M is for Math

Most of my teacher friends have heard me say at one time or another, "There's a reason why I teach kindergarten math." The fact of the matter is, math has never been a favorite subject of mine, at least growing up. My brain just does not work that way. I have a vivid childhood memory of sitting at the kitchen table while my grandfather "tried" to help me with math. Let's just say he was a very patient man.               

  Do you need an essay written, I'm your go to girl, but algebraic equations? Not so much.When my kids hit high school (maybe even sooner) their math homework became a mystery to me. I'd hear "Mom can you help me with my math homework?" "Nope, go ask dad." It's not that I didn't want to help them...I couldn't! 

Even though I'm not a big math fan, I still enjoy teaching it, at least to kindergarteners! We have a lot of fun with math in my classroom.

One of my favorite lessons to teach each year is the Marshmallow lesson! What's not to love about a sticky marshmallow? Of course my kids would much rather eat them than build with them, so every few minutes I shout out, "you may eat two marshmallows!" They love that! They are pretty creative with their marshmallows and toothpicks and I'm always amazed at the structures they are able to build.

I also love finding fun and interesting ways to teach graphing. We graph everything from gingerbread men, who will win the Superbowl, which of us like Green Eggs and Ham, and how many fish of each color we can catch. I try to make our graphs as fun and visually appealing as possible.

I think the best thing about math is that it's universal. It doesn't matter what language you speak, math is math. I find that those kids who struggle with phonemic awareness, letter id and phonics can be and usually are successful with kindergarten math concepts. Succeeding gives them that little bit of confidence that struggling kids so often need. 

Math makes kids feel smart!

I is for Imagination!

Along with being a kindergarten teacher to a great bunch of 5 and 6 year-olds, I am lucky enough to work with an amazingly creative bunch of 4th and 5th graders in a  program called Destination Imagination.

D.I. is an extraordinary non-profit organization that provides educational programs for students to learn and experience creativity, teamwork and problem solving. Every year 100,000 students across the U.S. and in more than 30 countries work for months to solve open-ended challenges and present their solutions at tournaments.

These seven amazing kids worked hard to create a movie trailer based on a movie of their creation. They had to write a script, make costumes, build props, solve problems and overcome challenges as they showcased poise, teamwork, ingenuity and creativity. Their final performance could be no more than 4 minutes long.

Each time I watched them perform I became more and more impressed and not only was I impressed, but so were the judges! 

Our team recently competed at the state level at Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, MA. WPI houses this event each year, hosting the best teams in Massachusetts. Our team earned our spot by coming in first place at the regional competition at Beverly High School just two weeks before. In Worcester the team earned second place out of 19 teams!

In addition to their amazing first and second place achievements, the team earned the very prestigious DaVinci award at both competitions for their “outstanding creativity and ability to think outside the box!” Because of their achievements they have earned the right to compete at Global Finals in Knoxville, TN May 23^rd-27^th!

This is quite an honor. However, for a team and their coaches to travel and compete in Knoxville, TN is expensive! We have a lot of money to raise in a little time. This is an experience of a lifetime for these 7 children and I know that with the effort of our parents and community we will achieve our goal.

I ask that you help, by sharing this blog post with those you know, every little bit helps!

You can "like" us on our Horace Mann DI 2012 facebook page, and on-line donations through Pay Pal can be made here: How Can I Help?

Thanks for spreading the word! Wish us luck!

One hump or two?

Part of our reading program is a daily dictation. I give the word, put it in a sentence, segment the sounds. We sky write it, and dribble the sounds out as we pretend to bounce a basketball. I do whatever I can to make a boring task just a little more interesting. For whatever reason, my kids love it.
I try to make the sentences I give them a little entertaining, just to get a giggle out of them. Today, I got the giggles!

Me: "Okay kiddos, your first word is 'hump'. A camel has two humps. A camel has one hump. Can a camel have three humps?"
Them: "No!"
R: "A camel can have zero humps, but then...you have to call him a horse!"
Me: "Hey! That was really funny."
R: "I know! Hehehehe!"

Okay, maybe one of those you had to be there moments...but it made me smile! It was his little snicker that really made me laugh.



Today one of my kids and handed me a present. It was an L.L. Bean catalog her mom had put in the recycle bin. Her mom told her not to, that Mrs. Collins would not want that, but she told her mom that "Mrs. Collins can order sweaters  or flip flops!" Her mom insisted that she put it back into the recycle bin but somehow she snuck it into her back pack and proudly handed it to me as she walked into the room. 

 I can't wait to see her face when my new flip flops arrive at my classroom door!

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!