What a week!

Monday we started back to school after our Christmas break.  I was excited to go back to see my kiddos and because I have a lot to do before the end of February.  I will be taking 10 weeks off once I have my baby so I have been wanting to get things in order for that.  I guess you would call it school nesting. (hehehe)  I hate that I will be missing so much school.  My last baby I only took 6 weeks off, so this one will be even longer.  I thought since it will be my last child that I should take a couple more weeks off than I did with the first.  

At my school teachers are required to provide two weeks of lesson plans when they take off for their maternity leave.  Well, I just couldn't do two weeks lesson plans!  I want to know what my students are working on and feel like I am still apart of their school day.  I have decided to work on lesson plans for the rest of the year.  Yes, I did say the rest of the year.  I couldn't just start making lesson plans for when I am due.  I needed to go in order to make sure I am covering everything that needs to be covered.  I actually love this idea!  I may start doing it every year.  I am not quite finished yet with it, but I am hoping by the end of next week I will be pretty close.  I am using crates with file folders in them to sort the lesson plans week by week.  I have finished up to the week of Feb. 8th.  I tried to put everything a sub would need in the file so all anyone would have to do is pull out everything from the files.  I hope I have enough crates.  :)

Lessons and lesson plans in crates

I like planning my whole maternity leave.  I understand they may not get everything covered but at least I know it was supposed to be and that the materials were all there for it to be.  

Only 15 more weeks to complete.

This week my class began the double phonograms.  My school has used Spalding Phonics or at least the phonograms of Spalding.  Then the school also got Secret Stories (red posters).  On the back of the posters is a little story that has to do with the phonogram.  It helps the students learn and remember the phonogram.  

 This quarter my students have to be able to tell me today, yesterday, and tomorrow.  This is always very difficult for my kindergarteners.  We go over the calendar every single day and this year I even purchased It's Calendar Time to help my students understand calendar better.  I decided to print off the days of the week and put them by my Smartboard.  When we go over today, yesterday, and tomorrow I have a student come up and point to the day that is today.  Then I tell them to slide to the left to tell me yesterday and to slide to right to tell me what tomorrow will be.  The sliding has really given my students a visual for which way they should be going to figure it out.

Our calendar journals we do also include today, yesterday, and tomorrow but the more we go over it the better. 

I have been thinking about my blog.  I absolutely love blogging and love hearing from my followers.  One of my New Years resolutions is to write consistently on my blog.  My goal is going to be to update you on what my class it up to each week until the baby comes.  I hope you come and check it out each week.  Thanks for stopping by!

Calendar and Chores Tutorial

Calendar and Chores Tutorial

I have been researching for something to help my son.  I have read numerous blogs and searched Pinterest.  I wanted something that would help him see what he needs to do each day and understand what days he has school.  After getting numerous ideas, I decided to make my own and add the items I thought would be the most helpful for my son. Here is what I end up with.  I hung it on the wall so he would be able to reach it.  He is super excited to move his chores to the done side.

The end result.

  This is what I started with.

 2 Magnetic Boards (I got them on sale at Wal-Mart for $5.95)

Calendar

Chore Chart Printable  (from Keeping Life Creative)

1-inch circle punch

Mod Podge

Class Tile Wafers

Paint Brush

Hot Glue Gun

Magnets

Lamination

Double Sided Tape

Command Velcro Wall Hangers

Start by printing off the chore chart pictures on cardstock.  Then use the 1-inch circle punch and punch out the pictures.

 Then spread a thin layer of Mod Podge over the picture.  Make sure you don't go over the picture with the brush too many times or the ink will bleed (believe me because it happened to me).  Then press the picture on the wafer firmly.

Then cover the back of the picture with Mod Podge.  Wait while the Mod Podge dries.  Then use the hot glue gun to glue a magnet to each wafer. 

Next laminate the To Do and Done signs.  Then use the double sided tape to stick it to the magnetic board. Then grab the calendar and hot glue magnetic to the back of it.  Then put the calendar on the magnetic board.  Use the picture magnets to assign chores.  Once the child completes the chore, have the child move the magnet to the 'done' side.  I add important dates to the calendar so my son can see them.  We also mark off each day before he goes to bed.  The calendar I bought had the weekends marked in gray.  I explained to my son that the gray days he doesn't have school.

 I also made another magnetic board to help my son with his morning and evening routine.  I also use it to hold the extra chore wafers.  Here is a picture.

My son uses the magnet on the top left corner of each routine card to mark when he has completed the task.  I am hoping by having him visually see the routine when he wakes up that it motivates him to get dressed everyday and not hang out in his underwear. :)  

Thank you Living Life Creative and I Heart Organizing for the wonderful printables and ideas!