Name Writing MAGIC!

Do you want a magic way to have your students practice writing their name 17 or 18 times in about half an hour- and to LOVE doing it?  Well, here you go!

I am not kidding. I almost felt guilty-like it wasn't school-enough- the kids had so much fun. 
First, I made everyone one of these homemade  fabulous clipboards and opened some new skinny markers for the occasion.  I do have some clipboards, just not enough. My thinking was that if they were all sad looking and homemade, there would be no arguing about who got what.  They all thought these were "cool," because they didn't know any better. 

 After we read this story about being a friend (one of my favorites...),

I explained that each person would have a clipboard, paper, and marker.  Our job was to go around to each person, and ask each friend to sign our paper as we signed our friend's paper.  We would only be writing our own name every time, once on each paper.  We would collect all of our friends' names.  I modeled this with a few children. I said, "Would you please sign my paper, and I will sign yours?"  We switched boards, signed, and moved to another child. 

They could write anywhere they wanted, with any color marker they chose.  That was enough joy for the entire day.  I wish I had taped the entire lesson.  They were so sweet and polite asking each other for names. Of course they love to have your name on their paper, too. (And I sort of felt like a celebrity when they were each excited to have me write my name for them. It doesn't take much to make me happy...)

If you want a copy of the simple sheet I used for recording, just click the picture below.

Feel free to make a "fancier" sheet! :) I liked this simple sheet, because  I told the children that the paper would be so colorful and pretty after they each wrote their names with different color markers.  The minute they got the paper, they started reading, "I like, I like, I like..." so even that was great!

 

I told my sweet little Christopher (who had worked the letters in his name up to writing 'Christ' a while ago, which made me chuckle) that he only had to write 'Chris.'  He was determined to write 'Christopher'- which he did on the first two.  Then he sort of dropped letters one by one til we got to 'Chr.'  The year is still early.  :)

Enjoy the rest of your long weekend! :)

 



Five For Friday- October 11th

First of all, I just found this quote and loved it, so I had to share it.

Happy Friday! I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for  Five For Friday! 

Here are some fun things we did this week!



TREASURE BOXES

Treasure Boxes are a quick and easy literacy activity that you already have and don't even know it!  Just gather "treasures" from your classroom into a box- and you are ready to go. (See where the name comes from?! :)  This is a SPECIAL treat for the kids that I only use every so often, and they love it. I love it.  We all love it.  Here are my two treasure boxes just to show you the randomness/simpleness.

This week, I used it for hearing sounds in words.  My top groups

s t r e t c h e d the words out already and wrote lots of sounds they heard.  My beginner groups were able to tell me the beginning sound of the treasure- and many times the ending sound.  Here are some samples from my top groups.  I had my beginners just tell me the sounds they heard this time, not write them. 

The order on front was turtle, baby, snake, pizza, egg.  The back was banana, chip, noodle, fish, frog.

They were ready to hear about the "ch" and "sh" sounds, as well as the "oo" in noodle. They love learning these new grown-up things.  It is a great exposure to new sounds in a small group.

These treasures are great for syllable practice, too. 

Sometimes for morning work, I have five treasures on the table, and the children have to write what they hear in those words on their paper, using their stretchy snake strategy!

You can also use your treasure box to have the children write  a sentence about one of the items you lay out.

Later in the year, I like to lay out five or six items, and  have the children write about and describe one of the items I have out. I have the children share their descriptions with class so we can all  guess which item was chosen from the description. I like to share their writing on the Elmo, so I can praise it up and point out all the wonderful letter formations, spaces, details...  This is a great activity that requires the children to add detail to their writing and write more than a few words- and it helps the children realize how important writing is for sharing information. 

This weekend,  we are shuffling off to Buffalo to stay over night and to watch my Emily swim in her first swim meet of her last season of college swimming! Go Niagara Purple Eagles!  I had to put that one in there!  

SUPERMAN!

This is Jeff's masterpiece for his school district's town's scarecrow contest.  I wanted him to name it "Superintendent Man."  He didn't love that as much as I did. He was disappointed that Superman had to sit on a hay bale, but we could NOT get him to stand-let alone fly anywhere.  He is taking a break before saving the day.

