Lesson Plan Template

I'm breaking records today!! Second post in a week...or month! Yay me!

While the toddler is sleeping I thought I should work on my schedule for next year.  I like to make my daily lesson plans in word then fill in by hand what I will be doing that day.  Just what works for me. I don't like the lesson plan books you can buy at your local teacher store, they never have enough space! So I make my own.  Its nothing fancy, but it's a format I am used to and I can usually just leave this out for a sub!

Click here

Okay, I'm still new to all this technology stuff and when I uploaded the document to google docs it didn't load right.  On my Word version the 2 boxes are on the same page next to each other. I couldn't figure out how to fix it...so I am just going to deal with it!  Anyway, if you like it, use it!  


Hope everyone is enjoying the heat wave! I'm taking Colt swimming now that he is up!


Steph

Summer Time

It's summer, yay!!!!!!!   I was so happy to see the end of the year...it was a tough one, but we made it!  I will be teaching Transitional K this coming year, so I have spent this month doing a little research trying to find out how and what to do with this level.  Even though I am not in CA, the state has mandated TK classes this coming year because the entry date was changed. So, kids who now are not old enough for regular K can sign up for TK and then attend regular K the following year. Anyway, there is some info out there if anyone else is teaching TK let me know! I would love to know what you are doing!

I went into my classroom yesterday to paint my bulletin board and almost cried when I saw my room! NOTHING was where it was supposed to be! Instead of crying, I took a breath and started moving...my desk, a big bookshelf, filing cabinets, and tables. After getting that all moved I was able to start painting...well after I removed all the staples that were left in the board from the previous owner!

Here is the before picture...isn't it a lovely color?

I decided I was tired of hanging paper so I painted the board instead!

The pink side will be where I put my birthday cakes and the blue is for calendar and other works of art. I will post again when I have it done.

If anyone else is teaching TK or has any ideas let me know!!

Before I sign off I want to thank Marlana at Lil' Country Kindergarten for posting a link to my blog! If you haven't been to see her you better get moving! She is a great resource and has been very helpful to me!

Enjoy the sunshine!
~Steph

Wowzers!

Well it happened again...that thing called LIFE!!!  Only this time it was a downpour!  March came in like a lion and left like a lion with the death of both of my maternal grandparents within 10 days.  My grandmother suffered a massive stroke on March 11 and passed on March 16th.  She had just turned 81 (March 3), relatively healthy, very outgoing and a talented quilter.  My family is blessed to have her gift of quilting to remember her and we know that we are wrapped in her love when we snuggle one of her quilts.  She made each of us numerous quilts, each one made with great thought as to our likes.  She made them for special occasions, like birthdays, weddings, graduations and births.  What a treasure!  My grandfather was 93!! He passed just 10 days after my grandma. What a love affair they had after being married for nearly 58 years. That is something to be proud of as this is becoming a rarity.

April has left me with 7 weeks left of the school year.  This year has flown by! We met the incoming kinders last week and I will be teaching the students who just aren't quite ready for the rigorous curriculum.  I'm excited and nervous all at the same time and I know I have a lot of prep work to get done over the summer.  I am really hoping to become a more avid blogger and maybe with my new class I will begin creating things for them! We will see...not making any promises!

We have a plant unit and a farm unit coming up and I think we will try to squeeze in butterflies too! I will try to take pictures and post what we are doing!

Happy Spring (and Friday the 13th!)

~Steph

Lovely Blog Award

Thank you to Stacey at 3rd Grade Times for giving me the Lovely Blog Award!  It's nice to wake up and feel the love!

Here are the rules:
1. Link back to the blogger who gave it to you
2. Pass the award on to 15 other lovely bloggers
3. Follow the person who sent it to you

Easy enough, right?  Here are the lovely bloggers I am passing it on to:

Barbra and Mary at Happy Teaching First
Marsha at Differentiated Kindergarten
Lidia at Kids Reading Activities
Hadar at Miss Kindergarten
Kristin at Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten
Holly at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade
Kristina at Coloring Books and Funny Looks
Miss S. at Just Teaching Kindergarten
Shannon at Kindergarten Hoppenings
Melissa at Dilly Dabbles
Camille at An Open Door
Amy at The Resource(ful) Room
Vanessa at Kinder Love
Jeannie at Kindergarten Lifestyle
Kerri and Lindsay at Teacher Bits and Bobs

Check out these amazing blogs and pass on the love!! I need to get busy and keep up with posting!

~Steph

Help!

I'm still trying to get into blogging, life just seems to get in the way! Someday I will be better at keeping up and maybe posting more than once a month!

Any who, with so many WONDERFUL resources out in bloggy world I have come upon a HUGE problem: storage!  How do you fellow bloggers store all of the things you have made?   If I knew how to do a linky party I would try it out with this post...more to learn I guess!

I can't wait to hear how you store/organize your games/activities!

~Steph

My first award!

Thank you to Melissa at Dilly Dabbles for my first award, the Liebster Blog Award.  This award is for bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers. Here are the rules:

Thank the award presenter and post a link back to their blog
Put the award on your blog
Pick 5 blogs with less than 200 followers, let them know about the award, and encourage them to pass the award on!

