L is for Laugh

One of the best parts about teaching kindergarten is that the kids are very funny, and the best part of that is they don't even know they are funny!
My kids make me laugh everyday. Some days or even some weeks are funnier than others...this was one of those weeks.

This week we celebrated our 100th day of school. I asked the kids to bring in a collection of 100 things, my only rule was that the collection had to fit in a backpack.

They shared their collections, we spread them out on the rug and counted. I gave them directions.

Me: Sally you count by 2's.
Sally: Okay Mrs. Collins
Me: Freddy you count by 5's
Freddy: Got it Mrs. Collins
Me: Maggie you count your collection by 10's.
Maggie: Okay.
Jenny: Mrs. Collins?
Me: Yes Jenny?
Jenny: Can I count by Mississippi's?

This was also the week I had to complete our mid-year math assessments.
One of the tasks was to sort attribute blocks by color. It was very interesting to see how they approached this task. Some sorted into piles, some sorted into lines, and one little guy sorted by color, but also patterned at the same time. Blue circle, blue square, blue triangle, blue circle, blue square, blue triangle.
This little guy is a pretty bright little boy.  He is naturally curious and loves to learn. So I said, "That is very interesting how you sorted those blocks, you sorted by color like I asked, but you made patterns too! That was very mathematical of you!"
"Thanks Mrs. Collins!"
"Maybe you'll be an engineer when you grow up."
"Well I really like trains!"
"I mean the kind of engineer that designs things like bridges."
"Nah, I just want to be a firefighter!"

One of my favorite parts of the day is listening to the kids talk while they have free choice. I sat near a table today where the kids were coloring.
Kelly announced to the table, "When I grow up I'm going to get married. Do you all want to come to the wedding."
I said, "Wow, you're planning your guest list very early, you have plenty of time to think about that!"
Bobby who was listening to this conversation and clearly has his life all planned out, suddenly piped in."When I grow up, I am NOT getting married. I'm just getting a house...and a dog."

Now there's a boy with a plan. Perhaps he'll be a firefighter and live in Mississippi!

C is for Counting!

Counting to 100 to be exact! We counted by 1's, 5's and 10's! We sorted, we graphed, we grouped, we snacked, but most of all, we just had fun with the number 100!
We finally made it to our 100th day of school, it's always an exciting day and a big milestone too!
My little cherubs are 100 days smarter, taller, and more confident. They are readers and writers and today mathematicians!

A 100 piece puzzle!

100 fluffy yellow pom poms!

100 cups stacked very high!

Our 100's day menu!

A 100's day buffet!

P is for Penguin, P is for Polar Bear

One of my favorite units to teach is my Polar Animal unit. I think penguins and polar bears are fascinating animals, true lessons in endurance and perseverance! I also love teaching using nonfiction books, the kids love the photographs and I love how we can use nonfiction to improve our kindergarten writing. Special thanks to Mrs. Williamson on Welcome to Room 36! and Michele Cain on C.E. Kindergarten Kids! Who originally posted their inspiring ideas on Pinterest.

Love a Penguin with a sense of style!

Macaroni Penguin

S is for Super!

It's finally here! Super Bowl Sunday! It's been two weeks since Our New England Patriots became AFC Champions, there's been a lot of hype and anticipation and soon it will all come to a halt at kick off time.

Now I'm not a huge football fan, baseball is my sport, I won't turn on football just because there's a game on, but these are The Patriots and I will always tune in to watch the "home town" team no matter what the sport.

On Friday we celebrated Patriots Day. Not to be confused with the Patriots Day in April, that's for The Boston Marathon, this Patriots Day was for all things football!

We asked the kids and staff to dress in red, white, and blue. We made signs, designed our own helmets, and made some predictions.

I tried my best not to influence their picks in any way, but cringing when three of my little kiddos placed their helmets in the NY Giants column was probably not the best way to show impartiality!

So I'm hoping that my cherubs have a little insight when it comes to picking a winner.
Final score...Patriots 14, Giants 3.

Works for me! Go Pats!

Snow is a four letter word!

It's late January and we finally have snow! Since we came back from our holiday break we've been making snowmen, reading snow stories and making snow predictions but the weather just didn't want to cooperate. Until...

This weekend when we finally were blessed with 4-6" of the white fluffy stuff.

So today before it all melts away I planned some really fun snowy activities!

While my little snowflakes were at art this morning I filled a bucket with snow, collected some materials and waited for them to return.

I sat them all in a circle and we built a new little friend.

We talked about what we thought would happen to our snowman during the day. 

Some thought he'd run away like our gingerbread man, but most knew he was going to melt.

I gave them each a simple recording sheet so we could draw our observations at different intervals throughout the day.

recording our observations!

We measured our new friend to see how many cubes tall he is.

And then we made some predictions.

He melted...

and melted...

and melted!

We were sad to see our new friend reduced to snowman soup, but we sure had a lot of fun watching him!

C is for Community

 I am grateful and humbled. Today I personally witnessed a community come together to make a difference in the lives of young children.

With only 4 days left to fund my DonorsChoose project, I watched my email box fill with notifications of donations. Someone was doing some networking on my behalf. I am not completely positive who that someone was, but I'm 99% sure and I would like to take this opportunity to personally thank that person.

I have always known my school was a special place. A place where teachers and parents come together to make education better for their children. We truly are a community of caring individuals and I can't imagine teaching anywhere else.

The last email I received was from DonorsChoose telling me that my latest project has been fully funded! What a great surprise! As one of my donors said, "it takes a village!" I couldn't agree more.

Thank you all for your kindness and generosity...it is truly beyond measure.

G is for Giving

There are two reasons for this post, first and foremost to thank some very generous people for their incredible generosity. With their compassion and donations my classroom is a better place for students to learn and grow.

 

Donors Choose is an on-line charity where teachers like me can post classroom projects that are not or can not be funded through traditional school budgets. The items we ask for enrich the learning experiences of our students in ways that would normally not be possible.

During the past two years, because of this wonderful organization and the people who donate here, my students have two brand new classroom carpets, and a beautiful reading area with new book shelves, book baskets, and comfy cozy bean bag chairs.

I can not begin to tell you what a difference these items have made to the look and feel of my room. The children choose to sit in the library area to read, play a game, or just sit quietly with a friend. Books are more accessible and children are wanting to read, and therefore becoming better readers!

Many kindergarten teachers can attest to the fact that kindergarten has become very academic and because of that, it has also become less developmentally appropriate. Academics and a very full schedule have taken the place of play. There have been many studies that show the importance of play in early childhood education. Through my latest project "Let's Put the Kid Back In Kindergarten" I am attempting to do just that!

I am lucky to have a playhouse built right into my classroom. This playhouse has been there since 1946! It's adorable and has seen it's share of 5 year-olds. I've recently given it a new paint job, but it's needs a bit more. 

In my latest project I'm asking for dress up clothes, and some new pretend food and dishes. All materials to help foster imagination and pretend play. Play, that's so important to development. Where young children can learn to share, imagine, negotiate and just have fun without a lot of direct adult interaction.

With only 6 days left to fund this project I am asking for your help. Any donations are greatly appreciated but if that's not possible, just pass it on and get the word out!

If you are a teacher, I can not tell you what a valuable resource DonorsChoose can be. It's not a lengthy process to post a project and it's worth every minute spent doing it. Your students will thank you for it!

Thank you!

Lisa

Let's Put the Kids Back in Kindergarten