Unexcused Absence

Oh boy, I have no excuses for my absence! Now that summer has begun, and I've taken a few days to decompress, I'm ready to start thinking about next year. Who am I kidding? I've been blog stalking and gathering ideas since the afternoon school let out. ;)

Our last month of school was a whirlwind of activity with a fabulous retirement party we threw for one of my kindergarten friends, end of the year program, other school programs, water day, butterfly releases, and too much more to even talk about. The time really did fly by.

I've been thinking alot about my classroom theme. For a few years, my classroom theme has been frogs. Last year, I incorporated some cute birds, squirrels, and other forest animals for a "forest" theme. I'm thinking of adding some more bugs for a garden theme this coming year.

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How cute would this bee pinata be hanging over the classroom library? It would really be darling hanging from a cute paper tree! I'm trying not to give the fire martial a heart attack, though.

On another note, I've finally discovered the goodness that is Pinterest. Follow me, I'd love to see what other teachers are pinning!

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These are a few of my favorite things...

Lil' Country Kindergarten is having a Linky Party. The subject? My teaching wouldn't be the same without... #1 Music, but most importantly music by Mr. Al . Some of my friends and I were lucky enough to attend a Mr. Al conference earlier this year. I just love his music, enthusiasm, and creativity. Some of our favorites include Please Stand Up, Funky Backwards Alphabet, and Rockin' the Alphabet. #2 Expo dry erase markers...the big pack with all the colors. Having all the colors available is handy when drawing pictures on the whiteboard. I also really love TUL low odor dry erase markers. They are magnetic on one side and stay attached to the whiteboard. I find these markers at my local Office Max. I can not find these exact markers on their website, unfortunately. #3 The Royal Reading & Writing Center from Really Good Stuff. This thing has it all: magnetic dry erase board, storage tubs, pencil/marker storage, removable dry erase board with lines, big book st...

Individual Behavior Management

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...

Writing Prompts

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.

Kinder Ramblings

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