Gearing Up and Getting Set!

Tis that time of year again!  Time to think about all that went right last year and the changes you want to make this year.  I love how a classroom is like an open canvas! I absolutely LOVE setting up a classroom!  So I thought I would go through some ideas I have for this year.  I may be making some big changes this year....but, we'll see :-)  It's a good thing that I have my energy back and am feeling great thanks to MY Plexus Products!!  I cannot tell you what an impact on my daily quality of life these all natural products have made!  Do yourself a favor and before school gets back into gear and your health takes a back seat...choose health...choose Plexus! www.korren.myplexusproducts.com If you don't know what I am talking about, check out the video below:

My First Love!  Books!  Books! and more Books!

I LOVE Adore books.  I have quite a few but never enough.  I am always looking for great picture books to use with my lessons.  How do you keep them organized?!  I have tried many different ways from book boxes, baskets, cardboard dividers (not bad) to you name it. Well I was exploring a closet at our school when I happened upon this Brilliant system!  Paint Sticks!  So simple and CHEAP, I'm in love!  I think I have just found a nice way to organize.

This reminds me also of a system one of my special librarians used to help kids remember where their book came from on the shelf if they decided not to choose it.  She called them book buddies.  The kiddos would use a stick (plastic but I think paint sticks would work too) to mark the place on the shelf that their book belonged.  Take and give the book a "looksie" and if they wanted it, then they took their stick out.  But, if they didn't want it, they knew where to put it back!  Was she smart or what?!  How blessed we were to have her at our school:-)

Reading Corners:

Gotta have a few cozy places to read around the room!  This corner is a little bland but it still worked.  I like to keep a tub of "reading buddies" (aka stuffed animals) around for kiddos to take with them to their reading spots.  

Love the lanterns and colors in this cozy nook!  I have a beach umbrella that I plan to use.  I'll keep you posted!!  I love how the books are very accessible yet still organized in a simple, clean manner.  Instead of lanterns, I think I'd like to try these tissue paper pom poms.  Super cute, colorful, and great for the budget.  Check out the video for a "how to".

Work Displays:

I love using clips!  Whether they are attached to the wall or this fancy clothes line style pictured below.  Clips are a huge time saver!  No staples to remove and not stuffing INTO a page protector that doesn't always seem to be big enough.

Stations:  I love utilizing the low wall space for interactive pocket chart activities.  In my case, tables are hard to come by so we use the wall and floor!  Interactive pocket chart activities are easily changed out, cleaned up, and remain clutter free!  When your classroom has to share it's space with a church this is a huge time saver!  No storage--who wants to play with an empty pocket chart?!  My point exactly!

 Always need a special chair!  I will definitely keep my Dr. Seuss rocker.  The kiddos always love to sit and present in it and I like to sit and read to them in it too!  It adds a sense of warmth, pizazz, and comfort to the classroom.

Charts and Tools

My tiny birthday chart--great for jam packed walls.  I always hang it on my bulletin board near my calendar to ensure that I am on top of the birthday celebrations without having to take up an entire wall!

 I will also continue to use my lifesaving guided reading "cheat sheet".  This is a powerful reading instructional tool!  It helps me to be sure that I am meeting my reader's needs at the various levels.  Be sure to check it out at my TPT store!

And I cannot wait to use this beauty again....My Scientific Lab report!  I have been in PreK for the last year and had to let it go.  We would verbally use the scientific method--but there was no writing on their part.  I did blow it up and laminate it for our experiements though and that worked great!  I highly recommend it for the primary classroom:-) Check it out at my Store!!

Five for Friday

Linking back up with Doodle Bugs Teaching  for Five 4 Friday!  Happy Friday Everyone!!

#1

First things first! We finally got to finish celebrating my sweet Hubby's birthday with the rescheduled hockey match between the Dallas Stars and the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday night.  This was so much fun and very much unexpected.  I figured when they rescheduled the event for a Wednesday it was going to be out of the question  (see I'm married to the church via my husband and we lead bible studies on Wednesday night!).  However, we found wonderful substitues and decided to continue in our celebration of the wonderful man God has blessed my life with and go and enjoy a night out!  It was fun and best of all our home team won, Go Jackets! (we are originally from C-bus).