Here are the blogs I am passing it on to:

Kristina at Coloring Books and Funny Looks
Miss S.  at Just Teaching Kindergarten
Julia at Loving and Learning in Pre-K
Barbra at Happy Teaching First
Staci at Lets Teach Something

Enjoy your first award!!

~Steph

Penguins

Last week we finished up our penguin unit with an activity day.  There are 4 kindergarten classes at my school so the students had 4 activities to do. 

Their first stop was to play Iceburg Number Toss. Here pairs tossed an ice cube (bean bag) onto an iceburg (taped off shapes on the floor) with a number.  The pair decided who landed on the bigger number (more and less).

Next they did the Blubber Hand.  I have seen this on other blogs and the teacher who did this station had done it before.  The students put one hand in a bag of blubber (crisco) and the other just in a bag then put both hands in ice water.  They got to feel how blubber helps keep animals warm while swimming in the ocean. 

Next they competed in an Egg Race.  The students had to take of their shoes and put an egg (sock filled with rice) on the top of their feet like the male penguins.  Then they had to waddle the other side of the room.  Hilarious!!

Last was an animated video about penguins on Discovery.  It talked about the life cycle, finding a mate, predators, and the Antartic. While watching the video they ate blue jello with a sweedish fish inside to remind them of where the penguins get their favorite food!  These were horrible to make...I don't know what happened but it was not fun!

The kids made and wore these cute hats we found on Kreative in Kinder

Each teacher made little penquins on tounge depressors.  Here is how I made them:

First,  I painted half of the stick white.

Then colored the other half black. I used a marker but you could paint it if you wanted.  After coloring black draw wings and feet, add googly eyes and a beak.

All in all it was a fun afternoon, but boy were we pooped!!! 10 bucks says we will do it again next year though!!


Penguin kisses!
Steph

Tag..You're It!

I was tagged by Kristin at Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten.  Since I am new this my first tagging experience.

The rules:

1. You must post the rules.
2. Post 12 fun facts about yourself on the blog post.
3. Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post, and then create 12 new questions for the people you tagged.
4. Tag 12 people and link them on your post.
5. Let them know you've tagged them!

Here it goes...

Part 1:  12 Things about me:

1.  When I was little I would get homesick...now I live 2500 miles from "home"

2.  I have 1 sister who has 2 boys who are 11 months older and 10 months younger than my son...going to be fun when they are a little older!

3.  3 years ago my sister-in-law, 8 and 5 year old nieces and I donated 8 inches of our hair to Pantene Beautiful Lengths

4.  I hate having misspellings or grammatical errors in my writing...even on facebook! I hate it so much that I will choose a word I know how to spell over one I'm not sure of just to make it right, even if the other word sounds better! Maybe it's because I'm a teacher and people expect me to spell correctly?

5.  My mom played matchmaker...then her little girl moved across the country...should have thought twice! But he is a SUPER hubby!

6.  We have 8 horses, Spider, Sable, Jackie, Star, Johnny, June, Little Nicky, and Bandit.

7.  I got the best Christmas present ever.....house cleaning service every other week....WOW! I am so SPOILED...I love my dad and sister even more for that gift!

8.  I have 2 furry kids, Chuck, an Australian Shepard. He is probably the most spoiled cow dog in the world!

And Layla, the most lovable stupid dog you could own! She is a Maltipoo and a major traitor...I had her before I met the hubs and who does she get more excited to see...you guessed it...him!



9.  I love the snow!! Probably because I didn't grow up with it, but it could snow all winter and I probably wouldn't complain. Besides, who doesn't love a snow day?!

10.  My coworkers introduced me to Pinterest...D-A-N-G-E-R-O-U-S!!!

11.  I never thought I would say that I like to read but its true. I love a can't put it down book.  I'm always up for suggestions, but I don't do scary, I like to sleep at night!

12.  Best for last...I have a 1 yr old son who is AMAZING! Being a mom is unexplainable! I love it so much.  I'm sure there will be days when I will want to give him to the zoo or circus, but right now he is so much FUN!

Part 2: Kristin's Questions

1. How do you relax after a stressful day/week?
       Play with Colt!
2. What's your guilty pleasure TV show?
       Teen Mom or Kardashians (did I really just admit that one?)
3. How many pairs of shoes do you own?
       Too many, but I love shoes and boots and flip flops
4. What is your favorite place to buy school supplies?
       Target dollar spot has great back to school finds...keep your eyes open in Aug!
5. What is your favorite board/pin on Pinterest? (or your favorite recent idea if you aren't on)
       A coworker pinned Candy Corn cupcakes...so cute!
6. What is a super easy meal you like to make for dinner?
       Garlic Chicken in the Crockpot
7. What frustrates you about blogging?
       Not knowing how to do cool stuff
8. If you found the perfect unit on a blog, the topic/skill would be ______?
       Geesh, maybe something with reading.
9. What is your favorite thing to teach?
       I like math but only at this level...I'm not much for higher math!
10. What is one of the funniest kid moments you've had at school?
        I had a little boy tell me: "Ms. Nutt...you're (insert laugh) ok ok for real, you're a hot sexy mama"   No joke! I had to step out of the room to laugh after telling him that's not a nice way to talk to ladies.
11. The most played song on your iPod is _______?
        I love Lady Antebellum right now
12. Who inspired you to become a teacher?
        I would have to say my first/second grade teacher. I went to a very small school, K-8 with 100 students total! There were 5 classrooms and teachers taught 2 grades, except in Kindergarten. 

