Claiming my Blog

This is a very short post. In order to claim my blog on bloglovin, I need to post the following.

 <a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/5658181/?claim=4w3j5g7msjr">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Let me introduce you to my little friend

I don't know how many of you have your own personal laminator. I have one and I LOVE it. 

I found this little lovely at Costco and it has been one of my favorite teaching tools for the last couple of years. It was under $20 and is made by Purple Cows. One of the things I didn't like when I first started laminating at home was the cost of lamination. I hated paying $20 for 20 sheets and rarely did. After all, I bought the laminator WITH lamination for under what 20 sheets cost. That was until I discovered Shoplet.com. I now buy all my lamination from them (this is my personal opinion I am not receiving any compensation). 

This box of 100 lamination sheets cost $10 AND the shipping was free, yes I did say free. I prefer laminating at home for many reasons. The two most important reasons are these, I love the convenience and the lamination is thicker which means more durable and is easier for my Cubs to erase after using. 

I have been working on a couple of little things to share, I will be posting within the next two days with a couple of freebies. 

Little Leprechauns

Wow! Only 47 days left with my cubs! This year has been challenging  to say the least. I have laughed, cried, and pulled out my hair. I was not sure I would ever get through November, let alone make it to Spring Break. Not giving lots of excuses, just doing the best I can. However, I did want to share a little something we have been doing in my world.

St. Patrick's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays to celebrate in school. Since moving to Kindergarten, it has only reinforced my love of this holiday. First, I have to give a shout out to Allie, she is the Kindergarten teacher right next to me, our rooms are attached by a Jack and Jill bathroom. Allie is responsible for making all of the Leprechaun prints in both our rooms. We do all of these activities together. It's great to have a partner in all things fun!

Here is a sampling of what our little friend left for us.

These footprints are leading into the bathroom from my classroom.

First stop, a little fun at the sink area.

(

Oh NO!!!! He didn't!

(My little boys were so freaked out, they didn't use the bathroom all day)

In the classroom, he was up to a lot of mischief. My cubs could not get over the fact that he messed with our morning message and left us one of his own.

Oh what a mess he left. Hard to see in the picture, but our room was a disaster!

After seeing what our little friend left us, we were off to find him and his pot of gold. After all, he did leave us a challenge. 

 Along the way, our little Leprechaun left us gold coins, jewels, and other treats.

Finally, we found his pot of gold! 

The pot was full of gold coins, necklaces, bracelets, and of course Lucky Charms! 

It was a fun day and we were all worn out.

Fan and Pick

8 years ago my school was chosen as a Title 1 school of the year. As part of the award, we received a grant and invitation to the National Title 1 conference. Although I didn't go to the conference, my administrator did and while there, went to a class on cooperative learning presented by Kagan. When she returned to school she started us down a road we are still on today. That summer she sent several teacher to attend Kagan Summer Academy in Florida. While I have a feeling some went to enjoy the benefits of Disney World what happened was they caught the Kagan Bug and brought it back to our school. With a core group of teachers trained in Kagan's philosophy and using the grant money to bring a Kagan trainer to our school her vision for change was implemented. The goal, have every teacher trained and using Kagan's structures in our daily teaching. Every month, we have a structure of the month and are expected to train our students and use it in our instruction. Kagan has become part of our culture and I doubt I will ever go back to a more traditional way of teaching.

This month's structure is Fan and Pick.  Fan and Pick is based on groups of four students (most of Kagan's structures are for cooperative groups of 4). I have these mats in the center of each table to help students.

http://www.kaganonline.com/catalog/

 

This structure is one that I use everyday in my classroom. My Cubs love it. Here's how it works:

(most of Kagan's structures are based on cooperative groups of 4. Each student is assigned a number and letter. This is introduced at the beginning of the year. By now all of my students know their name and letter)

 

Step One: Student 1 takes the stack of cards, fans them and turns to student 2 saying, Pick a card, any card.

Step Two: Student 2 picks a card and shows it to student three.

Step Three: Student 3 reads the card aloud (We use sight words).

Step Four: Student 4 checks for accuacy and coaches if necessary, cheers if correct.

(I have added a little something here, if student 3 does not know the answer, he/she asks student 4 for help, if student 4 does not know the answer, anyone at the table may help. If no one at the table knows the answer, the students raise their hands and I come to help)

 

Here my little Cub is picking a card

 

Now she is showing the card to student 3.

 

This structure has been very successful when reviewing sight words. Other Kindergarten teachers have used numbers, colors, and letters. All of my students are engaged and actively learning. It is an awesome sight to see.

 

If you want to learn more about this structure or any others, I have provided a link under the picture of the management mats.

 

If you don't follow any other blog...

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I have found so many wonderful free downloads AND some wonderful blogs I have not seen before. So, hop on over and see all the amazing freebies today. 

I'm Back!!!!

It has been a long time. I appreciate all those who have kept checking back. Wednesday was the big day. I had to say goodbye to 6 of my little cubs. What a hard thing to do. It is amazing how fast you get attached. Now that I have "only" 27 cubs, I can't believe how quite it is. Now that things are a little more manageable, I made a freebie just for next week. Hope you enjoy this fun Fire Prevention activity.

Click here for Fire Prevention Missing Letter

Overwhelmed!

As you can tell from the date of my last post it has been a while. After finishing my graduate credit courses, I was on a mission to get ready for my little Cubs to join me. Well, school started! I have 33 students, 5 of which have special needs. I am completely overwhelmed! The challenges of this year are unlike any I have ever faced before. However, things are looking up! We are getting a 5th Kindergarten teacher!!!!!! That means, I will be losing 6 of my little Cubs, super sad. But, with 6 gone, I will be able to better service the needs of the remaining students. As soon as I have reformed my class and finished Kinder testing, I will be back blogging on a regular bases. Thank you to those who have continued to check back.