Back to School in Kindergarten!

Photo Credit: FreeImages.com/Lies Meirlaen

Truthfully, it is Back to School for me, and the very beginning of the educational journey for most of my kindergarten students!  It is also the first year for full day kindergarten in Oregon.  I have been waiting for this day for many years and was looking forward to the start of our year and having my students stay all day.  It is great, but WOW is it ever tiring!  I was so excited I had to post a photo on my Instagram account, and Teachers Pay Teachers actually featured this picture in their "TpT Loves Back to School Selfies" on their blog using the hashtag #tptbtsselfie.  I was thrilled to be featured and I had to share it on my blog as well!

The beginning of kindergarten is amazing and random and funny and tiring, and ultimately unpredictable!  It takes a lot of love, patience, and sleep to get through this time successfully.  Teachers constantly talk about rules, and then remind them of the rules, and then talk about them again, and then practice them over and over and.............well, you get the picture!  Kindergarten children love to learn and make new friends, but they need structure, repetition and reminders to make the day go smoothly.  Sometimes it seems like all we did was read stories to review rules, but putting in this time at the beginning of the year is so important and will pay off later on so don't hesitate to take this time to get your classroom routines down.

We just finished our 21st day of school!  Can you believe it?  I know some of you have been in school much longer than us.  School started the week before Labor Day this year, but my students started a week after that.  During that week, my new students and families came to school and we were able to chat and do a little testing.

Once school started, we have been having so much fun.  I truly have a wonderful group this year and so enjoy going to work to spend the day with my little kiddos!

Are you ready for a LOT of pictures?  Hope so!

I saw a few pics on Instagram (with a play on IG) and knew I wanted to do that with my kiddos as well, so I got to work.  I do remember seeing it on Kindergarten Smorgasboard's IG page but when I looked back to link it in this post, I couldn't find it. Our "IG" board turned out so gosh darn cute!  I can't stand it!  I took pictures with them holding a big decorated K, added scrapbook paper, cut out the letters on my Silhouette Cameo and made the IG sign with construction paper.

Scissor practice is so important in kindergarten!  They need explicit instruction and practice - lots of it.  Before we do any art projects, we just practice using scissors for the sake of using scissors.  This page is a part of my Snip, Snip..........Scissor Practice packet from my TpT store.

Holding pencils and penmanship is also something that needs explicit instruction and lots of practice. Here we are tracing our numbers 1-10 and then writing them on our own. This is a freebie in my TpT store called Number Tracing and Writing Freebie!

We read Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes and then worked on this cute page from First Grade Blue Skies Chrysanthemum freebie packet.  My school uses Tribes and so after we filled out our picture of what it looks like to be a good friend, and to not be a good friend, we partnered up using "Milling to Music" and then shared our responses.

My class has grown so fond of Go Noodle!  They love it!!!!  One of the times we use it is at the end of the day after we have cleaned up and have our backpacks on.  We are really digging Koo Koo Kangaroo and "Roller Coaster."

We started literacy 9 days after school started.  My school transitions for native language literacy.  Some students are in English literacy with me, and some are in Spanish literacy with one of my colleagues.  I am thankful to have those 8 homeroom days so we can build a bond and establish some routines because once literacy starts, I only have my homeroom for about an hour and a half a day total (except for Wednesday which is a homeroom day - my favorite!).  We loved using this sound practice from Miss Kindergarten.  We picked an apple and said the letter name and sound.

We also had fun using these clip cards from The Kindergarten Connection!  Not only are my kiddos practicing beginning sounds and matching upper and lowercase letters, they are also pinching clothespins which is good fine motor skills practice.  And, this is a growing bundle so we will have educational and seasonal activities to go along with our learning all year.  Woohoo!

We have started using math journals as well.  I want my students to be able to identify numbers in many ways.  Here is an example of one student representing the number 2.  To be clear, at the beginning of the year, we do a lot of work together so they understand the expectation.  As the year progresses, and they have a better understanding of numbers, they are able to come up with their own ideas.

My school uses ST Math and we have completed our password training and then are able to log in and start learning some mathematical skills.  This is a program my students really enjoy and will often go to it when they have free iPad time during activity time.

The children have also had a little time to explore foam blocks with friends.

My students have also been enjoying looking at books in the library.

We are so lucky to have a very sweet community member volunteer his time and come into my classroom and read.  He is a retired librarian and he will sing songs, play music CD's and dance with the children, and read them several books.  They absolutley love his visits.  He is so awesome!!!!  I believe this is his third year coming into my classroom now and I feel so fortunate.

