Pick 3 August: Classroom Management Ideas

I am joining the Pinterest Pick 3 Linky hosted by Lisa over at PAWSitively Teaching and Marissa over at Inspired Owl's Corner! Every month on the 3rd, bloggers can link up their top 3 Pinterest picks of the month.

This month I am pinning three ideas that I would like to incorporate into my classroom this upcoming year. I tried to keep things simple, I;m not trying to recreate my entire classroom but I'm open to trying some new things. Hopefully these ideas give you a little inspirations as well.

If you're interested, check out my entire Kindergarten Classroom Set Up Pinterest board!

Flexible seating is all the rage right now and I try not to jump on educational bandwagons for no reason (i.e. I'm kinda over the whole light box in the classroom deal). But flexible seating is something I have used in my classroom from day one, I just never gave it a name. Theses DIY stability ball chairs are going to be a perfect addition to try out without spending loads of money, Check back for the results later!

The more I read about Kagan Structures, the more I am so eager to use them in my classroom! I have loved reading posts over on the Primary Press about how she uses them in her classroom.

Confession, I am the WORST at birthdays. I always prep cute little gifts, I have a big birthday hat and crown, and an adorable chair decoration. And then,,,, I forget. I am the queen of forgetting birthdays; not a title I am proud of. Add in the fact that I often have kids moving in and out of my classroom over the year and it's game over trying to remember. Hopefully this cute display will help and I can easily update with new student photos when needed.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pick 3 July: Sensory Table Ideas

I am joining the Pinterest Pick 3 Linky hosted by Lisa over at PAWSitively Teaching and Marissa over at Inspired Owl's Corner! Every month on the 3rd, bloggers can link up their top 3 Pinterest picks of the month.

For me, July is the month I start thinking about what I want to change or add to my classroom next year that I didn't get to during the past year. Next year one thing I want to be more creative with is our classroom sensory bin. So today I am sharing 3 pick for sensory bin ideas!

If you're interested, check out my entire Kindergarten Sensory Table Pinterest board!

Sensory bins do not always have to be the fluffy soft stuff. I actually saw this idea at our local children's museum and knew instantly that I had to give it a try in my classroom! What an awesome fine motor activity!

Water beads just seem fascinating to me! I found some on Amazon for a decent price and I can't wait to give them a try. 

 

If you were like me and jumped on kinetic sand when it first came out, then you probably learned that after a while it starts to stiffen. Then you just have sandy-dough-ish-stuff. This is a the perfect solution! I tested this on my own old and well-loved kinetic sand and it works great.

Contents of a Teacher's Pocket

This little project was inspired by the work of San Francisco photographer Melissa Kaseman who documented the content of her preschool son’s pockets. If you haven’t seen the photo series, I highly recommend you check it out. I may not be four-years-old but as a kindergarten teacher I could relate to the random pocketful of treasures at the end of the school day and decided to give this a teacher spin over the past 10 days.

 How do these little goodies end up in my pockets? No, I promise I’m not stealing my student’s possessions. A majority of these find their way home with me when one of my little ones randomly drops it in my lap mid-lesson or frantically brings attention to an item left out from another lesson.

Occasionally, it’s an item that’s been distracting a little friend at carpet as they experiment with biting and chewing. These are the items I am less excited to receive. Palm out, signaling to the student to handover the trinket, silently hoping it’s not something disgusting.

My most prized items though are the small gifts given to me by my kindergarteners, the little ornaments plucked from the ground, the flowers carried in from recess, and their tiny creations presented to me with a gleeful and sweet, “This is for you!”

Earth Day Heart Painting

Today I'm sharing an Earth Day craft that's beautiful and fun to create. It's simple enough to do with kindergarteners and up. This craft also provides a perfect opportunity to talk about reusing goods and finding ways to re-purpose something rather than toss it in the trash to end up in the landfill! When they're all done, you'll have a beautiful piece of meaningful art to decorate your home or classroom! I love that each one of these Earth Day Heart Paintings is unique and personalized by the kids, from the page they use to the prints of their little hands.

Supplies:

Tempura paint in black, green, and blue

Paintbrushes

Reusable paper (Old Plant Encyclopedia, Herbology Book, Textbooks, etc.)

Construction paper in blue, green, or black

Cleaning station

Glue sticks

Step 1 - Paint the Recycled Paper

Each student will need their own page of the recycled paper. I picked up an old plant encyclopedia from the Goodwill for $3 and cut out a variety of pages for students to pick from. 

