Kindergarten Hoppenings: October 2011

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Hoppy Fall Y'All

First, I have to thank everyone for all the kind words!! I really just wanted to lay it all out for my anonymous "friend" out there. Your comments truly mean so much to me!

Well, here in the subs of Chicago, I think we can officially say that autumn is upon us. It was chilly, rainy, and quite windy today....great for snuggling and comfort food OR just chillin' on the couch with my laptop, a baby boy that is practicing Kung Fu in my belly, and a ginormous cat that is extremely needy. I've been creating, creating, creating!!! I realized I barely had anything for Fall, and after all the wonderful comments....I truly wanted to put together a nice package of downloads.

For those of you in the throws of Parent/Teacher conferences, I hope this will help ease your planning. I hope everyone can find something useful! As always, I appreciate any comments and thank you for reading/downloading!

Please consider making a donation to my blog.

Enjoy!
Shannon

All documents contain fonts that are copyright DJ Inkers. Virtually all documents contain graphics that are copyright DJ Inkers. They are used with permission. Please visit http://www.djinkers.com/, for wonderful clipart and fonts.

Books We Love

Literacy Goods
Memory Cards...a favorite of my class!
Pumpkin Sight Word Memory

The template for Sight Word Uno came from kellyskindergarten.com. It does take a lot of practice with students, but once they have a handle on how to play...they LOVE it!
Fall Sight Word Uno

Fall Sight Word Find

I Have/Who Has...has become an obsession with my current Kinder-Hoppers. The pretty much beg to play it over and over, so I just keep trying to make new ones.
I Have Who Has Fall Edition Alphabet)

Have I told you lately how much I L.O.V.E. DJ inkers? Virtually all of my clipart comes from her...I am a clipart junkie. I loved these open pumpkins and thought they would work well as puzzles.
Pumpkin Alphabet Puzzles

You've seen this template before...St. Patrick's Day. I mount them to cute scrapbooking paper and put velcro circles on the letters and spaces.
Pumpkin Building Words Mats

The Sound It Out worksheet compliments the building words activity above. There are two different papers depending on what your kiddos need.
Sound It Out Pumpkin Worksheet

Early Fall Sight Word Color by Code

Beginning Sounds Leaf Match Up

I made this book quite a while ago and now looking at it, I kind of wish I hadn't included anything that could be related to Halloween. Maybe someday I will change it up!
Fall Colors Book

Pumpkin ABC's

We focus so much of our time at the beginning of the year with beginning sounds, but I know some of my loves are ready for ending sounds!
Squirrel Acorn Ending Sounds Match

The Falling Leaves Sort focuses on beginning sounds P and B. The second page has the leaves/pictures for students to color, cut, and glue. They are fairly small so I put two on a sheet to save on paper.
Falling Leaves P & B Sound Sort

The Math Goods
I adore these ten frames that we are going to use for centers. I am not using the acorns in my room. I went to Michaels and found these little stone acorns that were on clearance, well because it is October and time to put on Christmas decor, lol.

Squirrel Ten Frames

Squirrel Ten Frames 11-20

Students get to use dice and practice writing numbers on this sheet. Then after all the pumpkins have a number in them, they color by code.Roll, Write, And Color

Scarecrow-Crow Number Matching

Roll a Leaf

Number Match

I always have my kiddos make their own Bingo cards. I give them a copy of both sheets. They write down one number and then cross it off the second sheet...that way they don't duplicate any numbers. Four in a row wins!
Number Bingo

Falling Leaves Graphing Worksheet

Fall Comparing Sets Center

This book is similar to my Counting Spiders books. Students will use a stamp pad to make crows and then use a marker or pencil to make eyes and beaks on the crows. I tried to come up with a different title...but hey, I truly LOVE the Counting Crows and just couldn't resist.
Counting Crows Math Book

I have these printed on 11x17 paper. They will be mounted and laminated. I found foil leaf confetti (also on Clearance) at Michaels. Students will use a paperclip and a pencil as the spinner. The goal is to fill the trees with the specified number of leaves.

Autumn Leaves Math Game

Another blast from the past...Students roll a dice or two and write the number in the first box, then fill in the numbers that come next.

