Two Hoots and a Holler: Kindergarten Rocks!

Hoot #1

 After a visit to Mr. Greg's classroom (The Kindergarten Smorgasboard) last year, we changed the way we do our centers/workstations.  We began them mid-year last year, so this is our first year to try out this technique from the beginning of the year!  We absolutely love them!  Things are easier, and there is less prep work.  We aren't constantly changing things out and trying to fit things into a week.  It has truly made our life so much easier!  The students are more engaged and actually BEG to do their center tubs!  Seriously, they cannot wait to do them! Thank you Mr. Greg for being so willing to help others and inspiring other teachers! 

Here are just a few of our centers/workstations in action in our classroom....

Sorting letters by their shape:  curved lines, straight lines, both

Putting letters in order from A to Z

Using Play-Do to make sets on a ten frame  (These ten frames came from The Kindergarten Smorgasboard)

 Hoot #2

Our Farm unit has begun!  It has honestly been probably  5 years since we have done a farm unit!  We cut it out because we felt like we were too rushed to get everything else in, and we weren't spending enough time teaching about the farm.  Well this year, we decided to bring the farm back!  It was always one of our favorite units to do!  At the end of our unit, we are having a farm breakfast where we will actually cook eggs, bacon, and pancakes with our students.  They will make their own butter and have chocolate milk to go with the food!  As we talk about a farm animal and learn facts, we add a page to our farm book.  The students below are making the cover to their books and the cow page.  They are so excited to be authors and illustrators!

This Week's Holler...

If you haven't heard of the Glyph Girls, you should definitely stop by their blog to check them out!  Angela and Kelley were at the Nashville Teacher Blogger Meetup, and when they introduced themselves we both looked at each other like we were just star struck!  We LOVE the Glyph Girls!  They have a teacher feature where they show different classrooms and their decor.  The classrooms they feature are SO stinkin' cute!  They even have a blog about how to "Rock Your Classroom Like A Glyph Girl"!  Their products are A-DOR-ABLE!  If you haven't ever noticed, Kinder Glitter Girls LOVE doing glyphs with our class!  When we grow up, we wanna be a Glyph Girl!   

Keep on glyphin' and rockin' girls!  

Two Hoots and A Holler: Lions and Tigers and Bears! Oh My!!

Hoot #1

This week we took our first field trip! We went to the Memphis Zoo!  The kids loved it! The weather couldn't have been better! Here are some pics from our day at the zoo!

 We recently learned all about the hippo!  Landon and Mason couldn't wait to get their picture with this big guy

Lexi Jo, Yarel and Brianna loved the alligators!

The seals really caught Cristian, Abdiel and Jevon's eye.

I had to take a minute to take a pic of these beauties!  Look at Elise and Kamille posing!

Brylee even had time for the playground!

Look at this great group of kids!

Hoot #2

I wanted to share this awesome book today.

This great book was written and illustrated by a teacher at one of our schools in our district. How cool is that?!?!

Of course, after reading this book, we had to make giraffes!  How cute are these?!?!

Holler

This week's holler goes out to Nicole Swisher at All Things Apple. She has taught 2nd grade for 10 years and this year she is teaching 3rd.  We can not even imagine!! We just love her lesson plan template.  You can get it free in her TPT store.  She has ideas on her blog that all grades could use! Be sure to check her out!

Two Hoots and a Holler: Hula Dancing Hippos and Teddy Bears Too

Hoot #1

Last Friday, our students had a blast celebrating the letter "H".  I think we had as much fun as the kiddos!  Here is just a glimpse of some of the things that we did for Fun Friday.

We made horses out of the letter "h". Of course, we could not celebrate the letter "H" without hats!! Each child was asked to wear their favorite hat from home to school.

We also learned all about Hawaii!  The students made Leis by making a pattern using jumbo straws and paper flowers.

Of course, the girls wanted to use the pink straws to make their patterned lei.

In the above and below picture, students are making honeycombs using hexagons.  The different variations of their honeycombs were amazing.  No two looked alike!

These kiddos loved getting messy to make their hand prints on the letter "Hh". Yarel laughed the whole time that she was at this station.

A day celebrating "H" wouldn't be complete with out hippo hats and learning to hula dance!! Finally, at the end of the day,  we put on our grass skirts and hula danced our way home!

Hoot #2

Today we had our Teddy Bear Picnic!  We were so busy graphing teddy bears and writing about teddy bears, that I totally forgot to pull out my camera! So here are the few photos that I have, but these are the moments that made me proud the most.  We have been learning all about the zoo.  We are actually going on our first field trip tomorrow to the Memphis Zoo. We have been working on this book about the zoo in class.  So who better to listen to them read, but their teddy bears! 

Is this not the sweetest thing ever?!?!?! 

And check out our newest Jitterbug, Laura! She found her own comfy spot and couldn't wait to share the book with her teddy bear! Yep! It was a great moment for me to know that in just 5 weeks of school, they were confident and were eager to share what they have learned!

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Casey Jane Cooper at Wiggling Scholars. She has tons of neat tips and ideas on her blog!  Jodi loves the blog post about the glasses. We didn't know the numbers on the side meant anything?!?! But if you go to Wiggling Scholars, you can find out all about it.  After reading Casey Jane's post about the book Unbreakable, by Angela Watson, we definitely want to check it out!  Maybe even do a book study with our kinder group! I mean who wouldn't want 20 more ways to enjoy teaching?!?!  Be sure to stop by Wiggling Scholars and give Casey Jane a comment or two!

Two Hoots and A Holler: Gg is for. . .

Hoot #1
Last week we learning all about the letter G.  Since our school mascot is the "Gator." We asked all of our kinders to show their Gator Pride by wearing green.

Check out this Jitterbug showing her Gator Pride!

The students also got to chew gum in class!! That's right! We decided to see how many kiddos could blow a bubble. Later we graphed the results.  I would call it a successful day! No one blew their gum across the room when they tried to blow their bubble!!

Are those not the cutest kids trying to blow a bubble?!?!

Hoot #2
Do you know what else starts with Gg?  GO NOODLE! GoNoodle is used all the time in our rooms!  We start our year off introducing our classes to GoNoodle.  We love it, our kids love it...I mean what is there not to love about GoNoodle?!?! It gives our students a fun brain break when they become restless or need to reboost.  It is also great for those rainy or cold days that we can't go outside for recess.  The students are always asking for more GoNoodle!  We just can't get enough!  Our students LOVE the Koo Koo Kanga Roo videos.  They literally beg us to do Pop Se Ko or Wiggle it!  Those seem to be their favorites this year.  We absolutely cannot wait to introduce more and more videos from GoNoodle to our kids to keep them movin' and learnin'! We have seen first hand at how supportive GoNoodle is of teachers across the nation.  They have helped sponsor both of the blogger meet ups we have been to.  And let us just say, they went above and beyond our expectations to make our meet ups the best!  GoNoodle deserves a BIG HOOT from Kinder Glitter Girls!  Thanks GoNoodle for ALL that you do to help support teachers and our classrooms!  

Dancing to Pop Se Ko.  Our hands are high! 

This is how we Pop Se Ko!!

 Wiggle it, wiggle it!  Come on! Come on! 

Students are wiggling it really high!

This Week's Holler...

 This weeks holler goes out to Brittany Brune at Nifty in First Grade. Brittany is a first grade teacher in Indiana.  We were given the privilege to meet Brittany at the French Lick Spring Blogger Meet-up.  She is a ball of energy! She helped set up this wonderful event!  And can we say, she has the cutest baby ever!!

We love Brittany's Back To School Survey for her parents!  It is too cute and FREE! Check her out!