Help!

I am sending my kiddos home with cute little bubbles for Valentine's Day thanks to Fran over at Kindergarten Crayons (she has a cute freebie on TPT). My problem is my daughter's first grade class. Another mom and I have been splitting treats this year. We've already done treat bags for Halloween and Christmas, so I wanted to do a little something different this time. When I asked the teacher what she would like us to do she asked if we could get the kids some flashcards. No problem! Getting the flashcards was easy enough at Target's dollar spot. Love that dollar spot! Princess for the girls and Spiderman for the boys.

My problem is how to make them cute. You know they need to be cute, right? :) I thought I would tie them with a ribbon and add a card. I have searched for some kind of math valentine card and I can't find anything! Does anyone have any ideas? Is there somewhere I am not looking? Is there a really creative, tech savvy person out there who can throw somthing together? I might be willing to pay a small price. Someone please help me out!


Keep Reading,

The Importance of Non-fiction

This is something that happened in my class last month. I loved some of the answers and wanted to share. Here goes.....

I like stories. Stories that are cute, stories that are fun, stories that rhyme or have pretty pictures, stories with happy endings, lots of stories. :) However, I know that non-fiction has it's place and is very important. It's not that I dislike non-fiction, but given the choice I'll usually pick a fiction book.

Soooooo, I was recently reminded just how important it is for children to hear nonfiction read aloud. It taps into a whole new set of listening skills. Evidently my kids need lots of practice!

When we were learning about penguins we read a nonfiction book. It had great information and a lot of fun facts. I realized how important those listening skills are. My class has a habit of blurting out answers without thinking. One page was about different kinds of penguins and their names. The question was "Why do you think the penguins have this name?" One was the rockhopper penguin.

You should hear some of the answers I was getting. "Because it has those feathers on his head" and "becasue it can swim", So, I'm saying "Now listen the name is ROCKHOPPER penguin". Someone answers "because it can slide on it's tummy!" Me again: "The name is ROOOOCKHOOOOPPPPER penguin.... what could that be telling us?" At this point I'm trying not to laugh. Who has a great inferencing activty? I need it ASAP! Someone FINALLY gets the correct answer and then we move on to the chinstrap penguin.

Things are not much better here. Some answers include "because he has a chin" and "because he likes to be scratched on the chin, like I like to be scratched on the back!" I decided it was time to give lots of clues and move on. :)

The thing that really got me was the comprehension questions at the back of the book. I had to get a piece of paper and start writing the answers down! They were so funny. It was all I could do not to laugh out loud! The question was to name 3 types of penguins. They managed to get a couple (with reminders) and then I started giving hints about the chinstrap penguin. Here are some of the answers and I promise I am not making this up: "copper head penguin", "copper strap penguin", "copper hopper" and "robber hop". The answers were coming quick. At this point I'm thinking we really need to be reading lots more nonfiction! Retelling fiction is a lot different than recalling information and names of things.

**Disclaimer- Before you think my little sweet kinders are totally dense, I do want to point out that they did get some questions correct in between the ones I told you about!**

Keep Reading,

Hibernating

Well, hello!

Did you think I had dropped off of the planet? It seems like I have been hibernating this winter! Although it seems funny to call it winter when the weather is beautiful here and I wore short sleeves to church this morning. My dad just told me the other day that have changed the name of January to June-ary. Seriously, my azelas are blooming! I am loving the weather, but I am all about a little snow each year and a good snow day! You know, just enough to be pretty and play in a little bit. :) We'll have to see what the rest of the season holds.....

Sorry, where was I? I got distracted talking about the weather.... oh yes! Hibernation. I don't really have any good excuse or stories. I have just been busy with life and time has gotten away from me.

Michelle from Inspired by Kindergarten tagged me and I thought I would hop in and play along. Thanks Michelle! (love your name, by the way!)

Now, I hope I can come up with 12 interesting things! Let's see... here goes.

1. I have lived in the same town almost my entire life. I lived in another town for 3 years, but it was still in the same county.

2. I love to travel. I used to travel a decent amount, but then got married and had kids. Things have really slowed down in the travelling department, but my gilrs are old enough now that I look forward to that picking up some. :)

3. I have been to about 35 states. I hope to hit all 50 one day.

4. I was on Inside Edition just after my first daughter was born. At the time we had so many pregnant teachers at our school that The Atlanta Journal sent someone to do a story on it, and then Inside Edition came and did a story! We had something like 15 teachers pregnagnt and 16 babies that year. It was crazy! My daughter was #4 and I was on camera for like 3 seconds. They are all first graders now.

5. My enitre teaching career has been in kindergarten. I love this age group.

6. I also teach 4 year olds at church on Sunday mornings.

7. I love chocolate. Saw a cute Valentine shirt the other day that said "I love chocolate... and the man who brings it to me." :)

8. I also love coffee, but my husband can't stand the smell of it so I never make or drink it at home.

9. I was a parapro for two years before I went back to school to be a teacher.

10. I am a technology idiot! My husband teases me all of the time and my seven year old can figure out things quicker than I can. Sad, but true!

11. I am a Crayola crayon and Elmer's glue snob. I'm not agaist off brands, but these are just the best in my opinion. I really stock up at the back to school sales. :)

and last, but not least, probably the most interesting (at least to my teacher friends)....

12. Dr. Feldman was my first Children's Lit teacher. This is before she was "Dr. Jean"! She was wonderful! I think she is responsible for my love of Children's Literature. Hmmm.... maybe I should send her my Scholastic bill! LOL


12 questions to go anwer:
1. What is your favorite store? Target
2. Do you have a class pet? No
3. Do you prefer Dollar Tree or Dollar General? Dollar Tree
4. How many pets at home do you have? 1, we got a dog for Christmas.
5. Do you have kids of your own? yes, 2
6. How do you deal with help helicopter parents see your side of life? I don't have very many helicopter parents. If they show up much, I put them to work for me!
7. How do you involve absent parents in school activities? I don't stress about it. The only time I really care is if I am trying to get them in for a conference.
8. What is your favorite sport? Baseball, but I'm really not much of a sports fan.
9. What is your favorite team of #8's sport? Atlanta Braves
10. What is the piece of jewelry you wear most often? wedding ring and mothers ring
11. Do you like curtains or blinds? blinds
12. What can brighten your day when nothing else can? My husband and daughters

Wow! This has gotten long. I think I'm late for this party, so I'm not usre I can link up with 12 others, but I'll see what I can do. Thanks again Michelle. This was fun!

Keep Reading,