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: Welcome Back!!

Hoot #1

Well our summer has seemed to have come and gone in a blink of an eye!  We had some great times on the beach over the summer, and now it is time to get back in the groove of things! 

We could NOT get into our groove without to ESGI!!!  If you have never heard of ESGI or used it, then you are truly missing out!  This assessment tool has saved us HOURS of assessing in our classrooms, and hours of gathering data for parents and RTI.  

Why do we think so highly of ESGI? There are so many reason, but here are just a few reasons why we will never teach another year without it! 

•  It is user friendly!  It is so easy to enter your class, pick from hundreds of assessments, and begin!
• Tests that we create can be shared with other teachers in our district!  
• There are SO many assessments to choose from, there is sure to be one that fits your needs!
• Paper and pencil one on one assessments can take days, even weeks to do.  Then you have to analyze the data, which takes even longer!  We can test skills in just a matter of days, not weeks...AND it analyzes all of your data for you!  
• It provides individualized parent letters and flash cards to send home with each child.  It keeps parents in the KNOW!
• It has a Spanish version of letters to send home to parents.  
• It tracks student growth as a class and individually throughout the year.  

So what are you waiting for??  Those are reasons enough to want to try it out for free!  Sign up for your free trial today, and get started!
The first 60 days are free for first time subscribers!
Once you see that you cannot live without it, you can purchase the yearly subscription is $159 (regularly $199) by using the code B6125 at check out.  

 

Once you try it out, you will be asking yourself..."how did I ever manage without it?!?!?"

Hoot #2

This is our first full week of school, and we have had our new kiddos in our classrooms for a little over a week.  It was so great to start our first day off with smiling faces of teachers, parents, and students.  At the beginning of every year, we tend to forget how hectic these first few weeks can be.  We forget how much we really have to teach these babies, including the all the little things we take for granted. Our new group of kids have amazed us in every way!  They have adjusted so fast to their new learning environment.  After 3 days of school, we were able to start our new curriculum in full effect!  These kids are listening, joining in discussions, sharing work, and loving every minute of it!  Students are already telling us each day how much they love school!  They are cheering when they see a new book appear, getting to draw a story, getting to use their new school supplies.  They are so eager and motivated to learn, and it makes our hearts so happy!  It is going to be a great year.  We cannot wait to see how much our students are going to grow this year! 

This activity allowed students to practice coloring, cutting, and gluing.  It can be found in our TPT store in our Back to School Activities download.  Click here to go to our store!

I think it is safe to say that these kiddos LOVE kindergarten!  

This Week's Holler...

 We have a lot of changes going on this year, but we have a strong kindergarten team of teachers to help us get through it all.  We know it will be a great year because we work so closely together.  We are excited to take on all of the challenges and celebrate all of our success with this wonderful team of teachers.  We definitely could not do it without each and everyone of them.  So glad to have these ladies in our teacher tribe!  

Here's to another awesome year of kindergarten! 

Keep Calm!  WE GOT THIS!

GO GATORS!!!  

Two Hoots & A Holler: Proud Moments

Hoot #1

Our writer's workshop is finally in full swing!  We discovered a couple of years ago that we have a lot more success with writer's workshop if we wait until after Christmas to begin.  This allows them time to understand letters, sounds, and the concept of writing better.  Our students have taken off with writing, and ask for it every day!  We call it WOW (work on writing) time.  We are so impressed at the stories our students are writing.  Students have a writing folder that holds their stories and Writer's Toolbox.  They love using their toolbox to help them with their writing.  The toolbox is just a file folder with a word wall, fab 5 rules for writing, and an alphabet line to help them remember letter formation and sounds.  Take a look at some pictures of it in action in our classroom...

 They are writing for a whole 15 minutes and staying focused the entire time!  This is only the second day of our writer's workshop! 

 I haven't done a mini lesson on adding details yet, but the picture above shows an awesome picture that this student has drawn.  He is writing about the three little pigs...and of course his story began with "wonsuponatim"! 

 During conferencing, some students needed help with putting words on their paper.  Some are very hesitant at first, and need a little push.  I remind them there is no wrong way, and it is their story.  They told me what they wanted to write, and I drew lines for each word to help them put their thoughts on the paper.  By the end, they had their story written!  Talk about a feeling of success!  They were so proud of their work, they are wanting to share it already!

 This little guy is on his fifth page of his story!  He told me that he needed me to staple it together for him so he could read it to the class like I read books to them!  I couldn't be any more proud of all of their accomplishments! 

Hoot #2

We live in a world where children go to bed hungry and scared. In a world where some days there truly is more testing than teaching.  There are really days that we are tired. There is more paperwork than time in the day. Competition between teachers is actually something that exists, and the petty whispers can be heard in the halls. You all know what I am talking about. We have all been there.
BUT THEN.........
 You shut your door and it's just you and your students. They are smiling.  They are excited to be with you. They can not wait to hear about all of the new things that you are going to show/teach them. They feel safe...They feel loved. You want to give them your best because they deserve it and nothing less. In just the past 6 months, they have thrived.  They have become independent. They only see the importance of your smile and approval. It makes all of the "ugly stuff" disappear. Doesn't it? 

 These two are spending their free center time reading in our reading loft!

My heart smiles when I can get to see this! It somehow makes it all worth it. Doesn't it? 

I say all of this, to let every teacher know that YOU are enough. YOU are more than enough.  YOU are the world to your students. You may feel buried under all of the "junk", but your students see YOU standing on mountains. 

Keep doing what you are doing!! Don't get discouraged when you are buried under paper work, when you feel like you have nothing left to give, or when you feel as though you do not fit in anymore.  Instead, remember your students' smiles and the impact YOU have made on their lives....and then realize that YOU are AWESOME!

This Week's Holler...

 This week's holler goes out to Anita Goodwin at I Live 2 Learn I Love 2 Grow:  Learning and Growing in Second Grade.  She has some awesome ways to use technology in the classroom!  She shares her ideas on how to use Classroom Dojo, Book Creator, Brain Pop Jr., Pic Collage, and so much more!  It is amazing what her class does with their IPads.  Go check her blog out, and grab some of her awesome ideas!  

 

Writing Gone Wild

Hey Kinder Krazies! We have really taken off in our writing!  My kinders seem so eager to write and share.  I usually do my writing lesson in the afternoon as we try to relax and finish out the day.  After I finish my mini lesson, the students get their folders and head off to wherever they feel comfortable to write.  It may be a table, the floor, the reading loft, or the back porch.  It really doesn't matter to me as long as they write the entire time.  This gives me time to walk around to students to conference with them about their writing.  There has even been times that I have told them that time is up and that we need to move on to other things, and they have begged to continue just a few more minutes!  I was so proud!  Can't wait to share more exciting news with you next week!   Have a great weekend!

               Leslie is using the word wall that I printed and put on the back of their writing folder.  I thought that this would make it easier for students to find words that may be causing them trouble.

This is our newest Jitterbug, Charles.  We are so happy that he is with us.  He is such a hard worker.

Usually my rule is no talking during writing time, but in this case, I let it slide.  Another child was asking this child's, "What am I missing in my story?"  Although I appreciated that they were staying on topic and were giving good advice to their friend, I told them that we can discuss that when we return to the carpet.  This will make another great mini lesson!