Can y'all believe it's almost already Valentine's Day? Does it seem someone pressed fast forward on February? Or nah? Well...that's what it feels like to me. Moving on. Since Valentine's Day is just a few short days away, I wanted to share a writing activity & a printable treat tag that you might be able to put to use in your classroom this coming week. First up, let's talk tags. I absolutely LOVE Valentine's Day and love gifting different treats to students, co-workers, friends, and family. There's just something my Kindergarten heart loves about the holiday (as commercial as it may … [Read more...] about Printable Valentine GIft Tag & Writing Craftivity – FREEBIES!
writing
All About January (and a few freebies!)
Happy (ALMOST) New Year, friends! 2017....really?!?! Have you made any resolutions? Me...notsomuch. Of course, I always want to be a better version of who I was the year before, but resolutions never quite "stick" if you know what I mean. Sure...I want to eat healthier. Work out more. Get more organized. Keep the house clean. Do the laundry...regularly ;) Yes...I want all those things. And to eat all the things and still be able to fit into my jeans. But really...I just want to have a great year filled with lots of laughter and more memories than I can count. I'm still … [Read more...] about All About January (and a few freebies!)
Writing Fast Finishers
Happy Tuesday!!! (Is it Tuesday already?!) I'm trying to finish up my presentations for next week's I Teach K/I Teach 1st conferences and I'm working hard on empowering our primary writers at the moment. As I was pulling out my resources for this particular presentation, I came across a stack of my writing fast finisher activities that always seem to be a hit with the primary teachers I mentor. Let me break it down for ya. Pick a Pocket *might* be one of my most favorite writing station fast finisher activities ever. You can differentiate and modify as needed. I used this in Kindergarten and 1st grade. … [Read more...] about Writing Fast Finishers
Let’s Talk Writing!
One of the topics I'll be presenting in Vegas in July is all about writing. As I'm going through my presentation I thought it would be the perfect time to talk a little bit about it here and show y'all what I do and what I feel helps to make writing in my classroom so successful. First up, let's talk about some writing non-negotiables. If we expect our kids to become fluent writers capable of producing more than just a sentence here and there, we have to give them TIME to write. Not just 5 minutes here and there, but time for sustained writing. Not only do we need to give them the time to write, but we need to give … [Read more...] about Let’s Talk Writing!
Snag It Saturday (EOY Freebies!)
Happy Saturday!!! Did y'all survive Friday the 13th?! I honestly had NO clue that was the date until my brother mentioned it last night. Then I came across this meme and laughed WAY harder than I'm proud to admit..... DYING. Okay...so my Friday the 13th was filled with celebration. My college BFF recently had her third baby and I got some snuggle time with him. It didn't send my ovaries into a tizzy which was wonderful...I mean, we really are finished having babies. Ha! And then we went to a little gender reveal for my brother and his wife. We were all certain they would be having a … [Read more...] about Snag It Saturday (EOY Freebies!)
Writing Interventions, Guided Reading, Behavior, & Vocabulary (with Freebies!)
Yesterday I had the privilege of talking to some of the most wonderful teachers in the world...my Texas teachers!!! Okay, so I'm a little biased ;) Honestly though...it was such a GREAT day in Austin. SO much to cover!! Writing interventions, guided reading, behavior management, and vocabulary! This is how I typically feel after a day full of talking... Hahaha!! I absolutely love it! The exhaustion is most definitely worth it! I promised my Texas teachers I'd pop-in today and leave a few goodies to download :) If you attended my Writing Intervention session, you might remember me … [Read more...] about Writing Interventions, Guided Reading, Behavior, & Vocabulary (with Freebies!)
Write On Wednesday
It's Wednesday and the 3rd day in my weeklong birthday SALE-A-BRATION! Today we're talking all about writing... I know I've blogged about my writing station several times before so I won't go into great detail about it here. However, I do want to take a minute to tell you how much I love it. I've always had a writing center, but I struggled week-to-week with planning writing activities that kept my kids truly engaged. Keep in mind that my writing center is completely separate from Writer's Workshop. While I love for my kids to choose what they're going to write about, when they visit the writing … [Read more...] about Write On Wednesday
I Teach 1st….THANK YOU!
Hello from sunny...and HOT!!!....Las Vegas! I'm here in the city that never sleeps. Or is that New York?? Because it should DEFINITELY be Las Vegas if it's not :) Even the kids running up and down our hallway ALL night...screaming!!!...think so, too ;) I had a FABULOUS day full of fun at the I Teach 1st Conference! SO many amazing teachers here! Thanks to all of you who came to my sessions today. I hope you were able to take away some new-to-you ideas and activities to implement into your classroom and I hope most of what you heard today just reaffirmed all the good you're doing in your … [Read more...] about I Teach 1st….THANK YOU!
