Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot#1

Last week was all about Fall. You can't do fall without Scarecrows. We talked about the job of the scarecrow and read The Scarecrow Hat by Ken Brown. Then we made text to self connections by discussing things that scared us! This is the followup activity that we did.

Bryleigh wrote, "I see big spiders."

Hoot #2

Do you ever have those moments in your classroom where you want to pull your hair out?? You know, that moment when, for some, your students have forgotten how to be a classroom community, and you need to have a "Come to Jesus" talk? That can look so many different ways to so many different teachers. This week, I was busy with my students in my class, when one of them said, "um, Mrs. Jamie, what is Mrs. Jodi doing?" Well, I wasn't certain but I took this picture!

Later, I found out that Mrs. Jodi's class was having one of those moments. She took her girls outside and held hands in a circle.  These girls shared what they liked most about each other and how they can be a better friend. This, not only built their self-esteem, but it also hit so many of our speaking and listening skills. My point is this, instead of raising your voice reminding students for the 100th time about expectations...sometimes it better to just model it.

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Megan at First Grade Roars! We absolutely love her Small Group Guided Reading Prepped post! It contains everything you need to get started right away, meeting the needs of your students.  Go check it out!!

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

We learned all about pumpkins last week.  On Monday the students walked into the room to see a HUGE pumpkin in their classroom.  We carved a pumpkin on Friday after reading Pumpkin Jack,  Pumpkin, Pumpkin, and reading non fiction texts on pumpkins.  The students loved getting to use their 5 senses to explore their pumpkin.  We got to smell, touch, see our pumpkin.  We tapped on the pumpkin to see what it would sound like, and the class determined it sounded like a drum.  I had a few that were brave enough to taste the pumpkin.  They decided that pumpkin pie tastes a lot better! 

We dug through all the pulp to get all of the seeds.  Our pumpkin had over 550 seeds!  Each student took home 20 pumpkin seeds to plant at home, and the rest were planted at school.

 We voted on what kind of face our pumpkin would have.  It was a tie, so we carved a two faced pumpkin!  One side was happy, the other was scary. 

After carving and planting, we did pumpkin brace maps.  The students could easily label the parts of a pumpkin and recall the vocabulary used because of this wonderful hands-on experience! 
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Hoot #2

Over the past week, we have had a lot of visitors!  We had the librarian from our town's public library come read to us!  They love listening to stories! 

We also had Ned's Kindness Adventure come to our school! 

 The Kindness Adventure assembly shows that kindness is the key to making friends and respecting others.  It was very entertaining for students.  The students were engaged and interested the entire time!  It had a very good message.  It allowed students to see schools and children from a different culture, and learn to respect others' cultures. We are selling "Kindness Treasures" this week in our school's snack store to help students to remember to be kind and pay it forward. 

GO OUT AND SPREAD KINDNESS LIKE CONFETTI!!  

ALL IT TAKES IS A SMILE OR SOME KIND WORDS! 

 

This Week's Holler...
This week we have been really focusing on our writing.  Students have had a very hard time with writing this year.  After stumbling across a blog about writing from Abigail over at Kindergarten Chaos, we decided to take a few steps back and start over.  We have been working really hard on our "Drawing Journal" and focusing on how important illustrations are when writing.  We have seen so much improvement in our students writing!  We are moving on to labeling and lists next.  We loved her character cards used to help students understand the importance of a setting and adding details.  Check out these illustrations from some of our kinders using the character cards! 

We literally went from scribbling on paper to actual pictures!  Hop over to her blog to read all about it!  Thanks Abigail for sharing your ideas!  You Rock!

 

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

We really made it our mission this year to build the morale at our school. We had so many new teachers this year, we wanted to make sure they know they are part of a family. We came up with First Fridays. Every first Friday of the month, we get as many teachers as possible together after school to do an activity. Last Friday, we started the night with Mexican food. Then, we did an Escape Room. It was so much fun! Of course it would not be an outing without food!  We had enough for two groups, so we had two different escape rooms.  One room was set up like an airplane.  The airplane was on its way to Hawaii, and something goes terribly wrong.  They had to find the solution to save everyone on the flight. 

In our room, zombies were attacking the world. We had to find the formula to save the world. Everyone knows that Jamie does not like anything scary! So she took this very seriously in her science lab coat and goggles.

Both groups escaped!!  The teachers in the zombie room were cutting it close to time, but we made it!

What a great team building activity!
Gators Rock!

Hoot #2
We had another house meeting last Friday.  The students in the Grisham House got to make red slime!  This was Jodi's first time to EVER make slime, so needless to say not everyone's turned out the best.  Regardless, everyone had fun making it!  In case anyone has slime on their agenda in the near future...you may want to practice ahead of time!  It is not as easy as it looks.   All of the kids enjoy the time they get to spend with their house mates.  The fifth graders enjoy helping the kinders out, and the kinders really look up to the fifth graders.  They talked about it the rest of the day!

This Week's Holler...
This weeks holler goes out to Brooke at Teach Outside The Box. We are loving her post about Spooky Storybook Stem Challenges. She includes an overview of the all the stories, activites and vocabulary! These look so awesome!! You really want to check these out!!

 

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1
This week has been all about Pete the Cat! The students just love Pete the Cat stories. They love singing along as I read. It's a great way to get students involved in shared reading. We decided to make a Pete the Cat glyph! The students enjoyed comparing how their cat was different/alike for their friends.

What is your favorite activity to do with Pete the Cat?

Hoot #2
We had visitors in our classroom recently.  Some high school football players dropped in to kindergarten to say hello and show their Gator Pride! The students loved being able to see the players in their uniforms, and they were amazed that a girl could help them out and be a part of a football team!    Of course, we had to get a picture!  We love our Gators!  

My favorite is how some of the kids are looking up at them in amazement rather than looking at the camera to smile!  So blessed to have role models for these kinders! 
GO GATORS! 


Holler
This week's holler goes out to Teeny Tiny Teacher. We are loving her Listen and Learn Math that she just released! We also love her "Gold Tag" behavior system. What a great way to add positive behavior and incorporate it to fun Friday!! This may be something that we start next nine weeks! Thank you, Kristin for sharing! Go check her out!!