save, save as fast you can. here are some ideas for your {gingerbread man}

With everything else I have to teach at Christmas, I never have time to really do the gingerbread man justice.  So the last couple years I decided to save it for after Christmas break.  January's always a slow start anyway, so why not have something fun to come back to?

I like to read multiple gingerbread man stories because my class is always split {as is true with any classic story}: some kids have never heard it and of the ones who have, the versions are never the same.  So I read whatever I gather from my teammates.  :)  Here are some of the recurring players:

After reading The Gingerbread Man, we completed a sequencing activity to retell the characters the gingerbread man ran away from.  I'd say it's a Flow Map but since I neglected to add the arrows between the boxes, I'm not sure if it counts. Then in the space at the bottom the students wrote about the ending.

What's the point in reading about gingerbread men if you're not going to make one, right?!  I've used all kids of various candies in the past {usually whatever was left over from parties} but it never ceases to amaze me how quickly it falls off.  Or is picked off...to be eaten...by passerbys in the hallway...no matter how many times the "this candy has glue on it and will make you puke" speech is given.  {bleh}  And then it hit me.  Jello!

I still used mini M&Ms for the eyes, sprinkles for the mouths & lifesavers for the candy buttons but decided Jello would stick much better than pipe cleaners, twizzlers, smarties or any other variety of candy that I've tried to add in the past.  {Also, I'm out of glitter glue, which is a major bummer and would've solved this problem.}  If you haven't ever sprinkled Jello powder on wet Elmer's glue let me tell you, it's like magic!  Not only does the glue change to the color of the Jello but it smells {mmmm} delicious.

Was the table a horrible mess after completing this project?  You betcha.  But if you work with anyone under of the age of 5 {or 15 if you're a super great educator} you have to be okay with a little mess.  It's building an experience!  :)

After the glue dried and I shook off the excess candy, I hung them in the hall with our own gingerbread man stories.  Abby at {Babbling Abby} has a great gingerbread outline that we used to write descriptive words as an organizer.  Once I decided to hang it all out in the hallway on our school regulated "Bear Boards" though, I realized I didn't have room for the whole sheet and had to cut it down.  If you want the whole printable, you can get it {here}.

They used their detail words to write their own gingerbread stories.  Lower level students used the starter "My gingerbread boy/girl is _____" while my stronger writers were challenged to write a story about their gingerbread person coming to life.  One was an actor who played a princess in a play while another was a gingerbread cowboy who rode a gingerbread horse!

Here's my gingerbread man flow map for your use if you haven't read them yet this year.  I made the form nice and generic in case your version doesn't have 6 characters for the cookies to run away from.

{You could always use the old lady baking the cookie in the first box to take up space if needed or if you can tell the entire story in 6 boxes, your kids can write about their favorite part - or what the gingerbread man should've done instead - on the line at the bottom.  Just some ideas!!}  Happy creating!

New Year's resolutions

Happy 2012!  I rang in the new year with my parents, good friends, some bubbly, a super hyped up puppy and a sick husband.  :(  He hung in there until the ball dropped and was immediately in bed afterward.  I can't believe it but we didn't take any pictures.  Not one!

I'm back to school tomorrow even though it appears the rest of the world is off for NYE {or is it New Year's day?  I'm never really sure} and put off planning for tomorrow until the last second.  I didn't even clean up the kitchen from last night until 2pm and am still in my pajamas, yes at 9:18pm.  At least I was a good hostess last night.  That's all that counts, right?!  ;)

If you're looking for something fun to add when you go back to school in between reviewing rules, reviewing procedures, practicing procedures and reviewing rules again, I will save you time in your last few minutes of break.  There are 3 super fab ideas right here.  The first one is from yours truly to help your little ones figure out how to write a resolution and what that means.  No, you can't make a resolution to tie your shoes if you already know how to do it!

Anna Brantley {ever a favorite} also has some fun ideas on her blog.  I especially love the Bubble Map for making predictions of things that will happen in the new year.  Will someone get a new brother or sister?  What will they learn to do?  How many teeth will fall out?  I'm getting excited thinking about the possibilities of a new year just looking at it!

And Cara Carroll {The First Grade Parade} has an entire unit up for grabs.  Telling time, making words...lots of good stuff.  Some of it is a little high for my kinders but I'm definitely using her Making Words activity in a literacy center.  So great!

Happy New Year friends!  Here's to being a more loving, more patient wife, sister, daughter, teacher, friend & overall blessing in other people's lives in 2012!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Between my Pandora Christmas channel playing in the morning when the kids come in and our schedule being thrown off due to the older kids being in testing, we have been SO in the holiday spirit and can't get enough of holiday {Christmas!!} projects.

{math integration}

As much of a necessity as Elmer's glue is in elementary school, using it gives me hives.  The lid is clogged or they twist the whole lid and a pile of it soaks their paper...I would kiss the inventor of the gluestick.  But, sometimes you just need a little more stickiness.  So I used paintbrushes and my math sorting trays for art and {ta da!} had a liquid glue success story. 

