Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

 This year I wanted to focus on kindness and teach students how important it is.  I bought the book Bucket Filling from A to Z which is based off of the book How Full is Your Bucket? for Kids.  I have used this book as a read aloud to go along with our Alphabet Bootcamp.  We have been teaching a letter a day, and teaching a way to fill buckets that begins with that letter.  I have seen my students excel at sharing, using manners, and being kind to everyone. 

Over the summer, I read on a blog how a teacher used a "Giant Kerplunk" game to encourage her students in a positive way (can't remember the name to give that teacher credit...sorry!).  I decided use the same idea as a way to encourage students to be kind.  When a student is caught being kind, the student gets to pull a "kindness stick" from the Giant Kerplunk.  Eventually, all of the balls will fall.  When that happens, the class has earned a reward.  The reward maybe free centers one afternoon, an extra recess, lunch in the classroom, no shoes in class, or something that doesn't cost a dime, but the students will LOVE it.  

P.S.  My Giant Kerplunk came from a discount store and some of the pieces were missing....hence the duct tape!  It serves it's purpose though, and it is colorful too!  

These girls were caught by Jamie helping each other get to class one morning.
It was TOO sweet seeing my students smiling and helping one another first thing in the morning!
 

Hoot #2

Don't you just love that feeling when you see your students implementing something that you have taught them? I sure do! We have been working on the beginning stages of addition this week. The last two days, I decided that we would start our "student teachers". These are usually our helpers for the day. They get to come up and literally be the teacher. I do not do this on days that I am introducing a skill, of course, only when reviewing a skill. Everyone gets to be a student teacher several times throughout the year. The student teacher must do exactly like I do, including asking the other students questions. By doing this, we are meeting so many standards and the students have a blast learning!

This Week's Holler... 
This week's in holler goes out to Fiskar! Yes, that's right, the company that makes all of those student scissors. They get a big THANK YOU!! They donated enough scissors for every teacher to get what they needed for their classroom! We love our community!

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1
Several blog posts ago, I discussed about Presley House working to create life size outlines of themselves. The big kids in the house worked so great with the littles, as always, but this ended up to be a very large project. First they drew an outline of each other using chalk on black butcher paper. Then they had to be cut out. Once cut out, the students used shapes to give it a more abstract look. Then we had to cut off the arms and legs so that they would fit through the laminator. Finally, we put them back together and hung them. They give our gym so much character. We love them!

Hoot #2

 Have you ever heard of a game called Tapple??  Well we heard about it last year, and we knew we HAD to have it!  We found it at our local Target.  We use it to help my students who are working on letter recognition.  The students have to push down and name letters and hit the red button before time runs out.  We try to get all the letters pushed down with out time running out.  It comes with a set of cards that students can use to help choose categories for them.  For example, if the category was food, then students playing would have to push a letter down and name a food that begins with that letter before time is up.  This helps with phonemic awareness of hearing beginning sounds of words.  It is so much fun!!  We even get in on the fun sometimes and play with them!!  

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to our Walls Elementary Family!!  We are so blessed to be a part of this wonderful group of people!!  This past week reminded us how much we love our school family.  What do teachers do on a cold Friday afternoon at dismissal?  Line up in the foyer (out of the cold of course) and cheer for each other as they come in from the buses!  Thanks Amanda A. for starting this!  This just might be a regular Friday afternoon celebration!  We definitely know how to have fun together, laugh together, lift each other up, and pray together!  
We are Walls Elementary!  

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

This year we have decided that boosting teacher morale will be our focus.  We have done many activities this year with our coworkers to help us to get to know each other better.  One thing that we all love to do is have fun and laugh!  We had a staff volleyball game the Friday before our break.  It was the Emoji Team vs. Beyerlein's Beauties.  The winner got to play the middle school volleyball team.  Everyone had so much fun practicing and getting ready for this event.  All of the students in K-5 were invited to attend, and they had an absolute BLAST cheering for their teachers!  It was definitely a great time had by ALL! 

And of course any chance to put on glitter and have fun, these Glitter Girls were ALL about it!! 

Oh!  And to everyone's surprise....

BEYERLEIN'S BEAUTIES WON!  We even got a trophy to prove it!  However, we didn't win the game against the middle school team! 

 

Hoot #2 

The Christmas spirit has hit kindergarten!  We have SO many Christmas projects planned for our classes.  We hit the ground running as soon as we returned from Thanksgiving Break.  Here a few of the Christmas projects we have done so far.

 The plastic plate and the pot holder can both be found at Dollar Tree in a 2 pack...That's right!  TWO for a dollar!! 

 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes to The Creative Colorful Classroom.  She has some wonderful information on flexible seating for teachers of any grade!  Flexible seating is something we hope to truly implement and expand on in the future.  So grateful for wonderful teachers like her to share their ideas, thoughts, and experiences!  

Go check her out!   

Two Hoots and A Holler!

Hoot#1

Ok, so we are plastic bin addicts!  We get super excited over cute little plastic bins.  We purchase them all the time, not even knowing what we are going to use them for, but we get them just because they are so irresistible …I’m sure most of you can relate to us on that.  We found these plastic bins at Dollar General, and they are PERFECT for holding different writing tools at the writing center and word work center.  Not only are they perfect, they are really cute!! 

We found these at Dollar Tree, they are soap holders. They come two to a pack.  We use these to hold decks of cards for students to use in math tubs.  We also thought these could be used for a miniature version of the glue sponges that The Kindergarten Smorgasboard uses in his classroom.   

Hoot #2

This week is the induction of students into the Beta Club.  At our school this is a group of 4th and 5th grade students who have maintained a B average or higher in all subject areas.  These students have participated in service projects.  They have exhibited leadership through these projects and outstanding behavior. These are our Jitterbugs and Rock Stars that were a part of our kindergarten class! We are true believers that we do not just teach children for one year and then we are done.  We want to be there to see them achieve their goals throughout their entire life! We can't wait to see how these young minds are going to change the world for the better!

This Week’s Holler

This week’s holler Brandy Withers from Firstie Kidoodles. We met her at the Spring Teacher Blogger Meetup this year. She has some cute dogs and a beautiful family. Kinder Glitter Girls really likes her "Ordinal Numbers with Blind Mice".  It incorporates reading and math activities and it's FREE!! She has a ton of resources for primary teachers on her blog and her TPT store.  Head over and check her out!