P is for Pumpkin Day!

Today was our class Pumpkin Day! Thank you to all of the Mom's that volunteered. I couldn't have done it without you! I hope you had as much fun as we did!

We had 4 activities:

Pumpkin Data
Children used cubes and measuring tape to measure their pumpkins. Predicted and explored how many ribs and how much their pumpkins weigh, and explored the inside of their pumpkin. They also measured themselves in pumpkins!

Taste Test

First we read Grow A Pumpkin Pie!
and then we tasted a pumpkin cookie, pumpkin pie, and a pumpkin lollipop. We graphed our favorites and explored mini pumpkins and read Halloween books while we waited to switch activities.

Pumpkin Life cycle

We read From Seed to Pumpkin and then made a pop up pumpkin life cycle. I found the activity here.

Pumpkin Parts Brace Map

We read Pumpkin Pumpkin and then cut, glued, and labeled the parts of the pumpkin to make a brace map. I got the idea here. I really like Thinking Maps. I am going to work on incorporating them more in my lessons.

Then... after math.. after all of the volunteers went home... We carved the PUMPKINS! The kids were great scooper's and watched patiently while I cut out the Jack-o-lanterns. We put mini lights in them, and I let 3 students at a time go into the bathroom and close the door to see our Jack-o-Lanterns light up in the dark. After a very busy morning and a very wild afternoon, Mrs. Dillon (our principal) ended up being our health teacher! Thankfully, I got a good report when I picked them up! :) Have a great weekend!

Pumpkin data collection

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Zero the Hero

In math we have been studying numbers 0-5. We have learned that zero means nothing and something. We read part of this book, Zero Is It Something? Is It Nothing? and looked at the ways zero changes a number. Then we watched School House Rock, Zero My Hero! We looked at numbers ending in zero and made our own Zero The Hero! I found old stale Cheerios left over from snack so we used them to decorate our heroes.

Zero the hero

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D is for Dragon

This week we studied the letter Dd in phonics.



I can't take any credit for this idea... I straight up copied it from here.


I LOVE the story The Paper Bag Princess by Robert Munsch. I like stories that are not the typical princess stories where the girl is always getting rescued. This time Elizabeth rescues the prince and then comes to find out he wasn't worth it after all. It is a humorous and clever story and a good quick read. After reading it we made paper dragon D.

Can you see the time on the clock?.. that is 6:26 PM!! And teachers only work "part-time"!

T is for Tree

We have been learning about trees this week. We learned about the roots of the tree and enjoyed watching Peep and the Root Problem. We talked about the parts of the tree and read

I found these great web sites about trees- This web site is from the University of Illinois and is an audio guided lesson about trees. This web site is a real life time lapse of a deciduous tree in Michigan. Great for my southern kindys!


In Core Knowledge we talk about Deciduous trees and Evergreen trees. I found this great book about the temperate deciduous forest. What a great opportunity to learn new vocabulary!

We drew a deciduous tree and an evergreen tree as well!

Changing Education

Have you seen this? Amazing.

B is for Boo!

Halloween is in the air! We are heading into the most favorite time of year for my little goblins! Today we read 10 Timid Ghosts. This is a great counting backward book and fits in great with our math unit this week. While reading this book we discussed what timid, clever, brave, and angry mean and what sorts of things make us feel that way. We also identified rhyming words throughout the text. To finish off the day we made ghost hand prints. The kids were very excited to use chalk, get their hands in paint, and add googly ghost eyes!

****** A photo of Apple Day was in yesterdays paper! *******

My Baby Can't Read....

