Teeth grinding. Jaw popping. Field trip funding. Its Monday, huh?!
Apparently I’m grinding my teeth again at night. Hence the jaw popping. Every time I eat my jaw pops. I guess it’s time to put in my oh so attractive night guard. I know, won’t I be pretty!? But I guess it’s better than grinding my pearly whites to a nub!
We have a field trip planned for Friday. As in four days away. Permission trips sent and most returned. Today a “rumor” circulated that we can no longer use our fee waiver funds for field trips. Fee waiver funds cover costs for students on free/reduced lunch. In the past, any child who couldn’t pay for their field trip were covered. No child left behind. Right?! At lunch today, the principal came to the team and told us we couldn’t use fee waiver money for field trips. She went on to say she just learned this information (Sorry, I really don’t think it came up 4 days before two entire grade levels have a field trip…just sayin…). She then told us we had a set amount for grade level we could use as a whole or split by classes. All that said, we have to find a funder for $291 by Wednesday. Anyone? (crickets!) No…OK. It will work out. I am a positive and optimistic person. Friday morning at 9 am we will be on a bus to get some pumpkins. Nuff said. Anyone? $290 No? Moving on…
Today I wanted to share a few examples of our morning messages.
This is our message on Monday. We practice writing the letter for the week. Remember, we don’t focus on a letter (that is bad….according to the “powers that be!”) so we celebrate a letter! Celebrate is way more fun anyways! You can also see that our messages are becoming more interactive. I am leaving out words and the students must generate the missing words. To spell the words, they give me the first sound and letter. I then give each sound and they provide me the letter. This is a great way to get some sound review in and you can get a quick idea of how your students are doing on sounds (look at me…smarter, not harder!)
Here is an example of a message that happens later in the week. We make a bubble map about some topic we have been learning during the week. This example is from last week when we were talking about bats. We have used the following topics for our messages: colors, school supplies, things we write with, friends, adults at school, rules, shapes, etc. At this point in the year, we are using the Kagan strategy “Rally Robin” when we do our bubble maps. The students turn to a partner and take turns sharing about the topic. They share one thing and then switch. I give them a minute or two to rally robin and then we share out.
Here is an example of the bubble map using colors!
Tuesday of each week we make a bubble map of words that have the sound that we’re celebrating for the week. This is a great informal formative assessment. You really get a clear idea about which students are “getting it” with the first sound. This week was T and if they said sun, they needed more help!
And now the SUPER SIZE Morning Meeting Monday! I thought about it today and realized that I have shared a lot about morning meeting in my classroom but I haven’t shared my full morning routine. Oh, you lucky people! You know you wanna know…what does it look like in that classroom in the morning?! Well, here ya go!
7:45-8:00 Arrival and breakfast in classroom. My iPad is set up with the countdown. When that timer hits ZERO breakfast is OVER. Period.
8:00-8:10 Journals. Students currently are writing their name and date and drawing a picture. As the year progresses, we add words and sentences. I already have a friend who is writing words in his journal! Yay for progress!
8:10-8:30 Morning Meeting
8:30-8:45 Our first 15 minutes of our literacy block. I include it here because it’s part of our morning. As soon as Morning Meeting is over, we turn our bodies around to the Smart Board (I have a huge love affair with our Smart Board!) The first thing we do is letters and sounds. Today was the first day we added in the sounds and my monsters ROCKED it! Until today we used a letter recognition PowerPoint to build our letter naming fluency. Today we started saying the letter…picture…and sound. We will do this until May!
After letters and sounds, we read our weekly poem. The first two days we echo read. My turn…our turn. Your turn. Wednesday and Thursday I start to pull my voice away. I will start each line and as they read I just listen. And by Friday they can read the poem on their own! Can I just tell you how excited they are on Friday when they finish that poem and I do a happy dance and call them READERS! If you don’t do a poem or poetry, I highly recommend it! Great for fluency and great for building confidence in your readers!
And now some shameless self promotion! I have posted my newest product and I am sooooo excited about it. I think this is my best work yet. And that’s being for serious. I am getting so much better with my creating! Anyways, if you plan to teach the election (I love teaching the election! So important and so much fun!) then you should check out my Your Choice: Kindergarten Votes 2012 pack! It allows you to teach the election as a choice (totally not political ) It starts off with a spin and graph activity to start the discussion on data and counting votes. The second activity is an activity that focuses on choice. The student vote for dogs or cats. The class creates a class graph and uses that data to complete data sheets. The third activity is another choice activity using election books! The fourth activity is voting for president using the included ballot. And finally there is a craftivity! Click on the picture to check it out! (KEEP READING FOR A CHANCE TO WIN A COPY!)
And now a fun little contest! This is my wedding gift! It’s a bright red Vespa! Tomorrow is a big day for my Vespa and Me! I am driving it to work!! I am nervous but it will be fun! Here is your chance to win my election pack and my beginning sounds sorts! Get creative and cute!
Your challenge. Should you choose to accept it is this.
My red Vespa needs a name. And not just any name. A name fit for Mr. Greg. You read my blog. You know my personality. You see me (BAREFOOT!!! I do live in Tennessee after all…) on my Vespa. What is your name? Best name (as judged by me…umm, it’s my blog and my Vespa so I get to pick the name!) wins! Leave your suggestion in the comment section with your email!
Game on!