To get the right shape, I recommend having students "practice" placing their hands without paint first. Start by touching the tips of your thumbs, then the tips of your pointer fingers to make a heart shape. 

Step 2 - Allow To Dry & Mount (Optional for Older Students)

We painted our hearts before lunch and came back to finish them later in the day so the black would be completely dry. If your students are older you could possible skip this step. To save time, we also mounted them on construction paper before painting a second time.

Step 3 - Paint The Earth

Invite your students to paint the heart shape between their hand prints with blue and green paint.

As we did this, we talked about why we should love and care for the Earth. Here are a few of their sweet answers:

"The Earth is where our families live."

"Because if we hurt the Earth, we can't just live on another one."

"All the animals live on the Earth."

"Because people don't want to live with garbage everywhere."

Step 4 - Display

We chose to hang our classroom paintings in the hallways to share with the rest of our school.

Show and Tell Tuesday: March 2016

Hey everyone! Today I am excite to be participating again in a monthly linky hosted by Forever in 5th Grade called Show and Tell Tuesday. Every first Tuesday of the month, you can link up to show off up to 4 awesome things going in in your classroom, at home, or where ever. Show off and share a little bit about anything and everything!

I had the pleasure this weekend of getting together with some wonderful Teacher Bloggers/TpT-ers from around the state of Washington. The meet up was hosted by Kristin and Lindsey of 2 Literacy Teachers and Joya of Live Love Serve Teach. It was so inspiring to get to actually meet in person some Teacher Authors I have looked up to since beginning my TpT adventure as well as meeting a few new faces. It was really wonderful to hear everyone sharing tips, advice, and encouragement with each other.

In addition to the wonderful educators I met, I also got lucky and won a gift certificate to Tieks (squeal!!). I have gone back and forth deciding whether to splurge for a pair of Tieks and I guess I finally got my sign to go for it! 

Do you have a pair? Which color is your favorite?

I am pretty proud of my Dr. Seuss themed display outside my classroom. Our Cat in The Cats turned out so adorable.

Can you guess that book character??
Life as a kindergarten teacher can get pretty crazy sometimes and I absolutely love the days when I get to embrace the crazy, silly fun. We don't do a book character day for our entire school but I love the idea so much that I joined out first grade team this year in the dress up fun. There isn't anything much better than wearing a pink tutu and pink colored hair to work just to make 20 little faces light up with joy!

Does your classroom have a class pet? This chunky little fella taking a dip in his water is a PacMan Frog. He lives in the kindergarten classroom across the hall from me but I've been baby foggy sitting him for a while now and got the offer to adopt him next year. I would love any classroom pet management tips or ideas you're willing to share!

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An InLinkz Link-up

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Show & Tell Tuesday Linky

Today I am excite to be participating in a brand new monthly linky hosted by Forever in 5th Grade called Show and Tell Tuesday. Every first Tuesday of the month, you can link up to show off up to 4 awesome things going in in your classroom, at home, or where ever. Show off and share a little bit about anything and everything!

Before the holiday break, my class had blast during Gingerbread Week. My favorite were our Giant Gingerbread Friend heads, which I never got a chance to share. Some of them turned out slightly terrifying which made them even more wonderful. I love seeing the variety and creativity of my students even when they are given the same template and model. 

This past December my kindergartners and I participated in a Gingerbread Man Exchange hosted by PAWSitively Teaching. The kids were so excited with each envelope we opened. We enjoyed learning more about other parts of the country. Each time one arrived, we used Google Maps to look up the school and view the surrounding area. I set up a trip on Google Earth for my students to experience traveling from our school to other schools around the country.

PS. Check back for more next month when we do the Valentine Exchange!

My "Need To Make" list for TpT has been slowly growing since the beginning of the school year. While I've created plenty for my own classroom, I haven't added much to my store in some time. I'm excited to introduce 3 new products added to my store over the weekend. They will all be 50% off for through today 1/19.

This last item I am sharing in hopes of connecting with some more Washington teachers. Last year I was not able to attend the WA Teacher Meet Up but this year I've got it marked on the calendar and I am eagerly counting down the days! If you are in WA and love to meet fellow educators who blog and TpT, then make sure to RSPV to Kristin & Lindsey at 2 Literacy Teachers by Feb 27th. Hopefully I get to see a few of you there!

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An InLinkz Link-up

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