My Dr. Seuss attempt

This week for my writing center students are creating a rhyming book, just like Dr. Seuss.  So far it is with much success.  I am curious to see how my reluctant writers do, but they haven't been to the center yet.

Here is what I did.

I did give them rhymes but they don't have to use them.

The cover

I put the first rhyme... cat and they had to come up with the rhyming word.

The students love that they get to act like Dr. Seuss.  Also, I have a Cat and the Hat stuffed animal that I got at Kohl's and he sits at the table with them.

I hope this is something you can use too!

Valentine's... late

I never posted my so cute find for Valentine's Day.  I found this card from Ashley at Cards and Cardigans.  I thought it was just about the most perfect kindergarten Valentine card!

cardsandcardigans

I did have to point out the I love you to the kids but hey... I loved it!

I simply printed them and glued them to red construction paper and signed my name.  We can't give out yummies and I probably should have given a pencil too but I didn't.

Graphing

Have you ever just had one of those weeks.... that is this week for me and it was only 3 days!  I had a student fall down the stairs going down the gym... so scary!  A student had an accident in her pants that was pretty gross, and I seemed to have a desk disaster going on because I had trouble finding stuff!  Uggh.

My desk :(

But it is Friday.  And I have to think of the successes that DID happen this week.  And this is one of them.

To asses graphing, I had students sort and graph colored links.  First I did it in a whole group and modeled what they were suppose to do. 

Then I gave them a graph paper (super easy to make) and a bag full of links and had them graph.  They did FANTASTIC!  I was surprised!  Even my lower students got it.  (I am going to chalk that up to me being a great teacher!)

 I did get a few like these, but allowed me to have a good conversation about what happened.  A few kids also used the wrong color on the graph places... but their outcome was the same.

One other success I had this week was I got to deliver our 100th day canned goods to the Food Bank here in town.  We collected (school wide) about 1200 canned goods.  The food bank was so happy, as they were running pretty low.  He said we collected more than the Make A Difference Day Campaign... which I felt was amazing!  I am patting my back on that one!

My Favorite Center

I think I am reliving my childhood and a wish that I was a better artist.  I always wished I was a better artist.  But never felt I had the talent.  BUT now, I am a kindergarten teacher.  So here is my art center for this week.

We are discussing day and night and how they are different.  So this week they have to paint a day and night.  Their only requirement is that they have to use all the white space.  So here is my sample and few kid samples.  It is turning out so beautiful!

I hope you can use the idea in your classroom too!

Beeeutiful heart work

Ok, I love art.  I wish there was more time to do stuff with art in my room.  So here is my art project for this week before valentines day.

How to make it:

yellow body-9x12

white head-7x7 (you could make this the same size as the wings to save paper)

black wings-6x6

black stripes-1x12

I have a tracer for each piece for each person at the art center (which is usually less than 4).  Then I just let them roll with it.  Some turn out not so right and some are just about perfect (better than mine!)

I hope you can use this fun project!

Hello February

February is probably one of my very favorite months.  I love the idea of Valentines (even if my husband says it is a made up holiday!)  What better holiday than Valentines for a kindergarten classroom.  To me, it means friendship and caring.  It means showing each other how we feel about them.

To kick off February I always read:

Valentine Surprise- Amazon

This is a great story about a little girl who wants to make a valentine for her mom but has trouble cutting hearts.  They are fat, square,lopsided, pointy, skinny... and they are just not right.

So after I read the book we reviewed symmetry.  A heart is symmetrical.  I modelled for them how to make a heart.  They I sent them off to make their very own.  Of course they wanted ME to do all the work but I wouldn't!  They had to fold the paper, draw the heart, and cut.  Some came out like a BIG circle.  Of course I helped them get it to look a little right.  Now my room is draped in beautiful, not perfect, hearts that are all special.

After we had our cutting exercise, I figured it was a great opportunity to discuss ADJECTIVES!  We discussed what it means and tried to list a few.  I am going to carry this lesson over to tomorrow and we are going to add adjectives to our writing!  (wish me luck!)