What Comes Next Fall Edition

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Who I Am

So, this post isn't for everyone. It's actually for one. One person who has chosen to remain anonymous. One person who doesn't know who I am at all, based on what they've said about me. It isn't a person I work with and it isn't a parent from my school...just a random person. To that person let me give you some insight to who I am and what I know to be true.

I have been working with children in a teaching capacity since January 1994. I graduated high school early and began working at a Pre-School immediately. I teach because it is a part of who I am. I have a love for teaching AND learning. Some people go into teaching because they think the kids are cute, they have good lessons, or for a number of reasons that just seem wrong to me. I teach because I know in my heart of hearts that I can help my students achieve goals in fun ways. The lessons are not nearly as important as the outcome...

I am extremely hard on myself within my classroom. I am constantly reflecting on what I can do better for my students. My students are my priority. My lessons, my materials, and all the other things that go with it are important too; however, my students learning the things I want them to learn is above all else the most important. This has always been my priority since 1994. I self describe myself as a bit OCD in my classroom. I am focused on my students being successful and enjoying Kindergarten, if this is a fault...I am willing to live with it. I really don't know of any good teachers who are not OCD in some ways in their classroom. We are striving for success, we have an abundance of paper work to stay on top of, we aim to be experts in everything that impacts our classroom, we are constantly seeking new ways to teach, we are always looking for the most engaging lessons...the list goes on and on, or at least it does for the good teachers.

In regard to fellow teachers, I will do virtually anything I can to help them. I love to create and share with others. I seek help from other teachers, as well. If I have a concern of any kind, I utilize people around me. Good teachers use people and resources to help themselves. I will be completely honest, individuals that do nothing to help themselves or to improve their craft...I lose patience with. Is this a fault, perhaps; however, it takes a lot for me to lose my patience. I am not perfect. I am human. I make mistakes, but I try my very hardest to learn from my mistakes and not make them over and over.

So, if you still think of me as a teacher who isn't very good or one that you would not want your child to have, then so be it. I know who I am, my administrators and co-workers know who I am and what I can do, and my students and their parents know what type of teacher I am...no matter what you think you know just based on reading or perhaps, your other reliable sources of information.

For those of you who are anxiously awaiting my Fall post...it will be up sometime within the next week or so. It has LOTS of goods and will be worth the wait. I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!!

Shannon

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Eat, drink, and be ScArY....

OH MY GRAVY...this girl is t.i.r.e.d. Unfortunately, I can't seem to sleep. I pray that I am not being to cranky with my little loves! I really try to stay focused on our goals and keeping positive. I can't complain because I adore my class and I am in LOVE with my little miracle, who by the way spends about 75% of the entire day doing Kung Fu. I have to share some pictures of how I celebrated Columbus Day...

That my friends, is the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life. I am unbelievably in awe and blessed. You have just peeked at my little boy!!!!

On to some school stuff...
I have some answers to recently posed questions...

How do I fit in all the extras with all the curriculum?
* I will be completely honest, I don't fit in all the extras all the time. The activities that are in color are usually taught during our Morning Meeting and then added to a tub for work center time. During work centers, the group that gets the tub can choose the activities they want to complete. The worksheets always supplement things that we are doing in class. Now that all being said...I really try to stay organized and try to utilize every moment of the day; however, sometimes we simply run out of time.

* Fall Activities are coming!

* Most of my clipart and all of my fonts are from DJ Inkers. I can't even tell you which ones are the best because I truly LOVE them all. I am the biggest Clipart junkie...eVeR. I have an addiction. Some of it is from some old Carson Dellosa clipart CD's.

"You kept me up all night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, and all that came was a beagle. I didn't get a chance to go out for tricks or treats."

I know Halloween is a touchy time of year. Many schools do not allow Halloween activities; however, I am not at one of those schools, so I do enjoy Halloween activities. This is the first year in a while that all of my students enjoy Halloween festivities...I will be taking full advantage of this! I, as always, am thankful for those of you who leave me kind words. I truly appreciate it. I hope you find something that you can use. I didn't include descriptions, mainly because I am just too tired to think, lol. I think everything is pretty self explanatory. If you need something specific answered, just shoot me an email smorss99@gmail.com.

Enjoy!
Shannon

Books We Love