Five for Friday October 21

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

       

Here is one of my fall bulletin boards.  I always love the advice different things have to give!



I had the best day ever last week when I got to FaceTime with Emily Kate  Moon in my classroom, and she read her book, Joone.  Oh, I mean- it was all for the kids.  I think I may have said, "I'm friends with Emily Kate Moon, but I've never met her yet either!" too many times, because when I said it, one of my boys said, "Yeah, you told us that."   OK....  Anyway-  Here is my post all about our wonderful day!

AND if you'd like to make fabulous Dr. Chin turtle hats of your own,  click HERE for the pattern.  My wonderful art teacher made these with the kids and gave me his pattern to share.  He printed the hats on green paper, let the kids cut and decorate them, then stapled them into a hat.  They were perfect.

Here are two great directed drawing videos for drawing a turtle.  The kids LOVE these!

Don't forget to end your special Joone Day with ice cream sandwiches, because...  why not?!  

We had our October Random Act of Kindness Day on our calendar last week!

 I wrote about how I love to work kindness into our Calendar Time HERE.  It was a RAK for our playground aides. I love our playground aides, and so do the children.  They're great.  The children took them each an amaryllis bulb.  I LOVE growing these.  They grow SO fast and are absolutely gorgeous.  It's a perfect science activity for the classroom, too, because the children can measure almost daily and see growth!  The kids were so excited to give.  That was the best part.

Dr. Jean and I finished our Brain Cookies packet.  We put together over 90 favorite brain breaks for any time of the day.  We thought the name "Brain Cookies" would be fun because they are little treats to help get through the day- (and these are even healthy!)  We use these all the time in my class.

My kids love it because I store the cookies in cookie containers, and the leader gets to choose one that we do!

You can keep them on a ring or even in a cookie jar!  Just have fun!  That's what it's all about.

One of my favorite ways to get my kids writing is sticker writing.  I guess it's just different enough and fun enough to be a perfect combination.  We use Lucy Calkins for writing- which is fine- but gets to be a little too much too fast for my kids.  There are just too many parts for little five year old brains to remember to put together sometimes.  I find I don't really get much "writing" because they just plain need to learn HOW to write letters, and use those sounds to make words and get down what they want to say.  So some days we just need to back it up a little.  

I buy stickers at the Dollar Store, and cut each page in half.  Each student gets a half page of stickers and an 8 1/2X14  (Legal size) paper.  For some reason, this bigger paper is just exciting!

The children can put their stickers anywhere they want, and then draw more details for the stickers the background.  Then, they can labels and add speech bubbles if they want.  

I use this as an activity to teach early sentence writing.  I have each child write, "I  see  a  ..."  and they can finish it with whatever they see in their picture.  This is a great way to practice writing sight words.  You can use lots of different sentences with this writing:  I can see a...;  I like my...;  Can you see the?...;  Look at the...  My____ can _____....  anything you want!


 We work on neat printing, spaces, stretching out words and hearing sounds, and adding a period at the end of the sentence.  I was so proud of them- and I actually felt better about their writing after this.  Phew!  Some of those "books" for writer's workshop had me nervous...  Now I see hope.

I wrote a post about Sticker Writing that I did later in the year.  They love sticker writing anytime!

Finally- just to make you all feel better about yourselves... in case you had a long week.
I watched this Cooking Panda video to make sugar cookie ice cream cups.  SOOOO easy. Basically... Butter the backside of a cupcake sheet really well.  Cut sugar cookie dough.  Put on top of well-buttered circles. Bake. Slide off.  Enjoy.  

So here are mine. We had sugar cookie crumbs to put on our ice cream.  At least we had ice cream.  

Have a wonderful weekend!

Best Day Ever!

I know it's 74 days until Christmas, but today was like Christmas in October, with Joone, in my class!

We had the best visit from Emily Kate Moon via Facetime today!  We've looked forward to it for weeks now, ever since we planned this day. We brought the best of Florida right up to New York- and even Hurricane Matthew couldn't stop it!

Emily read Joone to us, and added some extras in along the way so we could learn even more about our favorite book.

My sweet friend Jen (our STEM teacher) and I are Emily's biggest fans. She was with me for this great moment.  If you haven't read Joone for some reason, you, too, will become her biggest fan. Here is some more about how I use the book before I share our visit!

As a teacher, you would think Emily Kate Moon wrote this just for us.  It's a perfect mentor text for adding details to illustrations and writing.  We talk about adding at least 5 details to our pictures.  We "decided" on this number because the kids are five, so that's just perfect.

