Sunday, October 30, 2011

The 50th Day of Kindergarten!!!!!

We had our 50th day of Kindergarten last week!!!! Gosh, Golly Gee!!! I can't believe we made it to 50!!!;)

So, I'm going to share some of the things that I did with my Kinders to celebrate the 50th day! It was so much fun!!!!! Let me just say that none of these activities are my original ideas!!!! I just took lots of ideas from everyone else and made them my own;) I'll post all of the links that the original ideas came from:)

I of course originally found this idea from the ALWAYS fabulous Deanna Jump!!!! Here's her post about the 50th day! She has a little FREE 50th day pack in her TPT store!! Click here to check it out! Please be sure to leave her some positive feedback because I just know you're going to ♥ this darling little pack!;)

We always start our day off with a "good morning page" that the kiddos work on while we do lunch/attendance, etc. So, here's a little patterning sheet that I made for their morning work:) Click on the picture to get your free copy:)

Next we talked about the 50s and we sorted pictures of then and now:) This adorable little activity came from Eberhart's Explorers!! Click here to visit her blog and grab this adorable download!! Your kinders will love it!!;)

Then, for snack time, we did this SUPER fun activity from Kim Adsit's Christopher Columbus pack!!! When I saw it in the pack, I immediately knew I was going to save it for the 50th day!;) Although, it's perfect for Columbus Day too:)
So, anyway-for snack time-we had Coke floats!!! Kim's idea is so fun and adorable!!! Have your kiddos predict whether the icecream will sink or float!;) Here's part of the graph from Kim's pack:

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of the finished sink/float graph:( She has all the graphics for you to use to make the directions so the kids can see how to make the Coke Floats and it turned out SUPER cute!!! I'll try to post a pic of the finished product so you can see how cute it is:)
I also made this little response sheet. You can download it by clicking on the picture below:

Mmmmmm! Coke Floats!

We had a bubble blowing contest like Deanna suggested in her 50th day pack!!! It was sooooo much fun! The kids LOVED it and were so excited about the bubbles! I'm not supposed to show shots of my kinders' faces:( So, I can't show you their bubble pics...but here's one of Mrs. Jahnke--She helped out in our class that day!;)

After our bubble blowing contest, we made these ADORABLE bubble blowing kids!!!! I stole this idea from Mrs. Lee!!!! Isn't it so cute!?! AND we just happened to be learning the color word PINK this week!!! Does it get any more perfect than that?!? Here's the link to Mrs. Lee's post!
They made their picture like this if they could blow a bubble:

And, they made it like this if they couldn't blow a bubble:

Here's our graph to show who could and who couldn't:

After our then and now sort, the kids were REALLY curious about records:) So, we talked about them and I showed them a REAL record (A GIANT CD-as the kids called it:)

We made these records (Deanna Jump idea:)

And, I loved this idea from The Alphabet Garden!!! AND I just happened to have the same Juke Box that she used!!!!;) Yay!! So, all the kiddos got their picture taken in front of it with a real record!

We also had a sock hop and learned the Mashed Potato, The Twist and The Hand Jive!!!!

Here they are doing the hand jive:

Here's one thing that I made-but we didn't have time for it:( This was also NOT my idea:) I saw the idea on Growing Kinders and whipped one up to use! I think the kiddos would have lots of fun playing this race to 50 game!!...maybe next year:) Click on the pic to get your copy:)

Look at my twin!!;) We were both Pink Ladies:) So Fun!

If you grabbed anything you liked, please leave me a comment!;) I ♥ hearing from you:)!!!!

Saturday, October 29, 2011

We Win, We Win!!!!! (And I was there!)

Cards WIN!!!!!! AND, Yes, I was there!!!!! My cousin surprised me yesterday morning with AWESOME tickets that she got for FREEEEEE!!!!! She works at the Westin (which is right across from Busch Stadium) and a client of theirs gave her some free ones! I was soooooo incredibly excited that I got to see the final game of the most exciting post season in Cardinal History!!!!!! Here are a few pics:)
Of course, I took my Kinders with me!!:):

Here's me and my class again!;) They can say they were there:)

Here I am with My cousin, Jaimie and my Mom:)

Have you heard about the Rally Squirrel:)? You can watch his video when he was in the post season game against the Phillies here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsQYS5zS5u4 It's hilarious!!!!!;)

Waving our Rally towels!:)

Come on Motte!!!! Here's the pitch.......

Whooooooooohooooooooo!!!!!!

Confetti everywhere!;)

Oooooooooooh Yeah!!!!!!!

Rally Squirrel and Fredbird!

Interviewing Pujols....free agent now:( The Cardinals better Pay up!;)

Let's FREEEEEESE it!!!!!!;) Our Hometown boy wins MVP!!!

