Are you being S-elf-less?

Have you been "Elf-less" this month?  Here are the the new ideas.

This week my PreK-ers took the Selfless Challenge!  They could do most on this Week 4 list right here at school.  They were giving high fives and saying Merry Christmas to anyone and everyone.  They loved making notes  and cards for each other at the writing and art centers and surprising friends by putting them in their backpacks!  They found neat ways to help other out by opening doors, helping carry things, picking up trash, helping a friend put on coats or mittens, helping a friend pick up toys and so many more things!  This has been the most wonderful activities for my family, my class and ME!! Thanks Krista for encouraging us to think of others!!

Be S--E.L.F--less!

Ok, so around this time of year, people tend to thing of doing good for others more than any other time of year. People are generally, kinder, more generous and more philanthropic.  Personally, i try very hard each year to get my children to think of others instead of themselves (which is really hard while they are sitting here making their lists for Santa!)

This fabulous lady, Krista Wallden, the mastermind at The Creative Chalkboard has come up with a precious, fun way to do this.  It is her Operation E.L.F. challenge.  It's free to anyone to download and try.  Click on the link above and it will take you right to it.  It's definitely not too late to start.  Oh and did I mention everything about it is CUTE!!!!!!  And I am all about making something cute.  If it isn't cute, why bother?

I have been putting one E.L.F. challenge in my children's lunchboxes each day for them to do for someone else.  They can do it for someone at school, friends, teachers administration, janitors etc. or during the day to others-- strangers, coaches, bus drivers, grandparents etc.  

Krista has inspired me to inspire my kids.  Krista, you rock!!!

Go be someone's ELF today!!

October is Here!

Ok! I love love love October and not just because it's my birthday month.  I love the weather turning cooler(that's  huge deal here), I love football games on Friday nights, soccer games on Saturday mornings, getting to wear long sleeves, and finally making LARGE pots of gumbo and red beans and rice!  Fall is my absolutely favorite time of the year.

We are getting ready to decorate our classroom with pumpkins and ghosts and all things Halloween! I can just feel the excitement in the air as we put up the October calendar.  Check back in the next couple of weeks to see the fun things we will be doing for Halloween!!

I also uploaded a new Snip and Sort Sounds to my store last night.  For those who have my Snip and Sort Letter Recognition and were hoping to have one for sounds, the wait is over.  Jump on over and check it out.

Also, because it's my birthday month, I am giving you a present!!!!  I am having a 20% off sale of everything in my store for the next 3 days. October 1-3!  Hurry on over and grab some things that might have been on your wish list!

C Week

It is "C" week in our class and we have been learning about cats (specifically Pete the Cat).  I love these books, but I love the songs even more!!  They are at Scholastic and on YouTube!  They get stuck in your head and your kids will be singing them all day long.

                                 

As we were reading them, I was trying to come up with some cute PreK art that would be meaningful for my kids.  I always like to have a purpose for their art work.  

We are also on the number 4 this week (HOW PERFECT!)  I decided we would make Pete's 4 groovy buttons for our math lesson.  We reinforced our story, counted to 4 and worked on cutting circles.  I love when we can learn so many skills with one lesson!!! It's the teacher in me!  

Then we read Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes and of course if you know me, you know we had to rewrite it!  I made some pages that are PreK friendly so that we can "read" it as we learn our color words. We Love Our Shoes. 

I put these class book pages at my TPT store if you would like to purchase it.

Finally!

I worked on several things this summer for the new school year and I am just now putting the finishing touches on them and putting them in my store.

We focus on a letter a week and we always have a poem.  I also look for poems and songs that my students can rewrite and make their own.  They remember poems better and what they are "reading".  I put these poems on a poster maker and blow them up so I can hang them around our room.  I can also put them on our promethean board and my they are interactive for my students.

One of the great thing about each poem is that is an original poem that is set to a familiar tune.  Each poem also teaches a different skill.  

Some of the skills included are: 

Addition

Subtraction

rhyming,

creative thinking

making 10

patterning, 

measuring

 Check them out at my TeachersPayTeachers store.  Just click on the image.

The first take home project we do at the beginning of the year is a book about themselves.  I send home the pages in a ziploc bag and when they send them back I bind them into a book for each child.  They get to sit in my teacher chair and read their book to the class.  It's a great way to get to know each child a little better.  Then they get to put it in their book box and read it during free reading time or partner reading time.  It is the book they go for all the time.  They get so worn by the end of the year.  They can use photographs, pictures from magazines or they can draw the information.  I always do one for me too.  My students love getting to know a little about me too!

This is new for my class this year.  It is my Count and Graph series.  As many of you know, information stays with our students if they can repeat it several times throughout the year.  I was teaching graphing for a few weeks, number writing for a few weeks, counting for a few weeks, etc.  They were all separate and then we would move on to another skill.  This series will incorporate all that over and over again with a different theme.  After we do the first couple of books, it will be an independent activity that I will put at my math stations.

Welcome Back!

It has been a long, hot summer here in Louisiana!  My poor blog has gotten no attention.  My kids have though! They have been at summer camps off and on all summer.  Our pool hasn't even gotten much use.  But now it's back to business.  School has started here and it's my favorite time of year!

I just love the first days of school.  I love the way school supplies smell and look all organized.  I love getting my classroom ready for all the little darlin's that are coming. And I love meeting all my little sweethearts and getting to know their personalities.

I have seen lots of people putting pictures of their classrooms up.  It makes me want to do better and be a little more organized (although my co-workers already think I'm crazy organized)  Each year I rearrange my room and do some different things because I get bored with the same thing year after year.  I have a small classroom so I have to make the most of each little nook and cranny.

This is my PreK-4 classroom this year (so far!!)
This is my view from my desk and it looks towards our calendar area.

 This is our "Measure Me" wall.  Every couple of weeks I change out the unit of measurement on the wall and take a picture of the kids beside it.  They count how many units tall they are and we leave their pictures up for about 2 weeks.  They love to have their picture taken and measure themselves and each other.  I hope to have this set up at my TPT store by the end of the week.  It will have the units of measurement and the picture cards for each unit.

 This is the view from my door.  You can see the block center, the Little People center and the kitchen center.

 Another view from my door way looking at my back wall.  Told you I use every available space.  I don't think I can put anything else in here!

 This view looks at my desk area and our carpet area.

 Ok! So I am sooo excited about my All About the Number board.  The theme in my room is monsters and thanks to Krista Wallden at Creative Clips, I have the cutest monsters to put on my board!

 Also, thanks to Creative Clips, I made some precious name tags for my tables!! I have 3 tables and they each have their own color monster.  It coordinates with their shelf in the back of our room where their supplies are located.

 These are the supply shelves in the back of our room.  Each table has their own baskets of supplies.  Each child's alphabet boxes are in the middle shelves and our Math Station boxes are on the bottom of the shelves.  

 This is our Art Center and Pocket Chart center.  We obviously don't go to those centers at the same time.

 Here is our writing center.

 Our Alphabet Center

 And this is our rug time area and reading center.  We spend lots of time here.

Check back soon to see what we will be learning and doing in our class!  We have some exciting things planned!!