Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

Our first hoot all about the letter P. We had an awesome party to celebrate the letter Pp!  Thanks to our wonderful parents, we were able to eat pizza, pickles, popcorn, pretzels, Pringles, pixie sticks, pop tarts, purple juice and so much more. We got to even wear our pajamas to school!!  We also had popsicles at recess and made pirate hats.  We topped off the afternoon with a real princess coming to read to our classes! We just love days like these!
Jitterbugs & Rockstars love princesses!

Hoot #2

Our second hoot is something that has helped us show a lot of growth already! If you have not heard about the "Blue Book," we highly recommend that you look into it. Over the past few years, it seemed that our students really struggled in the area of phonemic awareness. We have also struggled with trying to find the right combination that would work with our littles. We do believe that we may have found it!  It is perfect because it is quick and covers all of the areas of phonemic awareness. It takes about 15 minutes (max) to do it. It We do it daily, every morning during large group time. We do hand motions to help the students retain the information. We love it, and the students do too!!  We would love to answer any questions that you may have about this. 

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to a beloved coworker who has began a new chapter in her life.  She has worked at our school for 15 years, so we have had lots of laughs with this special lady!  Bonnie, we are so very blessed to have had the opportunity to get to know you and call you a friend!  Good luck on your new adventure!  
We love you!  It is not "goodbye"... it is "see ya later!"

Two Hoots And A Holler

Hoot #1
Now that the school year has started, we are all about routines and procedures. Our students have started centers and love them. In the beginning, I know this can be a headache. We have 27 bodies that are excited. They go in 27 different directions to do their favorite center and have a million questions as they do them. Rest assure, that this too shall pass. We find that it helps to put them with partners, and encourage them to work together in the beginning. Usually, they will slowly start doing centers independently has the year progresses.

Jitterbugs are busy counting sets.

Letter recognition

Writing our letters and numbers

Hoot#2
 Learning has never been so much fun!  We truly believe in age appropriate, hands-on, fun learning activities.  We teach 5 and 6 year olds, so it is only natural that they learn through play.  We are hard at work learning so many things. If you know "littles," you know that you have to spice it up a bit to keep them engaged in their learning. As many of you know, we went to RCA about a year ago, and we were truly inspired by the things we experienced there. We have always moved and grooved, but since attending, we do a lot more and with more excitement. Helpers get to do their large group time on tables, including dancing and singing! Have I mentioned how much fun teaching kindergarten can be?!?!

This Week's Holler...
We started this school year with a brand new principal and assistant principal.  We have been truly blessed to get these two women as leaders at our school!  They truly care about their teachers and the students.  We are so proud to have this "Dynamic Duo" to lead our school to greatness!  This holler is for you Mrs. Armstrong and Mrs. Cobb!  Thank you for all of your support and faith in our school! 

 

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

We have some EGGciting news this week!!  We are hatching chicks again this year, and our eggs have arrived!  The Jitterbugs and Rockstars are the proud parents of 18 eggs.  We have been learning about chickens and oviparous animals.  The students are so excited to see how many eggs will hatch!  They will be observing and keeping an eye on the eggs during our 21 day countdown.  Stay tuned to see our chicks!  

Hoot #2 

Along with learning about chickens, we have been learning about weather.  We read the book Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs.  We thought about what we would want to fall from the sky if we lived in Chewandswallow.  Students wrote about it and created their food cloud.  They LOVE painting with puffy paint.  We mixed shaving cream, glue, and blue paint to finger paint our clouds.  They had a blast!

This Week's Holler... 

This week's holler goes out to Rachael at Sweet Sweet Primary.  With science becoming more of a focus in our state, we LOVE her science stations ideas.  We can't wait to use her ideas in our classrooms.  And her ABC countdown to Summer is just TOO PRECIOUS!  What a neat idea!!  Click below to go to her blog to check it all out!! 

 

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1 

Ever since Jamie has been using her microphone in her class, I have been dying to get one too!  I finally saw them on sale at Wal-Mart for $14.96!  Needless to say I got it, and I could not wait to use it in my class with my students!  The students absolutely LOVE speaking into the mic!  It has been very beneficial in teaching speaking and listening skills.  I have been allowing students to share their stories, thoughts, and ideas on the mic.  This allows me the opportunity to teach my kids how to properly speak to a group and present information; such as speaking loudly, looking at the group, using complete sentences.  The students are becoming better listeners because they have the opportunity to ask questions to the speaker or elaborate on what has been said.  Every student is engaged and paying attention because, let's face it, everyone wants to talk on the mic! This has proven to be one of the best purchases ever! Go out and get one today!  Your students will love you for it!! 

 

Hoot #2
This week, I decided to do something for the teachers. Thanks to the Desoto County Sheriff's Dept., we were able to have our very own women's self defense class. We had the best time!!  We learned so much about knowing our surroundings and how to protect ourselves.  I love our staff and want to make every effort for them to stay safe and return to our students!

 I invited my mom to join us. It looks like Mrs. Rhonda is really giving it to her!!

 

This Week's Holler...
This week's holler goes out to Emily over at Polka Dots Please.  We love her ideas for using word banks in the classroom. She uses them in so many different ways that could be beneficial to all grades. Go check her out!