Five for Friday May 8

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! 

I am presenting today at our district conference day about how I use Prezis in the classroom.  I made a Prezi about it (of course...).    I included videos about how to make and use different parts of the Prezi.  I looked at a lot of tutorials and found the best (simplest to understand) ones for me. Here is the Prezi about Prezis if you'd like to learn a little more about them.

 Prezis are a different way to present material.   They're easy for older students to make and present, too.

I have been using the Prezi app on the kids' iPads.  I am updating my Prezis so I will have one that I use to teach and one for the students to use on the iPad with less links and more educational videos. I'll post more on these as I complete them.

I posted before that during our technology time, my class is working on making iMovies to go along with our My Favorite Things lessons.  Last week, we wrote about our favorite books.

 My friend ( and tech teacher) Jen just finished working with three of the kids on their iMovies.   She made QR codes for the movies so I can put them all up in the room  on a book recommendation wall.  The kids are having so much fun seeing each other's iMovies!

You can scan the QR code to see their little movie if you want.

I love how this little sweetie is taken with the fact that there are GRAY pictures in the book.

That really made an impression!  

We are loving our Frog and Toad Unit this week. I made a Frog and Toad Prezi (free at my TPT store) that I use all the time in the spring when we are watching our eggs- if I'm lucky enough to find them, and read our stories.    The Prezi has lots of videos of the stories, videos about frogs and toads, ideas, games, and charts to use if you are reading Frog and Toad, or having a science lesson about frogs and/or toads.

I posted all about frogs and frog freebies from TPT here at Pre-K and K Sharing last month.  I also wrote posts about how I use and what I do for each story in Frog and Toad are Friends and Frog and Toad Together.

                  
 A List is a perfect story to introduce list writing to the children.  Lists are such a great way for kids to practice writing- at any age.  When I taught my own children writing, we used to always warm up by writing a list of something - even when they were in middle school.  It's a great way to get your mind thinking of different ideas.  In fact, I made a list of list ideas- how is that for a list!  You could use this list with any age, really.  Click on the picture below if you would like a copy. 

My class had so much fun with this.  After we read the story, I gave a topic to the kids ( like farm animals, ice cream flavors, blue things, big things, small things...the topics on the list above!).  They turned and talked to a friend about all of the items they could list for that topic.  

This sounds very easy, but it's actually a very good exercise for the children to have to stay on topic and only list items that would fit the category.  I rang a bell after a minute or so and moved onto the next topic, so it was a fast moving activity. 

After we practiced a few times, I had to kids go back to their seats to write a few lists of their own. 

Some of them even illustrated their lists!  Once I ooohed and aaaahed about these illustrations, guess what everyone else started to do?! It was great. 



                                                             

This was a big week for fitness- not for me, but for two people very special to me!  First of all, my daughter, Emily, ran in her first half marathon!

I was so proud of her!  She hasn't run that far since her knee surgery- and wasn't sure if she ever could.  What a happy day! It was a gorgeous day, and Jeff and I cheered her in! 

Next, my sweet "school daughter" won first place over all in her first fitness competition.  OH MY GOODNESS- who knew that was under those "teacher clothes?"  She trained and worked so hard, and is the sweetest person. I am so proud of her, too!

   (That's her with her trainer.)

Me... I ate less cheese this week.   That's it. That doesn't even really register as a baby step...

Anyway, I'm so proud of my girls! 

This is so random, but it made me laugh, so I'm sharing it.  I found this picture on Pinterest the other day- and normally I wouldn't have thought much of it...

Except that that very day, when my mother came in to work with the kids, this is what we both were wearing.  When she walked in, I thought it was so funny, so I took a picture.  And then when I got home, I found the picture above on Pinterest!   WHAT kind of black-and-white-checked-day was it?!

Also, I realize that taking a picture from that horrible angle is not flattering. Eww.  Sorry, too, mom...
Happy Mother's Day... I love you so much! 
                                       

Have a happy, healthy weekend. Thank you for stopping by! 



Five for Friday May 1

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday. Thank you for hosting, Kacey! Happy May!

Every year I look forward to our My Favorite Things lessons.  We bring in our favorite thing to tell and write about.  It's great for opinion writing because we write why it is our favorite thing out of ALL of our things. 

The children love to learn the song- and learn it so quickly, I can never believe it.  All three verses!  You just can't help but be happy.

I use my   My Favorite Things Prezi (You can download it free at my TPT store!) to help introduce the song.  I have pictures to go with the words of the song in the middle of the Prezi that you can click through at your own pace as you sing.  Then, I have different versions of the song all along the edge from Youtube. Now, with the Prezi app for iPads, I can put this Prezi on the iPad for center time and the kids can listen and practice all they want!

Last year, I had the children write books about their favorite things:

Her doll is named Juliet. I loved how she spelled it here.   

