February SLANT

I loved getting to know my match this month for Lessons with Coffee's SLANTBox Exchange. (You can read about my October post here.) 


Laura from over at Teaching From Beyond the Desk is a 6th grade, first-year science teacher in northern California. We had some great conversations about how to get kids thinking scientifically and bonded over our mutual love of colored pens and common spirit animal (Monica Gellar). She sent me an AMAZING box this month with some great goodies:


Check out the art on this box, huh? It's all in shades of purple because it's my favorite color.




I can't wait to take this notepad to school. (The top says " The list that keeps going and going and going and going and going..." totally true for us teachers. The lists NEVER.STOP.) And I'm totally taking that journal and my new pens (below) with me to Spain next week.


She also sent me a lot of Valentine goodies (some not pictured) like some window clings I plan to use next year and some pencils and mini pens that I'm planning to use in my classroom becuase my preschoolers are really getting into writing right now.


And this gorgeous cup is all mine, with one of my favorite phrases on it: "It takes a big heart to shape little minds." I do believe I have a big heart. But the best part is what was inside:


KIT KATS!!!! Om nom nom nom. My favorite.

I'm sitting March out because I'll be in Spain for half of it, but I can't wait until April's exchange! If you've never done a SLANT exchange, you should. They're so fun!!

A Place for Everything...

I love to be organized. No joke, in my undergrad, each class had its own notebook, folder, and highlighter in the same color. For example, my Reading Methods color might have been orange so it had an orange folder and notebook, and any assignments I had due would be highlighted in my planner in orange. And so on and so forth.

Hello, my name is Jessica and I may have a smidge of OCD.

However, I think it's incredibly important as a teacher to be organized. Whatever your system is, you have to find what works best for you otherwise you'll lose your mind. So, here's part 1 of my organization.



Monthly Boxes
Because my themes mostly stay the same from year to year (I'm not gonna do a fall theme in February, for example), I'm able to keep most of my materials and manipulatives in a box. These boxes rotate out each month so that I have everything I need at my fingertips. Some things I might put in there:
  • Bulletin board letters
  • Manipulatives (I'm always on the lookout for erasers and other small things I can use)
  • Worksheets (I slip these in dry-erase sleeves to use during center rotations)
The is the second year I've used this system and I.LOVE.IT. Unfortunately, I keep finding more stuff so some months are in overflow Sterilite shoeboxes as well (December and October, mostly; I have a lot of Halloween/holiday stuff in there).

I keep each theme's paperwork in manila folders and then chuck my teacher created cards and activities in there too. Some months are almost impossibl to close. I don't know what system I'll end up using if/when I teach in an elementary school, but I have no doubt it will be some kind of spin on this one.

Valentine's Day

I'm going to start by saying: I hate parties. What teacher doesn't? I don't like how crazy it makes the kids and I don't like how hopped up on sugar they tend to get. So I do it differently in my room. Instead of "wasting" a day with a party, I incorporate the holiday into my day. For example, I didn't do an entire week of Valentine's Day activities, as my coworkers did (frankly, that would bore me to pieces... we did a week on feelings and emotions instead). I did make a day of it, though. Heart themed art, conversation heart math and science, name activities... Plus our "party."

We sorted and graphed how many candy hearts we had (I forgot to take a photo with all the candy hearts still ON the graph!). We've sorted things before and placed them on graphs, but we've not taken the results and colored in graphs. The kids I expected to "get it" quickly did, but there was one or two surprises. One of  my girls who really just takes things at her own pace actually did MUCH better than I expected -- probably because she knew she'd be getting candy at the end. Ha!



My favorite activity, though, was this freebie I picked up from Teachers Pay Teachers.


We had 3 cups of liquid and hypothesized what would happen if we dropped some candy hearts in each. They then drew the results. I got some AMAZING drawings, considering my kids are only 4!



All in all, my Valentine's Day was a lot of fun! Hope yours was too!

January Currently

My first post of 2015 is a link up with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade. It's my January currently:


Listening: Friends is on Netflix now, don't ya know?

