12 Days of Kindergarten

   Now that we've been in school for a few weeks, we're all settling in nicely.  The kids are doing a great job learning routines and expectations, and I'm doing a pretty good job of getting out of bed at 5 am. (Ugg!)

   We had our 12th day of kindergarten this week, and it made me think of the fantastic book, The Twelve Days of Kindergarten by Deborah Lee Rose. If you've read it before, you know that it's a super cute school version of the 12 Days of Christmas and the kids love it.  It's great to use when you're working on double digit numbers and it also has incredibly funny and detailed pictures that are great for teaching how to look for picture clues.

     The book inspired to me show you some of the things we've been up to, "12 Days" style. (You can click on some of the pictures for links or freebies.) On the 12th day of kindergarten my teacher gave to me . . .

12 Leveled Book Bins

I love these new baskets from the Dollar Tree - they match the stools at my reading table.

11 Hanging Portraits

We did this great freebie from Lauren Morse for Open House.

10 Marshmallow Toes

We read an emergent reader about Marshmallow Toes and made this cute craftivity.

9 Numbered Dots

I found this adorable rug for my math center at Ikea.

8 Word Wall Pictures

7 School Buses

The kids loved making these buses from Deanna Jump's Fun with Names unit.

6 Alphabet Emergent Readers

We've been using these easy to read letter books - they work great with our new Word Study program.

5 Classroom Rules

The kid friendly, relevant graphics on these posters are great visual reminders for the kids.

4 New Table Signs

Grab a free set of these cute signs to put in these awesome $1.00 Ikea frames.

3 Open House Frames

The kids painted and decorated cute frames for their parents for Open House.

2 Ikea Leaves

1 Freebie from Me to You!

Click here for this cute sequencing activity.

I hope your year is off to a great start, too!

The Kindergarten Trifecta

   Tears, Tantrums and Tinkle. They're what my friend Cindy calls the "Kindergarten Trifecta" and it's hard to have a first week without them. We just finished our first week and I had my fair share of all three! It's funny how much you block out from year to year, how much you don't remember. How exhausting the first day is, how much teaching and reteaching we need for routines and expectations, how hard it is to get the kids to "Not talk on top of my words . . . Please!"
   But let's not forget all the exciting, happy things that come rushing back, too. The smell of new pencils, a fresh, empty lesson plan book just waiting to be filled, labeling everything in the classroom (alphabetically and in color order of course), the joy of eager kindergartners and the trust of wistful parents handing their little ones over to you on the first day.  My friend Sandra summed it up perfectly after dismissal on the first day as she revised the song, "There's Nothing Like A Dame" and sang out in a Broadway-worthy voice, "There's Nothing Like the First Day in Kindergarten." So very true Ms, M! But I wouldn't trade it for the world. Even with the Trifecta.
     I know a lot of you are starting school tomorrow and are gearing up for your first week. Here's a little freebie that will hopefully make things a little easier. It's so nice to send home a little newsletter after the first week to let the parents know what you've been up to, but by the time you get to Friday you're bound to be exhausted. Here's a cute, little newsletter that you can use to share the basics of your week. (Why reinvent the wheel, right?)
     I hope you all have (or have had) a great first week.  I wish you very few tears, tantrums or tinkle. (Especially any of the three coming from you, 'cause that happens during the first week sometimes, too!)

Wet Toes, Winners and Pajamas

I just had a very serious conversation with my dog. It went like this:

Me: It's 4:00 in the morning - go back to sleep.
Sally: I want breakfast, I want breakfast, I want breakfast.
Me: There are only three days of vacation left, we're sleeping in - go back to sleep.
Sally: I want breakfast, I want breakfast, I want breakfast.
Me: I'm pulling the covers over my head and going back to sleep.
Sally: I want breakfast, I want breakfast, I want breakfast.
Me: I can't hear you . . .
Sally: Then I'll lick your toes until I get what I want.

Guess who won? Yup. It's 4:30 in the morning, Sally went back to bed after our trip to the kitchen and the back yard and I'm wide awake. At 4:30. On one of my last days of vacation!  She's lucky she's so stinkin' cute!

Since I'm up, I thought I would post the last daily winners from the Back to School Giveaway and announce the Grand Prize winner. Drum roll please . . .

