Kinder Ramblings

Ever wonder, "What am I going to do with all these old stickers. Who is ever going to want a sticker of a hot dog?" This one is so simple, but it's a "Why didn't I think of that before" facepalm. I'm using all those old, non-sought after stickers in my kindergarteners daily writing journals. We give a district-wide writing test in May. My students are expected to write one sentence to address the prompt. Reaching for the moon, we are all writing 3-4 sentences, and it's only March. I'm so proud of my little writers! The stickers serve as their prompt to practice for the district test.

The traps were all ready and the bait was there, but that leprechaun was a bit too crafty for us! That sneaky leprechaun ended up taking all of our gold, but he did leave us some gold chocolate candy. Plus, he was able to use his magic to get us some festive cupcakes. After our little celebration, we went out to check on our garden. We were able to harvest some spinach and radishes today. There were so many, every student was able to pick at least one radish. We're going to have a little taste test. They are already pretty sure they won't like radishes, even with Ranch dressing!

Does anyone else feel like the time until the end of the school year is just flying by? Anyone? Bueller? Seriously though, I think it's the fact that so much is packed into the last few months of school. I love staying busy and I really love this time of the year with my kindergarteners. We are a little family. We "get each other." Know what I mean? I have leprechaun trap pictures to post. Maybe tomorrow. Tonight is filled with American Idol and Survivor!

We made these adorable leprechauns for our hallway bulletin board. Of course, they might be a little cuter if I had painted the plate instead of leaving it white, but still I love them! It's amazing how each child chose to draw the mouth to bring out the character of his/her leprechaun.

I think I've mentioned before that my room is small. I'm not exagerrating, it's really tiny . I'm going to have to measure it one day, but I'm a little scared to see the actual digits. Everyone is familiar with the "clip" behavior system. As with anything, I have to take a great idea and modify it to fit my needs and up the cuteness factor a little, Yes, it is posted on the back door of my classroom. I cut the tree trunk out of plain brown construction paper. The parts of the tree are just pieces of circular scrapbook paper. The wooden squirrels were purchased at Michael's. I had to travel to three different Michael's this past summer to get the number I needed. The squirrels are a seasonal item from Summer 2010. I just hot glued a magnet on the back of each. The yellow and red signs are car magnets that I made at VistaPrint. Another handy tip-I wanted to be able to reuse the squirrels if I tired of them on my behavior chart. I used my l

Does anyone else have talkative groups during literacy centers? I do not mind at all if my students whisper, but my room is so small that I wouldn't be able to hear the students at my group reading if everyone else was talking in his/her normal speaking voice. This year I have quite the chatty group! All it takes is one to start talking and the rest follow suit. I've devised a new plan of action that kind of goes along with the "Mystery Person" I've read about out in blogland. I have been using this small magnetic white board that is divided into fourths. One section is for each of my groups. Every group starts with all four of their colors. If a group is too loud (after one warning) the group will lose their blue magnet. If more than one reminder, they may lose their green, then yellow, etc. Each magnet missing is minutes off of recess or free centers for the day for those group members. Today, I decided to up the ante. I took four index cards a