Loving: I got a Fitbit for Christmas, basically, and I'm kind of obsessed with tracking my steps and calories. I think it's exactly what I need to stay on track this time!!

Thinking: I am going to SPAIN in 60 days!!! I can't wait!!!

Wanting: The box I store all of our Christmas stuff in is in the storage closet on the patio and it's currently 14 degrees. I have no desire to go out there and dig it out.

Needing: I shaved my head in June for St. Baldrick's and while I'm keeping it shorter until after Spain, I hate when it gets too scruffy.

Yes: Getting fit. I lost 40 pounds 4 years ago and have been telling myself I was just trying to maintain my weight because I literally went to the gym three times last year. Whoops. So I gained about half of that back. I don't look as flabby as I used to because while I wasn't going to the gym, I was still trying to keep eating responsibly. My goal is 40 more pounds this year and then actually maintain it (for real this time, I swear!).

Maybe: We're discussing going to California for my birthday next year (I'm turning 30). Hubs has family out there who live near Disneyland so I thought it would be a fun opportunity to cross off the other Disney park and celebrate entering a new decade of my life.

I Wish: We currently live in a condo and I'm tired of renting and tired of not having a basement (esp. when the Midwest tornado season hits). Plus, hubs wants a dog and I refuse to get one until we have a yard in which it can run. I recognize that my maybe AND my wish can't happen at the same time. Damn money...

Hope your new year has gotten off to a great start!!

Halloween

One of these days, I will actually post these things when they happen. So, even though it's now Thanksgiving, I hope you enjoy my Halloween post!

Last week for Halloween I tried to keep things fun. 9 of my kids know all their letters and can identify numbers up to 31 (thanks to calendar time). 1 is almost reading. And 1, my youngest, well... She'll catch up. Because they are already so far ahead, I've been focusing a lot on fine motor development, visual discrimination, and critical thinking skills. And since the kids were hyped up on the impending holiday, I figured i'd make it fun. Here are a few high lights:

On my day off, they did this Fizzy Eyeball project from B Inspired Mama. I pinned it last fall but wasn't able to find the Ping Pong balls until this past August, Because I wasn't working, I don't have photos, but the kids all LOVED it. Instead of using tongs for the kids to pick up their eyeballs, I put 4 cups of colored vinegar at each table  and gave them an eye dropper. Their eyeball was in a bowl to keep the mess down. I really wish I had been working this day because I wanted to see their reaction as they discovered the eyeballs underneath.
This whole project cost me a dollar. I got the baking soda and vinegar from my stash that parents brought and I found the eyeballs at Dollar Tree in a package of 12.

Speaking of baking soda and vinegar, we also did the fizzing pumpkin. After some sensory fun with the pumpkin guts, I carved his face at naptime one day then we took him out back. I put the baking soda in a cup, dyed the vinegar bright green, and went to town. I love how easily preschoolers are amused by the simple chemical reaction of baking soda and vinegar.

We have a trunk or treat on Halloween each year. I do a small party in the morning, asking for fruit, chips, juice, and mini cupcakes (I actually save the cupcakes for our afternoon snack). They. Were. Amped. But they love are so we did several art projects focusing on using that pincer grip: Torn paper candy corn, masking tape mummies... Ripping the masking tape was still tough for even my most advanced fine motor kiddos to do, so I ended up tearing it into piece for them, but they turned out so cute. Of course I forgot to take photos, so you'll have to take my word for it.
  


Half of my kids left before our trunk or treat, but the remaining kids were excited to get into their costumes. I had 2 Bumblebees (from Transformers), Batman, Elsa, Minnie Mouse, and a Nurse. I just wore a fun head band. I'm holding out on finding the perfect Ms. Frizzle dress; I will find one one of these days.
 

Hope you had a great Halloween!