We used sequins {ooh sparkly!} to make pattern ornaments!

I found the ornament outline on the Family Fun website and added the lines myself to help guide the students' patterns.  Go {here} for 40 other holiday craft ideas.

Then we used surrounding patterns to create a different type of pattern ornament!  {These will be gifts for mom & dad.  Sshhhh...don't tell!}

One of my coworkers found an adorable spin on 10 apples up on top for the holiday season.  {If this is your idea, please let me know so I can give you credit!}  The kids make {or color} presents to balance on pictures of themselves just as the characters balanced apples on their heads in the book.  They're SO cute.  The kids worked so quietly that I had to reward them by turning our Pandora Christmas music back on!

If you have them {or enough time to print some out} I've also done this in the past with actual photos of the children instead of having them draw themselves.  Even better if you can get them to make a "balancing" pose.  ;)

{literacy integration}
A few of my kids came in last week talking about Rudolph after they watched the special on TV the night before.  And when your kids have an interest, what do you do??  Build on it!  :)  We started by looking up the song on YouTube and singing along. {Ok, ok...so we're listening to Christmas music basically non-stop. But you should see how productive they are!!!}

We made these reindeer with one footprint and two handprints.  I made it clear from the beginning that they were making reindeer {not necessarily Rudolph} knowing I could turn it into a writing project.  I let them choose their own nose color and then they wrote about their character.  Some told their reindeer's name, some told how it helped Santa...I left it pretty much wide open as long as it was on topic.

My across-the-hall buddy is a first grade teacher {and so much fun to "live across the street" from} and we are constantly sharing ideas of things that my kids aren't quite ready for or that her kids have already mastered.  Luckily she's also a fan of blog stalking and cutesy ideas so we help each other out a lot!

When I realized that first grade was writing a list to Santa about things the kids were asking for, I took that as my cue to think of something more kindergarteny.  As much as I keep saying that I'm "beefing" things up or "extending" activities I also think at times we're asking too much of these kids too soon.  {But that is a totally different conversation for a different day!}  And that's when it hit me...Santa Circle Maps.  :)

Instead of requiring that they know how to write full sentences and sound out the items they were asking for {having been in school for an astounding 60-something days} they drew pictures of their lists and added labels.  Still sounding out, still practicing literacy skills...academic check.  They they used scraps from the construction paper bin to make his arms and legs.  The face is just a coloring sheet I found on Google and shrunk down.

When we spend time talking about what the kids want and being self-focused, I always have to combat that with a discussion on giving.  So to complete our bulletin board, we did some argumentative writing practice.  I will give a ___ to ____ because...  Then I glued their writing in wrapping paper scraps to make adorable lift-the-flap pieces.

Some students chose to give to someone in their family while others chose friends or classmates.  What I loved was seeing all unique gift ideas and specific reasons for why they were chosen.  {ie "I will give my dad new jeans because it is getting cold."}

A very logical answer below.  ;)

We also completed a Christmas tree glyph to tell how we feel about all of the celebrations and displays of the season!  I adapted questions from KidsCount to create our directions.  The ornaments are little foam shapes that you can find at most craft or dollar stores...or Target.  :)

And Mistletoe is still in full swing!  Kids who clipped up the highest throughout the week were able to whisper him a secret before they left for the weekend on Friday...which was an added incentive!  ;)

I'll be teaching Hanukkah and Kwanzaa this week to go along with learning the Christmas story last week.  Candy canes, menorahs and kinaras coming up next!

Bubble maps. {and the problem with Huxtable}

Hopefully you're familiar with using Thinking Maps as graphic organizers.  I know I've mentioned them before because they're great!  We most often use Circle Maps and Tree Maps in kindergarten but are well-acquainted with the others as well.  Last week I decided to teach the Bubble Map as I introduced our new friend...

Huxtable!

That's right!  We finally got our puppy!!!  :)  His name is Huxtable {after the greatest show ever} and my parents decided to get his sister, Betty.  They are Shih-poos and were 8 weeks old when we picked them up.  I am in heaven...unless that's just sleep deprived delusion.  Still working through that one.

Since I had to miss a day of school to drive down and pick him up from the breeder I figured we could use that in the next day's lesson.  Building on interest and all, right?  ;)  So we created a Bubble Map together on the SmartBoard to describe Huxtable.  They looked at pictures of him {because he hasn't had all of his shots yet} and came up with their own words.

The next day they used their Bubble Maps to draw a picture and complete "Huxtable is ____." sentences.  

I challenged my higher kids to then come up with their own additional sentences. 

So between not sleeping full nights {he isn't really sure of the difference between a nap and a full night's sleep} and wanting to do nothing but snuggle him when I get home, I've been MIA.  But I  have pictures ready for apples, pumpkins, measurement, comparing amounts, letter sounds and literacy ideas.    Late is better than never, right?!  Coming {relatively} soon.  ;)  Thanks for sticking with us!!

Staggered Entry.

