A Place Called Kindergarten

Our Paper Bag Snowmen

2012-01-30T07:30:00.000-05:00

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...

Slideshow generated with Smilebox

{idea from Da Vinci's Wings}

In 100 Years...

2012-01-29T13:26:00.001-05:00

On the 100th day of Kindergarten we drew what we might look like in 100 years.

Free slideshow design made with Smilebox

{idea from Teach Kids Art}

The Mitten

2012-01-28T07:00:00.000-05:00

We have been reading The Mitten by Jan Brett

We read the story, sequenced the characters and watched these online...

Jan Brett taking about her books videoYoutube video of someone reading The MittenThe Mitten on Online Storytime
We did a Readers Theater of the story...

the mitten readers theater

the mitten RT characters

{You know your kids love readers theater when they start saying

"I want to be the owl." while you are reading the book:)}

We read and compared these different version of The Mitten

and wrote about our favorite ending in our Reading and Writing Notebooks.

the mitten comparing versions
the mitten comparing versions 2

We made a self to text connection to the story...The Mitten self to text

Ella was inspired to write her own version of The Mitten during free choice...then she inspired Margot, Duke and Brennan to write books.

Font Doodle Print and Doodle Basic from Lettering Delights

The Mitten character clipart from KPM Doodles

frames from Graphics From the Pond

Friday Favorites

2012-01-27T22:24:00.000-05:00

{my favorite finds from this week}

free printable

{just ask my boys:)}

adorable free valentines...

more or less game great for the Smartboard...

M&Ms in a giant container and valentine subway art...I am in LOVE!

{I would prefer the container full without the glass in the middle:)}

great guided reading resource...

noun/verb alliterations...

cute little snowmen...

HaPpY 100th DaY of KiNdErGaRtEn!!

2012-01-27T22:16:00.001-05:00

Our Nonfiction Posters

2012-01-27T17:16:00.001-05:00

We study trees all year long. To kick off our nonfiction writing unit we researched some animals that might live in or near trees. We practiced becoming "experts" about a topic. We made information maps of our research and then made these nonfiction posters. As a group everyone had to have a different job...who would do the title, draw pictures, write facts? Next we are going to be working on our book of nonfiction writing ideas. Download your own book HERE.

Check out our amazing posters...

These are great nonfiction books for Kindergarten...

some things we've been creating this month...

2012-01-25T23:44:00.000-05:00

We have been busy reading books and creating.

We read this...

and created these...

{These Martins make me smile every year and I love checking them out on other blogs.}

We read this...

and created these...

{Thanks for the inspiration Deanna Jump and Ginger Snaps for the base!}

We read this...

and wrote these books...

We read this...

and made these...

Self to Blog Connection

2012-01-24T20:23:00.000-05:00

Mrs. Clancy is my new best friend (she just doesn't know it yet). Finding her blog made my day! I love her teaching stye and I have made so many self to blog connections. Check out her blog and look for these and many other ideas...writing goals chart, lunch box letters, math vocabulary and wow words

Friday Favorites

2012-01-20T21:17:00.000-05:00

{my favorites finds from this week}

hope you are not missing these freebies...

are can have drawings...

valentine printable + kisses

great addition to our tree unit...

we {heart} fortune cookies...

cute questions unit...

amazing freebie...

Friday Favorites

2012-01-13T07:30:00.000-05:00

{my favorite finds from this week}

I {heart} freebies!

this is a good one for those that still need

letter identification and sight word practice...

holy this matches the above activity and it is also free...

print, laminate, use

check out this website Richard blogged about

I like the visualizing seasons activity

I love these castles...

free graphics...

measurement snowmen...

check out pictures of Baby Cooper!!

I'm so glad that Shannon has mastered holding a newborn

while creating her fabulous freebies:)

Months of the Year

2012-01-11T14:52:00.000-05:00

We read a book for each month, 3 at a time and filled in the months.

The books are a set that I ordered from Really Good Stuff.

This was a great lesson on the months of the year, starting them with capitals and their order.

I love the little pictures that they drew to go along with each month.

months of the year

amazing alliterations

2012-01-10T20:55:00.000-05:00

We just finished our alliteration writing unit.

Check out this movie of our amazing alliterations...

Make your own slideshow

Book of Vowels

2012-01-09T12:43:00.000-05:00

Fun vowel and phonetic spelling practice...

book of vowels

thanks for thinking of me!!

2012-01-07T21:26:00.000-05:00

I have gotten some blog awards lately.

