We love Piggie and Elephant!

We have been reading LOTS of Piggie and Elephant books.  LOTS. Because we love them.

 I love Piggie's enthusiasm about every single thing.  She is so adorable.

Most of all, I love how the children just connect with these books completely.  If you are ever having a bad day, just STOP what you are doing. Sit the children down. And read a Piggie and Elephant book. It will all be ok. The mood somehow changes- the children pay attention, AND you can't read one of these books and stay in anything but a good mood.

I keep my activities right beside my books on my bookshelf, so they are always ready to go!

                                                        
We have read so many of Mo Willems' books that the children are very familiar with him. I was curious how many books he has written, so here is a list that I found on Wikipedia.

It made me laugh a little, because when I searched for him, Wikipedia said, "Not to be confused with basketball player Mo Williams."  No, Wikipedia,  I wasn't confusing the two. I teach Kindergarten... I don't even know who Mo Williams IS...  Anyway, here is a list just for fun...

• Pigeon series
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! (2003) — Caldecott Honor 2004^[11]
  • The Pigeon Finds a Hot Dog! (2004
  • The Pigeon Loves Things That Go! (2005)
  • The Pigeon Has Feelings, Too! (2005)
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Stay Up Late! (2006)
  • The Pigeon Wants a Puppy! (I Really Do!) (2008)
  • The Duckling Gets a Cookie? (2012)
  • Don't Let the Pigeon Finish this Activity Book! (2012)
  • The Pigeon Needs a Bath! (I Do Not!) (2014)
• Knuffle Bunny series
  • Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale — Caldecott Honor 2005^[11]
  • Knuffle Bunny Too: A Case of Mistaken Identity — Caldecott Honor 2008^[11]
  • Knuffle Bunny Free: An Unexpected Diversion
• Edwina, the Dinosaur Who Didn't Know She Was Extinct
• Leonardo, the Terrible Monster
• Time to Pee!
• Time to Say "Please"! — a book about manners (2005, Hyperion Books)
• You Can Never Find a Rickshaw When It Monsoons — a compilation of cartoons Willems drew while taking a year-long backpacking trip around the world (2006, Hyperion Books)
• Elephant and Piggie series
  • Today I Will Fly!
  • My Friend is Sad
  • There is Bird on Your Head! — Geisel Medal 2008^[12]
  • I Am Invited to a Party!
  • I Will Surprise my Friend!
  • I Love My New Toy!
  • Are You Ready to Play Outside? — Geisel Medal 2009^[12]
  • Watch Me Throw the Ball!
  • Pigs Make Me Sneeze!
  • Elephants Cannot Dance!
  • I Am Going!
  • Can I Play Too?
  • We Are in a Book! — Geisel Honor 2011^[12]
  • I Broke My Trunk! — Geisel Honor 2012^[12]
  • Should I Share My Ice Cream?
  • Happy Pig Day!
  • Listen to My Trumpet!
  • Let's Go For a Drive! — Geisel Honor 2013^[12]
  • A Big Guy Took My Ball!— Geisel Honor 2014^[12]
  • I'm a Frog!
  • My New Friend Is So Fun!
• Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed
• Big Frog Can't Fit In: A Pop Out Book
• Goldilocks and the Three Dinosaurs
• That is NOT a Good Idea!
• Don't Pigeonhole Me! 2 Decades of the Mo Willems Sketchbook
• Hooray for Amanda and Her Alligator!
• Cat the Cat series
  • Cat the Cat, Who Is That?
  • Let's Say Hi to Friends Who Fly
  • What's Your Sound, Hound the Hound?
  • Time to Sleep, Sheep the Sheep!

I wanted my class to actually see him and "meet" him.  This is the Mo Willems' section of my Author Prezi.  I like having my favorite resources all together when I want to do a quick author study, or just for days when talking about an author naturally comes up.  Everything is ready to show the children. I am always adding to the Prezis that I make when I find new resources that I like.

