Kinder Ramblings

I love Vistaprint! What teacher doesn't? I love looking at ways other teachers use Vistaprint items in their classrooms. Here are a few of my favorite things I've created over the years. Small Window Decal for the small window on my classroom door. Small Business Card Magnets I will send home on the first day of school. What a great way to keep the refrigerator up to date with new artwork from kindergarten! Return Address Labels made into book labels. Tote Bag I will fill with a few birthday books/items and a journal to be filled out on/near the child's birthday and returned to school for sharing. Postcards for replenishing supplies around January. Mousepad ...I need to make another one with number words. Circular Product Labels for birthday bags. Date Stamp -this is my most used item in the classroom. I use it to stamp journals, artwork, writing samples. I l-o-v-e it! Keychain used on all take-home bags.

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...

Free iPad App! "Kids can browse the stunning gallery of animals, search for animals by name, or filter their favorites by category. Each animal gets its own profile page, featuring multimedia and quick facts about the animal’s habitat, size, diet, lifespan, and conservation status along with fun facts, such as a honey bee’s ‘waggle dance’, the length of time a cockroach can live without its head, and what makes a flamingo chick’s gray feathers turn pink." Quote taken directly from World Book's World of Animals site. But act fast, the app is only available for FREE in the Apple iTunes Store June 16-July 10!

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. source 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 tryi...

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!