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

Before Thanksgivng Break, we went to the Orpheum to watch "Red and Green Rhythmic Circus".  Kamarion sat on the very front row and watched their every move.  Since that field trip he has wanted to dance like the dancers that he saw on that stage.  He came back from Thanksgiving Break shouting "I got it!"  Then he showed us what he was talking about...he had been practicing tap dancing like he saw on that field trip!  When he shows us what he has been practicing or when he watches tap dancers on the computer, his whole face lights up!  He has so much interest and passion about tap dancing.  We knew right away what we must do!  Well, Santa came early this year and brought Kamarion a pair of tap shoes! His face is indescribable.  He is a great tap dancer, and we plan to use him as part of our kindergarten program!  Watching his excitement over tap shoes and dancing overflows our hearts with joy and happiness.  Oh to be a kid again!  This right here is what it is all about!!  It truly brings a smile to our faces and a tear to our eyes.  

Hoot #2

Our first House field trip is in the bag! We took about 100 kinder and 5th grade students to the Memphis Riverkings hockey game. It could not have gone any better. The students sat according to their house. We just love watching the 5th graders interact with their kindergarten house buddy! This was such a FUN field trip!  Can't wait to do it again.  We all had such a blast!

This Week's Holler...

While looking on the internet for fun, new Christmas ideas to use in our classrooms, we ran across Mrs. Hoffer's Kindergarten.  We LOVE how she transformed her classroom into Santa's workshop!  Since visiting RCA, we have been very interested to see how teachers in kindergarten are transforming their classrooms.  Kudos to Mrs. Hoffer for giving her students this wonderful experience!  Go check out how she did it!

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

We had our first house meeting this past Friday!  The students LOVED the time they got to spend with their housemates!   The Welty House made slime, the King House made ice cream, the Presley House made silhouettes to hang around the school, and the Grisham House painted rocks for a rock garden.  We plan on rotating these activities through our house meetings so that every child gets the opportunity to participate in all of these fun ideas!  We absolutely love that the fifth graders are getting to be role models for the kinders...and what GREAT role models they are!!  After the activities, the Grisham House had a little extra time, so they got to have a dance party!  

Hoot #2

Our second hoot is all about teacher morale!  We are striving to keep teacher moral high at our school!  We will have our first staff outing this Friday after school, and we have begun secret pals.  Another way to keep each other smiling and happy is to pass along monthly "happies" to various teachers.  Last month some teachers got penned!  If you got penned, then you paid it forward by sneaking a pack of pens onto another teacher's desk.  It gets fun when there is a lot of teachers who have already been penned because you have to sneak around to find one that doesn't have a sign hanging outside their door without getting caught.  This month we are "mugging" each other!  Can't wait to see who all "gets mugged" with a special cup filled with treats this month!  

These fun activities were freebies on TPT made by Smart Chick.  Go check her store out!

Click Here for Smart Chick's TPT Store

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Abigail over at Kindergarten Chaos.  She teaches kindergarten in Las Vegas.  Her blog is FULL of helpful information for teachers.  She has her blog very well organized, and it is easy to navigate to find exactly what you're looking for! There are links to her products and freebies.  Hop on over to Kindergarten Chaos to see what awesome things she is doing in her classroom! 

Two Hoots and a Holler

Hoot #1

We began centers/workstations this week!  The students LOVE them!  They did so well with following directions and completing the activities.  We were impressed!  They actually "hoot and holler" when it is center time!  That is their favorite part of the day. 

Hoot #2

Light it up, up, up!!  Yes, another Ron Clark inspired idea gets a hoot this week!  We left RCA with SO many ideas that we wanted to incorporate into our classrooms!  We are taking baby steps towards our end goal, and this is one idea that is a huge hit with the kiddos! Ron Clark students stand on tables, so do we. Ron Clark used disco lights to celebrate accomplishments, so..... we have disco lights and LED lights to help us celebrate successes.  We do A LOT of moving in kindergarten, and we sing and dance A LOT!  The lights only come on for special occasions.  The kids love it when the lights are on, and even some have said that they love school because their classroom has lights!  haha  If it keeps them motivated to want to come to school and learn, then we are all for it!!  

  

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten. We use Julie's stuff on a regular basis in our classroom. She has a ton of resources if you are look for items for you centers. Over the past couple of years, we have done an activity with the poem Rainbow Hair. After looking at her blog, that is about to change!! She has a Troll Craft that is SUPER CUTE!! You want to check this out!