KINDERWORLD

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Western Bucket Filler Pack!

I fell in love with the book BUCKET FILLERS when I first read it! I loved the concept of having it integrated into the classroom as a classroom management tool and as a way to focus on positive behavior and treating yourself and others with respect and compassion.

My kiddos love it too! They LOVE filling buckets and getting their buckets filled too!
I created this Western Theme Bucket Filler Pack as a way to further integrate this great concept into my classroom!

You can purchase the pack HERE ON TPT!

See examples from the PACK BELOW:

Your kiddos will love everything in this

Western Bucket Filler Pack!

Get it HERE!

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Snowman Soup

SNOWMAN SOUP is an ADORABLE and FUN way to focus on

math and literacy activities that line up with Common Core.

My students LOVE these activities!

Find this great pack HERE ON TPT!

This huge pack has over 120 pages and includes:

1. Snowman Soup Games that focus on 76 sight words
(Snowman Soup Melt and S-O-U-P-O)
2. 76 Soupy Sight Words
3. Snowman Soup Write the Room and Writing Template
4. Snowman Soup Describing Words (My snowman has/is)
5. Snowman Soup build a word and writing sheet
(over 64 words for students to practice writing or building)
6. Snowman Sorting (focus: diagraphs and blends)
7. Printable Booklet: How To Make Snowman Soup
8. Marshmallow Math (focus: addition)
9. Snowman Soup Add and Cover/Roll and Cover
(focus: counting and addition)
10. Build Snowman Soup
(focus:counting and adding)
11. Snowman Number Order
12. Scrambled Sentences and Writing Template
13. Snowman Soup Recipe Cards, Gift Ideas and
an ADORABLE Snowman Soup Craftivity
14. Snowman Soup Writing Templates

Check out some of the examples from this pack below!!!

Your kiddos will love these activities!

Get Snowman Soup HERE on TPT!

Sunday, January 12, 2014

My triplets have arrived!!!!

It's been so long since I have posted and I have a GREAT excuse! My TRIPLETS have arrived!!!!

On December 24th, Christmas Eve, my 3 precious girls were born via c-section.
They were born at 32 weeks (8 weeks early), but they are all doing great!
My little sweeties are still in the NICU and probably will be for the next 2-3 weeks.
I am already so in LOVE with each of them and feel so so so blessed for these 3 little miracles.

Please help me introduce:
Kensington Hope: Born at 9:29 am on 12/24/13, 4 lbs 4oz
Madison Grace: Born at 9:29 am on 12/24/13, 3 lbs 11 oz
Londyn Faith: Born at 9:30 a, on 12/24/13, 3 lbs 15 oz

This is the first time I got to hold all 3 of my girls at the same time and have "kangaroo care",

which is skin to skin time.

Kensington and Madison are identical and Londyn is fraternal.

(From Left to Right: Kensington, Madison, Londyn)

This is Daddy's first time holding all 3 girls at the same time and having "kangaroo care".

(From left to right: Kensington, Madison, Londyn)

The girls are 2 weeks old here! This was the first time they wore clothes!!

Top: Londyn, Middle: Madison, Bottom: Kensington

Another adorable photo shoot of the girls in the NICU.

From left to right: Kensington, Madison, Londyn

It has been such a long journey trying to get pregnant and I feel so blessed God has given us these 3 precious gifts. Now we have 4 beautiful daughters (including my 6 year old daughter Makena).

Last year on New Years I was part of a Linky Party for the new year.

I had to come up with one word for the new year to describe myself.

This is what I posted on 1/1/13:

1. One Little Word:

Hopeful

My daughter Makena was our miracle baby and I feel so incredibly blessed to have her!

It took almost 4 years to get pregnant with her and now we are on year 3 for trying with

baby #2. I feel hopeful because Makena, all on her own, prays ALL the time for 2 babies

(not just one!!!). She has been praying this prayer for over a year and

it was her birthday wish for her 4th and 5th birthday!!!

Her prayer, "Dear God. I pray for 2 babies...a boy and a girl." Oh, the faith of a child!

So many times, I want to give up but her persistence and faith keeps me going.

So, I am left with one word for 2013: HOPEFUL!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Career Day & Community Helpers

During the month of October, we learn all about community helpers and jobs.
We invite the local firefighters and police officers to come to our school and talk about their jobs. We also encourage parents to come and share about their jobs. This year we had a chemist come do science experiments!
We also went on a field trip to the pumpkin patch and learn about farmers!

One of my favorite days during this unit was Career Day Centers. We have 3 kindergarten classrooms and we each set up 5 career centers in our classrooms (we had 16 total jobs). The kids rotated in each of the classrooms. We spent about 45 minutes in each class and about 5-7 minutes at each station. The kids experienced many types of careers!

Here are some!

Jeweler Hairdresser

Real Estate Agent Store Clerk (grocery worker/bagger)

Musician/Singer

Banker

Teacher

Archeologist

Vet Marine Biologist

Painter Postal Worker

Architect

Pediatrician

Baker/Chef

Construction Worker

The kids had so much fun and stayed very engaged.

The centers allowed the students to be creative, use their imagination and experience real careers.

Some of the centers required writing.

For example, the vet and pediatricians had to write prescriptions.

The real estate agents had to create brochures and describe the houses (big, small)

and create a price.

The teachers had to model for their "stuffed animal students" how to write correctly on the lines using a white board and read a book from their book bags.

The bakers used math to measure and make "Hunter's Hash"

(cheerios, pretzels and marshmallows).

The postal workers had to sort mail by letters and numbers.

The bankers had to sort coins by size and type.

At the end of the unit, the kids finally decide on their career and DRESS UP as what they want to be when they grow up. They come to school dressed in their career costume and present in front of the class. The kids answer the following questions:

1. What do you want to be when you grow up?

2. Where do you work in the community?

3. What tools do you need?

4. What is your job responsibility?

3D Haunted House

This is our 3D Haunted House this year!!!

The kids did a great job on it!

First, we spend about 1-2 weeks learning about 3D shapes in our math unit.

Step 1: Students bring in 3D shapes from home for a week and identify what shape they are: cone, sphere, cylinder, cube, or rectangular prism. After all the materials are in, we sort them by shape.

Step 2: The students spend 2 days constructing the haunted house in small groups (usually 4-5 students at a time). They decide 100% where everything should be placed. We do talk about using the biggest objects first and smaller objects last. Students must identify and name the shapes they are using. I use hot glue to put the pieces together. While putting the haunted house together, the kiddos love coming up with rooms/ideas for the house (i.e., trap doors, mummy tombs, bat caves, secret cannons...it's very cute!).

Step 3: The students spend the next 2-3 days in small groups painting the haunted house black. I use regular Crayola paint but it definitely needs 2-3 coats of paint. The shiny materials (party hats) or plastic materials (water bottles) do not usually soak up the paint. I end up spray painting the rest with black. I do this after school without the kiddos to touch up all the pieces that wouldn't soak up the paint.

Step 4: Last, the kids spend 1 day in small groups decorating the haunted house with spider webs and spooky items. You can find these items very cheap at the Dollar Store.

We set up our haunted house at our school Monster Bash!!