Hey Kinder Friends, Well, with my room under construction it's fair to say that it has been an interesting start to the school year to say the least. I feel like I have been on a long scavenger hunt that has lasted a lot longer than I had anticipated. When I finally find something I am looking for it almost feels like Christmas. On the flip side of the construction, I really have learned a valuable lesson. As I tried to ease my nerves about starting a new school year without having every little thing in place, I learned that I had to let go of the idea of perfection and enjoy the joy in each ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, We spent a lot of time setting goals last year and talking about positive mindsets. So when we were put to the challenge of a team challenge and contest, I think it all kind of collided. I think the hardest part of a team challenge is definitely defining the focus and getting started on a plan. And all I could muster up were images in my head of vintage red trucks carrying Christmas trees. I guess I was wishing I was back on break and things were not so busy. After setting goals for the spring semester with our classes and displaying them it kind of made the truck idea se ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, Fall is in the air and we are beginning to feel it. So, naturally we were excited to get busy with a little bit of fall fun. As the leaves begin to turn colors we were busy talking about Spookley the Square Pumpkin. I knew my class had not heard the story before so I was excited to get out the book and dig right in. It gave us a good reason to talk about how we are alike and different and begin the discussion about bullying. You can still get this book from Amazon and if you want to get it on video that is available too. I like reading the book because I think it delivers ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, So much fun talking about the weather as the weather is changing. It is always a topic we discuss as we observe the daily weather and look forward to spending time outdoors. Considering we have Weather Wednesday each week when we record our observations and we discuss and collect weather data daily you can imagine it is tough to keep the discussion fresh and ongoing at times. We finally had a few days with some wind so we decided to shape our discussion around that. According to our standards our children are supposed to collect information using tools such as wind socks ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, I was excited to start the week knowing that I would be introducing pie graphs to my class. Since most of my class did not attend prek last year I was equally excited to tie these lessons to some kinder favorite books. The best part probably was that not very many children had actually heard of the books that we would be reading. We started the week by reading about pie graphs and learning how they are used. And considering it was the beginning of the year we started off with pie graphs with small numbers which made it simple to understand. At the end of the week I wanted ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, Flexible grouping has been on my mind since late last year. In the spring I was able to try several group strategies with my easy going class. I liked the idea and I learned it was not only engaging but highly motivational for my students. I was even able to branch out and try flexible grouping with a bilingual class and the results were the same...we loved it. We used flexible grouping mostly in math and science last year. But this year I wanted to use this grouping strategy a little more and try some new things. I knew from experience that when I started in the spring l ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, As the school year approaches, I am starting to think about the essential items that I need to have on hand in order to be prepared for the year. Over the years I have noticed that the children that come to me need a lot of help in the area of handwriting. In the past, I have been able to get by with simple lessons and materials but over the last few years I have been faced with some serious handwriting challenges. For the past several years I have noticed a huge increase in the children that either wear or need glasses. Last year one third of my class either wor ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, We are so close to the first day of school it is time to talk about the daily schedule. It is amazing how we fit it all in and get it all done all in a day and with a class full of students. Most of my career I  had flexibility in my schedule and I loved that. For the last few years I have had a mandated schedule but flexibility within each block...thank goodness. No matter how you look at it, it has to get accomplished so the way I look at it now is totally different than in the beginning of the mandate. The Literacy Workshop I am fortunate to have the flexibility t ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, I can almost hear the school bell ringing. It is right around the corner. I can't believe how fast the summer just seemed to fly by. It won't be long and it will be the night before the first day. With all of the hustle and bustle of back to school shopping and getting the classroom ready it is hard to get it all done. There are so many things to prepare for the year that sometimes it is easy to overlook the first day. The first day is so important and you might want to capture it in a quick picture. So if you need a little help getting a prop ready I found this in my fi ..read more

Hey Kinder Friends, Thinking about Back to School always makes me think of glue. I had my basket loaded with bottles just the other day and it seems like no matter how many bottles you have it just is not enough. So you probably have figured out that I use bottles in my class. Yep, plain old bottles of glue. It is what is on our supply list and it is what I get a few of at the beginning of the year. I have no fear of the glue bottles. I just have learned to deal with it. And right from the very start we quickly learn the expectations for glue. A Dot Will Do! After reading the book and havin ..read more