Rockin along in Room 6

There is so much going on in Room 6.  We have been so busy learning and having fun.  Below are some pictures of things we have done over the last couple of weeks.

Letter Pp - Pink, polka dotted pigs

We have been talking about friends since the beginning of school.  One day we made a tree map of the things a friend is.

We did a crumpled heart lesson.  When you say mean things to a person it hurts  their "heart" or feelings.  After you have said mean things it is hard to make the heart the same again.  We pledged to not say mean things to others. 

We have a new writing series called "Write From the Beginning".  In this lesson we talked about the different types of hair.  The kids had a blast and loves it.  They laughed and giggled all the way through the lesson. It was so much fun watching them draw pictures with the different types of hair. It was even cuter when some of them would say "I have _____ hair". Funny.

This last week we worked on drawing our faces and adding details.  On this activity we drew the picture and then wrote our name below the line.  Pictures go above the line and words go below the line.

Looking forward to another great week in kindergarten.

Lisa

K-Crew Kids Rock

Where has time gone?

I usually write each week about the events of my week with my class, but this weekend I thought I would write about my family.  We are in the process this holiday weekend of taking senior pictures of my oldest two.  I think back to 10 1/2 years ago when David and I traveled to Kazakhstan to meet our children.  It was a very hard trip, since we would have to leave our 3 year old Cooper who is also from Kazakhstan for month while we were gone to bring his brother and sister home.  It was very scary, because of the fact they were older and we hoped that we could help them feel loved and be able to adjust to a new family, language and country.  The road has not always been easy, but in the end I am their mama.  As the saying goes, "you may have not grown in me, but you grew in my heart."  My prayer for them as this year goes by, that they make wonderful memories, and that they know that no matter what they do or what happens I will always love them.  God may have had a different plan for my life than my plan 18 years ago when David and I got married....... but I would not change a minute of it.  His plan made me a mama to Alex, Galiya and Cooper.  I love you all.

Lisa

Mama to Alex, Galiya and Cooper

K-Crew Kids Rock

Learning is Fun at Smith Elementary

My rockstars, Mrs. Rogers and I all made it through another great week of learning at Smith Elementary.  It's amazing to see all they have learned in just a couple of weeks.  I have decided that a kindergarten mind is like a sponge, it just soaks it in.  Amazing.  I've also been involved in some more Pinterest projects, and loving them.  Take a look below at what we are learning and my special projects for the week.  :-)

Pinterest inspired crate seats for the meeting area.  This has been modified from how it has been seen before.  Instead of making the boards that fit on the inside of the crates.....The K-Crew made the seats attached to the bottom of the crates.  You can still put things under the crates if you want to use them for storage. How they are made.... We used old marker boards that we had lots of in the classroom.  (These are boards that were cut up from a large marker board) Many of them had seen better days, so why not let them get a little more life out of them.  I cut up a foam mattress pad the size of the boards.  I put two layers for more cushion, but they can be make with one layer.  I then cut up up table cloths a little larger than the boards.  Yes you read correct table cloths.  The ones I used were less than $4.00 and were 84 x 64.  Several crate seats can be made with one.  I then duct tape the table cloth to the board.  If you would like to make it into a bench like mine are, use zip ties and tie them together.  I then used hot glue and attached them.  Now with hot glue they may come loose after a while and more glueing may be needed.  If you have something stronger that would be great or just be like me and glue when needed.  :-)

We have been learning so much about numbers using our math board.  We choose our number of the day by first putting the correct date on the calendar.  This number will be the number of the day.  We then look at all the ways we can make or "represent" that numeral.  We will also pick the number that is one less and the one that is one more.  With the new Common Core standards they are really focusing on teaching the children more than this is the number.  They want them to completely understand the number and how it can be represented.  I think in the long run we will have stronger math students using this method.

If you have never used dot cards, I highly recommend them.  We begin math each day by singing our "I can count to 100" song off of Youtube.  We always move into flash cards.  The dot cards are a big part of this time.  The purpose behind the cards is for the students to look at the dots and to quickly state what the number is.  Each child may see the dots different, but they all come up with the same amount. The dot card to the right is 7 dots, or many will see 6 and 1 that makes 7.  Others may see 2 rows of 3 and 1 more that equals 7.  However they see it, the answer is still 7.  These cards were made by using index cards and paint dotters.  They can also be made with 2 colors.  I will be using the 2  color dot cards soon.

Big Four.  For anyone who has tried to do Big Four in kindergarten, it is very hard.  I finally had a thought come to my head....Why not make one in word, save it as a PDF and then fun it off on our poster maker at school.  Well, it works.  We laminated the Big Four and use dry erase markers.  Finally an easy way to do Big Four in kindergarten.  Only took 4 years.  :-)

We are working on in language arts with from our new common core units.  This week we read the book Frog and Toad are Friends.  I think the teachers enjoyed the book even more than the kids.  We talked about what predictions are.  This is very hard for little minds to understand.  Each stay they would make predictions about the story for the day.  After reading the story, we put a check by the predictions that were correct and put an x on the ones that did not happen.  By the end of the week I think we finally got the hang of it.  Loved this book.

Looking forward to another great week in kindergarten!

Lisa Ring

K-Crew Kids Rock

We made is through the first week with "buzzing" success

We made it through our first full week of kindergarten in room 6.  All the little rockstars are starting to settle in and make new friends.  I taught my students this week that when we write and draw we use details.  It's been so cute......if I mention coloring, drawing...one of them is sure to say, I'm using details.  So cute.  It's funny how quick they pick up on the "language of the standards" as we call it.
We did many things this week that is very memorable, but I think the favorite was Friday, when we made our buzzing letter Bb bees.  They loved it.  One of my students while making hers said, "this is going to be so cute", and of course you can't make a bee without making sound effects like a bee while you do it. Love it. Looking forward to another awesome week.
 Here is a look below at our BBB...Buzzing Bumble Bees.

A Rockin Preplanning and First Day of Kindergarten in Room 6

We've had a great start to our new year in room 6.  Preplanning and then our first day has flown by with excitement and anticipation for all that we will do and learn this year.  Our new K-Crew kids are awesome and full of energy.  I always love to watch them grow, change and learn as the year progresses.  So much fun.  No other grade can you see so much progress.  I can't wait to blog about all of our adventures.  Hold on, it will be a Rockin Ride.  We are family.....Everybody's learning with me.  (Sing along)

Some of my K-Crew and our assistant principal Valarie Lawson

I'm so excited to welcome Kelly Rogers into my classroom this year.  We are going to make an awesome team.  Since it was our first day of kindergarten together also, I thought we should take a 1st day of kindergarten picture.  All of our K-Crew kids took a picture with the same frame.

Our room 6 door

My pinterest inspired sign with a little extra added.  I love it!  I think it turned out so cute.

My room 6 K-Crew kids sign.  Cute.

Our polka dotted hooks and our Rockin board.

Kindergarten ROCKS at Smith Elementary!

A peek into our classroom.  The look from the door.  This is the first thing you see when you come to the door.  Love it!

Our mailboxes 

Another look into the room.  

And another view.....

Our meeting board/calendar

Our behavior chart.  This is my 3rd year using this system, and I have to say it is my favorite.  My students can move up for good behavior and down for behavior that is not appropriate.  The great thing about this system, is that even if they move their clip down, they always have the opportunity to move the clip back up.

Polka Dotted Clock :-)  

My rock star chair.  I gave it little face lift this summer, and it turned out so cute.

word wall.  We use every inch of our classroom.

Mrs. Ring's class ROCKS!