A BAD CASE OF STRIPES

I found this idea from I (heart) Crafty Things. I loved it!  We read A Bad Case of Stripes, and talked about how special and wonderful it is that we are all different.  We learned the word "unique."  We talked about how even though we all like different things, grow at different times, are able to do some things sooner or later than our friends, or look different on the outside,  we are all alike because we want to have friends, we want friends to be kind to us, we want people to fill our buckets.  We are all alike because in our classroom we are kind friends and we try to fill other people's buckets. 

We read ABC I Like Me.

During small group time, I had each child write, "I like me!" on his/her striped pictures.  We talked about starting with a capital letter, leaving spaces between words, neat printing, and that fabulous exclamation point!  They did a great job!

After this activity, we did our little M&M's character ed activity.  First the children get to choose their favorite color m&m and eat it.  The next time, they have to close their eyes and pick an unknown color and eat it.  THEN, they have to tell me what color they ate. 

After they decided they can't tell the color- we talk about how that outside color doesn't matter, but we are all the same on the inside, like those M&M's - no matter what we look like on the outside- red hair, brown hair, blue eyes, tall, short... (Don't you just want to sing, "Red and yellow, black and white, we are precious in His sight?" right now? :) I do!)

We model how it is NO FUN to cheat because it ruins the game. It is easy to tell the color when you open your eyes and cheat... They sort of need to be reminded of that.  After that, I didn't have anyone even try to cheat.  I learned that once the jig is up- you don't even try to pull it off.

Without further ado...# 5...  If you haven't gotten a chance to see my TPT FREEBIE Posts- you can click on the pictures below to check out some  LOTS of awesome freebies for Halloween!

(These were for my cat cookies or for your Halloween cats!)

OH Wait- a couple more quick "ados"  (is that a word?! no. Pretty sure. no.) Anyway, I just started a FACEBOOK PAGE!!  YES I DID! 

I was so nervous- not quite sure why I was so nervous, but to give you some idea, I made it in July and just got the nerve to publish it.  I KNOW.  WHY?!  Anyway, if you would like to stop by and like it, I would love you for it.  It is Kindergarten: Holding Hands and Sticking Together.   Thank you. :) 

Have a WONDERFUL weekend!





Kindness and Perfect Friends

Being kind and being a friend are both such important skills to teach children.  I know they don't show up in the Common Core, but to me- there is nothing more important. 

I remember when our first house was being put up.  We bought a modular home that had to be "put together" and set on the foundation.  As a "boy" I went to school with was maneuvering one of the big cranes which was swinging half of our brand new house back and forth to line it up- I thought to myself, "I am SO glad I was nice to everyone in high school!"  You just NEVER know- who will be working on your car, who will be your ER doctor, who will be digging your well, who will be your plumber...  I wish kids could understand that in middle school and high school. One of my favorite quotes is:

Yesterday  I met my perfect friend Suzanne for coffee.  I met her the second year I taught, in 1987, we just clicked.  She has moved about an hour and a half away- but whenever we get together, we pick up laughing and talking  right where we left off- and it is perfect. Four hours later sitting in Panera, we decided we should probably give up our seats...

When I saw this poster, it started me thinking how blessed I am.   "He who seeks perfection in a friend will stay without friends," is a Yiddish Proverb that I found.  My saying is the perfect friends love you because you are not perfect. 

Of course, God is my truly perfect friend.  I feel like I have constant conversation with Him all day long- and I don't know what I would do without it. Here was part of my devotion today from Jesus Calling, by Sarah Young:

When you are with someone you trust completely, you feel free to be yourself. This is one of the joys of true friendship.   Though I am Lord of lords and King of kings, I also desire to be your intimate Friend.  When you are tense or pretentious in our relationship, I feel hurt.  I know the worst about you, but I also see the best in you.  I long for you to trust Me enough to be fully yourself with Me.  When you are real with Me, I am able to bring out the best in you: the very gifts I have planted in your soul.  Relax, and enjoy our friendship.

How perfect was that for today for me?!

 I have this verse down, just because I can't imagine my days any other way.