Yippppppppeeeeeeeeee! We are Cardinal Nation!!!!!

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Go Cards!

If you follow my blog, you know that I am a HUGE Cardinals Fan!!! Whooohoooo! Go cards!!! Crossing my fingers for tonight's game!!! I just wanted to share this story about my 98 year old Great Grandma that was in the St. Louis Post Dispatch this week!;) "Meem", as we call her, has been a huge influence on me and I ♥ her so much! She isn't doing very well right now, so keep her in your prayers! Let's hope "her boys" come through for her!!!

Click on the link below to read the story:)

Cardinals fan, 98, roots for her 'boys' to win one more World Series

Here are a few things my class has done this week to root on our Cards!;)

Here's the ceiling of our hallway:) (Not the greatest picture) The baseballs are just a circle cut from construction paper. Then we draw the stitches on with glue and sprinkled with red glitter. For the Cardinals, I just drew a simple cardinal shape. Then we folded a small square of construction paper into an accordian fold, cut a slit through the Cardinal shape and stuck the folded piece through for the wings. Simple!

Go Cards!!!!!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Who, Me????? Yippppeeeee!!;)

I am so thrilled and honored that my blog has been nominated to the Top 25 Teacher Mom Blogs list on Circle of Moms!
If you'd like to vote you can click on the link below. You can vote once a day until Nov. 8th. I appreciate all of your love and support SO much!! Thank you to ALL of my AmAzInG followers! ♥

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Organizing Center Rotations + Freebie

I have gotten a bunch of emails about how I rotate and organize my centers....I'm so sorry that I'm just getting a chance to post this. I really DO read ALL of your emails and my intentions are to get back to EVERY SINGLE one of you!!!!!! But, sometimes I read an email and then a few days pass by before I get a chance to get back and things just pile up:( So, anyway-here's how I do it. It is by NO MEANS the "right" way! Last year, I did something totally different and it worked great....but, this year-with 27 kinders (YES, another new one!) and with SO many different abilities, I had to try something else! So, here goes....
Here are my center tubs:

The blue tubs are my literacy centers and the green tubs are my math centers. (the literacy centers are labeled with letters and the green tubs are labeled with numbers) I L♥VE the shelves I got for my tubs!!!! They just help keep things so neat and organized! I had a slight problem with clean up the very first time we did centers...I ended up putting all the tubs away because kiddos didn't know where to put them. I went home that night and made minnie labels for the shelves;)

Now, when it's clean up time, the kids know exactly where the bins should go and they can do it quickly!;)
Here are my bin labels for you to download, if you're interested:) Just click on the image below to grab them:)

Here is my chart for center rotation:

This shows my literacy centers....you can see that the math center signs are right behind them (see the little lion sign peeking out?:). When it's time for math centers, I just pull those signs to the front.
A-D are my "approaching level" centers and E-H are my "beyond level" centers. So, centers B & F are the same center, but if you follow my blog, you know that my centers are differentiated. So, although B & F are the same center, the response sheet at center B might be easier, or something about the center is easier to fit the needs of those students. The center that I have at station F is a little more challenging. I HOPE that makes sense!!!
So, as you can see, when it's time to roatate, I rotate A-D. I pull A out and put it at the bottom of the row and move everything up. Same for E-H. I pull E out and bring it to the bottom of the row and move all of those up.
So, essentially, there are only 4 different centers being worked on....but, there are 8 different groups. By the end of the week, every student has been to every center (but only the 4 stations that fit their abilities and needs) Does that make sense???
If you have bought any of my center packs, they come with everything you need to differentiate. Usually, there are 4 different math centers, but only 3 different literacy centers. This is because one of my literacy centers is a "meet with the teacher/listening center." So, while my approaching level kiddos are in the listening center, I read with my beyond level kids in our leveled readers....then 1/2 through center time, we switch. (THIS IS THE ONLY CENTER THAT SWITCHES.) Everyone else stays at the same center for the entire center time)
I hope I explained that o.k!!! Let me know if you have any questions!!! Oh yeah!!! and you can grab your center rotation signs here:!!!! Just click on the picture below:)

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Pumpkin Mathand Literacy Centers and Giveaway!

I just finished my pumpkin math and literacy centers pack and posted it on TPT. Scroll down to see the awesome giveaway that Kinderglynn is hosting to see how you can win this pack along with TONS of other amazing prizes from some awesome bloggers!!! If you'd like to check out My pumpkin pack you can click on the picture below:)

Here's the details on the giveaway!;)

This giveaway is a chance for you to Meet and Greet some new blogging friends as well as re-visit some Spooktacular blogs you may already follow! 12 Great treats to win! Easy as Pie to enter.