#2

Zero the Hero made his appearance again this week!!  On the 10th of April (because we had school and the date contained a zero).  I have modified the way I do Zero the Hero due to circumstances.  I now teach a 3 day a week program and so counting every 10 days would take WAY too long to get to 100.  So I just celebrate with a little treat every time we are actually in school on a date that contains zero and journal about what "zero" left for us.  It has been a great way to keep the kiddos paying attention to numbers in general.  This time around we had die cut 1's and a mini donut left on our snack mats. The kiddos had discussion (facilitated of course by me) about why Zero left the things he did.  They have caught on pretty quickly that Zero really likes round things because he is round.  They eventually figured out that they could make the number 10 with the objects he left them!  Fun for the kiddos and great for their budding brains!!

#3

We were studying birds this week and what is bird week without a cute art project?  Now, I can't take credit for this one, but my teaching neighbor Ms. Kim did the most adorable extension after reading the book Owl Babies by Martin Waddel.  For a closer look, check out my shelf on shelfari.  I did read the book with my class and we did a venn diagram after having a discussion on nocturnal animals.  We decided to compare bats and owls (since we had previously studied bats during the Halloween season).  They did a great job, but thought the name of the chart "venn diagram" was a really funny word:)  Kids at this age are so sweet!!  My sweet neighbor managed to squeeze in an art project that used cotton balls to create the 3 owl babies!!  Absolutely adorable!!  I will need to remember this for next year.  This is a pic that I found on pinterest, but my neighbor used just 1 cotton ball per owl and googlie eyes instead of construction paper.  Still super cute!!  I'll have to remember to take some pics of hers and post.

#4

Instead of a craft, we did a journal entry.  I had a whole bunch of pictures of different types of birds that I gave to the kiddos to pick one that they liked.  Earlier in the week we had talked about how we might draw a bird on our own using simple shapes, like circles, ovals, triangles, etc.  So the kiddos took the pictures (which conveniently had the name of each bird on it) and drew their version and wrote the name.  This is the first time I have ever given them actual lines.  I know that the opinions vary about when to start using lines for writing, but I just wanted to see what they would do.  It was interesting actually.  Some didn't use them at all, while others drew their own lines to use.

#5

As a part of our bird week, we of course had to paint with feathers!!  I normally offer kiddos the choice of table or easel, but this time, I asked them to use the easel.  I only had one kiddo who really did NOT want to use the easel.  It was surprising how much the kiddos who don't usually prefer the easel, LOVED it.  I always tell them how important it is to try new things!!  We had a lot of fun painting with a variety of feathers and "feather-like" objects. 

Don't even get me started on the importance of paint in a child's early development!!  Some of the important ones can be reviewed below for those moments when your adult brain and fear of mess tries to convince you otherwise.

“Given an easel, paper, and paint, and no directions, every child will paint!” (Katherine H. Read 1967)

Paint and Physical Development

• Painting provides numerous opportunities for advancing physical abilities including fine motor skills, hand-eye coordination and visual perception (Danko-Mckee & Slutsky 2003). In addition, teachers regularly observe children developing gross motor skills, sensory integration, grip strength and balance when working at the easels.
• Research has documented that the act of painting promotes lateralization of the left and right brain hemispheres (Feldman 2003), improving the brain’s ability to integrate functions such as creative thinking with planning and execution.

Paint and Emotional Development

• The process of painting can be a soothing sensory experience for young children. At Bing, it often aids in separation from caregivers and can be used as a tool to process emotional experiences.
• The medium of paint has the ability to transform feelings and ideas into visual form, offering children a means of communication other than verbalization.
• Engaging with and conversing about paintings (both those created by children and professional artists) promotes an awareness of and an appreciation for the aesthetic qualities in art and in life.
• The act of painting supports the development of self-efficacy, self-restraint and self-correction (Feldman 2003).

Paint and Social Development

• Painting supports the development of a self-concept (Feldman 2003).
• It provides an opportunity to observe peers in their process and connect through a shared interest.
• Group painting invites planning, turn taking and collaboration.
• Painting also supports group project work as a method of documentation and sharing children’s ideas.

Paint and Cognitive Development

• Painting involves a number of cognitive tasks for children, such as “experimentation, exploration of cause-and-effect relationships, critical thinking skills, and visual discrimination” (Danko-McGee & Slutsky 2003).
• While painting, children encounter opportunities to learn about colors, shapes, sizes, textures, categorization and numeracy.
• Painting inspires planning, problem solving and symbolic thinking, as well as discussions involving a child’s own observations and evaluations.