All About the Weather! (Activities, Ideas, & Freebies!)
Happy weekend to you!!!! My weekend started off not-so-happy. My littlest bit was sent home Thursday afternoon with a fever. After a round of Motrin and lots of TLC, he was seemingly back to normal. Never ran a fever again. So weird! But his school day fever meant he had to stay home yesterday. I won't lie to you. I cherish days like that. Not the circumstances, but the moments when I can just soak him in just the way he is without any other distractions. I'm feeling a little sentimental...can you tell?! Now that the littlest member of my family is going on a full 48 hours of … [Read more...] about All About the Weather! (Activities, Ideas, & Freebies!)
Penguins!!! (And A Couple of Walruses, Too)
Teaching my kids about penguins has always been one of my favorite themes. There is just SO much you can incorporate in this thematic unit of study...science...math...literacy...a little bit of everything! If you're in the process of planning out your penguin activities for the next few weeks, I thought I could share a few ideas that might help make your planning easier :) First up, here are some of my most favorite penguin picture books. I don't get around to reading them all during our unit, but these are several I've read throughout the years and have loved. The Penguin Who Lost Her Cool is a great little read if you … [Read more...] about Penguins!!! (And A Couple of Walruses, Too)
Work on Writing – A Writing Center Makeover
How many of y'all struggle with your writing center? I know I do. Every year. I want my kids to be engaged and excited about every part of the writing process. I want them to LOVE to write. I want them to CHOOSE to write when they have free time. This is not always the case for every child, but I'm DETERMINED that it will be!!! Writing is a HUGE part of our day. We write for EVERYTHING. We have about 30-45 minutes for Writers Workshop...then there's Shared Writing...and of course the Writing Center. And we're writing in all other academic areas as well. You'd think it's easy to … [Read more...] about Work on Writing – A Writing Center Makeover
Starting With the End in Mind – End of Year Portfolios
Starting with the end in mind. That pretty much sums up my approach to teaching. When you know where you need to go, you plan your journey to make sure you end up at that destination. I guess I take that same approach with everything though. End of year portfolios included :) If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen me post a little teaser pic of my EOY portfolios. Several of y'all asked that I blog about what's included, so here we go! Here's what my portfolios look like when I send them home with the kids. These portfolios aren't to be confused with the ongoing portfolios that follow … [Read more...] about Starting With the End in Mind – End of Year Portfolios
Ice Cream, Graduation, & Summer’s Almost Here!
Right after end of year testing, we gear up for graduation. Seeing their sweet little faces topped with graduation caps is almost too much. Especially when it's your own child. This happened today.... He graduated from Kindergarten. I cried. A lot. I love that kid. And to think about everything he's accomplished this year academically, socially, emotionally...well, darn. It makes me one proud and overwhelmed momma! We were blessed with such a GREAT year...for both my boys. But the year's not over yet. 8 more days. But who's counting?!?!? Speaking of graduation, … [Read more...] about Ice Cream, Graduation, & Summer’s Almost Here!
Past & Present
Can y'all believe it's already MAY?!?! As in we only have 25 more days of school left?!?! WHEN did that happen?! Seems like I was just welcoming 18 new 5-year-olds into my tidy and organized classroom. Now those 18 not-so-new 5 & 6 year olds are a little bit older, a WHOLE lot smarter, and my classroom is anything but tidy and organized. I know I'm not the only one! April was a BUSY month for my little family. Birthday parties. Sleepovers. Easter. Family visits. Out of town guests. Trip to Dallas. And a little bit of everything in between. And even thought it … [Read more...] about Past & Present
There’s SNOW Time Like Winter!
Just stopping in for a quick minute tonight to share a few things that have been keeping us busy this week. Write the Room has been keeping us up on our feet and moving around. This is my kids’ absolute FAVORITE activity so it’s no surprise that I have to change these out quite frequently. These last couple of days my kids have been identifying word families and writing CVC words {from my January Write the Room packet}. In our sight word center, the kids have been digging through the snow to find words. Once they find a word they know, they count out the number of letters in the word and use the … [Read more...] about There’s SNOW Time Like Winter!