Thanks soooooooooo much for thinking of my blog!

So Here are the Rules for this Award:
1. Thank the person who gave the award to you and write a post about it.
2. Answer the questions below.

Favorite color? blue

Favorite animal? giraffe

Favorite number? any number on the back of my sons' sports jerseys

Favorite drink? Diet Coke & Starbucks Awake and Passion tea

Facebook or Twitter? not a real fan of either one

Your passion? teaching, stamping, photography, blogging

Giving or getting presents? giving

Favorite day? Friday

3. Pass the award to 10 to 12 fabulous bloggers,

link their blogs and let them know you have given them the award.

Blog Award Rules...

1. Thank the person that nominated you with a link back to them.

2. Tell 7 things about yourself.

I am a mom of 3 amazing boys
I like to play board games
I like to cook...hate to bake
I practice Just Dance so that I can beat Jack...and Caroline
I like to stay up late....I hate mornings
I like to organize
I love books

3. Pass this award on to 15 newly discovered blogs and let them know that they've received an award!

I am going to mix up my awards a bit since I have tons of blogs in my Google Reader and I LOVE them all...
I am going to pick blogs that I {heart} their blog buttons.

I would love to know if you have my button on your blog,

if you have a kindergarten blog button that you would like to me to add to

or if you know why some buttons show up as ?s when I try to add them...very frustrating.

Friday Favorites

2012-01-06T07:00:00.000-05:00

{my favorite finds from this week}

great ideas for using YouTube...

free + graphics = love

number words chart...

link to Smartboard resources and "Build A Snowman" song...

Princess and the Pea art project...

snow globe base printable...

made my own children to this...

Casey's valentines...

New Pete the Cat Book

2012-01-04T22:19:00.000-05:00

this is soooooooooo exciting!!!click and pre-order your copy of the latest Pete the Cat bookrelease date May 1, 2012

bring on the snow books...bring on the snow!!

2012-01-03T13:08:00.000-05:00

Here is my collection of snow books....

What are your favorite snow books???

getting a little more organized

2012-01-03T12:14:00.000-05:00

After "Christmas Crazy" was over and the leftovers have been eaten, most of Christmas has been put away, the house is clean and the laundry is almost caught up...I got to spend some time in my jammies organizing my computer and blog. I first started with organizing my desktop and moved on to cleaning out the starred items in my Google Reader.

This is why if you are following me on Pinterest you saw my picture a lot:)

{click this button in my sidebar to check out my pins}

I moved on to creating a new Facebook page for my blog.

{click on this button in my sidebar to "like" this page}

Next, I took the time to update my

and

pages across the top of my blog.

Adding more buttons to

is on my to-do list, so if you have a kindergarten blog that has a blog button

and you do not see your button in

leave me a comment and I will add you.

Finally, I cleaned up some code and added this Common Core App to the side of my blog.

Look for this...

and it will open this...

I have a printout that I have been using, but this is so much more fun.

So if you feel the urge to do some do some blog cleaning, feel free to add my button to your blog,
pick up my RSS feed or shoot me an email by using these buttons...

Here's to starting the year a little more organized!!

Happy New Year!!!

2012-01-01T06:00:00.000-05:00

Every year we make these New Year balloons...

We talk about making new year resolutions/promises, write one on the balloon, cut it out and tape a piece of curling ribbon to the back. Soooo easy peasy that it is the perfect first day back after break project.

new year balloon

2011's top 3 most viewed posts

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-05:00

what a fun idea to see what your most viewed posts have been this year!

link up at Fern Smith's Classroom Ideas to join the fun

{9,492 views}

this list is over 100 now...if you do not find you blog on this list email me or leave me a comment and I will add you

{6,325 views}

so excited that so many of you liked and are using these reading logs:)

This September Friday Favorites had 6,172 views.

My "The Copy Room" page which is a list of all my freebies had 12, 207 views!!

Friday Favorites

2011-12-30T18:52:00.000-05:00

Yes...I know there has not been a Friday Favorites post for a couple of weeks.

Mrs. Claus was a procrastinator this season and barely pulled Christmas together.

So now that "Christmas Crazy" is over, here is my latest Friday Favorites...

I heart projects based on books!! Check out these Owl Babies

new year's books and ideas...

simple 100th day stations...

itty bitty canvas ornament...love it

new year's subway art:)

new year journal...

beaded snowflakes...

cute snowman cookies...

waterless snow globes...adorable!

cvc vowel game...

file away for next year...

I LOVE Christmas Cards!!