I love the illustrations in this one! She gets SO excited to get her ideas down and works as fast as her little characters are moving in the pictures! I love all the movement and expression she adds! 

 Don't you just want to know what happens next? There are lots more pages, but SPOILER ALERT: He ends up in the dryer and didn't want to be there!

 This was a "Favorite Thing Picture Photobomb...

This year, I had the children write about their favorite thing so I could hang it above the lockers.





This is my other idea linked to "My Favorite Things. " I adapted Dr. Jean's fabulous Self Control Lotion idea. I just I covered a bottle of lotion (just Jergens Original Cherry Almond- shhh!     with a picture of "My Favorite Things" taped down on the front, and changed the idea to go along with My Favorite Things, since that is what we are working in now.

When someone needs a few minutes to settle down, relax, or take a little time out, I put a little lotion from this bottle on his/her hands and quietly tell him/her to rub it all in slowly, and to think about some favorite things. The few times I have used this, the reaction has been the same. Since I believe it works, it works- just like most things in Kindergarten! When the teachers says it will make you feel better, it will. (Don't you wish everyone believed in you like that!) After sitting and rubbing the lotion in for a while, the child has come over and just started telling me all about everything that happened WRONG that day at home, on the bus, with a friend... I just think it lets the child know you care and you want him or her to feel better and feel loved. Sometimes, it is just that simple! Sometimes, it isn't- but it is worth a try!

Part two of our My Favorite Things lesson involves the children's favorite books.  Each child brought in a favorite book from home.  We shared these and again told and wrote about why this was a favorite book.  I explained that it could be one of several favorite books, because it seems like every time I sit down with a read aloud, I am saying, "This is another one of my FAVORITE BOOKS." 

I am SO glad I let this one finish his writing before I said anything... because all I saw when I was walking around were the first three words...  and I was curious.   Now I know it is supposed to say, "I like this book because it is so funny."  Phew!

In technology class, the children are making iMovies about their favorite books. 

They are loving it.
We are making very simple iMovies.  The first session, the children are taking pictures of their cover, and a couple pages of the book to show their favorite part and what the book is about.   The second session, we are going to input the pictures and record our book commercial.  The children are going to introduce their book, tell why they like the book and think others would like to read it, and finish with a "Read to find out ..." sentence about their book.  We'll add a little background music and have some fun book commercials.  I will show you some when we're done!  I can't wait.

This is a good tutorial about iMovies.  This one is much more involved than what we're doing, but it sort of shows how easy it is to figure out or at least play around with for fun!



Art for Kids Hub is such a wonderful site!  I am using it  for free choice as one of the centers for the children to choose a couple times a week.  I made blank books for each child.  I have all sorts of pens, pencils, markers, colored pencils, and crayons available.  During free choice,  I play a guided art video for the children to draw along with if they would like.  They just love it.

This one was King Creeper from Minecraft.  Well, it was free choice, after all. The kids get to vote on the drawings. 

One morning we went through the pictures of all the available drawings, and the kids were sooooo excited. 

The fun part is that some children want to draw every single thing.  Some don't.  That is just fine!

I do use some of the guided drawings to go with writing activities, which we all do. For example after we read our books about ducks, the children draw the duck and then write about it. 

Here is a little video of the children drawing Elsa.  This is free choice time- and listen to how quiet it is!  

Next  is sort of a funny fail.  We have been working on adding more details to writing.  One day for our lesson before writing, we played the Detail Game.  Everyone begins standing.  When I say a detail that does not apply, the child sits down.  For example, if I say, "This person is a girl,"  all the boys sit down.  I keep giving more and more specific details until only one person is standing. 

Next, I had the children close their eyes and picture the sentence that I said.  I explained that details in writing help the reader make pictures in their minds instead of having an illustration on paper.  I began with , "I see a dog. "  I asked several students what dog they pictured. I got all sorts- a pug, a bull dog, a poodle.  Then, they closed their eyes again and I said, "I see a little black and white spotted dog sleeping on a furry red rug next to his bone."  When the children opened their eyes, I asked again what they pictured- and most said the dog that I described.  But, the first little girl I asked said, "Well... I actually saw only black. Then some squiggles.  Then they turned into shapes which I turned into a castle." There was really nothing more to say.

Detail Lesson Fail.  

Finally, this is just for a little laugh of the week. We had this game when I was little.  It was my favorite.  I played it every time I had a friend over.  A few years ago, I looked all over for it and no one had any idea what I was talking about.  Well, then... THIS!  Now it's out there, but pretty expen$ive.  Although when I see this video, it seems like it's worth it.  

And one more...  We had a few minutes before specials today after we read our book "Good News/Bad News," so I had the kids draw and share a quick good news on one side and bad news on the other... 

He MEANT to say boo boos, by the way...

Have a happy, healthy weekend. Thank you for stopping by!