Tech Talk -- November Edition

Tasia over at Great Minds Teach Alike came up with a great idea to share tech tips each month. We all have our little secrets, and some might not think of things that others have. I'm excited to see what every one else has come up with. Most of my tech tips will probably have to do with parents communication and organization because, unfortunately (or fortunately?) I don't have technology in my classroom. I would LOVE to have access to a SMART board or at least a projector at times, but let's face it. My kids are 4 and they get enough technology at home. I'd rather give them free play or manipulatives to play with.

So, here is my contribution to the first Tech Talk blog hop:


Two words: Google Calendar

I used to work at Family Christian and every year around this time, they would have these super cute planners on sale. I would always think about buying one, then I'd remember that I don't actually use a paper calendar. I use Google Calendar for everything. And I've found that anything I don't put in my calendar I promptly forget. I've missed my nephew's birthday party that way, and once I almost missed a babysitting job. It's how I stay organized. Here are my tips for making Google Calendar work for you and your classroom:

1. Create a calendar specifically for your classroom. I actually have calendars for my life stuff (dinner dates, rehearsals, etc.), babysitting jobs, church/youth group activities, as well as school. Each has a different color, allowing me to differentiate between events at a glance.


2. Input your events on the calendar. I put field trips, birthdays, class parties, book order due dates, and school closings all on the calendar. There's a space for notes in which I put reminders about field trip shirts, costs, lunches needed. I also make sure I put in the address, too, so I can easily pull up directions if need be.
3. Share the calendar with parents. I make a bit.ly link and include it in my email signature. (BONUS: You can see how often it's been clicked.) It's also in my parent info packet each August. They also get a paper copy of all of our field trip dates in that packet. 
My understanding is that the XML allows parents to import the calendar directly into their calendar.


My goal in doing this is so there is no excuse for parents to not know when various events are (especially since I email weekly with reminders about events). You'll always have parents who don't pay attention, but at least you tried!!

Quit Buggin' Me!

Note: I originally wrote this waaaaaaaay back in the beginning of October. It sat as a draft for a while because I needed photos of my art projects. Then I couldn't find said photos and thought I had deleted them off of my phone. Well, I found them, so here is my super late insect post.

In St. Louis, we are blessed with an AMAZING free zoo. I am also blessed to work at a center that encourages us to take field trips, introducing our preschoolers to the community and other special topics. Last Tuesday, we went to our zoo for a class on insects, so our theme for the whole week was creepy crawlies. I have a class of mostly girls so I was expecting a lot of "ew!" or "Bugs are gross!" but they actually really enjoyed it.

Throughout the week we touched on what makes an insect an insect, why a spider isn't an insect, and the life cycle of a butterfly. We've had several monarch butterflies visiting our garden recently, so this was a very appropriate time. Here's a glimpse at our activities:

Books
I always just go through my local library's section and pick out non-fiction books that I think they'll enjoy from the stacks. These usually include more pictures than words, just because my kids are only 4. But here are some of my favorite fiction stories that I read:

Buzz! by Eileen Spinelli
This is a super cute story about a bee that LOVES to fly but sees an article in the paper with a headline that says bees can't fly. Then she has an identity crisis!






The Grouchy Ladybug by Eric Carle
If you haven't read this adorable story by Eric Carle, then where have you been?! I love this story because of its predictive text. It's great for my kids to help me read along ("Oh, you're not big enough!") It also lends itself for one of my favorite art projects of the whole year (see below). When I taught Pre-K, I also used it to introduce time and sequencing.



The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle
OK, if you haven't read this book you have been living under a rock. This is one of the most recognizable children's books and my kids LOVE it. My aunt gave me a big board book version that sits in my book nook for the kids to read all the time. That cute little caterpillar is irresistible!!



Art
Half of my kids are 4, with the rest turning 4 by June. The teacher in the 3's room worked very hard with them on their fine motor skills like cutting and coloring and a lot of them are pros at it already. I did my insect unit with my last group in the spring, when my kids were all already 4, many past the 4 and a half mark, so I was interested to see how my kids would do with some of my art projects.