Look how great this page of the book is to help reinforce 5 details!  As I read and the children heard a detail, they had to hold up one finger.  This page- with only this much text-  gave us five great details about Joone.  We shared the details after I read the page. When I showed the children the illustration, they could see so many more details from the wonderful drawing!

Joone is also a perfect mentor text for small moments and narrative writing.  It's hard to find good books to introduce this for writing.  This book is full of special, small moments, and it lets the children see that those special, small moments make wonderful stories to tell and write about in their books!

I made some writing prompts to use after you read Joone to your class.  If you would like a copy of them, just click on the picture!

Literally- it's just a perfect book.

But it's also a character education dream.  Joone is the coolest little girl.  She's the girl you want your girls in class to want to be-  clever, creative, caring, strong, adventurous, and fun.  And the best part is- we found out during our Facetime, that Joone is really based on Emily Kate Moon's life! (So actually SHE is the coolest girl ever, I guess!)

We talked about questions we'd like to ask Emily, and the children wondered if she had a pet turtle and liked ice cream sandwiches (like Joone does) when she was little.  Well, she told us that she did base details about Joone on her life. She did organize her grandpa's books in rainbow order.  And she really does love ice cream sandwiches!

That's another amazing thing I can go back to over and over during writing with the kids. "What did Emily Kate Moon write about?"  Details from HER life!

Here are some pictures from our day.

We did directed drawings of Joone, and decorated the room with them.

We all tried to dress in orange and purple (Joone's favorite colors), and we made turtle hats to wear, because Joone often has Dr. Chin, her pet turtle, on her head.

In the book,  Joone puts an ice cream sandwich in the mailbox for the mail lady... which is one of the favorite parts of the book for the kids.  They really "get" that and think it's such a funny idea.

My mother comes to help in my classroom during center time, and today she brought a bag she said she found in her mailbox.  Well, it was cold... and the children knew right away what it was!  Ice cream sandwiches from Joone! You should have heard the squeals.

Later in the day, during free choice time, I put out some directed drawing paper for the children to practice their own Dr. Chin drawings.

Two of my kids were looking back over the book during free choice, and I heard one say, "Where did Emily say she put that little frog in this picture?"  OK-  they are now on the first name basis with a famous author and illustrator.  They don't even know how cool they are.

We just can't wait for more books, Emily!  Thank you for making our entire school year so special with a memory we won't ever forget!

Five for Friday- First Week Back!

Before I get started, there's still time to enter to win a $100 Amazon card, a $50 TPT card, a $25 TPT card, or a $10 TPT card at our blog hop!  The drawing is September 12th, so hop right over to enter if you want!

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

Let's just get right to it.  Here is how my year started before it even started.  

In my head, I saw these darling hand cookies with a Hershey kiss in the middle.  I saw me taking each child's picture to add to my sweet poem after we read, "The Kissing Hand," and sending this keepsake home on the first day of school.   However, in real life, in my real kitchen, the story was not as darling. I knew I was going to have to  1) quickly write a book called "The Kissing Mitt" where a baseball player is scared to go to school, and his mom kisses his mitt- so these ridiculous cookies matched the story or 2) let my sweet family eat these because they wouldn't even complain. They would just be happy they had ugly cookies to eat, and I would do something else for that first day of school.

They did taste good and they made me laugh when I opened the oven, so ...  

Luckily, we always practice my name on the first day of school, because I tell the kids it's the hardest part of kindergarten.  I have a little picture with a Hershey Kiss (for "Kis"),  kids singing (for "la"), and someone skiing (for "ski").  If they can say my name for me, they get a Hershey kiss!  So - problem solved with the Hershey kisses.  

We then go on to say how glad we are that my name isn't "Mrs. Broccoliloski" or "Mrs. Spinachloski," so I didn't have to give them broccoli or spinach.   

At our school, the kindergarten teachers meet our classes in the gym for the first few days, and then walk together to the classroom.  I take my clipboard with a class list- to see who is packing/buying, and keep any notes.  Here were some notes I took in the first five minutes:

"I know my dad is having a great day!  He's going to rest and watch TV all day."

"I had to poop at my mom's- and I'm afraid I have to poop now. "  (He would later go on to talk about having to poop quite a bit throughout the day... poor sweetheart.)

"Guess what my favorite movie is?"  "College football."

I love this group.  At snack time, I was trying to explain why it was polite to wait for everyone to have their food before we started eating, so I asked if anyone knew why we waited.  One little girl said, "So we can say the Lord's Prayer."  And a little boy said, "We can all say it in our heads if we want."   LOVE them.