That's what we call the beginning of our school year when the students ease into the full-time school schedule.  And that's how I feel about this post.  :)  Staggered....random...entry.  Just a few pics I snapped today at school to get some topics started.

This is our diversity display that we made for MLK this year.  In years past I'd gone into the whole race thing, but I really started to feel like kindergarteners didn't see color in themselves until we pointed it out to them in this lesson.  (Not quite the point that Dr. King was trying to make, I'm pretty sure.)  So this year I focused a lot less on how things used to be and a lot more on what the kids could do to make their world a better place.  They created this "Celebrate Diversity" poster by cutting out pictures from magazines.  We talked about diversity not only in skin color but also hair color, age, etc.  I think it turned out pretty well!

Then they each expanded a standard worksheet (not originally mine) where the instructions were to draw a picture of their dream for making a difference.  I had them cut off the border and add a sentence as well.

These are our "Heart People" that we made using a glyph.  It took me a while to buy into glyphs and how they're actually an academic task, but I'm really starting to see them as a way to display information instead of just an isolated craft, especially when we use the directions to read information from each others' projects!

Here's a closer shot of one of the Heart People.  My kids also wrote sentences using "Sparkle Words" (details) so the Sparkle Fairy would come and visit them.

These winter friends contained facts we learned while researching polar bears and penguins.  The polar bears are actually books that have pages underneath.  We created a class chart as we read about polar bears and students used those vocabulary terms to write fact sentences.

After we read about penguins, I showed my students March of the Penguins in short snippets throughout the course of the week.  I've used this video for 3 years now and my kids are amazed every time that these are "REAL LIFE" penguins!!!  As they watched the video, they took notes in a Circle Map, a graphic organizer from Thinking Maps Inc which we use in our classroom regularly.

Each student then chose 1, 2 or 3 words from their Circle Map to write about (assigned by me, based on ability) and then put those words or ideas into full sentences.  Students who were assigned multiple sentences had extra bellies pre-stapled to their penguins, making it into a flip book.  We then painted the penguins using Q-tip dots.

These are snowpeople we created after reading Lois Ehlert's Snowballs.  I got this idea from my neighbor, Mrs. Love, whose done it for years.  Although I will admit that the project itself was a bit of a headache (I may get out less items to choose from next year!) the projects in the end were adorable.  Like always, I also extended the project with writing.  The kids wrote what kind of snowperson they'd made and what materials they'd used to create the clothing and accessories.  We also use "snow paint" to make the fluffy snow around the snowpeople.  My dear friend Mrs. Sink taught it to me and I love love love it!  You mix Elmer's glue with shaving cream so it's sticky but still nice and fluffy and then...voila!  Snow paint that literally fluffs in 3-D from your artwork!

One of my beginning of the year activities is - like most kindergarten teachers! - to read Chica Chica Boom Boom by Bill Martin.  The students tear paper strips to make the trunks, cut slits in the leaves to have that palm tree fringe and write their name dancing up the tree using different colors of crayon.  I used to keep this display up inside my classroom only until our Curriculum Night, but I decided I love it so much that this year I put it in the hallway and am leaving it up all year!

I also wrote each students' name on a coconut when I got my original class list so they'd see it on Open House night while trying to find their classroom for the first time!  The flowers hanging from my doorway also help and have become my definitive decoration.  You can get them at Party City and it's the whole rod is just hot glued above the door!

This is another beginning of the year projects that I keep up all year.  We read a lot of stories about starting school, making new friends and being a good friend.  We also talk a lot about being yourself and accepting people who they are.  Then we read A rainbow of friends by P.K. Hallinan and create our own rainbow of friends!  The t-shirt is a reproducible (not originally mine) that I cut out and help students glue under their heads.  I provide circles of various colors and allow the students to choose whichever color they think best represents their skin tone.  Sometimes they choose accurately and sometimes they couldn't be farther from reality...but I let them choose whatever they want!  Then I help them glue down their yarn hair.  We keep the display up all year and refer to it in our weekly class meetings.  We also read our answers aloud to help get to know each other before I hang them up.

 This is my discovery table.  It's part of our provided school furniture for kindergarten and I haven't really used it much in years past (mostly because I didn't know how!).  The sand was too messy, the rice had a weird smell, the pasta was too noisy...I couldn't get past the items IN the discovery table!  Then I had an epiphany...pom poms!!  They are quiet, soft and make zero noise.  I bought the shovels at the dollar store and my students love visiting this literacy center.  At the beginning of the year, they just had to scoop a letter and name it.  As we progessed, they named the letter and the sound.  At this point, the students name the letter, say the sound and write down a word that begins with the word on a piece of paper to hold them accountable for their learning while at that center.  I also have this table near the Word Wall for students who may still struggle with coming up with a word for some letters.  I think I got the letters from my friend Mrs. Belk when she moved away (we miss you, Friday DJ!!) but I'm sure you can find them at any teacher store or probably even the dollar store.

As Harry Wong said, "Effective teachers can be defined with a single word...they steal!  Those who beg, borrow and steal good techniques are teachers whose students will achieve."  Happy looting.  ;)