To kick off a reading contest we have at my school, we are having a door decorating contest. This is a sample of my display. I hope to win for kindergarten. Unfortunately, I may win by default because of lack of participation by my teammates. So sad:(

I found this poem while reading blogs (wish I could give credit, but can't remember-will write it down next time) I added some clip art and my own spin of adding rhyming words to the mix. while the rhyming part was a little tough, they did a great job!

Another dental health activity was writing about the steps for brushing our teeth.As a prewriting activity the students created a Flow Map showing how they brush their teeth. I added a piece to make it look like a toothbrush.

I am soooo PROUD to report that my class are now PUBLISHED authors and illustrators!! We just received our books this week. I am awed by what a terrific job they did. Although they are all my favorites, I choose a few to post to give you an idea of the book. Another teacher and I did this project at my school. If you might be interested in doing this in your classroom, we used a company called Student Treasures. You can find information at studentreasures.com. Publishing the book was free, but to order it cost parents $20 and $10 for teachers.
Surprisingly, over half of my class ordered a book. Teacher receives a copy for the class for free. The project took a lot of time and was somewhat stressful, but well worth it to see the pride and excitement in my students! Feel free to ask if you have any questions:)

We have been working on writing dialogue using a word bubble and using quotation marks. Ever wonder what a healthy tooth might say to a sick tooth?? Or maybe what a dentist might say to teeth?? Well, here you go. 

Here is more President's Day activities we did. I was amazed at how much the students retained and could tell me about Washington and Lincoln!

 We created a Double Bubble Map comparing Washington and Lincoln which they used to create their writing. Pictures of map and writing coming soon. I am hoping to post these to TpT soon:)

 This also helped them to fill in the writing above.

 

 Some samples of the kid's work. They used two Circle Maps we created to help fill these out.

 Wildly                              

Wonderful

Worms!!

For the week that we worked on the letter Ww, my students learned about worms. What better way to learn than to take care of a real live worm! This is my favorite science project of the year. We still have a few crawling around in their cage habitat. Three weeks later, we have even found a few crawling around in our supply baskets!! At least we have found the few that got lost:)




When I figure out how to block faces, I will post more of the adorable pictures of my students caring for their new friends.

Love has been in the air in my classroom. Here are a few samples of projects we have done.

 They had to find their rhyming picture to find their partner. Then they synergized to create their poem. They absolutely loved this!!

 After reading a Let's Find Out book, students were given a heart tracer and created things that were the shape of a heart. They used the text pattern from the book to do the writing.

We created Circle Maps of things we love. Then we used them to write sentences about what we love.

                                                      Bridge Map to work on word families

                                                          My center chart is a Tree Map

                                             Classroom Helpers are a Tree Map

                                         I use a Flow Map for my Daily Schedule

Still trying to figure this all out. I have several neat Thinking Maps to share. I am going to try to upload photos of them and other ideas to use Thinking Maps in the classroom. Maybe you can cut and paste to use them. I am also going to try to upload to TpT soon. for free of course. Wish me luck!!

Thanks to a fellow teacher, my Kindergarten class has the opportunity to publish a book. I decided since it is close to Valentine's Day, we would write "Love is...".  I was amazed and excited about their thoughts on love.
I added a little editing just in case you do not read "kindergarten words". Here are what are some of the things they wrote:
Brody:  Love is huging.  Love is gad (God). Love is jesiz(Jesus). Love is win jesiz (when Jesus) did (died) on the cros!
Aidan: Love is mom and dad and dog and baby and brutr (brother) whent to the shrkis (circus). Love is when I go to the zoo my dad.
Kaya:  Love is kisis and love and yore (your) hrte(heart). Love is win Jesus dyd on the kros fo me! Love is win me and my mom hugs.
Daemien: Love is hus (hugs). Love is wen it is wom (warm) otsid. Love is cer (care). Love is when I cer (care).
Alexandra: Love is win my dog kis me on the tek (cheek) in (and) tin (chin). Love ismy pras (parents) gav a pet pig. Love is my pras (parents) like to give me apples.
Jayla: Love is win my mom hugx me.
Julia: Love is win you arn (are) hugd gnit (goodnight). Love is win god help you mac the wochr (washer) wrc (work). ** One of my favoritess!!! Love is win god help pepul wrc. Love is win pepul sa (say) hi.
Abigail: Love is wnt (when) dad holds me. Love is cis (kiss).
Cheyenne: Love is god. Love is xo. Love is wen car (you care).
Mya: Love is wen my dog eat.
Andrew: Love is when I love my mom.
Hector: Love is wen my mom ces (kiss) me en (on) the ces (cheeks).
Owen: Love is when you get hugs and kissis.
Maggie:Love is huging frenis (friends).
Gage: Love is when mommy hugs me. (dictated)
Madison: Love is wen we be nise.
Avah: Love is hogz (hugs) and ciziz (kisses) and wen my (brother) pulz my har (hair). **another of my favorites:)

Howdy fellow bloggers! This is my first try at a blog so be patient. I hope to eventually share the wealth of ideas I have with others. I have found wonderful ideas on other's blogs and hope to return the favor with my own. I have ALOT to learn about this, so it may take a while.