Fun Fridays

I took pictures during both of our recent Fun Friday celebrations and there might be like 130 of them.  Still I couldn't resist adding them to a photo collage and sharing one more slide show with you. Enjoy!!

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What I love about Kindergarten...

I LOVE Kindergarten kiddos!  Their hearts are so sweet and they just soak up EVERYTHING...including vocabulary words.  Today, my kids presented me with two very special gifts during afternoon centers.  The first was a book about gardens and vegetables and fruit.  They said it was their gift to me because they loved me and they love the Learning Garden.  I'm telling you, they know just how to GET TO MY HEART!  After me tearing up a bit, and us sharing a group hug, I continued my work only to receive another surprise moments later.  

Before I show you that little gem, enjoy a few pages from this precious book the kids made.  The best part in my mind is that they collaborated and did it all on their own--without me knowing!  I love that.  

 

 Then these two other little creative authors snuck over to see me.  When they held their creation up proudly for me to see, I saw the opening words (which you might be able to see when you enlarge this photo below). 


 It starts with the words "wut a dscras."   I have been reading kid writing long enough that I immediately thought, "Wow, does that really say 'what a disgrace'?"  I started churning through my kid writing rolodex trying to figure out what word they MIGHT have been writing.  Then I decided to just ask them to help me out.  


When I asked these giddy young writers to read it to me, they confirmed that it did in fact say:  "What a disgrace.  You are so nice.  Wow!  I love you.  Cool, Cool, Cool"....then my mind started rolling...what else might they mean besides "disgrace"?  


And the truth is, I have no idea!  It made me chuckle inside.  We also shared a group hug and I thanked them for thinking of me during center time.  

By the way, the green part in the first picture is a mask that I "can wear" when I want to.  Maybe when I'm being a "disgrace", I'll put it on!  ;-)  

Seriously, there aren't many people who can say their jobs fill their lives with laughs and smiles like mine does.  I am 100% BLESSED to be able to spend the day with these amazing kiddos and their amazing little creative minds.  And, that, my friends is just a bit of what I love about Kindergarten!

Celebrate Learning Day

What an incredible day visiting the decades!  The kids had a BLAST.  I'm certain that they are tuckered out tonight as they did not stop all day long.  Here's a fun glimpse into the celebration...although it really doesn't capture the effort, creativity and time that our amazing parents put into it.  Still, I know you'll enjoy their smiling faces:

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Hundred Day Fun...

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Stamina

Last weekend I was supposed to run a 12 mile long run in preparation for the half marathon in February.  I've never run 12 miles before.  But I've been training for this and felt I was ready.  I set out on the run with a good attitude and ready to go.  The first six miles went quite well for me.  I stopped to get a drink and then continued.  Somewhere in the seventh mile I knew I simply could not go on.  I had hit a wall.  There was no way I was going to make another mile much less FIVE more miles during that run.  I know runners have to push past walls, but I was also dealing with some severe knee pain.  I had no stamina to continue.  

That was the last time I have run for a week as I've been dealing with some sort of sinus congestion.  

This past week in the classroom I was working with small groups and again reminded just how similar learning is in any setting and how similar my learning to run is to these young children learning to read and write.  The learner must have the stamina for whatever the task is...large or small.  And some days our stamina shifts and doesn't allow us to complete something we thought we could.  

You and I might look at a simple sentence like "The _____ went in."  and think "any early reader should be able to fill in the blank and write those four words.  It's not THAT hard".  Still, I had some of my best readers and writers struggling with just that task.  Their stamina was low.  Their wall was up and we weren't going to be able to continue.  

Just like the readers, there are great runners who would look at my slow running and say, "C'mon 12 miles is NOTHING...especially at the pace you're doing."  As I've told many of you, I couldn't run 30 seconds last March.  And if someone had told me then that I'd even consider running 12 miles all at once-- on purpose--I would have LAUGHED and said, "There's NO WAY!"  I simply didn't have the stamina for it.  

The truth of the matter is this...sometimes what we don't have stamina for one day, we can build up to for another day. It's a gradual thing.  And it takes time.  The readers in our classroom will be fine. And, for that matter, so will their runner teacher!   In no time four words will seem like nothing at all.  While I don't think you'll hear me say that "12 miles is nothing at all".  I know it's getting easier to do.  We all just need to keep pressing on and building our stamina. 

Inch by inch, word by word, lesson by lesson, practice session by practice session...we'll get there.  

