Week 3 of 2013

Another week down.  It seems this year is going so quickly!  Next week we already having to test for mid-terms that go out the following week.  We have a short week next week with Labor Day Monday and then we are also off on Thursday.  So much to do and so little time.  I also have to finish my Deliberate Practice Goals and turn them in.  I am having a difficult time deciding what goals I want to make for myself this year.  My breaks this year at school are consumed with pumping so it makes me feel like I am behind everyday.  However, it makes me happy that I am still able to feed my child with the BEST thing so that is my motivation to keep it up, even if I feel behind every single day.

Anyways, on to what we did this past week!

Every morning we begin our day with an alphabet song.  We use Read Well as our Reading Series so the song is a part of it.  We have already dove into the deep end with curriculum (we actually did the 2nd week).  The letters with pictures are the ones we have taught.  The Read Well program does a letter a week for the whole group reading.  We also incorporate Spaulding Phonics into our curriculum. 

This week I taught about the 5 Senses.  I always like finding new ways to teach concepts to my kiddos.  It keeps it interesting for me and the students.  I found a wonderful website that had a Lap Book on it. (This and That)  I love the idea of Lap Books and the kiddos always think they are so cool.  Here is the front cover of the book. (most papers for the Lap Book are on the This and That website)  I did change it a little bit, but not a lot.

The inside of the Lap Book.  I used the I Have Five Senses book from the website and the labeled tongue.  Then I found another flip book that I really liked so I added that to the inside of the Lap Book too. (Flip Book)

On the back of the book we completed this sound page.  I bought a 5 Senses Unit from TPT and I really liked this part of it.  The students loved guessing what cup had what in it.

Once we had all that 5 Senses completed the week was over.  I still have a couple spot we could have put something.  I will have to make sure I plan longer than a week for my 5 Senses unit so we can fill the whole Lap Book up.  I told the kiddos that they could add to it at home.  All my kiddos were able to name all their senses.  Wahoo!

Every week we have been adding to our PowerPix.  I just love WBT.  It has made such a difference in my class.  Here are the ones we have learned so far.  We go over these as a whole group and with our partners.

Here is my chart for my phonograms.  These are the ones we have learned so far.  As I told you before we have are diving into the deep end with it only being the 3rd week and already learning so much.  Each week we when we learn new sounds I flip over the cards.  This pocket chart is on my restroom door and is there for the students to use to help them learn the phonograms.

We had another Wolfelicious week!  I hope yours was Wolfelicious too!

Week 1 of 2013

I just completed my first week with students for the 2013 school year.  We started with a big BANG!

We had a busy first week!!  We had curriculum to learn while I was teaching my students my rules and procedures.  

~~Side Note~~
The most valuable tool for new teachers I have learned over my 11 years is make sure you teach your class what you expect from them.  From how you want them to wash their hands to how to want them to sit in their chairs.  Seriously, teach them what your expect for everything.  This helps with your classroom management so much!  Don't just assume they know how to do things.  You will get a better result if you teach them what you expect.
~~End Note~~

We learned the letter A, sight words- red, blue, and yellow, and started our first unit in Math.  We also talked about our families.  Here are some pictures of our first whole week! 

 

The Ultimate  Color Word Packet

We made hats to help us learn our sight words for the week.  We learned the Heidisongs song for red, blue, and yellow and made the color watches from The Ultimate Color Word Packet.

We played Sight Word Hop with our sight words.

Sight Word Hop

Lay sight word cards in a path and have the students jump on them while they say the sight word.

We created an anchor chart for coloring.  I wanted to show the kiddos what I expected them to do when they colored.  I have HIGH expectations and I wanted my kiddos to know exactly what I expected.  A great way to show that is using an anchor chart.

We made a class pendant.

Kickin' Kindergarten Fun- Fun for the First Week of School

We made a quilt piece.  I will save these pieces for the kiddos scrapbooks.

Kickin' Kindergarten Fun- Fun for the First Week of School

I got the pendants and the quilt pieces from this amazing TPT packet.  Kickin' Kindergarten Fun- Fun for the First Week of School.

We also started learning how to complete our centers.  I have decided to have 10 different centers so that only 2 kiddos can be in a group together.  I showed them how I wanted them to complete each center and we practiced this week doing them.  I showed them the picture that matched the center so they would know where to go.  Next week we will continue learning more centers.

Overall, this was a Rockin first week!!  We will continue to learn procedures and add more curriculum next week.  My students are definitely becoming Wolfelicious!