This bumblebee was made by tracing a paper plate on yellow paper and using a compass to draw a smaller circle, about 4-5 inches in diameter on black paper. They had to cut each of those out, and then glue their stripes on. Most of them did pretty well with the cutting of the circles -- a tricky concept when you've only been using scissors for about a year. I cut the stripes out using a paper cutter and they glued those on, along with eyes (punched out with a paper puncher). The most difficult part for them, I think, was doing the wings because they had to draw them and then cut them out. A difficult task for four-year-olds because of its inherent abstract concept.
The grouchy ladybug is one of my favorites we do all year. I take a picture of them making an angry face and then print them out. They make their own body, spots, legs, and antennae. Just like the wings, this project can be difficult because I didn't trace anything for them to cut out. I'm impressed at what they did all on their own!

Math, Science, and Language
I found these insect erasers from Oriental Trading and use them to work on sorting, patterning, counting, etc. Such a GREAT bargain and the kids loved it.

We also learned about the butterfly life cycle. You can find this craft in my insects unit on TPT. I assembled the butterflies beforehand because I was out of town. If a sub hadn't been in charge of this activity, I probably would have traced the shape and had them cut it out/glue it together.
Finally, we made name caterpillars. These are super simple if you have a circle punch (I bought mine at Hobby Lobby with a 40% off coupon, so it was, like, $3). I do a lot of activities with their names because it's the first word they can read on a regular basis. They also get super excited when they can read the names of the other kids in the class.

October SLANT Love

About six months ago, I was perusing the teachersfollowteachers on Instagram when I stubled across this image from Lessons with Coffee:


I love mail. I love pen pals. I love commiserating with fellow teachers. How fun!!

Basically, Jameson is a rock star because she takes -- at this point -- dozens and dozens and DOZENS of teacher information and pairs us up so we're talking to two people. One of the people you're sending to and one you're receiving from. I've done 4 exchanges at this point and have been paired with people from DC, Wyoming, Michigan, California, and Indiana. I haven't yet blogged about it, though, because I started this blog just recently.

This month, I was paired with Maja over at Kooky Kinders and Laura at Enchanting Elementary. Maja and I bonded over the St. Louis (where I'm from) Bosnian community (her heritage) and Laura and I bonded over the fact that she's getting married next spring -- on the same day I did six years ago. Small world.

Anyway, the theme was to send things to help the other teacher. Laura sent me an awesome set of Brain break sticks that I plan to use ASAP because my 4 year olds are already antsy and winter is just beginning (Lord, help me). And she sent me a Kit Kat. Which I would take a photo of, but I've already eaten it. All 8 sticks of it. In one sitting.

Taken at naptime... Sorry it's so dark!
Sign ups for November/December are closed because it took me too long to write this post, but you should totally sign up in January! It's a blast!

November Currently

How is it possibly November already? Unbelievable.

I'm linking up with Farley at Oh Boy 4th Grade again for her November Currently Linky.


Listening: Did you know that Gilmore Girls is on Netflix? It's my favorite TV Show in the whole world and I own them all on DVD. But having them on Netflix means I don't have to change the disc every 4 episodes. Sweet!!
Loving: Planning my sister in law's baby shower. She's due January 12, the shower is in early December, and I've taken on the decorations and games. I'm sooooo excited. 
Thinking: I only have, like, 5 assignments left this semester but I have no motivation to do any of them. I'm not enjoying my classes this semester, I think it part of it.
Wanting: Between crafting for my SIL's shower and prepping lesson plans, my house is a disaster.
Needing: One of these days I'm going to get my SLANT Box out on time. This is not that month. Grrr. So glad my partner Maja at Kooky Kinders is forgiving!
Reading: I have a gazillion books I want to read. but they have to wait until I get my grad school stuff finished.

I have a post coming later today or tomorrow about Halloween. Stay tuned!

Sorry!

I begin this blog and then I just leave it hanging. How rude of me. My deepest apologies. I have a bunch of posts in the edit process, I just have to sit down and add photos. I promise there's more coming! Thanks for reading!