I have also had some children pick flowers for me.  Love the little bouquet :)

Like many of you, we also talked a lot about apples and Johnny Appleseed.  We started off by reading a story and then painting apples.  It made for a very cute hallway bulletin board display.

You can't talk about apples without tasting them though!  I stuck with the three basic apples for our taste test - Red Delicious, Granny Smith and Golden Delicious.  Mmmmmm!  I also cut an apple in half to show them the star you get.  Have you ever seen that?  You don't cut down the core vertically, but instead cut it horizontally through the middle.  It is pretty fascinating.

After eating the apples we colored our favorite flavor and practiced using scissors to cut them out.

We sat around the carpet and graphed our results.  We interpreted our graph as well.  My students did such a good job with this!

We used this Apple Taste test page from Khrys Bosland's apple packet to record the results of our graph and it is a freebie in her store.  It was so great sitting on our carpet learning together.  I look forward to more activities like this in the future.

After we ate the apples, I asked my class to use adjectives to describe the apples.  I thought they came up with a pretty impressive list!

We continued our apple learning by using my free SMARTBoard product in my TpT store Apples, Apples, Apples.  They had fun taking turns and putting Ten Apples Up on Top of the children's heads.

Last, we put Ten Apples Up on Top of each of our heads.  Again, more scissor practice and number sequencing.  This is so old.  I have had it for years and don't remember where it came from or even when I started doing it.  I know the boy/girl clip art is from DJ Inkers, but other than that, go figure!  It is such a fun activity though!

Well, that is a good overview of what we have been doing in kindergarten in Oregon.  Monday will be our 22nd day of school.  Woohoo!  

Hope you are having a lovely autumn.  Thanks for stopping by!

Classroom Reveal and a Freebie!

I am so excited to be sharing my kindergarten classroom with all of you!  My classroom is a home away from home and I want it to be an inviting place for me and my students.  I made some changes this year and am excited about the "newness" the room has this year.  I have been in this room for 8 years now and so walking in with some changes makes it feel fresh.

Tomorrow will be Day 9 of school for us.  We are having a great start to our year and I am have a sweet group this year.  I hope you are having a wonderful start to your year as well.

This is the view of my door from outside in the hall.  I love my apple flag and have many flags that I rotate seasonally throughout the year.

I put my Happy Birthday board on my door.  I cut the letters on my Silhouette Cameo and bought the cupcakes from Lakeshore.  I am going to take pictures of my students and put them on the cupcakes for their birthdays.  The fabric is my window protection and rolls down easily in case of lockdown drills.

This is the view of my classroom from my door.  I love my large windows that let in a lot of natural light.  I also have a door that leads straight out to the playground which is very nice!

This is one of my bulletin boards.  I do a random drawing for a Star Student every week.  The children fill out a paper and we learn more about them.  They get a special chair and slip cover for the week.  This year I also decided to simplify and make the Star Student my jobs person.  I always had rotating jobs in the past and I could never remember who was in charge of things (like the door holder) when we were out of the room.  I can remember one student for everything though!  I am looking forward to this starting next week. 

The fish straws are birthday gifts!  Students can pick the straw color of their choice on their special day.  They came from Oriental Trading Company.

We had a recess rodeo on the third day of school where we taught the children how to safely play recess games.  After, we made these adorable art projects with children swinging on a swing, or going down the slide.  Underneath it says "I promise to be safe at recess."  They are so cute!  This packet comes with a book and activity cards.  It is by D Conway called Recess Rules! Emergent Reader and Creativity Pack and you can find it here.

This is my word wall - to be!  I made the letters and words and want to post it on TpT soon.  I used a chevron background and just love how it looks.  I also put up black fabric this year.  This is a brand new board to me.  I wasn't sure how I would like the black.  At first it seemed very dark, but I am liking it a lot now that I have the border and parts put together.

This is my writing center.  The kiddos are liking this area of the classroom so much.  I got the colorful wall hanger on Amazon and am going to put in different writing papers as the year goes on.

The Writing Center image is from Teaching Superkids and the small posters talking about different writing strategies are from A Class of Kinders.

This is my little library.  The colored tubs on top are my table books.  The word READ is a freebie in my TpT store.  You can find that here.

My playhouse!  This is a favorite during activity time.  I think it is adorable!

The view of my small group area from the library.

A view of the front of my classroom!  The math bulletin board is actually two bulletin boards put together, hence the silver bar down the middle.  I put burlap on the bulletin board and I am excited to start adding to it as the year goes on.