I married my perfect friend 26 years ago today.  We met in 9th grade when Jeff weighed 102 pounds and could NOT gain weight to wrestle... :) (I could have pinned him with NO PROBLEM because I was in a higher weight class...)  His school merged with ours.  He was in my first period class and just made me laugh.  Later, I saw him come into my 5th period class and I still remember how happy I was inside. 

My parents are my perfect friends.  NO MATTER WHAT happens, I know that I can go to their house, sit down, talk forever, and they will just stop everything and really, truly listen to me.  The are ALWAYS there for me and our family, and love me completely, always. 

My sister is my perfect friend.  She is always, always there for me, and she just gets me. Right away.  What a wonderful feeling to know she is there anytime, all the time, and just loves me.

My children are each my perfect friend.  Jeff and I could talk to Ellie and her "almost husband" Matt for hours, and just have the best time ever.  Ellie has always been my "voice of reason."  She has so many qualities I do not, and I just admire her so much- and wish I were like her!  :)    Emily is a lot like me. We laugh at the same things, love to watch the same shows, go to girlie movies, and just doing anything together is a perfect day.   Matt  has such an easy going, funny, wonderful personality.  He is such a great guy, and a joy growing up- I also want to be like him.  We have so much fun playing games with  him and his girlfriend, Jaclyn.  I am so blessed.

My friend Betty is a perfect friend.  I have NEVER even met this perfect friend.  She bought a book one day from me online- and we started emailing.  Well, a few years and lots and lots of emails, cards, and gifts back and forth from NY to Texas later- and she is one of my perfect friends.  She is amazing, one of the most thoughtful, kind people I have ever "met."

My school friends are my perfect friends. Even though everyone is nice at school, you know how there are a few, special friends you just know are truly there for you. I am lucky enough to have several really good friends at school.   I have taught Kindergarten with  Amy and Holly since I started, and they can make any day better.  They can just say or do something that is exactly what I need-even sometimes just an expression. We work hard, but we LAUGH, too- and we are just there for each other in and out of school. We always know that.  That is a blessing.

My friend Deedee is a perfect friend.  We have known each other forever.  We got our Master's together. She teaches in  another school in our district , and we walk talk whenever we get a chance-at least once a week.    Our "walks" are often sitting in Dunkin Donuts.  We got yelled at one time by an old man for laughing a little too loud- no actually he said we just talked too much and too fast.  :( 

My friend Heather is a perfect friend.  She and I homeschooled together. She has 8 wonderful children.  If she texts me and says one of her kids is at basketball practice and she has an hour to kill- BAM- we meet and catch up- and laugh.  We got yelled at in a pizza place for talking, by yet a different old man who wanted to hear the lyrics to the songs that were playing in the pizza place.  What?! ha ha. Hmmm. I see a pattern here. Those FRIENDS of mine... cause it couldn't be ME! ( Maybe that is why I am an understanding teacher to the "talkers." )

I'll never forget going to watch her kids one night when she had to go into the hospital. I had stopped at the grocery store really quickly, to get food to take - and one thing I bought was a box of glazed donut holes (for the kids).  I was so nervous for her, that by the time I got to her house, I had eaten ALL BUT 4 of the donut holes! My mouth felt like I had just eaten a tub of Crisco.  What a weird memory...  Anyway- Apparently I clean AND eat when I am nervous...

I think I laugh so much with my friends because there is nothing between us.  We know and love each other so truly- it is just the easiest thing in the world to be ourselves. I can tell them anything and they love me.  If I needed anything in the world, they would be there in an instant for me.  THAT is perfection for me.

I am so happy that I started blogging. I have met such great people in a few months- and some who I even feel are already my friends! It is just so amazing to think  that all over the country, all over the world,  there are perfect, new friends to be made! How exciting is that?! We are all so blessed! 

Reflecting on my friends was such a blessing for me today.  I think it helps me to better teach my class about being a friend- not being "perfect" but being a perfect friend- there is such a difference.  I realized that yes, you need to be kind to everyone and try to be a friend to everyone- and then by doing that, you find those very perfect friends who make you better by being with them. 

PS- Suzanne and I did NOT get yelled at by ANYONE in Panera!  Just sayin... 

Thanks for stopping by!
Carolyn