Glue Sponges! Such a Life/Sanity Saver

So I have a big love-hate relationship with glue sticks. This year I started collecting the glue caps in a container on my desk and the kids would just come grab one if they ever needed one. Well this year (well let's be honest, every year) we go through glue sticks like water. I have no idea what happens to them. Mr. Greg understands my love-hate relationship and posted a great blog post and video on how to make glue sponges. I was skeptical when I first read about them, I wasn't sure exactly how they could be used in my class. BUT I was at my whits end the other day and just decided to jump in feet first and go for it, and man am I happy I did! The kids love em and they work wonderfully! I've saved the glue sticks for the really big projects, but I think we won't need to use them nearly as often. THANK YOU MR. GREG! Glue Sponges by Mr. Greg

Organizing Never Ends

Well I've finally been able to take pictures of all of the organizing I've been doing in class. Also my idea for the cubbies did not work out the way I was hoping so I used the drawers for something else.

 Here are my small group tubs. As I said before, I laminated the little cards with the group name on it so I can change the kids in the group whenever I want or need. They are on a shelf by my table so I or my volunteers can just pull the tub and read with the kids on the list. I put games in the tubs as well. I also put some kids together so we know who to pull to read with together.

Here is what I ended up doing with the cubbies. I got these baskets at the dollar store and now they just keep all their things from their cubby in the basket. I'm debating getting rid of my tables like Mr. Greg from The Kindergarten Smorgasbord and if I do that I would loose their chair pockets but they could just put everything from those into the baskets in their cubbies. I'm thinking it can work! I'm going to see if the school has another big grey rug that I could put down and use my extra carpet squares and/or write to local stores and see if they would be able to donate any bath rugs to my classroom. The worse they can say is no.


So I got these drawers and I had to use them for something. So since I have been doing everything by a monthly theme thanks to Deedee Wills and Elizabeth Hall, I had to put all the amazing-ness somewhere where it would fit better. So these drawers worked out really well and the longer ones I got for the cubbies ended up working to store some writing, science, and math materials.



I'm hoping to make a list of ideas and to get better at these. As I always tell my students, the more you practice the better you get.

New Ideas Just Keep A'Coming!

So I have been taking some webinars online for PDUs for my teaching license. This one I am doing today corresponds to one I did last week and I just had a great idea I wanted to share.
Todays is about using blog and wikis in the classroom. Well being a Kindergarten teaching, I think it is very difficult for the little ones to use a blog or a wiki since they can hardly type their name on the computer. So I'm going to be starting a new blog or different section of this blog for my little authors to have their stories published online! How am I going to do this you ask? Well I'm going to be using AudioBoom (a website where you can record things) and also use text to speech on a mac so the kids can read their story and it will type it out for them.
I'm pretty excited to try this idea. I am out sick tomorrow but I'll be telling my kids about this idea on Thursday. I'm hoping it will get them excited about writing. I love writing but I've just been struggling with how to get the kids excited in Kindergarten because so many of them just either "don't know what to write" (even though they can tell you the most amazing stories verbally) or those that just want to copy what you write.
I'll be sure to write about how it goes once I get it off the ground.

Update: If you would like me to post one of your student's writing publications, please feel free to e-mail me and I will be happy to post it! It should be full of lots of kinder authors, not just mine. It could be a picture, or a picture with an audio recording (I will figure out how get it on there).

New Year and Still Making Changes

Do you ever get to that point in your year where you just want to change stuff around? I've never been a huge fan of my room. I've moved rooms in my building about 5 times and this last room that I am now in, I've never been able to set things up where I think "wow this is great, I love it!" This year I've come close, but of course there are still things I'd love to change. My cubbies for one, the kids don't really use them except for storing things in there that won't fit in their chair pockets. But of course things still fall out and it drives me crazy. The other reason I'm not a fan of them is that the way I put them this year is they cover up the sight line to the entry and I can't see when kids come in. It forms a great little nook for my reading corner, but I'd love to see the kids as they walk in. My thought is to get those plastic drawers that are fairly big, put baskets inside for them to put their writing journals, science notebooks, headphones. Then we they need them, they simply pull out the basket, bring it to their table, and use em! Oh did I mention I would just have everything labeled by their table group? So in my head of course this sounds awesome and I really think it could work. I haven't tried it yet, but I'm getting close.
The other thing I have finally done, is made reading groups. Yes I have gone for almost 80 days this year and only been pulling kids one or two at a time that really need help. This has been great for me, but for my parent helpers who really want to help, they don't know and they need more directions. I've been giving them a list of a few kids to pull and read with, but this has been more work for me and hasn't been consistent and even. So I hit up my local dollar store and $33 later I have bins (and prizes) for groups! I printed off my cute little animal cards and matched them to the color tub, then laminated the card so I can just take my sharpie and write kids' name on there and change the groups when needed. I'm pretty excited about this. It seems like every year I'm able to get things just a little but more organized.

