Hootin' and Hollerin'

Hoot & Holler

ESGI always has these two Glitter Girls hootin' and hollerin'!  We are hootin' because it always save us so much time in our classrooms and give us SO much information to use with parents and for ourselves!  We are hollerin' because we are now officially "Friends of ESGI"!!  We are so honored and blessed to be affiliated with this awesome company!  We honestly cannot express how much this simple assessment tool has changed our lives!  

We use it to assess sight words biweekly, to assess report cards every 9 weeks, for progress monitoring, and to keep parents informed on their child's progress.  ESGI just makes our teacher hearts glow with excitement and joy because it truly has been a lifesaver for us in so many ways!   We have used ESGI in our classroom for 7 years now. It has saved us countless hours and millions of trees. We honestly do not know how we fit everything in before we discovered this online assessment tool. We would spend days, sometimes weeks, assessing just to repeat the process again in a few short weeks...it was a never ending cycle! Those days are over thanks to ESGI!!  Now we can test and get immediate results in the classroom, AND we can give parents immediate results. If you are looking for ways to maximize your instructional time, then ESGI is for YOU!   

There are hundreds of assessments for you to choose from, or you can create your own.  If you are a kindergarten teacher in Mississippi, then we have some awesome news for you!! Kinder Glitter Girls has done the work for you. You read that right! We have now created assessments that you can access on ESGI!!! How cool is that!! These assessments align with every Mississippi Kindergarten Standard (MCCRS). Click the link below to see a list of the assessments that we have personally created to help our fellow kinder colleagues quickly assess their students, so they can spend more time focusing on growing their students.

Click on MS to see a list of ELA and Math Assessments for kindergarten teachers on ESGI. 

ESGI offers a 60 day free trial you can use before you purchase. What do you have to lose? Once you use it, we promise that you are going to want to keep it. Once you decide you want to keep it (which you will), we have even more good news!!  You can use the promo code "GLITTER" to get $40 off your first subscription to ESGI! Click the ESGI button below to watch a short video to see why you need ESGI in your life TODAY, then it will take you directly to the website so you can sign up  for your free trial. 

Pre-Kindergarten - 1st Grade Classroom Tools

We would be happy to answer any questions anyone may have about this wonderful tool or any of our assessments!  Just contact us by commenting below or through emailing us at southernglittergirls@gmail.com   Happy Teaching to all of our fellow Mississippi Kinder Teachers out there!  Ya'll keep on making a difference and changing the world one child at a time!  

Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

We had our Christmas party in kinder before we went on our break.  We had a day filled with hot chocolate, pizza, presents, laughter, and fun!  We loved seeing our students so happy!  Seeing students just as excited about giving as they are about receiving makes our hearts so happy!  They are the reason why we do what we do!  

 

Hoot #2

Now that we are back into the swing of things, we are all reaching our goals for the end of the year!! I do not know about you guys but we are willing to do everything that it takes to get these children excited about reading! 

 One of my Christmas presents was this cool microphone! What can I say, my mom knew exactly what I would love!

Isn't it pretty???

I couldn't wait to get this into the students' hands! It was the first thing that we talked about when we came back. The students were totally excited. I told them that they could read their sight words to me by using the microphone. The students were totally excited. Today we tested our students on sight words. We do this every other Thursday using our ESGI assessment (If you do not have this...YOU WANT THIS!!! It saves us a ton of time). They loved every minute of today as they read their sight words!! There is so much more this can do. I can't wait to figure it all out!

This Week's Holler...

This week we are hollering at Kristen at A Teeny Tiny Teacher!
We are in love with her listen and learn phonics pack! It is just what our students need to meet their year end goals! Thanks Kristen for sharing your great ideas!! Go check her out! 

It is Snowing Winter Activities!

Whew!  Sorry we haven't been posting blogs lately!  Since we have gotten back from Christmas Break, we feel like we have been running non-stop!  We have been working hard on getting this unit together for everyone!  I hope you will check it out on our TPT store!

 

Click Here to go to our TPT store! 

 In class, we have been working on winter activities and New Year's activities.  We have implemented a new way to do our centers, and we began our writing workshop.  Last year,  I experimented with starting it later in the year, and I learned that my student's writing was better if I waited to begin writing workshop.  Now that I think about it, it only makes sense!  If they cannot recognize letters or write letters, what in the world made me think writing was a good idea?  Yes, they could draw and dictate to me, but I felt like the focus needed to be put elsewhere.  I put a lot of focus on handwriting, phonics, and phonemic awareness the first semester; this really helps students prepare to become great writers.  Also, by waiting until 2nd semester to begin writing workshop, students are more mature and eager to write.  There is not any crying and whining, and I don't hear "I cant do it!"  Students want to try to write and actually ask for it!  Of course I am not saying that I didn't do writing at all the first semester.  We did shared writing activities, and I did a lot of modeling.  I do not expect them to be independent writers until after Christmas. Here are my students enjoying WOW time (Work On Writing). . .

Students LOVE working on the floor!  I even took out some of my tables and chairs! (Thanks to Greg Smedley of The Kindergarten Smorgasboard for sharing that idea and letting us visit his class in action!) 

They LOVE using their "Writer's Toolbox" to help them write!  You can hear a pin drop in my class during writing time.  IT IS SO QUIET!! 

Just one sample of MANY awesome stories!  I still write the correct word/spelling on the student's work.  Some say that is a BIG NO NO, but I want to be able to remember what they told me when I am looking back at it.  I have never seen any harm in doing that, as long as you are not changing their thoughts or words. 

OH!  Let's not forget all the testing that has to be done this time of year!!  Sometimes all the testing gets overwhelming!  Thanks so much to other bloggers sharing ESGI!  This assessment site has saved me a lot of time and stress!  I will NEVER teach another year without it!! It is awesome and worth every single penny!!

These students are hard at work during our center time.  I am loving our new center rotations!  Many thanks to Greg Smedley (AGAIN) for sharing and allowing us to visit!  Just one visit in his classroom, and my whole outlook on teaching kindergarten has changed, for the better! 

Needless to say, there is A LOT going on this time of year in kindergarten!  I am loving all the changes in my classroom that the new year has brought.  Don 't hesitate to ask any questions, I will be glad to share what works for me.  Hope ya'll are having a wonderful week....It is almost FRIDAY!! :)

It's All About the New Year

Christmas Break is flying by!  We have been busy with our families and enjoying the mornings we get to sleep in a little.  We both decided that we needed to work in our rooms or something.  I mean what kind of break would it be if we didn't involve school!  We love our jobs!  After much procrastination, we did it!  We took our second leap of faith and posted our first product on Teacher's Pay Teachers!  EEEKKKKKK!  We are very excited at how it all turned out, and we hope all the teachers who use it are excited too!  Please check it out and let us know if you have any questions!  Thanks for everyone's support, help, and encouraging words.  Enjoy the rest of your Christmas Break.  It won't be long until we are back into the swing of things!

Click on the picture above to go to our TPT store.