2011-12-30T18:42:00.000-05:00

Christmas card love...

Since my oldest was born I have made our Christmas card.

I really considered uploading a picture to Shutterfly when I started gluing on the tiny heart :)

Stampin' Up...

ink: chocolate chip

stamp: sweet season

card stock: naturals ivory

punch: extra large oval

paper: Very Merry from October Afternoon

ribbon and heart punch Michaels

We hung all of the picture cards that we received on the wall and our kids have looked at them every day.

I usually bag up all the cards in a ziplock at the end of the season, but thanks to blogland I am going to do this...

download these adorable covers here...

Christmas Books

2011-12-26T17:02:00.000-05:00

I LOVE picture books! Every year I get the boys a Christmas book that has something to do with their personality or something they did that year. This year Jack, who is 16, got Bear Stays Up for Christmas because he is a teenager and loves to sleep. He got Gingerbread Babythe year that he played the fox in a preschool play of the book. Brian got The Soldiers' Night Before Christmas (Big Little Golden Book)the year he started watching the History Channel with his dad and When Santa Lost His Ho! Ho! Ho!the year that he wore a Santa hat all the time. Casey got Santa Claus Is Comin' to Townthe year that he sang the song nonstop throughout the holidays and Merry Christmas, Curious Georgethe year that he made a monkey at Build-A-Bear and named him George. I write a little message in the book and we read and reread them throughout the season. It's fun to think that each boy will have a stack of books to share the joy of the holidays and memories with their children. Hope everyone has enjoyed these past few days. It is hard to believe that it is all over for another year
Happy Reading!!

Here are some of the books in our collection...

Let me know if you have any favorite Christmas books because I am always looking for ideas:)

Our Holiday Party

2011-12-25T15:05:00.001-05:00

Gingerbread Man Readers Theater

2011-12-25T14:31:00.001-05:00

Enjoy our Gingerbread Man Readers Theater. I promised the kids that I would leave the stage and characters out so they could do the play again after break. They also requested a Gingerbread Girl so they could tell her story. This Readers Theater was basked on Deanna Jump's emergent reader because I loved it {we read it the day before doing the readers theater} and because I owned the same clipart:)

gingerbread readers theater
gingerbread man theater cards
gingerbread man: Lettering Delights gingerbreadjoyfarm clipart: Scrappin Doodles farm kidsfont: Lettering Delights Doodle Basic

Our Readingfest

2011-12-25T14:13:00.000-05:00

To help keep our "holiday behavior" under control we earned a piece of this gingerbread man every day that we followed the list of rules we came up with after Thanksgiving. We earned our Readingfest and had a blast curling up and reading with our stuffed animals, blankets and friends. Mrs. K's popcorn maker was a big hit. We are already thinking about having another Readingfest...maybe we will dress a snowman. I was just impressed that my students picked having a Readingfest over watching a movie or having extra gym or recess. Soooo excited that they are falling in love with books and reading!!!!

Read! Read! As fast as you can!

2011-12-13T23:51:00.000-05:00

We have loved reading all of these gingerbread books!

I love hearing my students chanting "Run! Run! As fast as you can!"

while they are working or running around the playground.

We charted six versions of the gingerbread man. {chart inspired by several blog posts}

gingerbread man chart

Friday Favorites

2011-12-09T23:00:00.000-05:00

we so made these this week:)

thinking about January...

I {heart} Elmer!

ginger bread dough ornaments

making these for the boys...hopefully this weekend

this post encourages my obsession with subway art:)

I love this new kindergarten blog...kindergarten is definitely a hoot!!

{thanks for the link Amy}

christmas printable love

self portraits + ornaments = adorable

Gingerbread Baby Houses

2011-12-09T22:26:00.001-05:00

Just like Matti, we made gingerbread houses for the Gingerbread Baby...

gingberbread baby house sign

Framable Gingerbread Art

2011-12-09T20:27:00.001-05:00

I am in love with these watercolor/oil pastel gingerbread men

that my kiddos made this week.

Thanks for the inspiration Art Projects for Kids!!

artist at work...

giant gingerbread boys and girls

2011-12-06T13:08:00.001-05:00

We made a chart of where we thought our gingerbread boys and girls might run to.

Then we turned our ideas into giant gingerbread boys and girls.

make your own giant gingerbread boys and girls...

giant gingerbread writing paper

giant gingerbread

gingerbread quotes

Gingerbread Love From Blogland...

