When I hosted a little Coffee Talk a few weeks ago, one of the things a few of y'all wanted to know about was how I introduce the alphabet to my Kinder friends. Instead of answering with a little blurb, I felt like this was a concept that deserved a lot more than just a little explanation. So let's get started, shall we?! Before I start, I think it's important for you to know that I wholeheartedly DO NOT believe in "letter of the week" alphabet instruction. Although letter identification and letter to sound relationships should be taught systematically and thoroughly, the sequence and spacing of instruction doesn't need to … [Read more...] about All About the Alphabet
anchor charts
A Few Little Tips
While everyone is headed back to school, I thought I'd share a few little tips that have helped my classroom setup TREMENDOUSLY over the years. You might have already seen these before, but just in case you haven't, I thought I'd share them again :) Whatever helps....right?!?!! Last year I added command hooks in all of my academic areas with the intention of storing my anchor charts for each of those subjects. I just attached the anchor charts to binder rings for hanging. That turned out to be one of the best things I did for my classroom! My kids were easily able to access all of our anchor charts so when they had a … [Read more...] about A Few Little Tips
Celebrating Mistakes
Have y'all ever read this precious book??? It's all about a little girl named Beatrice who is a perfectionist in every sense of the word. She was known as the girl who never made mistakes....until one day she did :) I absolutely ADORE this story for SO many reasons. Kids can be SO scared to make mistakes. Whether they come from a home where mistakes aren't embraced or they're just natural born perfectionists, they're {sometimes} terrified to make them. I started reading this book at the beginning of the year to teach my kids that mistakes are OKAY! I want my kids to know that I make mistakes … [Read more...] about Celebrating Mistakes
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!
Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!! One of my non-teaching friends posted this on Facebook today and it made me laugh out loud... Hahaha!! It's definitely a calling! Speaking of teacher appreciation, I'm pretty much surviving this week thanks to all of my Pinterest finds. I have 4 teachers to buy for and there is SO many great ideas out there on ways to show your teachers you appreciate them without breaking the bank. Here's what we've done so far... Speaking of random {were we speaking about random?!?!}...I got the most AMAZING package full of goodies delivered to my doorstep yesterday and I … [Read more...] about Happy Teacher Appreciation Week!!
What’s the Bug Deal?
Just wanted to pop in real quick and share a few things we've been up to this week! This week we're learning all about insects. Since there's SO much to learn...and so many little insects to cover...we're taking two full weeks to learn about these little critters. This week is a big introduction to insects. Here's how we started our learning... I also introduced this song. Obviously this isn't an original! It's been around for ages and my kids LOVE it. Even my own two littles!! They get such a kick out of singing this when they come in my room after school. We're taking a closer look … [Read more...] about What’s the Bug Deal?
Pumpkins EVERYWHERE! And Making Connections
Weāre learning all about pumpkins this week and the kids couldnāt be more thrilled!! I thought Iād share some of the fun weāre having incase youāre knee deep in pumpkin seeds, too! We started the week activating & growing our pumpkin schema. We read a few fun non-fiction pumpkin books, gathered new learning, and added our little fact seeds to our pumpkin chart. Did you know that pumpkins are fruit?! That was a āare-you-for-real?!?!ā moment for the kids. We followed up our new learning with a little apples vs. pumpkins venn diagram. We reinforced a few key vocabulary words {similar, contrast, … [Read more...] about Pumpkins EVERYWHERE! And Making Connections
The Week in Rewind, A Peek At My Week, and Fall is Here!
This past week seemed so fast and furious. The weekend went by even faster. Itās 6:00 on Sunday night and in a few hours Iāll be starting another week with my littles. Why does it take so long to get to Friday, but Monday gets here so darn quick?! I spent my weekend decorating for Halloween. Yes. Itās early. But I LOVE Halloween and decorating isnāt hurting anybody so thatās just what I did. If you wanna see it all, you can take a little Halloween house tour on my other blog HERE. I have another full week plannedā¦parent/teacher conferences includedā¦and Iām excited to take you back through our week … [Read more...] about The Week in Rewind, A Peek At My Week, and Fall is Here!