Part 3: Tag, You're It!

Heather at Heather's Heart
Holly at Crisscross Applesauce in First Grade
Lindsay and Kerri at Teacher Bits and Bobs
Kristen at A Teeny Tiny Teacher
Amy at The Resource(ful) Room
Kristina at Coloring books and funny looks
Sharon at Teaching With Sight
Abby at The Inspired Apple
Cindy at For the Love of Kindergarten
Pam at Can Do Kinders
Donna at Peace, Love, and Learning
Shannon at Kindergarten Hoppenings


Part 4: Alright, here are your questions!

1.  Why did you decide to create a blog?
2.  How did you learn the tricks of blogging?
3.  Do you have any hobbies?
4.  In my spare time I like to______.
5.  My biggest challenge in the classroom is_____.
6.  What is your go to behavior modification plan for little ones who struggle with your whole class behavior plan?
7.  What is one funny thing a student told you?
8.  Does your school use a reading and math curriculum?
9.  Where is one place you would love to visit?
10.  What is your favorite store?
11.  What is your favorite meal?
12.  I couldn't be organized without _______.

I'm looking forward to reading your answers and making new blogging friends! 

~Steph

     

I have followers!

I must admit it was kinda cool to log in and see I had 2 followers!! Just wanted to give a shout out to Heather at Heather's Heart and Holly at Crisscross Applesauce In First Grade for being my first! Thanks for the welcome to blogland!

Trying to "Link Up" a day in my shoes

This is my first time "linking up" for a post. I hope I get it done right!  Im linking up with Adventures of a 6th Grade Teacher to show you a day in my shoes.

5:20: Alarm, snooze for ten minutes

5:30- 6:00 - Actually get up and get ready

6:00 - 6:30 - Get my son up, give him milk (he's 1), change diaper / clothes, feed breakfast

6:30 - 6:55 - Get my bagel thin with pb or Nutella (if I splurged at the store that week), gather lunch, bookbags, load car

6:55 - Hugs/kiss to hubby and the boy and I are out the door.

6:58 - Drop Colt off at my sister-in-laws, she lives right by us

7:00 - 7:15 - Drive to work

7:15 - 8:10 - Prep for the day, talk to other teachers (Im usually one of the first ones there, so I get some work done till 8)

8:10 - 8:50 - Students eat breakfast, yes, in my room, everyday and its FREE! When they are done eating I have some type of activity for them to work on until everyone has finished eating.

8:50 - 9 - Bathroom

9:00 - 10:00  - Reading/Language Arts

10:00 - 10:25 - Centers

10:25 - 10:50 - Recess...as long as it isn't snowing or raining or super cold

10:50 - 11:25 - Math

11:25 - 11:30 - Bathroom

11:30 - 12:00 - Art or "Theme" work

12:00 - 12:10 - Prep for lunch

12:10 - 12:40 - Lunch

12:40 - 12:55 - Story or prepare for gym

12:57 - 1:39 - Special , changes daily between music, library, computers, and gym

1:39 - 1:45 - Prep for recess

1:45 - 2:05 - Recess

2:05 - 2:30 - Centers

2:30 - 2:45 - Science, Social Studies

2:45 - 2:55 - Snack

2:55 - 3:05 - Prep for home

3:05 - Dismissal!

After school is out, I go get my son and spend the rest of the afternoon/evening playing with him, blog stalking or facebooking, cooking dinner, doing dishes, baths, and then try to get in bed by 10!



Maybe this time....

Well I had good intentions this summer of posting. However, I began to look at other blogs and I decided I really enjoyed reading everyone else's blogs too much to really start my own.  Maybe this time I will actually try to post once a week once every 2 weeks.....I'll start slow!  Besides, with a 1 year old son, I don't get very much done unless its nap time!

I don't consider myself to be creative, thus why I haven't started making my own games/activities.  I have truly enjoyed finding things on other blogs and using them in my room.  One of my cohorts is a faithful blog stalker as well, so between the two of us we have found an abundance of AMAZING resources this year!  We have to pick and choose what we are going to do because as all of you know, time is not in abundance!  We do teach all day, but our afternoon is spent with a 40 minute special (gym, music, computer, art, or library) and then a 20 minute recess, leaving us about 40-45 minutes at the end of the day.

My thinking now is that I will post what I've been working on in my classroom.  I don't know all the "blogging rules" but I'm hoping as long as I tell where I got an activity/game from I can tell how I used it in my room and how it worked, if the kids like it, and such.  If I'm wrong, please let me know. I don't want to have any "blogimes".

Please share my new little adventure if you would like and come back!!

~Steph