2011-12-04T20:34:00.001-05:00

We are doing lots and lots of gingerbread activities thanks to all of my blogging best friends.
I have found so many activities to do that I almost wish I had more time before break to do them...almost:)
Here are the amazing gingerbread blog freebies...

gingerbread teens

gingerbread sight words

Mrs. Jump's gingerbread emergent reader

gingerbread story map

freebie favorites

gingerbread number and color matching

and building -an words cards

gingerbread color a path from A to Z

gingerbread hunt around the school cards

gingerbread number words cards and recording sheet

gingerbread science experiment

too cute...

purchased love from Teachers Pay Teachers...

Friday Favorites

2011-12-01T22:09:00.001-05:00

school memories pages...simple and fast

download them now while your child is in kindergarten:)

simple craft that doesn't use glue:)

adorable gift idea

winter break frat house fun!!

glitter paint

love this magnetic advent calendar

how to turn your kids artwork into gift tags

super cute freebie

snowman math

just bought this book...we will be drawing our gingerbread families soon:)

alliterations

2011-12-01T22:02:00.001-05:00

We started our alliteration writing unit during writing workshop this week. We kicked off this unit by making alliterations with our names.

Photo slideshow created with Smilebox

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2011-11-24T23:28:00.001-05:00

Our Totem Pole

2011-11-24T23:19:00.001-05:00

We read some stories and watched some YouTube videos to learn about totem poles. We learned that totem poles tell stories or represent the families in a tribe. Each "family" of students chose an animal to represent their group. I love how our totem poles turned out this year.

Friday Favorites

2011-11-19T00:32:00.000-05:00

sorry there was no Friday Favorites last week...

I had parent/teacher conferences

these are too funny:)

thankful turkeys

I love guided drawing activities!!!

what a great thankful list...

cute skip counting activity

my new favorite blog

organize your DVDs and your life

this is on my Christmas list

Turkey Trouble

2011-11-17T23:51:00.001-05:00

We read Turkey Trouble and made a chart of what we would tell the farmer to eat instead of turkey.Love, love, love my students drawings and creativity!!!

Personalize a digital slideshow

If You Give...

2011-11-17T23:49:00.000-05:00

We read four If You Give... books, recorded the main character and the setting and picked our favorite.

These are some pages from our Reading and Writing Notebooks...

Turkey Time

2011-11-14T19:13:00.000-05:00

Last year my teaching partner came up with the idea for these scrapbook paper turkeys...AKA the cutest turkeys on planet Earth. I instantly fell in love with them. Check out Mrs. Rider's original post...

Our scrapbook paper turkeys...

Our disguised turkeys...

Our thankful turkey...

Welcome to Our Community

2011-11-13T16:13:00.000-05:00

During our recent study of our community we made a list of places in our community,
drew pictures of these places and drew our homes to make this Welcome to Madeira mural.

spider research

2011-11-13T16:10:00.000-05:00

We have learned a lot about spiders.

We made these spiders that have 2 body parts, 8 eyes and 8 legs.

Inspired by...

We made marble painting spider webs, ourselves into spiders

and wrote our favorite spider fact on the back.

Listen to us read our favorite spider fact...

Pattern Snakes

2011-11-12T20:40:00.001-05:00

Find the template for these snakes at

Thanks For the Awards!!!!!!!

2011-11-05T11:17:00.000-04:00

I got one of these awards...

from one of these amazing blogs...

Since all of the awards have different directions and there are not seven interesting things to tell you about me, I am going to share the love by linking you up to some of my favs including my award givers and my team.

my blogging BFF April...

and my awesome team...

Friday Favorites

2011-11-05T00:58:00.000-04:00

a literature freebie...

feeling thankful

I {heart} subway art

Spookley pumpkins

a possibly smelly, but cute idea:)

links to blogs by grade level

check out the kindergarten club...

Happy Halloween!!

2011-11-01T23:21:00.002-04:00

We had a great Halloween party!

Thanks to all our parents who helped make our party so much fun!!

pennies for our tree

2011-10-30T20:04:00.000-04:00

Please remember to save your pennies for our tree.

You can learn more about this tree project by checking out last year's project HERE.

alphabet match up

2011-10-28T23:13:00.001-04:00

I downloaded this fun worksheet from

I ran it on 11x17 paper and we worked together in groups to match the letters.

Friday Favorites

2011-10-28T22:57:00.001-04:00

edible solid shapes...yum!

what a fun book and activity

I love the name in the background of this painting

awesome new app created by Mo

carmel apples + M&Ms = heaven