Here was one of my favorite moments that I had to capture.  You know, reading, writing, and math are important, but...  look at that sweet, loving, caring moment.  How can people NOT let children play and explore in kindergarten?  I have learned more about my students in the short amount of free choice time we've had,  than in weeks of teaching "at" them.

Here is my "secret weapon" the first few days of free choice. Ready? It's very high tech...

Crocodile Dentist!

OH my goodness.  We laugh and laugh.  It's great because anyone who wants to come over to play can play.  I just sit at a table (as the center of attention) with my crocodile, as the kids are playing. If anyone wants to, they just come over and bravely touch a tooth.  We  take turns each pushing down a tooth.  Then when it chomps down (which does NOT hurt at all, by the way), we sort of all scream and laugh.  A few of the children just like to stand and watch- and sometimes get brave and touch one tooth.  It's fun to watch and see the different personalities.    I like the kids to see me have fun and be real.  We're going to be a family for 180+ days!  Plus, I do genuinely scream every single time it chomps down on me because I can't even help it.  

I put together a lot of the ideas I like to use for teaching letters, and typed it up.  If you'd like a copy, click HERE.  Sometimes it's tricky to think of  a food idea or an activity for a certain letter! 

I also wrote ideas I have used for letter anchor charts for the classroom.  I outline the letter with glue, and glue on items that start with that letter.  It's a cute bulletin board idea and the kids love it.  

I wanted to share these ELA apps that my friend Anne, from Common Core Connections, and her son Keith made.  They are fabulous for reading comprehension.  What great practice for the kids!  I love them because they're easy to use and not too busy looking. Sometimes apps get so busy and cluttered looking that it's hard for the kids to follow.  These are perfect. The apps fit each reading level, so  you can monitor exactly what you want each student to work on. Anne is my "real life" friend who lives near me!  I'm so proud of her - and her son!  

Finally,  I got the most exciting email on my first day of school.  Emily Kate Moon, who wrote Joone, one of my all time FAVORITE books, emailed me!  

She's writing another book about... the water cycle- of all things. It's like she reads my mind. If you read my blog, you know that I'm strangely obsessed a little with the water cycle. Because, for some reason, teaching about the water cycle is one of my favorite things to do.  Not sure why.  The kids just love learning about it- and now I will have yet another reason why it will be my  all time favorite.  I can't wait for her book. I will be sure to tell you the minute it's out!  

If you haven't discovered Joone yet- well- she is just fabulous. This is from Amazon:

Joone likes the color orange, ice-cream sandwiches, and playing outside. She lives in a yurt with her grandfather and her pet turtle, Dr. Chin, who rides around on her hat. Grandpa teaches Joone something new every day. Sometimes Joone teaches him something new, too, like how to make a daisy chain. Together they enjoy life’s small joys—sunsets, tree houses, and most of all, each other.

Emily Kate Moon’s debut picture book is a charming tribute to the outdoors and a tender portrait of a grandfather and granddaughter’s loving relationship. Fans of Ladybug Girl, Freckleface Strawberry, and even Dora the Explorer will fall in love with this independent, free-spirited little girl. 

The story is so much fun for the children, because Joone shares lots of fabulous small moments about herself- which is EXACTLY what we want our children to learn to do in their writing.  What a perfect mentor text for Writer's Workshop.  The kids really "get" the small moment idea from the book, because Emily added so many wonderful little details about Joone.  The kids see that those details are exactly what makes someone special, so they start thinking of their own life details.  Perfect!

AND- this may be my favorite page of the book.  It's actually the moment I knew I was going to love the book so much.  You know how some things "speak" to you- well, this did.  I would love to spell my name with a smiley face.

                                    

Emily has a wonderful print out at her website to teach children how to make a daisy crown (one of Joone's FAVORITES!) I cannot wait to do this with my class in the spring (except we'll need to use dandelions because we have LOTS of those, but...  it will be a beautiful flower crown, nonetheless! Joone would approve, I'm sure.) You could also send this paper home with the children after you read the story, so they could try to make a crown at home. She has a sweet coloring sheet for Joone, as well.  

Emily also shows her art for Joone at her website.  The children will love this, because they can see that REAL authors/illustrators sketch and plan before they actually publish a book, just like we're teaching them to do!  How cool is that?!   

Maybe you all know about Joone, and I'm late to the party- but this book is a treasure, and I'm so glad I found it.  

For some reason I thought I had discovered Joone and was so excited to share her with people at school.  Then, when my class made favorite book iMovies in technology, guess what book our technology teacher used as her favorite for an example... YES- my (well, Emily's!) Joone!   I loved it, and  smiled just like Joone's name!  

By the way, my birthday is in June, so from now on,  it's in Joone (with a smiley face!).

Thank you so much for stopping by!