I love this interview. (It is the first one up above in the Prezi- with Naked Mole Rat in the picture for some reason.) It really lets the children see that their doodling of superheroes or characters can be the beginnings of a great story! (PLUS - they love how they are in on the secret that Elephant and Piggie are his favorite books to make!  Shhhh... don't tell Pigeon!)

 Here are the other authors that I included in the Prezi.

Nellie Edge has an Elephant and Piggie Book Club paper that the kids would LOVE. What a fun idea!

I found this adorable drawing lesson for Piggie and Elephant on nellieedge.com, too.  The children had so much fun drawing these favorite characters.

We drew some of our own Piggies and Elephants and wrote a little story to go along with our pictures. I had some post-it speech bubbles (because of course I did...) so I let the children use some of these to add to their pictures.  They had a BALL!

I like spinach. Piggie is saying this.  

Erin from Adventures in Tutoring and Special Education shared this darling Piggie and Elephant comic strip activity that would be great to get the kids thinking about a conversation these two friends may have.

I wrote a post about using speech bubbles HERE.  These books are a great introduction for that lesson.
                                             

for stopping by!

Five For Friday- It's May!

Happy Friday!  I am linking up with Kacey from Doodle Bugs Teaching for Five for Friday! Thank you for always hosting this, Kacey. I love it.

I had such a wonderful time meeting and learning from Dr. Jean this past week.  She put on the best Professional Development workshop for our district on Friday afternoon.  There was just a JOY in the room that hasn't been there at other PD workshops.  It was fantastic.  I posted about it HERE!

(My sweet teaching buddies and me with Dr. Jean in Tooty Ta mode!) 

                                   
Friday night I was lucky enough to get to go to  dinner with her and three other friends.  We had such a great time. I, of course, have no pictures because I didn't want to be so annoying, star-struck, needy, rude- you pick. But I will never forget it.  It's like the olden days when we had memories in our heads and not on the phone.

 On Saturday, she put on such a fun concert for our Kids' Book Fest, took pictures with the kids, and signed their books.
                                      

I love the faces!

If you haven't had a chance to see her or go to a conference she puts on, GO! You will just be a better teacher- because she makes you feel like what we are doing- singing, finger plays, dancing, telling stories, AGE APPROPRIATE activities- are the right things.  The children are not only learning all the while, but they are making memories while they learn.  AND she will take one song and magically give you ten different extension activities that you can do with it.  On her website she has so many freebies that are SO wonderful!  Check out her Cheer Cards if you don't have them.  Here are a couple of  our favorites this week:

And OF COURSE the Firecracker Cheer!
                               
I had used some of her cheers, but somehow some of them escaped me! Not anymore- we are cheering up a storm!

Next is... GO NOODLE!  I posted about my love for it HERE.  It's a FREE brain break site that offers calming, energizing, and focusing brain breaks. They include Olympic Track and Field events, Youtube video dances, sing-a-long songs, Zumba, yoga, calming activities, plus more.   
                                  

Your class chooses a Class Champ Mascot, and each time you complete 15 minutes of brain breaks, he goes into a transformer machine and grows.  It is magical.  

                                      
The children try so hard to do their best, concentrate, run fast, or sing along- because I may have told them that they think they may earn more points if they all participate and do their best.  Magical.  

They are twisting to warm up for the long jump!

Here is one little movement Youtube video that my kids love.  I complimented one little guy on his very fast feet, and all of a sudden I had 34 VERY FAST FEET dancing away.  Magical.  

Cleaning up to Happy-  Magical.

Sometimes this time of year, you need a little magic!

                                                             

I wrote a post about practicing recognizing and writing sentences, AND using periods correctly. We had lots of fun, learned a lot, and only ate 6 mini m&m's in the process. Not too bad!