Happy Learning!

Penguins, Mittens, Centers and Book Buddies OH MY!

By way of follow-up, I wanted to share our Penguin schema chart AND our recorded observations about what Penguins "are" "can" and "have".  I love this activity as it really pushes kids to think about the learning we've done by reading so many books and watching clips online and synthesize it into smaller chunks of information.  

As usual, I like to allow the kids to use their "kid writing," but we're ramping that up as well.  My expectation is that those who can really stretch those words out to add all the sounds they think they hear and/or use the resources in the classroom to help figure out how to spell something.  It's obvious if you make it big, that we're all across the board in this skill...but EVERYONE is making progress and I LOVE that!

 For the past two days we've read two different versions of "The Mitten".  We read the one by Jan Brett and then the one by Jim Ayelsworth.  We talked about what it means when an author 'retells' and/or 'adapts' a story.  Then, each student created his or her own version of the mitten.  The only parameters were:  each mitten could have no fewer than five animals and no more than ten and students had to label their animals.  As usual, I am NOT disappointed in their creativity!  The juices were FLOWING in our classroom today:

 And, the kids are SO excited that we've begun using our easel!  Here are some of their amazing creations so far.  I just cannot look at these pieces of art and help but wonder WHY some people want to cut the arts out of schools!  Children need to learn how to express themselves.  AND what stories are behind each of these creations?  I'd venture to say there are pages and pages just waiting to be written in most of their heads!

Check out some of the center work that we did today...

We LOVE to listen to stories

 And we're learning to play with the ActivBoard more.

We rounded out our day with a visit from our 4th Grade Book Buddies.  What a GREAT visit we had while we shared a snack and books together!

Do you know what I REALLY love about our buddies?  They are like an extension of our Learning Garden family!  Whenever we see them in the hall, our K kids get SO excited.  And when we hear their names on the morning news celebrating line behavior and/or lunchroom behavior, the kids in the Learning Garden CLAP and CELEBRATE too.  And I'm told the reverse is true with the fourth graders as well.  If there's one lesson the whole human race could stand to be reminded of, I believe it's the power of community!  We must learn to reach out to one another and celebrate who we are together--and these kids are simply catching a glimpse of that.  And it brings us pure joy to watch it.

Happy Friday and Happy LEARNING!

 

A Sweet Award...

Sometimes the blogging world is just the BEST!  I found this when I was doing more personal family blogging and have also found it via "teacher blogging".  Check out the award that our blog received from a fellow blogger this week:

1. Thank the person who presented the award to you and link back to them.

This award was passed to me by Marlana over at Lil' Country Kindergarten.  She has a great little blog filled with tips and tricks for parents and teachers.  

2. Tell seven things about yourself.  I really don't like talking about myself but here are seven quick things....1. I have a terrific family of five children and an amazing husband that I've been married to for 25 years this year.  2.  I've been teaching 26 years this year.  3.  This is my first year back in full time classroom after 15 years as a reading specialist/literacy coach.   4.  I am LOVING being back in Kindergarten.  5.  I have written five books for teachers and numerous teacher's guides for reading instruction.  6.  I have learned to love running this year and am training for my first half marathon in February.  7.  I think I have an addiction for picture books...I have a TON of them and still keep discovering more I want to add to my collection.  
3.  Pass this on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know they've received this award.   (I'm choosing to do ten because I simply think 15 is too many for one blog post).  
Some of these bloggers have already received this award, but here's some new blogs for me:  
 A Teacher's Touch!  
The Very Busy Kindergarten 
Mrs. Woods Dual Language Class
Primary Perspective
Mrs. Kimbrell's Kindergarten





Not sure why this one won't center.  I keep trying and it disappears.  Still worth the click!  

First Day of K

Today is the first day of Kindergarten!  Eighteen sweet boys and girls are going to enter this classroom for a year of learning and growing together.  I'm sure there might be tears for a few.  But I am ready.  I want them to know that they are special and this is a special place where we will spend a lot of time this year.  Today we will read "The Kissing Hand" by Audrey Penn.  This is a perfect "first day of school" story.  Hopefully, it will help the boys and girls know that they are loved both at school and at home. 

If you are a parent and you are reading this, don't forget to ask your child to tell you all about this wonderful story!  You may even want to pull up the video of Audrey Penn reading the story on Barnes and Noble's site--just click the picture below for the link or click here.