
Canned apples
Butter
Sugar
Cinnamon

1. Give each student a piece of wax paper & let them flatten their biscuit.
2. Give each student some butter to spread on their biscuit with their finger.
3. Place 1 or 2 apples on the biscuit & sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
4. Students fold their biscuit over & pinch the edge to close.
5. Fry or cook until golden brown.
6. Eat!!!

Tip: Don't forget your can opener!

Color Words

Some of my kiddos are having a hard time learning their color words, so I created this bookmark that they can store in their pencil boxes. I gave it out today to my independent group during our math block and it really helped! Click on the picture to grab it for yourself.

Wheel of Reading

I wanted to share an activity from our Starfall lesson today. It is called the Wheel of Reading. It is basically a kid friendly version of hangman. If students guess a letter that is not in the teacher-selected word, it goes in one of the eight sections of the wheel. If a letter is guessed that is already in the wheel the teacher places a check mark in the wheel. This way students learn to be better listeners so they will not lose a turn. The teacher gets a point if the wheel fills up before the students guess the word. This will be a great activity to use on the rare occasion that we finish something sooner than planned!

Educational Websites

Welcome to my blog! I love including technology in my lessons every day. So, for my first post, I am going to list some of my favorite educational websites. Here goes...

www.starfall.com
At my school we are using the Starfall Kindergarten Curriculum. This companion website is awesome! My students love going to this website during their computer time and learning about letter names, letter sounds, and so much more!

www.abcmouse.com
I just stumbled across this website this past weekend while browsing for lesson ideas. Public school teachers can sign up for a free account which allows you to enroll your students individually, or as five groups. You can create assignments for each student/group to complete, and keep track of their progress. Differentiation at its best!

www.literactive.com
This website has many many games for practicing early literacy skills. There are also online books and nursery rhymes that are great to pull up and display on your ActivBoard, or similar device. One of my favorite sections is the "Road to Reading" which can be used to introduce the letters of the alphabet.

I realized as I was typing these that all of these sites are literacy sites. Does anyone out there know of any really great math websites for kindergarten students? If so, I'd love for you to leave a link in the comments below! I am excited to get this blog rolling, and I hope that someone out there will benefit from it the way I have from so many others.