     Congrats to Trinity, Amy, Jkey and Lorena! Your prizes are on the way. As for me? I plan to go back to sleep for a bit (do you hear that, Sally?) and then spend the day in my jammies doing a little shopping. If you haven't heard, Teachers Pay Teachers is having a HUGE sale today and tomorrow. With many sellers adding to TPT's 10% off, you can get some really great deals. I have 27 things on my wishlist so I think I'm going to have to whittle it down a bit. Maybe. Probably not. I'll likely get them all. Ahhh... shopping in my jammies . . .

     I'm offering an additional 20% off everything in my store, which you'll get on top of TPT's 10 % if you use the code BTS13. The sale runs today and tomorrow so slip on your coziest pajamas, fire up the computer and head straight to your wishlist! Click on the picture below to check out some of the cute things I have on sale. 

There's Still Time . . .

I just wanted to pop in to post yesterday's winners.  Congrats to Mrs. Frost, LeAnne and Alicia - your prizes are on the way!

The giveaway ends tonight at midnight so if you haven't entered there's still time.  Be sure to stop by in the morning to see if you're the Grand Prize winner!
Have a great night!

Flash Freebie and More Winners

Howdy!

     Congrats to Rachel, Sarah and Lslouka for being chosen as Thursday's Back to School Giveaway daily winners.  If you haven't entered yet, click on the picture to read about and enter the giveaway. You have two more chances to be a daily winner and then the grand prize winner will be picked Saturday night at midnight.

I have a Flash Freebie for you today that I think could be helpful in your classroom this year.

    Lots of teachers use hand signals in their classrooms so the kids can ask for what they need without interrupting instruction.   I wanted to give them a try, but I wanted a way to make them kinder-friendly so they would be meaningful and easy to use.  I love to anchor new concepts with a book, so I created a shared reader to introduce hand signals and explain the reason for using them.

To reinforce the signals, I made a cut and paste matching activity and an emergent reader for the kids to color and read.  These both will help support the kids in remembering the signals.

To have a consistent visual reminder for the kids, I made classroom posters with clear graphics that even my non-readers could “read.”

Yippee! No more interruptions during small groups, guided reading or conferring. If you want to give hand signals a try with your kinders, click the picture below to grab a copy of the packet. Remember to hurry, it's only free until midnight!

Have a great night!  

Shhh - Don't Call It An Assessment . . .(Freebie)

Hiya!
     I have a cute freebie for you tonight, but first, a little business. Thanks to everyone who has already entered the Back to School Giveaway and congrats to yesterday's daily winners (they are posted below). If you haven't entered yet, click the picture to read all about it.  You have three more days to enter and win. Check it out!

    My crazy dog, Sally, woke me up this morning at 5:00 this morning for no apparent reason and I just couldn't get back to sleep. So, I took a little nap this afternoon. On the screen porch. With the ceiling fan on. Such a summertime treat - it was lovely! Sally thought so, too!

 

     Now I'm wide awake and working on some school stuff.  It's so important to get a quick handle on the skills and abilities of your new kids right away, but who wants to spend the first few days of kindergarten doing assessment?  I came up with a cute way to quickly assess the kids’ cutting, gluing, coloring & name recognition skills on the first day of school without it feeling like assessment.  The kids need to cut out the mixed up letters in their names and paste them onto their paper in the right order. (There's an editable name template for you to type your kids' mixed up names into.) As they work, you can quickly fill out the skills checklist that’s included. Voila! A quick peek at what your new gang of kiddos can do. The adorable kid clip art is from Cara's Clips - so cute!

If you use this assessment activity, I'd love to hear know how it goes.  Do you have a bunch of budding Picasos, or are they all thumbs?
Don't forget to enter the giveaway!

Back To School Giveaway

    Sigh . . . I go back to school in exactly one week from today. Where did this summer go? We didn't get out until June 29th, so it was an unusually short vacation to begin with, and then, whooosh! It's over.  It was a good summer though, and I feel refreshed and reinvigorated and ready to go! It's been awhile since I've done a giveaway, so in celebration of a great summer, I'm having a big Back to School Giveaway.

    Over the past couple of years, I've focused on really breaking down classroom expectations using emergent readers, clear visuals and follow up activities to support and reinforce exactly what I want the kids to do. I've really noticed a big difference in the amount of time it has taken for the kids to become total kindergarten rock stars!  So . . .

    I've put all of the things that have been so helpful to me into a giant prize pack. I also threw in a few of my favorite beginning of the year units. The Grand Prize Winner will win all of the items listed below, and three winners each day will each win 1 item of their choice.  Enter using Rafflecopter down below. Take a peek at all of the goodies:

 

You have until midnight on Saturday to enter. Good Luck! 

a Rafflecopter giveaway