The other night Amelia and I were watching the end of the Good Night Sprout show and I was trying to convince her that THREE bedtime books were enough for tonight-- Mama's eyes are tired.. when a commercial for Your Baby Can Read came on TV. Amelia watched as the baby pointed to his pants when presented a word.. and we listened as a toddler read a list of flash cards, and we watched a preschooler read something out of a very thick book.... I ushered Amelia to bed where she exclaimed.. "Mommy, why can't I read.. if those babies can?" I immediately without even thinking about it.. said, "Babies are not supposed to know how to read". She accepted that answer and we read Little Miss Star, Bedtime for Francis, Jeannie's Hat, and The Grinch Who Stole Christmas ( I know it was 4.. she is really cute and convincing). The next day I thought about the My Baby Can Read trend. I've had parents tell me that they have started using it with their littlest one at home and I have had a parent tell me that their child got discouraged about his own reading after seeing the commercial of babies reading. I am a skeptic.. and I think 3 easy payments of whatever is too much for a bunch of flashcards and DVD of words.. (I admit I have never seen more then just the commercial so there may be more included. ) I am sure it works for some parents and some kids.. I have kids that come to kindergarten reading so I assume someone worked with them or they are lucky to be natural readers. The truth is... I don't think that babies should be reading. I think the time that is spent being presented with flash cards could be better spent on other skills. I am hesitant to post this.. because I don't like to cause waves.. and I don't really know who is reading my blog... but I do think that I owe it to the parents that are worried because their baby can't read.. It's OKAY. My baby can't read either. I have recently felt a little pressure to measure Amelia against other 3 year olds because she started preschool this year. Just like when moms bragged about when their baby took the first steps or got the first tooth.. it seems I am in a reading race! Well, Amelia can't read. I am glad she can't read! Toys I don't want her to have all mysteriously are for ages 5 and up or 2 and younger... I can make a shopping list, read a novel.. without worrying about her reading it. I will be excited and thrilled and proud when she learns to read but I don't see any reason to push it. To me, there is a lot of time to be a serious student with pressure to learn and a precious short time to be a child with only the work of play.

S is for Stripes

Lately, I have noticed that some of my sprouts are laughing and teasing at others when they feel something is too babyish for big 5 year old kindys. It has caused some hurt feelings and a few tears. I have recently stuck up for Sesame Street, Dora, the entire Sprout network, blankies, and riding with training wheels.. so I thought A Bad Case of Stripes would be a good conversation starter about being true to yourself. Predictably, everyone loved the story of poor Camile who suffers from a bad case of stripes because she denies herself Lima beans so others will not laugh at her.. it is only when she is true to herself that she is cured of her aliment. I am not sure everyone could relate but I did get great feedback and many sprouts came up with examples of how they have pretended to like or not like something so they were not laughed at. We decided to make striped S to put in our alphabet book. Here is the online story read by Sean Astin.

P is for Peanuts

As part of our unit on plants we learn about George Washington Carver. Apparently everything you need to know you DO learn in kindergarten... and I learn more every year. Before 2004 (the year I started teaching kindergarten) I had never heard -or at least never remember hearing- about George Washington Carver. Turns out he was really smart and saved the farms in the South. Here is his wiki page.. go ahead and read up! He invented many things we use today... ink, shaving cream, bleach- AND thought of over 300 ways to use peanuts. Since I have no peanut allergies this year we made homemade from scratch peanut butter. We read, From Peanut To Peanut Butter and then got started! Most of the kids had no idea how to shell the peanuts. They were creative with their methods.. although I did remind them not to put the shell in their mouth. We made about a cup of peanut butter and I was surprised that everyone liked it and asked for more. Here is a good video clip about George Washington Carver that is easy for young kids to understand.

M is for Math Centers

This is what math centers looked like today. I let everyone choose their own partners and I passed out math manipulatives and activities. My only directions were, "Share, take turns, whisper, clean up." I thought I'd spend the time calling kids to me to start report card assessment. Instead I got involved in what my kids were doing. I have to say I was really impressed! I saw counting, sorting, patterns, world problems, measurement... I also saw cooperation, turn-taking, sharing, kindness, and teaching. I stopped to take photos because I realized I made it through the bumpy ride that are the first weeks of kindergarten! Every August I repeat my mantra.... "It will be great by October.... It will be great by October" - October is here.. and it is GREAT! :) I hope all of my fellow kindy teachers are breathing a little easier now that it is October!

