Quiet Critters

It will soon be time for me to return back to work after 6 amazing months with my new baby boy. Luckily, I love my job and couldn't imagine how much harder it would be if I didn't have those smiling faces to greet me each morning.

So just like I usually do in the summer, I am getting a few new things ready for the rest of the school year. Thanks to Pinterest I have found some really cute things I just had to try this year. If I have time to post them I will try to share as many as I can.

 

Today's Project: Quiet Critters

You give each child a Quiet Critter during a time that you need the classroom quiet. If a student doesn't follow the direction to be quiet then he/she loses their critter/ At the end of the quiet time all students with critters left get a small prize like a sticker. It is a nice reminder sitting on their table/desk and for those who are goal oriented this can help.

Here is how to make them. It was really fast (I made them all while the baby was sleeping and wrote this blog post too!)

 

You need Pom-Poms, glue, scissors, a sheet of craft foam, and eyeballs

 

Cut the foam into heart shapes

 

Glue on the pom-pom and eyes, and that is it!!

 

Here is my troop.

 

I have an annoying need for symmetry (ask anyone who has seen me work on a bulletin board) so there are 6 of each color, but you can make as many or as few as you would like. The kids could even make them as a craft. They would be cute at Valentine's day...hmmm that gives me an idea. We may have to make them (and red pop-poms are on sale after Christmas right now) The tricky part was sticking on the eyes, it could get a little messy for the kids but once dry they should be pretty cute.

Holiday Traditions

It has been a little while since I have blogged but I am still here!

With the holiday season here it is time to preserve those memories! I know in the classroom that every year I try to preserve the innocence and memory of this snap-shot of their lives. Thanks to Pinterest I have found many more crafty ways to do this. Here are some things you may want to try this year, in the classroom or at your home.

 

 

Print their christmas list each year and put in inside an ornament! How fun to look back in the future

 

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Hand print ornaments (salt flour and water)- this is so easy! I did it with my 3month old

 

 

reindeer fingerprints! So cute! I make the snowmen in my classroom every year.

 

 

Family Handprint tree

 

 

 

And this is a tradition I plan on starting- wrap 25 book up (they can be ones you have) and read one each night until Christmas! Love this

 

 

Christmas Eve Surprise Box. Include: new pajamas, Christmas movie, popcorn, mugs, hot chocolate, marshmallows, Christmas book. Such a cute tradition to start!

 

 

Enjoy your holiday season!

Online Books

Book are magical! We all know the importance of reading with your child, not only does it build literacy skills but it is also a great bonding moment and creates life long memories.

 I read to Griffin every night and he is only 2 months old! But as I read I remember the stories that I read as a child. Just tonight I picked up a book about Grover that I loved as a child. It was a book with a cassette (kids now don 't even know what those are -ha!) and when my husband came in the room, he laughed at me as I was reading in the voice I remembered from the cassette as a child!

One of the things I like to do in the classroom once in a while is show them a book read by someone else. There are hundreds of books on youtube that your child can watch and "read" online. I have compiled a list of books that I love reading and showing the kids. Here is the link so that you can share them at home with your family:

Mrs.Giglio's Online Book List

Letters and Sounds

One of the first and more important things that we work on in kindergrten are identifying letters and sounds. With many childern attending Pre-school now lots of new kindergarteners have a great head start when they can identify letters already. Can your child identify all 26 upper ans lowercase letters? If not that is something you can start working on right now. Often at open house parents will ask, "What can I do at home?" obviously it is important to read together every night but also try to check in and see what the grade level expectations are at that time and make sure your child is meeting them. Like right now your child should be practicing identifying letter and sounds.

Other than identifying the letters kindergartners need to know the sounds they make too. That can be tricky for parents to work on, because we use letters so often as adults we don't stop to think about the sounds that they make. so here are a few resources for you to use at home to help you and your child practice.

Online Letter Practice:

Starfall ABC's Click Here

 

Music Video:

 

Printable Worksheets:

 

Click Here for Printable Activities

 

Matching Game:

 

Click Here To Play a Matching Game

Back to School

Welcome back to school!

I am not in the classroom right now, because I am home taking care of my brand new baby boy. But that doesn't mean I dont think about kindergarten still...

With one week in, the time will begin to fly by! Dont forget to ask your child lots of questions about school. What did they like? Who do they sit with? What is the best part of the day? It is important to be a PROACTIVE parent and the more you talk about school in a positive light, the more your child will too.

But now that the weekend is here, don't forget to spend some family time. Here is a great website that lists family events and activities in the area.

http://www.fun4kidsinbuffalo.com/

Kindergarten Countdown

Here is a list of things for you to do in the days before school starts.

With your child, complete the activity each day and cross it off the list. It will not only help get them ready for the tasks of kindergarten it will make the anticipation of first day of school more realistic and give your child something that they can talk about and relate to other children with from day one.

10. Play outside or take a walk

9. Cut something out and glue it to a piece of paper

8. Count to 15

7. Help someone bake or cook something

6. Play a board game

5. Draw a picture of something you did this summer.

4. Write your name with a pencil.

3. Listen to a letter sounds song on youtube like this one: http://youtu.be/QW7N64zsrs0

2. Tell someone your bus number

1. Read a story about school with someone.

What Kindergarten Teachers Wish Parents Knew from Scholastic.com

I posted this article last August and here is it is again because I just can't say enough about it! I feel like every kindergarten parent should read it. If you are a kindergarten parent, or know a kindergarten parent please share this article!

What Kindergarten Teachers Wish Parents Knew | Scholastic.com

Get Ready for Kindergarten Article

Here is a really good article about getting ready for Kindergarten. It has tips for familes and even snack ideas! Check it out!

Get Ready for Kindergarten - SchoolFamily.com

Redshirting

Family-friendly Things to Do in Buffalo

It's Summer! Take Advantage of your family time to do some learning all around! Check out this link to find some family things around our area!

Family-friendly Things to Do in Buffalo | Find All-ages Fun


A fun thing to do is to make a summer "bucket list" let each family member add one or more things and try to complete them before school starts!

Time for Time!

It is time to tell time!

Math Game

Today we began working with Base 10 blocks. We played with the real things in the classroom and then played with them on your Promethean board. Now you can play with them at home too! Here is a great website for you to try it at home. Have fun!

Click Here To Play

Dinosaur Day!

We ended our dinosaur unit up today by building a huge T-Rex in the downstairs library. Check it out!

Thank you Miss Simocelli for a great unit and thank you families who sent in the great boxes!!

Dinosaur 123

Dinosaur ABC's

Fruit Salad Yummy Yummy!

Miss Simoncelli our student teacher has been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar with the class. Today they worked together to retell the story and sequence all of the fruits. The best part was when Miss Simoncelli brought out real fruit! The class cut up their fruit, added it to the bowl, mixed it up and then the best part...ate it! What a fun and yummy way to practice our retelling.

Cutting up the ingredients

Putting it in the bowl

 Mixing it up

It was delicious!