Paint and Language Development

• Painting can encourage children’s discussion of art terminology, qualities of the paint, order, direction, location and spatial relationships.
• Children often incorporate story elements into their work or provide a narrative of their thoughts and theories while they work.
• Research with young children suggests that children who are encouraged to draw and paint at an early age will later learn to compose stories more easily, more effectively and with greater confidence than children who do not receive this encouragement (Applebee 1988; Clay 1995).
• Finally, painting also provides the opportunity to explore visual patterns, imagery and literacy concepts that precede formal writing (Olshansky 1995).

Just wanted to share a few important reminders as to why getting a little messy every day is important!  Hoping you have a terrific Friday!!  That's the News, Views & Stews of my week.  How was yours?

Tuesday tech tip

My daughter wanted to write a story the other day and so I decided to have a little fun and discover some new technology.  I found a great little program called Story Board That . It's an online and app based ( for all you lucky peeps who have chrome books ) program that allows the writer to create story boards with a variety of characters, backgrounds, etc. You can even upload your own pictures!!

My daughters spent their beautiful Saturday creating stories.

Manipulating the character's hair, eye, and skin color. Placing them into the scenes they wanted for their storyline. Adding text in either text boxes or a variety of speech bubbles.  ( remember, this is all on the first real day if spring break!!)

And, the kicker is I had even turned on a movie (planes) just to see if I could pull them away!!  Talk about a teacher's dream come true!!  I actually had to kick them off and tell them that they had worked long enough for today and promise them they could work on it tomorrow.  This has gone on for more than 3 days now!! So.... 

I'm thinking, no!! I'm wishing that I had a classroom to try it out in!!  The motivation is obvious.  The teacher aspects are even better. First of all, the program is EASY to use!! If my 4 year old can do it with little help then any grade school child or partner pair would be able to navigate through(obviously she can't type her story yet). Hmmm I wonder if you can record??  

I absolutely LOVE the teacher dashboard!  Logged in as a teacher, you are able to see the storyboards of all your students at a glance.  In a moment you'll be able to tell whether Suzy Q. is really hard at work on her story, or hard at work creating an imaculate picture. 

 You are also able to present student's storyboards from your dashboard.  I would utilize this mode for group editing mini lessons.  Simply select the desired student's storyboard from the teacher dashboard page and open.  Then located at the bottom of the storyboard are buttons with options, such as "make visible to classroom".

If you are needing an actual product or would like to share with others the work of your students you are able to print and download a powerpoint of the storyboard.

Another fun feature I have discovered while playing with this program is the ability to create a storyboard and save it as a template for your students to use.  I can see this being extremely beneficial for younger classes or faster paced assignments. I could even see using it as an evaluation of recently taught grammar lessons or writing techniques.  The possibilities are endless!

Well, even though it's late....I believe it's a good one!  I hope you have enjoyed this Tuesday's Tech Tip!  

Tomorrow will be Totally WRAD!

WRAD

We are so excited for World Read Aloud Day! (WRAD)   Truthfully we are combining celebrations of Dr. Seuss and World Read Aloud Day.  We have decided to share our love of reading with our class by having a couple guest readers come in and share their favorite Dr. Seuss books and utilize technology by listening to someone famous read a book.   I found this really fun site run by the Screen Actors Guild called Story Online. Each book is paired with an activity guide and the videos are high quality.  Check out a couple below.  I hope you take the time to celebrate World Read Aloud Day and change the world by instilling a love of reading in our future!

When Pigasso Met Mootisse


Romeow & Drooliet

A few of my all time favorite Dr. Seuss books are:

See this book on my Shelf I love this read aloud for modeling character voices, to talk about how character's can change, and for teaching about the importance of caring and conserving our resources.

See this book on my Shelf! I love using this book at the beginning of the year to discuss emotions and how we all feel a variety each day.  We discuss how feelings are not bad and all feelings are allowed.  We then discuss how to properly handle and express our feelings so that we all remain in a safe environment.

See this book on my Shelf! I love this story when addressing how we should treat others.  This is a great character lesson book with "The Zax", "Too Many Daves", and "What was I Afraid of?" included.

Hoping Everyone has a WRAD day!!

                                                       

Hard to believe, it's CURRENTLY February!

This was Fun!!  Thanks to Oh Boy, 4th Grade  for setting up this linky party!

Listening:  I currently have 1 healthy member of my household aside from myself (knock on wood!!) So ready for the roller-coaster weather ride to be over.

