Two Hoots and A Holler: We're putting the FUN back into Kindergarten!

Hoot #1

This week we continued to reinforce routine.  We also brought a few new things out for the students to use during center/workstation time.  One of the items were the Nabi Juniors.  These are great for early finishers. We are able to lock the screen to only the apps that we want the students to focus on.  It instantly becomes a workstation!! The students LOVE them, and they did great! They are learning through the games they are playing AND having fun while doing it...What more could a teacher ask for?!?! These cost about $99, and worth every penny.  It would be a great item for you to put on Donor Choose!

 

Hoot #2

Usually we have building blocks as a "Fun Friday" activity or use them as a reward.  This year, we decided our students need to have fun things to do to learn through play.  Blocks are available to all students during center time/workstations.  This week I overheard students talking while building with the blocks.  Six students had come together and decided on jobs for each person.  There were two students building the buildings for their city with blocks, two were building cars out of Legos to drive around the city, and the other two were using blocks to build roads to follow through the city.  What is the amazing part you ask??  THEY DID THIS ALL ON THEIR OWN WITHOUT BEING TOLD!! So many  skills (speaking, listening, problem solving, social skills, etc.) were being used through their interactions that it was UNBELIEVABLE! They were sharing and getting along while using their imaginations to create their city.  I just sat back in awe grinning because THIS is what IT IS ALL ABOUT!   So  if you don't have any time for your students during the day to use their imagination and play...YOU SHOULD!  You will be amazed at what they can do! Remember, they are 5 and 6 years old, and this is what they NEED!

Part of the city being built. 

The "car mechanic" showing his work.

This Week's Holler...

This weeks holler goes out to Crystal Radke at Kreative in Kinder.  We met Crystal at the French Lick Spring bloggers meetup.  We went to her group and heard her wonderful story of going to the Ron Clark Academy.  It is definitely on our bucket list! We have been in school three weeks and we can tell you, when we went to Crystal's blog, it totally spoke to us.  Last year she created a linky called Dear Future Me.  It is a must read! We are so glad we are not alone on this journey!

Two Hoots and A Holler: We're Lovin It!

Hoot #1

We have been working hard to make letter units to use in our classroom.  We just felt that our students needed more hands on types of activities to help them learn and remember letters and sounds.  This past week was the first time that we actually got to use them with our class!  Our kids absolutely LOVED getting to do all of the activities at our Ll Celebration.  Each child got to make his/her own glass of lemonade to drink.  They got to taste their lemon before squeezing it; that was one of the funniest things, I regret I didn't have my camera ready to snap a picture of some of those faces!  We graphed about our lemonade, we made a glyph about our lemonade, and we wore our ladybug hats home.  The hats were a HUGE hit!  They loved putting them on and "flying" around the room!  They are already asking what is in store for the letter Oo tomorrow on Fun Friday! We think that these letter units are definitely kid approved.  That means so much to us to know that our students are benefiting from the activities happening in our rooms! 

Hoot #2

So lately, I have become sort of obsessed with ordering teacher t-shirts! There are so many that I see on Facebook that are just TOO cute, and I think that I MUST have them!  Today, I got my last order of shirts, and I AM IN LOVE WITH THEM!   I had a friend make them, and she did a wonderful job.  

Made by Just 4 You.  Look her up on my Facebook Page.  She does EXCELLENT work!

 We have been to two blogger meet ups so far since we started our journey as Kinder Glitter Girls back in November.  Both of the meetups ended by having one last breakfast before saying good bye to our new friends.  Both times, we have worn matching shirts to the breakfast that we feel represent us.  We found the PERFECT shirt to wear to our next meet up.  We can't wait to go to another meet up to be surrounded by such wonderful and talented teachers!  So in the meantime, we will keep our shirts hung up in our closets and wait as patiently as possible until the next blogger teacher meet up.  Hope it isn't too much longer...

HEY Y'ALL! Here we are at the Nashville Teacher Blogger Meet Up on our last day.  We saw these shirts, and we just couldn't resist!  Can't wait to wear the new shirts!

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Heidi at Flipping For First! This sweet lady is a ball of energy!  Our backs are still hurting from seeing her do that back flip on the trampoline! You can see it too when you check out her blog!  We loved her editable Open House Handbook that she created! Since we started school on the 5th, we are definitely putting that on the list for next year!  No matter what grade you teach, this girl has covered the topic! We are so thankful for Heidi!

Two Hoots and A Holler:

Hoot #1

We were so excited when we heard that A+ Images will make blogger shirts!  We couldn't wait to order them!  We have heard of A+ Images before, and we even have purchased shirts from them in the past at conferences.  We uploaded our logo on the online design tool, and within minutes our shirts were ordered.  It was so easy!  In no time, our shirts were delivered right to our door, and we couldn't wait to wear them! School had not started yet, so we had to wait patiently to show off our new shirts (that was the hard part)!  We showed up on the first day of school sporting our new shirts, and had so many compliments on them.  A+ Images, Kinder Glitter Girls want to give you our first hoot this week and say THANK YOU!  YOU ROCK! 

We had to get a Kinder Glitter Girls shirt for our good friend and coworker that helped us out TREMENDOUSLY when we presented at our first conference this summer. 

Hoot #2 

This year started off with a lot of sweat, hard work and tears!  Our kindergarten team definitely deserves a HOOT!  Our kindergarten team hit the ground running as soon as the school door opened!  We are a great, hard working team!  These girls are like our family.  We have taught together for years!  We love one another, vent to one another, are there for each other, take up for each other, and laugh together just like sisters.  When kindergarten teachers are walking down the hall together, everyone thinks "Uh-oh, here comes trouble!"  We are known for our goofy side because no matter how stressful things get, we never forget to have fun and laugh. We were so excited to start the year off with 7 kindergarten units (one more than we had last year).  Unfortunately, we didn't have enough students to keep all 7.  We ended up losing one of our team mates.  She didn't go quietly though, there were lots of crying and begging her not to go to third grade.  She has begun to make the transition to third grade, and we know she will do great!  Even though we have the utmost faith in her, it still doesn't make our loss any easier! We have faith that she will be back with her school family next year in kindergarten. So, to our kindergarten sisters, we think you ROCK and we thank you for your dedication and hard work!  We couldn't do it without you!   

Peggy, Jamie, Brittany, Jodi, and Nikki  We can't thank these girls enough for all that they do! 

Kindergarten having a blast on field day!

Brittany, Jodi, Nikki, and Jamie enjoying Freemont Street while in Las Vegas for the SDE I Teach K! conference

One of our newest members, Danielle, who helped us out at our conference this summer. She is the ultimate and only Glitter Girl Groupie!  hahaha  Thanks for being so supportive Danielle!

We can't forget Hannah, who is new to kindergarten this year.  We don't have any pictures with her yet, but you are part of this family too!  

This Week's Holler...

This weeks holler goes out to Lindsey Law at Miss Law's Kinders!  This teacher has tons on her blog! We love her motivational posters!  She has great tips on organization.  She also recently got married! Congratulations from Kinder Glitter Girls!!