I like my new math wall. I made the letters for MATH and got the plates at the Dollar Store.  The number posters are in my TpT store.  You can find those here.  The Days in School is adorable and that is from Wild About Firsties for her Facebook fans.

This is my literacy Focus Wall.  We use the Reading Street program and this board is a good way to draw their attention to the targeted skills for the week.

This is a view of my vast personal book collection.  I also keep things on the counter like my Math Journals, and papers for the week.  The two tubs against the wall are things I have bought from TpT.  I have a bit of a buying problem!  But, they are all organized and ready to go for activities for my students.

The colorful tubs are where I store my word work activities.  I got most of these materials from Lakeshore through a Donors Choose grant.  The wooden shelf shows the plastic tubs I spray painted and I love how the green looks.  I am putting together my All Done! Now What? by Miss Kindergarten Love in these tubs.  However, our copy machine has been broken the majority of the school year and I can't quite get the copies made.  I also have some whiteboards and clipboards for easy student access.

This is a view of my room standing by the small group table against the windows. You can also see my SMARTBoard.  I love using this teaching tool in the classroom.  

This a view of my desk and filing cabinet.  The desks are huge!  They were donated by a company and so this is not the traditional teacher desk.  Above my desk is my number of the week bulletin board (oops! I cut off the top!).  That is in my TpT store and you can find that here.  Next to that, where the long pocket charts are, is where I will post my goals (CCSS) for my lessons.

Here is another view of my classroom from my desk.  I love the colorful lanterns hanging in my room.  They add so much charm.  I got those at Oriental Trading Company.

This is my bathroom pass.  The children take the clothespin and put that on their clothes.  I made this graphic with clip art from Krista Wallden at Creative Clips and Graphics from the Pond.

I adore the way the students are getting home turned out.  I got the images from Wild About Firsties and am using clothespins underneath.  I used to type names but then had to keep typing up new lists as students came and went, or changed their mode of transportation.  This is way easier!  The tooth graph is also so cute and it is from Erica Bohrer, but I don't see it in her TpT store anymore.  The fairy is from Clementine Digitals and it so stinking cute!  The wand if from The Dollar Store!  I cut out the letters on my Silhouette Cameo. 

My husband came to school last year and painted my shelf.  Here I store my table caddies, crayons and markers, and some math materials.

At the end of my cubbies I store my glue sponges and my tidy tubs.  Do you use Tidy Tubs?  They are so amazing and it keeps my kiddos at their seats, rather than waking around the room non-stop to the recycling bin.  I wanted to share a Tidy Tub freebie with you in case you use them.  I made these to label my bins and I just love them! Find your freebie below!

Here are just a few more pics of my classroom!  It is a place that makes me happy :)

Don't mind the missing Uu on the bulletin board.  I accidentally printed two Tt's, so I need to replace that.  I also love the large shapes along the top of my wall.  The 2D ones I made, the 3D ones I bought - but I don't recall where.

Click here, or the image below for your Tidy Tub Freebie :)

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope you have a great rest of your school year :)

Go Noodle Back to School Fun!

It is back to school time in Oregon (as well as other areas of the country) and one of the things I am most excited about this school year is introducing my new class to Go Noodle!  I discovered Go Noodle last year and was intrigued.  I decided to find out what this Go Noodle thing was all about, and it quickly became a favorite brain break in my classroom.

Go Noodle is a FREE website that has myriad opportunities for brain breaks.  All students need to be able to move in the classroom, and sometimes a quick brain break is all it takes to get wiggly students back on track.  Go Noodle can be used before, during, or at the end of a lesson!

There are many different types of brain breaks that your students can do with Go Noodle.  They can do calming activities like yoga, get active with some running, or dance and sing with Zumba or Koo Koo Kangaroo.  Go Noodle even started an indoor recess station.  The activities range from about 7 - 19 minutes and it compiles many Go Noodle favorites to get the kids moving.

Go Noodle even has a You Tube station which has academic songs for math and reading!

When starting Go Noodle your class pics a "champ" and after 10 Go Noodle brain breaks, your champ goes in the Transmorgifier and grows.  After 3 more times, you max out that champ and then pick a new one.  The children LOVE when their champ grows.  This is also a great math lesson.  After completing a Go Noodle, a bar will show 7/10 and I will ask my students, "How many more do we need to get to 10?"

I can't wait to use it this year for brain breaks, calming activities during transitions, and fun academic movement.  However, my favorite way to use Go Noodle is to end our day watching a video on the SMARTBoard.  The children are very motivated to clean up, get their backpacks, head back to the carpet, and get ready for a fun closing activity.