Angela, from The Cornerstone shared such a great tip, that I can't stop thinking about it.  If a child answers with, "I don't know," she said that one simple phrase can get a child talking.  You just say, "If you did know, what would you say?"  This takes the pressure off of the child, and let's him/her answer without worrying about being right or wrong.  I loved it!  She also give some other possible responses.
I just want to remember that tip! And I also want to remember that it's OK not to know sometimes, and I just have to say, "Well, you don't know YET.  Let's find out!"  There may be a thing or two I don't know, so it's even good for adults.

My fifth one is just a sweet moment.  This morning after morning work, these little guys finished up, got a book, and decided to go into housekeeping for a quiet spot to read together.

I wish some day, when they were all retired guys meeting for coffee at a diner, I could send this to them and say, "Remember when!"  (My one little guy wouldn't even stop reading for the picture. It must have been a great book!)  This picture also made me smile and take a moment to think how FAR everyone has come this year. Sometimes we get so busy trying to get them to learn more and more, we forget to enjoy that part.

Have a wonderful weekend! Happy Friday!

We love GO NOODLE!

If you have not found Go Noodle- FIND IT NOW. It is free.  FREE! And fun as can be. It's a brain break site that the children cannot wait for and is so easy to use. I leave it up on the Smart Board all day. This post is just because I found it and wanted you to find it to. Go Noodle doesn't  even know I exist! It's just a great site that I passed on at school, and wanted to pass on to you, too, if you haven't discovered it already.
                                                       
After you sign in (so easy) and name your class, the children's first fun activity is choosing your Class Champ!

Your Class Champ will grow every time you complete 15 minutes of brain break activities. Every time we finish one activity, my class says, "See how many points we got!" You can see the level climb closer to that 15 minutes! (over on the right hand side in the picture below)

When you complete a level, the Class Champ goes into a machine to transform! It is perfect. The kids just love it.  When your Champ completes five levels, he is full grown.

There are calming, energizing, and focusing brain breaks, so you can choose the type that works best for your class whenever you need it.

Here is what the page looks like where you choose your activity.  Underneath each name of the activity is the length of time, so you can plan accordingly. I love that part, because if we have 3 minutes before lunch, I can choose one to fit that. 

 Maximo has lots of yoga and calming brain breaks to choose from.  Air Time has lots of focus opportunities.  We love Run With US, which teaches the children some of the the Olympic Track and Field events!  A real Olympic athlete "trains" the kids before you compete.

My class was so serious and tried to do everything just right. It really makes the kids feel special thinking that a real athlete is teaching them.

Here they are twisting to warm up for the long jump!

I MAY tell the kids that we get more points if we all participate and try our best.  I think that is what Go Noodle would want me to do.  Boy, do they all LOVE it and try hard.  Nobody wants to be the reason we don't get as many points as we can!

Go Noodle also includes Zumba songs and popular Youtube video sing-a-long songs like Let It Go, Everything is Awesome, and Happy.  We played Happy during clean up time and I have NEVER had a better clean up.  The kids tried to get everything done before the song ended and were singing! It doesn't get much better than that.

Oh and this song that is GREAT because you can say, see how fast you can move those feet!  And then, if you happen to compliment one child on their fast feet, all of a sudden you see lots more feet go fast for compliments!  Finally- you have some tuckered out kids ready to sit and work again.  You can find some of these songs on Youtube, but these are all in one place- and you earn those fabulous points to make your little Champ grow!

The songs and activities are set up very clearly and easy to use. If you have some you love the best, you can create your own list of favorites.

Try it and have a ball!  You will love it.  We have had the rainiest spring EVER and have had lots of inside recess, so this has been such a blessing.  Our first Class Champ (Tangy Bodangy)  reached Level 5!  When it grows up completely, Go Noodle emails you a picture to print out. We are hanging them up in the front of our classroom and seeing how many we can get.