Loving:  I am loving the easy to use, no mess, gas fireplace that provides me with much needed extra heat (so that I won't get in "trouble" for bumping up the thermostat once again!!)

Thinking:  About all the things that I SHOULD be doing instead of having fun blog hoppin' around this evening.

Wanting:  I want...and now you are all my witnesses, to be better about posting to my blog.  I have so much to share but get caught up in the day to day bustle and forget to take the time to just sit down and do it.  Maybe you all will help to hold me accountable!  My aim is weekly....maybe every other??

Needing:  I need to quit putting myself at the end of my to-do list! Today I actually got up and let my daughter get her own breakfast while I ran on the treadmill!!  I felt great all day because I took 20 minutes to spend on me!!  (I know that's not much for all you runners out there, but I'm a little...ok a lot out of practice).  I need to take care of myself so that I CAN take care of everyone else.

2 Truths & A Fib:  I have traveled to Hong-Kong to see where my father grew up.  I am a first generation American in my family and it was a blessing and incredibly eye-opening experience to see where my father came from.  As Americans, we take so much for granted and we don't even realize it!!

I have a rearranging addiction....in fact if there was a support group, I should probably attend.  Maybe it's a need for Feng Shui....or maybe I never want to be stuck in a rut...who knows? I am always searching for the "just right" arrangement that makes everything flow nicely...this includes my classroom...

My favorite color is not black, although you wouldn't know it since 90% of my wardrobe and furniture is indeed black (it goes with everything right?)!  My favorite color is yellow :) and I have recently made a conscious effort to include yellow in my decor!!

Now it's your turn!  What are you currently up to?

                                                       

The Era We Live In or the Error of our Ways?

http://youtu.be/-ouOwpYQqic

I believe we need to be intentional about teaching our future the importance of balance and the lifelong implications of our use of technologies, especially social media.

"Mom, when do I get my phone?", "Can we watch another show?", "Can I play a game on the computer?",  "But I have research to do, I need your computer!"....the examples are endless when thinking about how "plugged in" our lives have become.  Did you know that according to the American Academy of Pediatrics, children should be limited to NO more than

Pass the Puzzle Please

I was sick and tired of watching the kiddos sit and stare at the box on the wall. Doing nothing with their minds but evolving square eyes! So today in the lull of the afternoon when normally I cave in and let the "boob tube" be turned on to captivate my 3 children into quiet couch potatoes,

Oh the Prospects of Preschool and Prayer...

Lesson 2: Pray hard and hope for the best! So, as I mentioned in my last post, big changes have been a mainstay in my life for the past year. Changes in leadership, grades, hubby relocation, moving cities, and finally....a change in settings for my career as well! I have been blessed with the opportunity to spend some time teaching in preschool again! I truly never thought that I would have this opportunity again...and yet hear I am! God is SO good! For the past few years I have truly struggled

Whew! First year back in Second....

I should begin by saying, I survived!  But it was definitely not a walk in the park!  I hadn't felt the way I felt this school year since my first year of teaching.  However my "newbie" team and I made it through and we learned a lot along the way.

Lesson #1:  Too much change is NOT fun!  Change can be good when done in moderation...too much leads to mass amounts of stress.  Like all professionals in the field of education, we understand that change is just a part of the job.  Nothing is ever the same, something is always different.  But, as teachers we are planners and when you take our plans and throw them out the window, well you have just created a very ineffective teacher.  This year changing grades, administration, new crop of kids, I expected a certain amount of readjustment.  Then you throw in a few new computer programs, AND a relocation of your family into the mix, what you have is a perfect storm.  As a result of that storm, I managed to work extremely hard to give my kiddos a terrific year and come out the other side looking forward to a change of pace in a new place to call home.

Back to my lesson...too much change is bad...but just enough can be great!  I changed my behavior management system this year to a technology based program known as DoJo.  This added an additional element of communication between home and school with weekly emails going to parents on student's classroom performance.  Parents are also able to access their students account 24/7 using a parent code and the internet.

In the classroom, DoJo points were exchanged for all sorts of rewards.  The list for rewards is exhaustive, but my favorite this year was "beach bum".  I decided to bring in my beach umbrella to really play it up.  Students would pay 30 points for the chance to do their daily activities under the shade of the colorful beach umbrella!  I allowed only one student per day.  Not only did I have a hard working "beach bum" in the room, but I also added color and fun to my entire classroom environment!  Definitely a GOOD change!

