Before vacation began we started learning about Non fiction in readers workshop!  Here are some of the anchor charts that I used with my students to help them remember traits of non fiction.    I found this anchor chart on The Picnic Pals.  She has a great blog it's definitely worth taking a look at!

When teaching about non fiction we also went deeper into schema so here is chart that I created however I combine two anchor charts that can be found on  Spotlight on Kindergarten and

 Simply the Classroom  to make one.

100th day continued...

Ok so not sure what happened with my first post but hopefully it will post in the near future!

After putting on our 100th day shirts and then receiving our awards we went into the classroom and created our 100th day hats and necklaces.  We also had some parent volunteers who were wonderful in the classroom.

Side note:  I pre-made several hats prior to this morning for the students who move a little slower than others (I learned that from last year) and I want to say that this worked out very well.  Those students only had to focus on stamping 10 stamps on each strip and folding the strips into back and forth.  I need to make sure that I remember that for next year.  I adapted this idea from http://helpinglittlehands.blogspot.com/2011/02/survivors.html.  Check out her website.

 Here are some finished photos of our hats.

When we finished our hats we then moved on to creating our necklace with 100 fruit loops and after every ten they had to put on numbers by 10's through 100.  I have always made these necklaces however last year on pinterest I saw that one teacher added the piece of adding the numbers, something so simple but I would have never thought of it, here is where I found that idea:

http://firstgradeschoolbox.blogspot.com/search/label/100th%20Day%20of%20School.  The number hearts were precut for the students and placed in paper clips so that wouldn't be an issue also we used ribbon for the string and not yarn because it doesn't work with fruit loops.  Also the ribbon was taped down to the table so the fruit loops couldn't fall off and all the students that needed assistance sat at one table so that parent volunteers and teachers could help them out.  This was a success!   

When we completed this activity we went to the rug and read 

Kindergarten Counts to 100 http://www.amazon.com/Kindergarten-Count-100-Jacqueline-Rogers/dp/0439607418 

I like using this story because it ends with taking 100 steps, this where we count to 100 again and then we take a 100 step walk through the building students predict where we will land and then we take a photo,  we landed half way through the cafeteria.

After this we came back and generated 100 words we can read and write. Then we did another read aloud Miss Bindergarten Celebrates 100th day of Kindergarten  .  Next we ran for 100 seconds and boy my students couldn't hang. LOL!  Next we did 10 sets of 10 different exercises (toe touches, jump ropes, jumping jack, tuck jumps, truck circles, side steps, left leg kick, right leg kick, squats, and sit-ups)  My babies were too funny they said I am too tired to work now.  LOL

Moving pictures are so hard to take! LOL!

After lunch we wrote our names in 100 squares and then we made a trail mix with 10 different snacks (which I didn't get pictures of )!  All of the trail mix items were donated by the parents in my classroom.  I have amazing parents that are very generous and I just wanted to say thank you to all my parents.  

I want to give a shout out to one of the best dads that donated his time on this special day!  Thank you W.

   The End!

100th Day of School

Can you believe 100 days of school has passed?  I most certainly can not!  It has been a wild ride and it means I have less than half a year to teach them everything else that needs to be taught!  Talk about pressure.  (HAHA)  I thought I would add some photos of the students celebrating the 100th day.

We began the day with putting on our 100th day shirts that we created over the last three weeks and then each child was presented an award that I found at www.kindertrips.blogspot.com.

On our 1/2 days we do many things (awards ceremony, Positive Behavior System (PBS) activity hour, 12:00 pm dismissal) so I try to fit in as much academic time in between these activities as possible.  This week while blog stalking I noticed on Time 4 Kindergarten, http://www.time4kindergarten.com/search/label/100th%20Day ,this teacher had this great idea for her 100th day, so I adapted it for my classroom.  We didn't actually get to put all of the numbers on the graph like she did.  I wanted too but there simply wasn't enough time.  I am going to try this activity again with only half of the numbers.  Here is what the activity entailed.  Students were paired up into duos and then they had to hunt for all the numbers 1-100 in the classroom with a 100's chart.  When they found the numbers they had to fill in the square on the chart. It was amazing to hear all the buzz in the classroom about numbers.  Students were making connections with the hundreds chart. They were noticing how all the threes were in the same column, some noticed that the 10s were all at the end.  At this point I didn't think anything could surprise me but someone did.  A child that was recently diagnosed as developmentally delayed stopped and said "hey there are numbers everywhere", prior to this event she was very confused with numbers and letters and she even went around the room repeating all the numbers and contributing to her partnership.  It was such a proud moment for her!  

Photos from Valentines Day and 100th Day

Last year my son's teacher sent these home with the kids (thank you Mrs. O'Leary).  I thought they were the cutest thing ever so I saved his and told my students this year all about them and they said they too wanted to make them for their parents.  The center was super easy oak tag cut out for each student and precut tag for (I Love You), and then tin foil.  So cute and not teacher directed either.

Students had precut hearts and they placed them into the top of a copy paper box cover, they picked two colors of paint and then they shook the boxes to roll marbles around to create fun looking hearts.  Students added glitter to the paint before it dried.  Below is the finished product!

Students had precut hearts made from coffee filters.  They used markers to color the hearts and then they used eye droppers to watch the water absorb into the coffee filter and mix all the colors together.

Idea originated from:  http://www.meaningfulmama.com/2013/01/tie-dye-coffee-filter-valentine-heart.html

Here are the finished products:

At the end of the day we also celebrated with goodies but I was way too busy at the moment to capture any photos.  What do you all do for this day?

Valentine Day

This has been one of the craziest weeks.  We had a snow day on Monday and then we hit the ground in a full on sprint starting on Tuesday.  Side note:  I also run the PTO at my school as well and it was the week our fundraiser roses were due, so I did many things with that as well as my normal teaching and celebrating of the 100th day and Valentine day (which were back to back days) ughh.  I am so glad to be on vacation!!!


I am  hoping to add photos today but seem to be experiencing difficulty at this time!  More to follow

Thankful!

Today I am thankful for many things!  I am thankful for this snow day because it is a much needed one after all the assessments I have been doing with my babies.  I am also thankful to have a nice warm house with plenty of food in it, to hold us over for the duration of this blizzard.  I am catching up on emails and inputting data in to the Gold Teaching Strategies.  Is anyone else doing the Gold as a way to collect data and assessment?  What are your thoughts on it?