Guess who got a Smartboard?!

I did, to my surprise! Does any one else have one? How do you use your's?


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Rainy Day Schedule

Yesterday, we had rain, so our school was on a rainy day schedule, which means no recess. It's very rare in Las Vegas. We eat our afternoon snack (provided by the parents) on the playground during recess. The children ate inside during recess, so I used the projector to go to www.sesamestreet.org. I clicked videos and searched "rain". If you watch any of the video results, it goes through all of videos involving rain on a loop without interruption. It was awesome to fill the silence and it was a special treat.

Authors' Mic

Here is one of my kindergartners reading about rainy and sunny weather from his journal. He's pointing with a water squirter (Dollar Tree) and speaking into one of our classroom mics. My kiddies LOVE this and are so proud!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

New Technology

One of the benefits of our new classroom is the new AV system. We use the projector to watch www.brainpopjr.com videos and the enVisions clips. I also use an iPod daily during seatwork and centers, playing mostly Steven Fite, Dr. Jean, and The Beatles (for our First Grade Promotion Ceremony--more on that later).





We also received two microphones, so one of my aides and I each have one. I love them, especially during centers when it's louder in the classroom. It's great to get everyone's attention. The kids also love to read from their journals or the morning messages using the microphones! They are much smaller than the mic I used in student teaching. You also have to get in the habit of clicking them off when you want to have a one-on-one conversation. Now, I just have to remember to stop taking it home accidentally!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Big Changes

I haven't posted in a while, simply because of chaos. In the past few months, our kinder aide left, we gained a new one, we gained a second one, we packed up our room, unpacked our room, and performed a Spring Assembly five times for the entire school.

Here is the new room...

I didn't put up too many things, but that will change over the summer. I'm thinking of switching to an ocean theme for next year...

iPhones

I reset the two old iPhones we had in my house and downloaded phonics apps. I grabbed four apps that are like digital flashcards for letters and sounds. I plan on giving them to early finishers or my kids who need extra help during centers. They can only access the four educational apps.





- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Play-Doh Letters

About twice a week, I hand out small pre-made balls of Play-Doh, so the children can make our letters, shapes, and numbers of the week.

This also prepares them for Play-Doh center. They learn how to clean up the Play-Doh, stay on task, and keep it off of the floor!

Plants!

This week, we planted our own classroom garden in our water table. We have covered the life cycle of a plant and the parts of a plant, as well.

Our "Morning Message" was altered. I had the children stand up, pretend their feet were a plant's roots, their torso was the stem, their arms were the leaves, and faces were the flowers.

We worked very hard on large projects, showing a plant's needs.

Here's my example.

Here are some projects, showing the life cycle of a tree.

I hung them outside of our classroom.

We watched two FABULOUS www.brainpopjr.com videos:

1. Parts of a Plant

2. Life Cycle of a Plant

During recess, I roll our garden table outside to get some sun. The children are allowed to give each plant three sprays, then pass the bottle.

Here are the steps to making our Art Center project.

Above is my example for Art Center.

Day 3

We lacked sunshine for a few days.

Here is my post from our garden last year (and here and here).

The Writing Light

This idea was stolen from our district's kindergarten chat room. Another teacher shared her idea for writing instruction and I turned it into a PowerPoint slide.

As children write, I remind them to...

1. Go and start using a capital letter! (Green Light)

2. Slow down and use a space. (Yellow Light)

3. Stop and put your punctuation! (Red Light)

We used crayons to check our writing.

My Favorite Educational Website...

Every Monday, my PM class gets 40 minutes in the computer lab. A fourth grade class has the computer lab before us, so right before we get there, the fourth graders pull up my favorite website: www.tickettoread.com. It's too difficult for most of my kinders to type.

This website is amazing! Any educational website that can keep kinders engaged for 40 minutes is fabulous in my book! The website goes through each letter and rewards the students with virtual toy parts. For my readers, I can go onto the teacher website, voyagerlearning.com, and advance them to the reading portion and skip the letter lessons. The students have to use their headphones, so the entire room is quiet... incredible! Occasionally, I'll hear a faint "/a/ /a/ /a/" or "the!" So cute.

On the teacher website, I can even see how many minutes each student has spent on the site at home.

(Ticket to Read working its magic.)

Below is a picture of their laminated cards that speeds up logging in (when there is only one of me and 29 of them). The cards have their pictures, usernames, and passwords. I hang them up on the wall next to the computers.

Check-Out Aisle Find!

While checking out in Target, I glanced down and saw these little voice recorders. I thought what an excellent idea to record quick instructions for independent centers. For example, for Art Center, I recorded, "Please write your name, then paint." I velcroed the recorders to each center and put a star sticker on the "play" button, so they know how to make it talk. The recorders evan have a "lock" switch, so the children can't accidentally delete your instructions. Great find!

My "Baby"

I am so lucky to have this Elmo, computer, and projector cart. I use it at least twice a day PER class!

More Classroom Pictures

Each day, we add a bone to the bags. When we have reached our 100th day, we start counting down to the last day of school.

The door to our bathrooms and storage room.

My desk area.

Use every inch of your classroom for storage and organization. I numbered baskets under the drawers to store journals.

The door to the playground, which I use to post pictures and announcements for my kinder parents.