Shop and Be Merry!

Come by my little shop and check out what I have been up to!  TPT is having a great BIG sale!  Cyber Monday and Bonus Tuesday!

Is Talking ticking away your time?

Looking for a solution to behavior management and communication I stumbled upon ClassDoJo.com.  I am excited to see what this will do in my classroom.  I have been struggling with this extremely chatty class and transitioning.  It is taking us at least 5 minutes to be fully engaged from one activity to the next!  Any teacher in today's fast paced classroom, knows that we don't have that kind of time to waste.  Day after day I am having to rework my plans because we are not getting to everything.  So, then it comes down to....well, crack down!  Time to put a stop to certain behaviors.  Filling out note after note, and mark after mark....my mind is weary of time spent on things that are not what is on my lesson plans!  However, my need for consistency keeps me going, only to find out that notes are not being brought home or are somehow "lost" in transport.  Behavior charts are being "misplaced" or even adjusted to reflect a much better day than was earned!  It's way too early in the year for my hair to turn gray...it usually doesn't do that until the 100th day of school!  And so, comes my hopes for Classroom DoJo.  It is an online resource that allows you to digitally track and bank positive deposits and negative withdrawals by student.  It creates an auditory sound to allow students to hear the +/- behaviors being tracked as well.  As the teacher, I can set up a rewards system by point level.  Students may choose to cash in or continue saving.  Teachers can also email reports to parents, both daily and/or weekly!  An answer to prayer if you ask me!  Bye-bye clip charts, behavior binders, and endless record keeping that is difficult to stay on top of.  With Classroom DoJo, I can even use my smart phone as a remote to bank student points!  Did I mention that it's 100% FREE!

What's the opposite of "biggering"?

Running out of space in my classroom to put up ever important anchor charts, posters, words, words, and more words, I have begun the process of shrinking my posters!  Here is my new birthday chart!

Cute, easy to update and best of all small!  This year I have gone with a Dr. Seuss theme and I'm loving it.  I am tying all of my character education lessons to Dr. Seuss books as well!  I can't wait to share when done!  Check out my behavior chart below!

Yet another space saving change!  I put each stage along the bottom of a white board.  The white block is your standard good day with no level changes.  I then glued magnets to bottle caps and put numbers on each bottle cap with standard dot stickers.  These are both small, colorful, and easily manipulated.  

Hoping your back to school week is going smoothly!

Ready, Set, Write! Writing Road Trip, here we come!

Here's a great way to offer your kids accountability, without taking away their freedom to choose.  A couple of years ago I came up with this "menu" or as I called it, "road-trip" to use with my first graders.  This was towards the end of the year when I began to notice more and more elaborate pictures and less and less real writing.  Ahhh!  Spring Fever!  What to do?  I came up with a fun way to review and viola!  The Writing Road Trip was born!

This year, because I will be working with second grade students, I plan to use this early on to get writing started.  When I first used this with my younger students, I first had to complete our introductory writings for each genre of writing.  This is not meant to be used as a whole group "Road Trip".  Part of what makes this fun,

Thank You!!

Thank You to all those who supported Future Vision and their support for the children in Malawi, Africa by ordering throughn my online pampered chef party! YOUR orders have secured 9 children will have a nutritious meal for the next 9 months AND their school house conditions will continue to improve. Because we are so close..I will be making up the difference so that we will benefit 10 children!!! Praise God for the incredible opportunities he has blessed us with! For more information on this ministry and their vision, please visit:

More on Malawi

Tired of False Starts?! Check out this Rubric!

It is the most frustrating stage children go through on the road to literacy!  The stage I am referring to, is the one between word calling and comprehending.  It's that fun stage where your child can sit down with a chapter book and 30minutes later come bouncing 'round the corner announcing "I'm Done!"....AHHHHHH!

Pamper with a Purpose!

Hello All! Want to make a difference from the convenience of your home? Help the children of Malawi, Africa know that people DO care! Proceeds will benefit Future Vision Ministries in their work to build better schools and feed the children a nutritious meal each day! Check out my event I just posted and become a Pampered Chef with a Purpose! Visit http://www.pamperedchef.biz/colleencuisine and order now! **Make sure to specify where to deliver!**

For more information on Future Vision Ministries and the work they are doing to bring educational opportunities to the children of Malawi and their families, please visit: http://www.fvm.on.ca/FVM/Malawi.html