(I will edit this post to put in the pictures. This organization amazing-ness just happened yesterday and I was so tired from the night before I didn't even think to take pictures.

#IAmATeacher

I've posted a lot about the things I have been doing in my classroom. One thing I haven't posted about is the Adopt A Classroom.org website that I've started using and have already been blessed by having a few people adopt my classroom and donate some money. I've been able to buy new headphones, glue sticks (a huge must have in any Kindergarten classroom), and now for the new year some new games and building materials that I'm really looking forward to doing some STEM things with. Being a teacher, I am constantly spending money on my classroom; this year I feel like I have been doing it more so because I'm trying to save money in the long run with copies and other things by laminating a lot more so students can re-use papers over and over. So far this has been going pretty well.

One thing that I have noticed by doing this, is so many of my students have improved their skills quicker than in years past because they aren't just doing it once and then being done. They go over and over the pages a few days a week. Many of the things my class seem to love so much that they'll choose to do the pages during free choice time.

I have one student who has been struggling with their fine motor skills ever since school started. Cutting and writing are very difficult, but bring in the whiteboard and laminated pages, and he isn't getting nearly as frustrated because it is much easier to erase if he makes a mistake and his favorite color is black :) Since the start of the year, I have seen a lot of improvement in his fine motor, especially with his name; he's not writing it as big as usual but is now starting to write it to fit on the "name" line. So I really think that having these expo markers and even the dry erase crayons have been a huge hit with my class and especially with those that tend to need a little more help with their writing because starting over isn't as big of a deal.

I wouldn't have been able to do a lot of the things I'm doing now this year without the support of donors helping out my classroom. I'm very blessed and fortunate to have any and all help. I appreciate it and I know my kids do as well.
Adopt A Classroom Profile

What To Do Over Christmas Break?

Well to answer that question, blog on my new computer of course! What a whirlwind of adventures I've had over the last few months. Fill time is amazing and yes after 66 days of school, the kids are still getting used to being there all day. I've changed my schedule two or three times since I initially made it in August, and now I think it's ok. Mainly after specials, which all happen at the same time everyday which is amazing, I've put writing and art time. But I'm still surprised that even at the end of the day, the kids are still almost too tired to even do art! I hope by 100 days, we're all on the same page and not as tired at the end of the day.

My class this year is full of very helpful and kind kiddos. They love to help each other and help me, we're just working on the correct times to be helpful to each other and to me. :) We have also been REALLY enjoying GoNoodle this year. Oh my goodness I knew it was a lifesaver last year at times, but this year it is REALLY a lifesaver. We're up to almost 1,000 minutes of GoNoodle time and have grown about half the Champs. The kids wanted to earn a GoNoodle party day, so I bought wristbands for each of them to wear and keep, which they totally flipped over. It was lots of fun that day and we earned lots of XP for our Champ.