And We’re Off…
Am I the only one that stresses thismuch about the regression of my kids after a long break?! I do this even after 3-day weekends. It's a sickness. I worry they'll forget absolutely everything I've taught them and they'll come back from break starting over at square one. Thankfully, that was not the case today {insert dramatic sigh of relief here}. In fact, I'm excited to say a lot of my babies progressed these last two weeks!! {Doesn't it always seem like a little light bulb goes off after winter break??!? Why do I worry?!??} I did running records on all of my kids today and ohmiword. Completely and … [Read more...] about And We’re Off…
Christmas Spirit
I haven’t been much for blogging this month. But I swear I have a good excuse. I spent the first week of December putting the finishing touches on my presentations for the North Carolina Kindergarten Conference. I had 4 in one day and I may or may not have underestimated the amount of work it would take to prep and pack. Let’s just say that I definitely put the PRO in procrastinate. On top of that, I had to get sub plans ready for two full days. I’d SO much rather be at school than EVER have to take a personal day…there’s just way too much work involved for that! I know you feel me. I’ve never really … [Read more...] about Christmas Spirit
ELFis Is In The Building
My kids were over the moon excited today. We had a special delivery straight from the North Pole… I read the letter to the kids and they flipped. I mean, they seriously had a conniption. They could barely stifle their screams. We somehow managed to get through the letter without anyone going too crazy, but when it came time for me to open Santa’s special delivery, we just couldn’t contain ourselves anymore. It got a little wild. But it was precious because their little hearts are SO innocent and they just couldn’t hold in their excitement at all. I just LOVE the magic of Christmas!!!! As … [Read more...] about ELFis Is In The Building
Hello? Hello? Is Anybody There?
Hi friends. Maybe you remember me? I’m the girl who used to be semi good about blogging here at The First Grade Parade. Is anybody there? I’m convinced no one reads blogs anymore…or maybe just that no one reads this one. I’m sure it doesn’t help when I don’t post for a month :) Living in a small little town means that sometimes you don’t have internet access…for extended periods of time…even when you call your provider and practically beg for them to restore your service. {{Sigh}} So I enjoyed the temporary lapse in blogging. And when Internet service was restored, I kept on enjoying my break. … [Read more...] about Hello? Hello? Is Anybody There?
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
Spider Week!
What is it about spiders that kids love SO much?! When I busted out our graph to start our unit of study on arachnids, the kids went CRAZY. In Abby’s words, 12 kinds of crazy. They were SO excited! I’m always floored by how much kids LOVE non-fiction. It seriously surprises me every.single.year. I see this with my own two boys. The gravitate towards non-fiction books ALL.THE.TIME. I love that. We started our week with the question, “Are you afraid of spiders?!” Me…notsomuch…unless they’re BIG and FURRY. Gross. They’re more creepy than scary and I say … [Read more...] about Spider Week!
Apples Aplenty & A Meaningful Christmas
Did y’all hear me say Christmas? I’m sure you’re thinking, “Is she for real? CHRISTMAS? It’s not even OCTOBER yet!!” But bear with me. Y’all might remember reading THIS POST last year. I’m telling y’all all about this now so that y’all can get a move on it and start planning. My precious friend Brittney introduced me to our favorite Christmas tradition back when my boys were really itty and now I want to share it with YOU! A Meaningful Christmas is a simple, child centered devotional for families to use as they countdown to Christmas. Honestly…it’s our FAVORITE tradition. It all starts with a … [Read more...] about Apples Aplenty & A Meaningful Christmas
Marshmallow Spaces & Winners Announced
I was blessed with a day to pull my kids one-on-one last week and assess each one individually. We administer our literacy assessments at the beginning of the year and that includes sentence dictation, sight word recognition, oral word vocabulary {how many words can you write in 10 minutes?!}, letter/sound recognition, concepts about print, and DRA. As I was administering the concepts about print portion of the assessment, I realized that a lot of my kids were struggling with differentiating between letters and words. I understand that this is a skill that will develop over the next month{ish}…maybe longer…but I wanted to … [Read more...] about Marshmallow Spaces & Winners Announced
I Survived Week 2 How About You?!
Well…I did it. I survived the 2nd week! HA! In all honesty, I have a pretty sweet little class. I feel like they’ve picked up so much in just a short 2 weeks! I’m so excited and anxious to see how much they progress this year. This is one of the reasons I love Kindergarten so much. They all come in with such different abilities and it’s amazing to see their growth…even after just a few short weeks! This past week we hit the ground running and started focusing on name recognition. Not just our own, but the names of our friends, too! I usually wait ‘til the 3rd week to start our name … [Read more...] about I Survived Week 2 How About You?!