Those 2 or 3 minute brain breaks add up- before lunch, after snack, during clean up, a few minutes before specials, or after they have done a great job with a lesson.  Yesterday, during math testing for the older grades, the library was being used, so my kids were in our classroom for four straight hours until lunch.  Then, after lunch we didn't have recess because of the rain, so it was all inside until we went home.  Those are perfect days for some breaks. It was one of my favorite days, actually, because the kids just loved singing and dancing.  My girls singing Let it Go from Frozen  just about made me cry it was so precious.  Even my boys love singing that one.  They all know the words. It is so sweet.

I told all of my teacher friends about this site because it is really great.  We are always hearing that children don't get enough physical activity, so this gives them a little more here and there, as well as some ways to calm down and settle.

Have fun and GO NOODLE!

Sentences!

Doesn't it do you so much good to  look back and think about how far your students have come about this time of year?  I remember in the beginning of the year always thinking, "I would give just about ANYTHING for some 'I like________.' sentences. I will NEVER again complain about those sentences if my kids will just write one of them!"  

And then, somehow, day by day, lesson by lesson, those little darlings start writing real, live sentences, sharing their thoughts and ideas, experimenting with words and punctuation, and moving beyond those "I like..." sentences.  

My class now, is needing  a little help remembering when to use a period or punctuation mark.  They use them all the time. It's just that sometimes they are after every. single. word. 

                                     

And sometimes, they are just at the end of a line of writing, whether or not the sentence ends there or not.  

                                    

To start our little sentence recognition lesson, I wrote some sentences on a chart, without any punctuation.  I showed the children some of the different ways I have seen them experiment with periods.  I explained that I LOVED seeing those periods and loved that they were using them. 

But now, they were ready to learn exactly where to use them correctly.  We read this chart together and noticed where we naturally stopped, because it was the end of a complete thought.  We reread the chart and really paid attention to where we stopped.  I reminded the children that we had learned that a period means STOP.  That pause where we stopped when we were reading is exactly where the period should go.  It may be in the middle of a line, or even after one word in a line. That doesn't matter. What does matter is that a period goes at the end of a whole thought that says something.  I had different students come up and put a red magnet circle at the end of each sentence.

I always have the children answer questions and speak during show and tell in complete sentences. Every day they tell me, "The author writes the words." "The illustrator draws the pictures."  We review how they do this- and how they never just say, "Writes words."  They know that a sentences tells someone something in a complete thought. 



After we practice with our chart, I tell the children that I am going to read some groups of words to them.  IF it is a complete sentence that needs a period at the end, they need to push their hand out in front of them and SCREEEEECH (like a car screeching to a STOP!) so I know to stop. They LOVE this. Love. If it is just a group of words and NOT a complete sentence, they stay completely quiet.  You can also do a thumbs up for sentences, thumbs down if it is not a sentence- but it isn't quite as much fun.

I read several groups of words like:

I like to play

I like to

I like to play with

I like to play with my friends

We can go to the

We can go to the park

It is my new

My teacher is

My teacher is nice

Broccoli is

Broccoli is green



After all this practice hearing when to  use a period, it was time to show me their stuff, with a delicious little assessment.  The children each got six mini m&m's in a little cup.  I told them that the mini m&m's were perfect because periods are just miniature.  I showed them how a period is NOT a colored in letter "o" (which I see sometimes), and it is not a practically invisible pencil mark. Even learning to write a period correctly is a skill!

The first job each child had was to decide their favorite color mini m&m and eat it for "Period Power."  I only needed five periods on the paper I made.  The m&m's were now going to be periods.

I gave each child a paper like this: 

If you would like a copy, just click on the picture.  It's simple, but it's already made, so why not! 

Next, they had to read the paper themselves and put an m&m where a period would go, at the end of a sentence.

                                     

As they ate the "periods," they substituted a pencil period for the m&m on their paper. 

Later in the day, the children practiced making sentences and using a period at the end of a sentence with this game.  I have several of the links to different games on my Primary Writing Prezi, so I just click on one for us to use when I have a few minutes throughout the day.  This game is called Simple Sentences.

Have fun writing!  Thanks for stopping by!