I have also been using my new laminator SO much already. It is the best thing I have gotten through Donors Choose. This year our school is really cracking down on laminating and copies. I had to make a price list spreadsheet going over everything I could think of that I would need copies of for the rest of the year, which helped with my case of what and why I needed to make certain things for my classroom. One thing I have started doing this year is instead of regular morning work packets or worksheets, I have taken Deedee Wills idea of "dessert" tubs and turned the idea into morning work tubs. I put in a lot of past math and literacy games that we've done before and then the kids can just play them over and over; continuing to work on those skills. Lots of them they love to keep playing. Roll and record (roll the dice, write the number), all of the buddy game cards from the BUILD series Elizabeth Hall created for math, and also Miss Kindergartens letter cards to make words or just say the sounds. Since I have my laminator, I laminate lots of worksheets that the kids can use expo markers with and use over and over. This is especially useful for Write the Room since I have kids who just love to do this station over and over again. Just being able to have kids re-do games and worksheets is not only helpful to me since I can use my copies for projects and crafts, but then the kids can also practice those skills over and over and not have it be a one and done thing.
I also changed up my literacy and math stations a bit this year. As many of you know I gush over Deedee Wills and all of her amazing ideas. She has station cards for FREE, and I just love how they are set up. There are blue ones and yellow ones. I think because of this, my kids have been able to learn to read the rotation board quicker than in years past. The labels match perfectly and are so easy to put up. If I had a picture I would include it here, but it'll have to wait till I get back. I also love that she just as Word Study A-E and I can put whatever in these and the kids don't fuss that it changes. C and D are pretty consistent with the same activities but all the others can have different skills I want the kids to work on and certain kids get assigned the different Word Studies depending on their level.

Well since it is break, I am going to go off and enjoy it with a little spa day (that's also what to do over Christmas break). :)

3 More Weeks

I can't believe my summer vacation will be over in just about 3 weeks! So since school is coming up so close and many other teachers have already started, I wanted to share a few things that I used last year and I loved and my students loved.

1. Class Dojo! I've blogged about using ClassDojo before, which you can read here. Since I have started using it, I've only had one negative thing said about it from a parent and all it was, was that her kiddo did not like seeing the negative icons on the report. True, having  a blaring red thumbs down isn't the most fun thing to see, but the students and the parents need to know if the child is misbehaving. I don't draw attention to the negative, it's a quick "hey let's not do that", record it for the parents so they can discuss it if needed. Other than that, I have had nothing but positive reactions. Parents love being able to check in and see how their child's behavior is going during the day. Are they helpful? Do hey listen? Are they kind? Things like that. Another feature I used quite a lot last year is their messaging. It comes up like a text on my phone or ipad and it's an easy way to get quick notes from parents or to check in about certain parts of the day. If anything major ever happens I always call, but in the case of something minor it's been easier to let parents know what happened. It may look intimidating, but if you give it a chance, you will be very happy you did. 
2. GoNoodle! With moving to a full day this next year, I'm excited to use this website even more than I did last year. This site has great brain break videos to help students get the wiggles out, calm down after recess or before a test, and even ones to help with review. There are little monster champs that the class can choose and for every 10 videos, the champ grows a little. The kids loved seeing the change of each one. The site is free, but I signed up for their Plus videos so I can have the kids spell sight words with their bodies, and type in custom questions that match our curriculum. It's fantastic!
3. B.U.I.L.D for Math by Elizabeth Hall - these monthly packets are wonderful. You can read about her post on them here and here. I've never done math stations or centers before until I saw these. She makes it so easy to divide up tubs and put these activities in but also put your own in as well. My students really liked the books. I never even thought about putting math books in with math centers but it totally makes sense since we use book in literacy stations! She has loads of great ideas. She has a subtraction chant, that really helped my students remember about subtraction. 
4. Math Journals! Oh wonderful interactive math journals, where have you been all my life? I first discovered Deedee Wills' math journals, which are great. They are all story problems that match up with the Common Core. You can download a freebie set of them to try out.  I actually started to use these on Wednesdays for Calendar Math for Word Problem Wednesday or Work Out Wednesday. The other days I use Karen Jones' interactive math journals for kinders. I love how students cut out and paster (great for fine motor) and then paste them in to their journal. These don't take very long either, only about 10 minutes. 

These are only a few things I discovered last year that I am excited to fully implement this year. BUILD has lots of copies that I have printed off and am now I'm trying to figure out how to laminate since our laminator at school is currently down. My goal this year is to find things that I can use over and over each year. The math journals from Karen Jones have lots of copies, but luckily a lot of them have multiples on each page so you won't have to make as many copies. Deedee Wills has put hers with 24 to a page, which is great! except when you have 25 students. :) You can read about what she does here.
I'm taking a break from going into my classroom so I don't get tired of being there, but I know if I go in about a week before school starts, then I'll be able to get everything together and be ready for my new group of littles!