Two Hoots and A Holler

Hoot #1

It is getting close to the end of the year, and we have spent well over 100 days together.  As with any family, we sometimes forget how important it is to always be kind and love one another...no matter what!  You teachers know what I am talking about...this time of year stress levels are high, emotions are all over the place, everyone is tired...and by everyone I mean teachers and students!  Well, that has been my class lately.  I have had to begin teaching kindness and character education lessons to help them remember the importance of being kind.  I have used a lot of videos and songs from YouTube to help my students with this.  I began a kindness chart in class.  I give students a check by their name when they are caught being kind.  Once they receive 6 checks (on check for each letter in "Be Kind"), they will choose a reward.  We have learned multiple ways to be kind, and they understand that they have to be "caught" being kind (they just can't tell me).  Some days are really hard, and there is a lot of whining, arguing, tattling, and disobeying in class.  On those days, I take a washable marker and draw a heart on each kid's hand.  This heart is to help remind them to always be kind.  The students love having the hearts on the hands!  They don't even want to wash their hands...so be prepared to redraw hearts! (Because we definitely want them to wash their hands...you fellow kinder teachers out there know what I mean!)  One of the most important goals for my students is to be a successful citizen in society.  Understanding kindness and showing kindness, even when we think someone doesn't deserve it, will help them achieve this goal.  I challenge each of you to try a little kindness challenge in your classroom!  It feels good to make someone smile!  A little kindness goes a LONG way!!!  

BE KIND AND PAY IT FORWARD! 

Hoot #2

We are 5 days away from meeting our chicks. We have studied all of the things that the chicks are currently doing inside the shell as we wait for their arrival. We have also been learning everything that it will take to care for them. One of the things that we learned was the body parts of a chick. We did a fun activity of tear art to reinforce labeling. The kids had a blast!

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Elizabeth at Kickin' It In Kindergarten. I don't know about you, but right now, our class is all about word problems! We are loving Elizabeth's Wednesday Words Problems. She has them for the whole year. Hop over and check it out!

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
I don't know about you, but my students love Junie B. Jones books!  We just finished reading Junie B. Jones and her Big Fat Mouth by Barbara Parks. The book centers around the fact that Monday is Job Day at school, and Junie B. doesn't know what she will be. I will not give away the ending of the story, but this did spark conversations with my students.  Based on THEIR discussions, they thought that we needed to have a Job Day too! I am loving these text-to-self connections, so I was definitely all in!!!
It turned out great!

Dressing up was not the only requirement for Job Day. Just like Junie B., each student had to get on our class stage and tell about their job. They also had to ask and answer questions about their job.  Ryleigh wants to be a scientist. She talked about the ways scientist mix liquids and solids to create new things for us.

 

Chloe wants to be a doctor. She talked about how important her job was because she had to help keep us well.

Dariah wants to be a dentist. She told us how important it is to keep your teeth and gums healthy. She also told us about her favorite instruments that she would use at her job!

 Cannon told us that his job is to be a counselor to special needs students. This just stole my heart. He told us the importance of treating everyone, that may be different, kindly. He also told us that children with special needs are just like us, and we should take the time to reach out to someone that we may not normally connect with. IT WAS AMAZING!!

 This was such a fun way to meet SO many of the standards! The students didn't even know they were working and learning. 
If you are wondering, my stage is actually made of 4 plastic rectangles. I set two of them side by side and set another two on top them. Normally they would be used for step aerobics, but the P.E teacher wasn't using them and said that I could have them! FREE STAGE for my students. They think that it is great! It is light weight and doesn't take up any space in my classroom.

Hoot #2
We had a student at our school who passed away at the age of 12 named Zoe.  While we didn't actually get the opportunity to be her teacher, her story touched our hearts, much like many others at our school and surrounding schools.  Our school partnered with the middle school she attended to raise money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation in her memory.  Zoe was granted her wish of a Disney Cruise while she was in 6th grade through Make-A-Wish.  We wanted to be able to give another child this wonderful opportunity, so we began many different fundraisers to help us reach our goal of $8,000. One of our most recent fundraisers was selling this Gator shirt designed by Southern Belle.  We had over 100 shirts sold!!  We are so excited to be another step closer to granting a wish to a child.  We feel so blessed to have the opportunity to pay it forward in Zoe's honor, and we know this is what Zoe would want as well!  

This Week's Holler...

This week's holler goes out to Jessica at Mrs. Stanford's Class. 
This holler is right up Jodi's alley. Jessica discusses fonts and having the perfect font pairing. For all of our TPT friends... there are definitely some great pairings on her blog that you could use when designing your next item.  Go check her 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!