The Week I Had No Internet
Let me just start by saying that I absolutely love my little town. There is a certain charm that comes with living in a small, tight knit community. Itās been a HUGE adjustment getting used to being so far away from so many thingsā¦mainly the mall and Starbuckās. The downside to living out this far is that we have intermittent internet connectivity. We just got our internet restored after being without it for a week. My house has never been this clean :) ANYWAY, my blogging schedule was a bit interrupted and there was so much I planned on sharing this past week. Iāll save it all for next week and give yāall … [Read more...] about The Week I Had No Internet
The Plants Dance
I donāt really have a āplants danceā to share with you, but the words rhymed and Iām all about ācatchyā, so I went with it. Happy Sunday, friends! Can you even believe Easter is next week?! Whereād the time go?!?! I have NO idea, but Iām not complaining! This just means weāre a little closer to summer! Woot!! Speaking of Easter, Iām home today and my laminator *might* need to be replaced after all the use itās been getting this weekend! HA! Hereās what Iām preppingā¦. What do you have in store for the week?!!? This past week, we learned ALL about plants!!!!! And I donāt want to … [Read more...] about The Plants Dance
Catching Up & When The Leaf Blew In
I am home from school todayā¦AGAINā¦with a sick little man. And Iām missing the 50th day of schoolā¦SADSVILLE!!!!! My favorite day of the year!!!! While my kids are at school dressed in their cutie little poodle skirts and saddle shoes, theyāll be celebrating with root beer floats and 50th day fun TOMORROW. I canāt miss out on EVERYTHING ;) One thing is certainā¦Iām SO ready for my boys to be well again!!!! Between strep throat, ear infections, and breathing treatmentsā¦this momma is spent! Moving onā¦ We celebrated āCharacter Dress Up Dayā at school last week. I donāt know if I told yāall this before, … [Read more...] about Catching Up & When The Leaf Blew In
Say My Name & Some Math Fun
Happy Tuesday! It was a WHRLWIND weekend here for my little family. Remember my precious *little* sister?!?! Wellā¦she tied the knot on Saturday and it was AMAZING!!! But seriouslyā¦.talk about NO sleep! Isnāt she lovely?! And look at my cute lilā momma! I love these ladies!! And look at my sweet boys! Cutest little ābanner bearersā I ever did see!!! I was the matron of honor and I *sang* my speech. Peopleā¦I DO NOT sing. Not even a little. In Abbyās words, Iām *12 kinds* of tone def!!! But I had to make it memorable. I love my sister and wanted to shock the … [Read more...] about Say My Name & Some Math Fun
Our Week in Review
Real quick, I just wanted to say āthank youā to the sweet folks over at Teacher Certification Degrees for including The First Grade Parade on their list of the Top 50 Early Childhood Education Blogs. SO not deserving to be in that category with all the BEYOND amazing blogs they have listed. It should be named the Top 1,000 Early Childhood Education Blogs because every.single. one of yāall are inspiring beyond belief. My Google Reader is FILLED with hundreds of AMAZING early childhood education blogs and Iām forever grateful for the inspiration Iāve gotten from each one of you! I also want to say āthank youā to the sweet … [Read more...] about Our Week in Review
Writerās Workshop Anchor Charts
Iāve always been a big fan of writing. I love to see the progress my kids make throughout the yearā¦itās always so remarkable!! No matter what stage theyāre at when I get them, they always grow. Even a *little* growth is A LOT! I was excited to start Writerās Workshop this week. Even though I love teaching writing, I always feel like this is an area where I can improve. I mapped out this weekās writing plans to a T and so far, weāre off to a great start! My littles were excited to get their draft books on Monday. I had some advanced writers, a few reluctant writers, and everything in … [Read more...] about Writerās Workshop Anchor Charts
