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
We’re learning all about pumpkins this week and the kids couldn’t be more thrilled!! I thought I’d share some of the fun we’re having incase you’re 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 “are-you-for-real?!?!” 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. It’s 6:00 on Sunday night and in a few hours I’ll 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. It’s early. But I LOVE Halloween and decorating isn’t hurting anybody so that’s 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 planned…parent/teacher conferences included…and I’m 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. It’s been a HUGE adjustment getting used to being so far away from so many things…mainly the mall and Starbuck’s. 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. I’ll save it all for next week and give y’all … [Read more...] about The Week I Had No Internet
The Plants Dance
I don’t really have a “plants dance” to share with you, but the words rhymed and I’m all about “catchy”, so I went with it. Happy Sunday, friends! Can you even believe Easter is next week?! Where’d the time go?!?! I have NO idea, but I’m not complaining! This just means we’re a little closer to summer! Woot!! Speaking of Easter, I’m home today and my laminator *might* need to be replaced after all the use it’s been getting this weekend! HA! Here’s what I’m prepping…. What do you have in store for the week?!!? This past week, we learned ALL about plants!!!!! And I don’t want to … [Read more...] about The Plants Dance
Catching Up & When The Leaf Blew In
I am home from school today…AGAIN…with a sick little man. And I’m missing the 50th day of school…SADSVILLE!!!!! My favorite day of the year!!!! While my kids are at school dressed in their cutie little poodle skirts and saddle shoes, they’ll be celebrating with root beer floats and 50th day fun TOMORROW. I can’t miss out on EVERYTHING ;) One thing is certain…I’m SO ready for my boys to be well again!!!! Between strep throat, ear infections, and breathing treatments…this momma is spent! Moving on… We celebrated “Character Dress Up Day” at school last week. I don’t know if I told y’all 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?!?! Well…she tied the knot on Saturday and it was AMAZING!!! But seriously….talk about NO sleep! Isn’t she lovely?! And look at my cute lil’ momma! I love these ladies!! And look at my sweet boys! Cutest little “banner bearers” I ever did see!!! I was the matron of honor and I *sang* my speech. People…I DO NOT sing. Not even a little. In Abby’s words, I’m *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 “thank you” 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 y’all are inspiring beyond belief. My Google Reader is FILLED with hundreds of AMAZING early childhood education blogs and I’m forever grateful for the inspiration I’ve gotten from each one of you! I also want to say “thank you” to the sweet … [Read more...] about Our Week in Review
Writer’s Workshop Anchor Charts
I’ve always been a big fan of writing. I love to see the progress my kids make throughout the year…it’s always so remarkable!! No matter what stage they’re at when I get them, they always grow. Even a *little* growth is A LOT! I was excited to start Writer’s 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 week’s writing plans to a T and so far, we’re 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 Writer’s Workshop Anchor Charts
