Kindergarten and First Grade Calendar for 2014 ...Darling Handprint Art and Poems for Each Month

I love this little calendar. It's magical.

There's a beautiful full-color cover with a place for the students to write their names.



For each month of the year, students make a handprint picture of some kind. The picture shows the snowflakes for January and the hearts for February.



Plus, there are cute, thematic graphics, a thematic poem, and an accurate 2014 calendar.





OMIWORD. It's precious. My babes were completely enchanted when they discovered the pictures they could make with their hands.

Click on any of the above pictures to get your copy. My students made these for presents for their parents for the holidays. But you could also make one month at a time, or create the whole calendar as a "Happy New Year!" present.

Four more days, Teacher Friends!

 

Hysterical Laughter While Reading the Word Wall

Oh my. Things just happen... in even the most innocent situations.

Read the Room... we do it every day. The Superkid is always first. He or she chooses a pointer and leads the class to a chart or poem or shared reading or anything else in the room that we can read together. There are definitely some "old favorite" poems to read, and the wall where we have all the color words is popular, too.







 

But the most popular choice BY FAR is the Word Wall. Great, right?! All those yummy high-frequency words?! Of course I want students getting extra practice with those! So every time a student chooses the word wall, I cheer a little inside!

Now normally, we read the words  from left to right, just like we'd read them in a book. So we'll start with the words that start with "a" and we'll read them from left to right, across one row and then down to the next. Then, we'll read the words that start with "b" in the same way. It's NEVER been confusing... until yesterday.

A darling little kindergartner got her turn with the pointer, and rushed to the word wall. She started pointing to the "a" words in a rather random order. The students didn't miss a beat and read the words, anyway. And the she started on the "b" words... and this time, she decided to read them column by column, which was fine, until we got to "big, but" and the class just completely lost it. I might have giggled myself. But the more the students laughed, the more I laughed, and then they laughed, and pretty quickly we were just a mess of hilarity. I love my job!



Oh. My. I think we're all ready for a little vacation! When does Winter Break start? That's right, kids.... SIX MORE DAYS!!

 

 

 

 

Friday and Saturday and What I'm Working On

And just like that we're down to ten days until Winter Break!

On Friday, some teachers from my school met at a nearby... ahem... restaurant for a little TGIF fun. Can I hear a "Yahoo?!" We had a lovely time together. Since I'm new to the school, it was really my first chance to see everyone off campus and chat outside of work discussions. And oh, the laughing! It was just what I needed!

And today?

I slept late. Relatively, that is. Since I'm usually up by 5:30 am, 7:30 this morning felt nothing short of luxurious! I "played some house sports," as my husband says. A little laundry, a little cooking, a little organizing. It felt good to get it all done! I still have a list a mile long... I haven't done a thing to get ready for Christmas. Not. A. Thing. Bleh. I need two of me!

I've been trying to talk Rose Kitty into helping me out, but apparently she's not in the mood!



I've got a bunch of things in the works... some sign language alphabet activities, word work packet, holidays around the world, gingerbread, an interactive calendar... I'm hoping for just the right circumstances to get creative tomorrow!

Enjoy the weekend, teacher friends!

 

Gingerbread Kids... Sharing Information Through Glyphs

I thought my students' gingerbread kids turned out so cute! Plus... each one is unique! Every gingerbread project tells the story of the child who created it. The components convey information about children's families, birthdays, age, interests and favorites.





See my post below for the legend, and instructions. My students loved doing this, and it's been even more fun "reading" the glyphs! My little geniuses are getting to be pros at looking at a gingerbread person, and quickly being able to figure out who it belongs to based on the eye color, number of brothers  and sisters, and birthday month. So smart!

 

Gingerbread Glyph in Kindergarten and First Grade

Well the joy continues...

I forgot to take pictures of the gingerbread kids that my little sweeties made today, but I will do it tomorrow! They turned out great!

This little activity is in my Gingerbread Goodness Unit, and I'm offering it here as a freebie! Snag a copy of the instructions for the Gingerbread Glyph and get busy with your kiddos!



A few tips for creating glyphs with your kinders and first graders... I first distributed this page to each child. I had my own copy up on my teaching easel, and students were seated on the floor, where they could see well. First, we numbered each of the boxes. I showed them how to number 1-2-3 down the left column, then 4-5, then 6-7. This was just to make it easier for them to keep track of where we were! Then, I read each box, and students circled their answers. As we went through all the questions, we talked about how we would represent that data. I explained carefully, "My birthday is in July. In the middle of the page, it says, 'July=red, white and blue,' and that means that I will make hair using red, white and blue paper." We discussed every box, and students shared some of their answers and how they would represent the information on their gingerkid.

Only after all that do I recommend tracing and cutting gingerbread men. I have tagboard gingerbread man shapes that children traced onto 9" by 12" tan paper and then cut out. I modeled how to cut eyes, nose, stripes, hair, etc.... and then I put out a ton of colored paper and let the students work independently. So fun! The room was filled with the buzzing sound of children working, and it got messy! But we cleaned up and all is well!

Pictures tomorrow, I promise!

My Marvelous Monday... and Don't Forget About the Sale at TpT!

Truthfully, I wasn't looking forward to going back to school today. I mean, I LOVE my students. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE.

But that long weekend? Sleeping late, lounging in my pajamas for hours, reading books, walking on the beach, hanging out with my own children... That was pretty darn amazing!

So I admit that I went to school a little reluctantly today. Especially since I had to go extra, extra early due to some crazy car logistical issues that were a result of the long weekend.

But let me tell you---- We had the BEST day!

I changed the activity that students do first thing in the morning, and I added a bit to the routine (more on that later.) We started reading gingerbread stories (one of our big themes for the months), had a smoother-than-usual reading/literacy block, learned a couple of new poems, talked about characters in books, began work on our gingerbread math project (might take all week!) and had group time. During group time, three parents come work in the classroom and students are engaged in a variety of activities. Today one group was reading Time for Kids, one was working on some Marcy Cook math lessons, and one was busy with December calendar activities. I was working with a group and we discussed Gingerbread Friends by Jan Brett. I created a class book that's related to the story, and each student completed a page. It's going to be darling!



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was one of those amazing days. Children were kind to each other, they followed the rules, and they did their work. It was a total treat! And now... I'm excited to go back tomorrow!

Don't forget about the big sale at Teachers Pay Teachers! Everything in my store is already 20% off, and if you use the code "Cyber," you can get an additional 8% off. I used this opportunity to moved a pile o'stuff from my wish list to my cart to the "Downloads" folder on my laptop... and I'm thrilled to get working on some new projects!



Have a terrific Tuesday!

 

Hop on Over to Teachers Pay Teachers! There's a Big Sale This Week... It's Cyber Monday!

If you didn't make it to any Black Friday sales, here's a chance to do some serious saving right from home! I've gotta say... this is a sale I can really get excited about! New gaming systems, televisions or toys? Nope. Great deals on clothes and shoes? Tempting, but no thank you! TWENTY-EIGHT PERCENT OFF at Teachers Pay Teachers? Don't mind if I do!



Click on the picture above to go to my Teachers Pay Teachers store for a big discount on every product! Now is a great time to grab those items you've been wanting... heck, I have a little wish list of my own! I'll be taking advantage of the discounts this week and acquiring some new clip art for future units!

We just love a sale, don't we? Happy Shopping, Teacher Friends!