Practice Makes Perfect

This week we are talking about the saying, "Practice Makes Perfect". We read Practice Makes Perfect for Rotten Ralph. It is a book about two cats that go to a carnival. Percy practices the carnival games before they go while Rotten Ralph takes a nap. When they get to the carnival Percy wins all of the games and give his prizes to their owner, Sarah. Rotten Ralph is jealous and starts cheating at the games. In the end Sarah finds out and makes him return all of the prizes.

We talked about things that we have to practice before we are perfect. We came up with many including tying your shoes, riding a bike, and jumping rope. The students drew pictures of what they are practicing to make perfect.

Practice makes perfect

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C is for Columbus

We have been reading about Christopher Columbus. I admit, once I became an adult and learned the real history surrounding Columbus it ruined the story for me... Thanksgiving is a tough one too! But I think it is important to learn about Columbus. The kids were impressed that he was so brave and crossed the Sea without really knowing what he would find. It bewildered some that Columbus died not knowing that he had made a big mistake. We talked about making mistakes and the importance of trying new things even if they don't work out the way you hoped. We made explorer hats out of newspapers and read a few biographies about Columbus. We talked about life on a ship and what it was like to live over 500 year ago. I also shared that today is a holiday and banks are closed and some schools are closed in honor of Columbus.. they were bummed they had to go to school today.. I could have used another day home too :)

S is for Sharing

At my school part of our behavior plan is using the Stop and Think method and Skill Streaming. The idea is that if all teachers use the same positive behavior method, students understand and anticipate the same expectations and consequences throughout the campus resulting in less behavior issues. I like it because it actually teaches prosocial skills and doesn't assume that "Tommy" knows HOW to listen, ask for help, share.. I use Skill Streaming in Early Childhood to teach prosocial behavior in kindergarten. It is a great guide that breaks down each important skill into steps.

Our Student Support Specialist is AWESOME and made me this Toolbox to help with prosocial skills. I grab it whenever I have a spare minute to review skills and the students are welcome to use it during center time. They LOVE to be the teacher! Inside the Toolbox are all of the skills broken down without the "how to teach" information. I like to pair the skill with a book. Children can relate to a character learning about making good choices. It is a good way to show the "non-example". We model the steps to the skill and then we practice. It is amazing how quickly the students can remember and recite the steps even weeks after we have learned a particular skill.

This week we talked about sharing. It's a big issue in kindergarten! We talked about how hard it can be to share and how to share with a good attitude. These are the steps to sharing:

1. Make a sharing plan

2. Ask

3. Do it

We read about Little Critter and how difficult it was for him to share. We discussed how if he had made a sharing plan he would have felt better and it would have been much easier to share with his sister. I shared that even I have problems sharing the computer with Mr. Lewis sometimes and they told me to make a sharing plan. Later in the day I was happy to see and hear students making a sharing plan together. I hope that life is always this easy for my little sprouts.

“What’s done to children, they will do to society.” – Karl Menninger

P is for Peacock

In celebration of the letter Pp we read an Aesop Fable. This was a great conversation starter about differences in ability. It was nice to hear children praise and share what skills and talents they saw in each other. I love how the P is for Peacock craft turned out!
The Peacock's Complaint

An Aesop Fable

A peacock was very unhappy with his ugly voice, and he spent most of his days complaining about it.

"It is true that you cannot sing," said the fox, "But look how beautiful you are!"

"Oh, but what good is all this beauty," moaned the dishearten bird, "with such an unpleasant voice!"

"Oh hear," said the fox, "Each one has it's special gift. You have such beauty, the nightingale has his song, the owl has his eyes, and the eagle his strength. Even if you had a eloquent voice, you would still complain about another thing."

Do not envy the gifts of others. Make the most of your own.

