Happy Thanksgiving

As we begin our holiday season please stay safe and enjoy your family time together!

click this link to watch our class sing a song they have been working on in music class with Mrs. Helper

http://youtu.be/tgx_pMguvoA

I am thankful that you entrust me with your child each day!

From my family to yours...Happy Thanksgiving!

We Made It!

Happy 100th day of kindergarten!! 

Click the link to watch the video of our exciting adventure!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MGZOrP3itBg

Visualizing

In Readers Workshop we have been talking about another reading strategy called visualizing. Good readers visualize while they read, it helps develop good reading comprehension. Watch this video to learn what visualizing is from our class.

First video: Making Connections

Our first video of the year (a few weeks late.) We have been learning about making connections while we read,  in this video we focused on making text to self connections,
see how reading looks in our classroom:

Kindergarten "Teachers"

Today at reading workshop  I introduced the reading strategy: making connections.

 Using the "whole brain teaching" method, I often ask the children to teach what they have learned to others this not only helps them when hearing the information again from others it also cements their understanding.

Take a look at this chart and then watch the video of the "teachers" below.

Consonant Digraphs

We have begun our writing adventures in kindergarten and learned that not all letter and sounds are as easy as they seem. We have been practicing the "H brothers" by singing a fun song. Here is a short sample of our song with some pretty enthusiastic dancers as well.

End of the year

We Are getting ready for our end of the year Kinderarten Celebration Picnic. I can't believe how quickly the year went!

Here we are making decorations for the stage

And a little sneak peek of our song




 

The stage looks great!!

After the show we have a great family picnic planned! We are so excited to celebrate an amazing year!

Kindergarten Rules!

 This post is for my teacher followers and for my current classroom parents who want a sneak peek into the learning we are doing in the classroom...

I have officially become not just introduced, not just aware, not even just fond....obsessed with "Whole Brain Teaching" ok, ok, obsessed is a very strong word, but I am so excited about it and after introducing some of it in the classroom I have become hungry for more!

I spent most of winter break caring for a sick baby with that being said I have also been cuddling and comforting on the couch which lead me to watching video after video on how to integrate Whole Brain teaching into my classroom. I know sounds lame but really its pretty exciting. Since we are in times of economic drought I know that going to educational conferences is not going to happen, however I have found the next best thing...YouTube. I have found several videos and links to integrating Whole Brain Teaching

The premise of Whole Brain Teaching is that the children are active, engaged and having fun learning. here is a description from the website:

Whole Brain Teaching is a research based system that utilizes all areas of the brain, keeps children engaged throughout their lessons, and helps them retain much more information than the standard lecture-discussion model.
Whole Brain Teaching is a highly interactive form of instruction that delivers information to students in short “chunks.” Kids then teach what they have just learned to their partners, using hand-gestures to help remember specific vocabulary. While students teach each other, the teacher walks around the room to discover who understands the lesson and who needs more instruction.
Research shows that children retain more information when they have an opportunity to put it into their own words and use gestures to emphasize key instructional units …plus, it’s amazingly fun!

Ok that may not sound that exciting but it really is!

Whole Brain Teaching is a method that integrates an effective classroom management system with learning approaches that tap the way your brain learns best. This approach is amazingly effective, and fun for both you the teacher, and the students.

Here is a video of my class using their "whole brain" while reciting the classroom rules. You can see how they not only recite the rules but also "act out the motions"



Check out this first grade lesson. I first saw it on Pinterest and utilized some of the management techniques the very next day. I particularly love the "mirror" "blow the answer in your hand-release" and "Teach-OK" and you will see why I am falling in love with this teaching method.

At this point in the year if you came in to watch a lesson it would look pretty similar to this one:

The Magic of the Season

This week I began the elf on the shelf. the box is wrapped with fancy paper, a note from santa and a spray of holiday air freshener . As the kids walk in there is nothing more than the pure joy and magic of the season. Here is the unedited version of them discovering the elf. Listen to their voices, its amazing what magic there is...

Fire Safety

Today was Fire Safety Day at school! We learned a lot of new things and had fun meeting the firefighters from Union Fire Company. Here is a short clip of our day.

Sneak Peek Fun

A short sneak peek of some fun in kindergarten!

Reading Workshop

I love reading workshop!

 Over the past few years I have slowly implemented it in my classroom but this past year I went full force. I was a bit nervous about how it would look in kindergarten but it really was an amazing success! Every one of my students were reading on or above grade level by the end of they year! This for me was a huge accomplishment because many of the students did not come in to kindergarten with a lot of literacy background knowledge.

We started from scratch and they were amazing workers. I was impressed by how far they came at the end of he year and how driven they were every day!  I started slowly in the beginning of the year and by December we had a full fledged running workshop! Here is a short video from last December in my classroom during  Readers Workshop. We were working on the strategy of Questioning, so you will notice them reading, thinking and sharing some questions they had.

This year I plan to continue Readers Workshop and I am so excited to start! This summer I have been working on some new lessons and activities but mostly refining some of my favorites.

The Learning Pad is probably the BEST resource I have ever come across for teachers beginning their workshop. This teacher is amazing! It is designed for a second grade classroom, but can be easily modified for kindergarten or any grade. The lessons are posted for each day/lesson including the exact mini lesson, the strategy AND even the mentor text that pairs with the lesson!  I can't say enough about how much this site has helped me organize and feel comfortable teaching Reading Workshop.

If you are a teacher beginning this approach or just someone in need of ideas, check out this site. If you are a parent interested in doing more at home or just want to see what reading looks like in our classroom every day check out this website.

I am planning on sharing some details in my next post about a really fun mini lesson that I can't wait to try in my Reading Workshop this year. Stay tuned! And for those of you beginning your school year like me after labor day, good luck and have a great year!

The 100th day of Kindergarten!