Here is an example of my students at the end of the day with their backpacks on.  We are doing "Roller Coaster" by Koo Koo Kangaroo.  If you haven't watched this yet, DO IT!!!!  It is a blast!

Here we are taking a brain break to "Dino Stomp" by Koo Koo Kangaroo.  

Clearly, Koo Koo Kangaroo is our favorite!  Here is a video of us doing Pop See Ko - another favorite.  The kiddos couldn't get enough of this one.  We need to work on our timing a little bit, but you can see how engaged they are.

To celebrate being back in school, you can shop for swag at the Go Noodle shop for a 15% discount.  Just use the code BTSwithGoNoodle (valid September 5-11).

However, I am so excited because I also get to GIVEAWAY a tumbler from Go Noodle!  Wouldn't this be fun to bring to school and drink your morning coffee or tea?

If you'd like to win this tumbler, head on over to my Kindergarten Planet Facebook page and comment on the Go Noodle picture.  Let me know if you use Go Noodle in your classroom and if so, what is your favorite one to do with your class?

Do you Go Noodle?  If not, you should!

Best Books to Read at the Beginning of the School Year

The theme this week for Must Read Monday is must read stories for the beginning of the school year. This is also the FINAL week of Must Read Monday (sniff, sniff).  This has been a great summer linky party and I am so happy you came along on this reading adventure!

Some of you have already started school and I hope it is going well.  Some of you are like me, and won't get to meet your new little sweeties until September.  In any event, these are books that can be read at the beginning of the school year, and may also be revisited throughout the year.  Many of these become class favorites and students love to hear these stories more than once.

We wanted to end Must Read Monday with a giveaway!  Make sure to stick around so you can enter the rafflecopter below!

The Kindergarten Connection and I would love to know  - what are your favorite book(s) to read at the beginning of the school year?  You can link up with us and/or leave us a comment down below!  Here are a few of my favorites!

No David!,  David Goes to School and David Gets in Trouble by David Shannon are must reads for any primary grade classroom.  The books have easy language for children to learn and funny illustrations.  The David books are great because they show non-examples (or wrong examples) of behavior, and it leads to a class discussion about what the behavior should look like.  I always read these books within the first week of school and they help guide our discussion while developing our classroom rules.

How Do Dinosaurs Go to School? by Jane Yolen is another fun book that illustrates challenging behaviors.  The story asks questions about how dinosaurs go to school and throughout the book I ask the children if the different behaviors are appropriate.  They always answer "No!"  The second half of the story talks about the correct behavior a dinosaur should exhibit at school.  The dinosaur books rhyme, are silly, and the students enjoy them.

Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten by Joseph Slate is a book that teachers setting up their classrooms can definitely relate to.  Miss Bindergarten comes into her classroom and unpacks, decorates, and gets ready for her sweet students at the beginning of the school year.  This story is a wonderful rhyming book and the students' names in the story start with each letter of the alphabet A-Z.  I tell my students that I have to do similar things when setting up our classroom - just like Miss Bindergarten.  I read this story at the start of the year, and so my kindergarteners usually just stare at me!  Ha! This is a charming story and a great beginning of the school year read!

Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr. and John Archambault is a wonderfully playful alphabet book with rich and silly language.  The letters are trying to go up the coconut tree, but can they all do it?  There are capital and lowercase letters featured in this story.  I have the audio version of this story.  I never just read it.  Instead, I always play the song, and we sing along.  It is quite fun!

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed Some Books! by Lucille Colandro is another fun Old Lady story with a repeating structure.  She swallows many different school supplies and this story is perfect for retelling the order in which she swallowed them.

The Night Before Kindergarten by Natasha Wing follows the pattern of the other The Night Before stories.    This story focuses on several children who are getting ready for kindergarten and dreaming about school supplies on the night before the first day of school.  The parents bring their children to school and everyone meets the teacher.  Tears may be shed in this sweet rhyming story!

Chrysanthemum by Kevin Henkes is a favorite story of mine that I read to initiate discussions about treating each other kindly.  It is a lovely story about a little girl with a long and pretty name who gets made fun of by a group of not so nice girls.  Chrysanthemum feels awful after school each day and her parents try to help her feel better.  It is only when the music teacher enters the picture that things begin to change for all involved.  This story is very relatable when talking about being a kind friend and what using un-kind words might feel like.

The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn is the book I read right away to my kindergarten students - like on the first day of school right away.  After backpacks are put away, I gather the children on the carpet.  There are many sniffles from children and parents simultaneously but that is when I start to share the story about Chester the raccoon going to school and not wanting to leave his mother.  The mother shares "the kissing hand" with Chester and that helps him go to school with a smile.  After I read this story, I tell the children that we are going to give the kissing hand to our parents and say goodbye and we will see them at the end of the day.  This is a nice way to have a large group of parents slowly exit the room, and a good way for us to get started with our kindergarten day.  Warning: this also causes some children to cry harder!

Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes, Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes and Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons by Eric Litwin are also must reads for your primary classroom!  The children love Pete the Cat, and why not?  He is easygoing, chill, and flexible.  He has great lessons to teach us as well.  After all, "It's All Good!"

We read, or shall I say listen, to the CD's at the beginning of the year, as well as throughout the year.  The children love to listen to Pete the Cat over and over again.  My grade level has also put together a Pete the Cat school tour after we read this story on the first day of school - which will be here September 9th!

For More Book Recommendations, please check out:

Must Read Books About the End of the School Year

Must Read Books About Friendship

Must Read Books About Math

Must Read Books About Cooperation

Must Read Books About Compassion

Must Read Books About Rhyming

Must Read Books Just for Fun!

Must Read Holiday Books

Must Read Modern Fairy Tale Books

This post contains affiliate links.

Thanks again for reading along this summer!  It has been wonderful writing about many of my favorite children's books and I always looked forward to Must Read Monday!  Thank you to all of the bloggers who linked up with us, and everyone who read along.  You helped to make this so very special!

An InLinkz Link-up

                                                             Time for a Giveaway!

We are giving away two $25.00 Amazon gift cards and two $10.00 Starbucks gift cards to two lucky winners!  We hope this makes your time heading back to school very sweet!

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Must Read Monday: Modern Fairy Tales

The theme this week for Must Read Monday is must read modern fairy tales.  These always add a fun twist to your classroom library.  It is great to read the original story, and then read the modern version and compare and contrast the versions.

The Kindergarten Connection and I would love to know  - what are your favorite modern fairy tales?  You can link up with us and/or leave a comment down below!  Here are a few of my favorites!

Humpty Dumpty by Daniel Kirk is an adorable book that rhymes and is a clever way to tell the story of Humpty Dumpty's fall.  Humpty wants to go the birthday parade of King Mo.  Humpty is friendly and adventurous.  King Mo is shy and loves puzzles.  How does Humpty fall?  Does he get put back together again?  This story is the beginning of a wonderful friendship!

I love to read this at the end of the school year.  Then, we begin an art project where we create a brick wall holder and a Humpty Dumpty egg (one side is cracked and the other side is fine).  It is a nice culminating activity.  The children can use the props to retell the Humpty Dumpty poem. You can see that activity in this photo I posted on Instagram here.

Falling for Rapunzel by Leah Wilcox is a funny spoof on this popular tale.  This books also rhymes and the rhymes are hilarious.  A prince comes to the tower and asks Rapunzel to throw down her hair...........she thought he said her underwear!  The kids crack up and it makes for a cute guessing game.  They try to guess what she will throw down that could rhyme with what the prince asks for.  Does the prince get the princess? Or, is there a surprise at the end?  You will have to read it to find out!

The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka is the tale of The Three Little Pigs as told from the wolf's point of view.  He claims it is all a misunderstanding.  Or is it?  He is able to explain everything and it makes for a funny story.  At the end, the students can vote which one they think is the "truth" - the original or the modern day story.

The Wolf Who Cried Boy by Jeffrey Dinardo is an amusing twist on the familiar story The Boy Who Cried Wolf.  A young wolf is bored so he cries "Help, a boy is after me!"  The animals in town come running and he laughs as he tells them it is a joke.  The animals don't like it.  He does this one too many times and when a boy does come after him, nobody comes to help him.  The animals get the last laugh with a little trick and the wolf learns his lesson!

                

If the Shoe Fits by Alison Jackson is a creative fairy tale that starts off with the old woman who lived in a shoe with her many children.  She decides that they need to move and so they wander through various fairy tale poems - Hey Diddle Diddle, Hickory Dickory Dock, Humpty Dumpty, etc. There is something wrong with each home and so they flee back to the shoe, which they realize - is perfect for them!

Next week is our very last Must Read Monday blog post.  We will also have a rafflecopter giveaway so be sure to link up and visit our blogs for your chance to win!

For More Book Recommendations, please check out:

Must Read Books About the End of the School Year

Must Read Books About Friendship

Must Read Books About Math

Must Read Books About Cooperation

Must Read Books About Compassion

Must Read Books About Rhyming

Must Read Books Just for Fun!

Must Read Holiday Books

This post contains affiliate links.

An InLinkz Link-up