S is for Seasons

Seasons might be one of the hardest concepts to explain in a Florida Kindergarten classroom. They understand summer.. but the other 3 are something they barely experience. Thankfully, it has been cool this week. By cool- I mean 70 in the morning and 86 by recess but nevertheless, it was a good time to learn about seasons and fall. One lesson this week was based on one of my favorite childhood stories. I remember checking this book out of my school library over and over again. It is The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton. I loved this little house. She had so much personality and had to endure many changes as time passed! I always was so relived when they finally moved her out of the big city back to the country on a spot on a hill. This book is a great tool to explain changes over time. This little house watches as roads are made and the city eventually takes over the countryside. Modes of transportation change throughout the book starting with horseless carriages ending with a subway. It would be fun to make a timeline with older children as you read this book. We focused on the changing seasons and how the little house and the scenery around her looked as time passed and the seasons changed. I copied 4 houses for each child and instructed them to color them all the same. They they glued their houses on construction paper and labeled each season. Last, they added details to the house and countryside depicting each season. This ended up being a 2 day project and I love all of the results. To top off the lesson we enjoyed watching The Little House come alive on youtube.

Have a great weekend! Enjoy this fall weather!

A is for Alligator

This week we studied the letter Aa. In honor of Aa we read Alligator Baby by Robert Munsch. Every teacher needs to read this book to a group of young kids! They are filled with suspense as you discover who or what Kristen's parents have brought home from the zoo. It is a ton of laughs and a good silly read. We also made an A is for Alligator paper craft. I love how they turned out. I have had a couple students out sick so we have a few holes on our board! I hope to fill them in soon... I like to have a full class everyday!

S is for Show and Explain

In the past show and tell was a popularity test of who had what spectacular toy. Inevitably, the toy would become a distraction, break, or get lost. I liked that show and tell gave students an opportunity to speak in front of the class and use language to describe their object, but I wondered what else could be done. I joined the kindergarten team after teaching 5 years of special education and found out that they had modified show and tell into show and explain.

Show and Explain is a variation of show and tell. It helps children to develop a strong foundation in writing by teaching them the structure of expository writing. Children verbally follow a structured format to "explain" ideas about a certain assigned topic. Topics are assigned weekly and everyone participates once a week. Preparation for show and explain is done at home as homework. A rubric is also sent home once a week with a score so the parents can review for progress. Topics usually reflect a Core Knowledge unit we are studying. Students are not required to write words, just memorize the format. They can use pictures to remind themselves of the details and they can bring in something to SHOW!

Show and Explain started this week and I am AMAZED and PROUD of how well everyone is doing for the first week! Kudos to parents for practicing at home! Look for the rubric in the Thursday Folder.

Here is more information:

Show and explain09 (2)

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Show and explain topics 2010

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S is for Shel Silverstein

Today we read Shapes By Shel Silverstein. I find that all kids LOVE his poetry. We read the poem and underlined all of the shape vocabulary. Then we acted out the stories with shapes and the children illustrated their own poem.

Shapes poem

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How Full Is Your Bucket?

Today I read How Full Is Your Bucket. This is a really great book that explains that we all have invisible buckets of water over our heads. The negative actions of others toward us can empty the buckets, and our own meanness toward them can deplete their buckets, too. Positive actions reverse the process. We watched how Felix filled his bucket by helping others and how it dripped when others were mean to him. We also talked about when others are mean and grumpy it can mean that their bucket is empty and ways to fill each others buckets.



I made a class chart of buckets and told the class this week we are going to be bucket fillers not bucket drippers. I will be watching this week for kindness and helpfulness.. when I see it, I will fill their bucket with stickers. Students can also report back to me and "tell" when someone has filled their bucket.

S is for Shapes

We are studying 2 dimensional shapes. This week we learned that some shapes are round and some shapes have sides and corners. A square is a special rectangle that has 4 equal sides. A rectangle has the same opposite sides and both the square and the rectangle have 4 corners.

We also read The Shape of Things and made pictures out of shapes. The kids loved showing off their creations!

M is for Map

At the beginning of the year we study maps and globes to warm us up for the continents. Each month I give a Family Homework Project. In September I assigned each student the task of making a map of their bedroom. The projects are usually "Sky's the limit!" and "anything goes".

A is for Apple

We have been have fun learning about Apples! Here are some of the activities we have enjoyed.

Making Hand print and Fingerprint Apple Trees - here is the poem we added.

We also made apple patterns with a partner.

And to end the unit today I read the story: The Little Red House With The Star Inside and we made apple star prints with paint.