Friday Feature: Mother's Day

I was overcome with illness last Friday, so here are two Mother's Day Ideas to make up for not posting.

Bath Salts We will be making these this year for the wonderful ladies in our lives!

For this project you will need:

Ziploc Quart size Baggies
Epsom Salt
Perfume Oil
Food Coloring
Glycerin
A pretty container to put the finished product in

In the plastic baggie, combine about 1 cup of the Epsom salts, a few drops of perfume oil, a 1/4 teaspoon of glycerin. Add food coloring to make desired color. Seal the baggie, and squish vigorously to blend all ingredients. Clip a corner of the baggie and squirt the colorful, scented salts into the pretty container.

Watercolor Cards We will also be giving our Mother's these beautiful handmade cards.

For this project, you will need:

White construction paper
White Crayons
Watercolors of your choice
Water
Paintbrushes
Any choice of covering to keep both kiddos and community clean

Have student write their message to  mommy dearest with the white crayon on the white construction paper. Students then use the water and watercolors to paint the entire card. The white crayon writing will stand out against the watercolor paint. They turn out beautifully, and the kids think it's magic!

Butterflies

The day we have all anxiously been waiting for has arrived. Our butterflies have "hatched!"

I was the first one to notice, but I kept it quiet because I wanted to see their reaction at such a remarkable development. Not even 10 minutes later, Miss Hugger, alerts her best friend in the loudest whisper I have ever heard, that "They're here! They're here! The butterflies have hatched!" This, of course, brings every kid from all corners of the room (we were at morning centers) to the counter where our butterfly house rests.

It was a moment of utter chaos, unbridled joy and excitement, and awesome discovery. And wouldn't you know it, my camera died. I didn't catch the great scene of discovery, but take a look at the newest members of or classroom.

Colleagues

While this blog is about the wonderful antics of my amazing kinders, I just want to take a moment and brag about my amazing colleagues. I am blessed to work with some of the most amazing people ever; directly as a kindergarten team and corporately as a school. My teammates are amazing women, whom I have learned sooooooooo much from since October. Each has a different background, teaching style, etc. that helps me to broaden my horizons and expectations for myself and my class. I am also honored to work with people outside of our kindergarten hallway. For me, it makes the end of the year easier, knowing that my kids are going to have equally amazing first grade teachers, second grade teachers, etc. Not to mention the fabulous team of special and activity teachers.

I guess my point is this: Thank you to all the wonderful people with whom I get to share my day and kids.

Names

I love names. I name almost anything that I care about, including my kids. Now, I know their parents have already bestowed them with names that they deemed fit, but sometimes I just nickname them before I know I did it. My sprouts don't know I have nicknames for them; I usually use them when telling funny stories about my kids (really helps to avoid FERPA violations). Meet my a few kids from my class:

The Politician/ Dennis the Menace- This little darling will give you an entire speech to answer a yes or no question. He also happens to find himself in the most mischievous of situations.

The Talk-show Host- This little dear can talk the paint of a wall. She also has the biggest heart I have ever seen in such a little body.

Dakota Fanning- I'm pretty sure she could be a celebrity look-a-like if she wanted.

Charlie Brown/John Tesh- This little boy has two nicknames because he has changed so much. He started out as Charlie Brown because he was very melancholy and down about school and life. Now that he has more stability in the classroom (a regular classroom teacher), he is a talkative, brilliant star. He starts every conversation with "Ms. Sulaiman, did you know...."

Bad Robot- This kid nicknamed himself. Read it here .

There are more nicknames, although not everyone has one. Perhaps I'll introduce them at a later date.

Sick

I feel bad for my kids, I'm a total grouch when I'm sick. Our screwed up testing schedule has not helped at all either. Going to the doctor tomorrow, hoping I'll be back in action on Wednesday.

Smartboard Saturday: Nonsense Words

It is a fine line that most teachers walk  to teach the skills that are assessed, but not "teach to the test." In our state, we use DIBELS as an assessment. During one section of this test, students are asked to sound out or read nonsense words. This is a difficult task for many students, mainly because they want to recode the nonsense word into a "real" word.

On a tip from a friend, I started to use my Smartboard to do quick nonsense word exercises. In the Gallery of the Smart Notebook software, there are consonant and vowel dice. I pulled three dice in a CVC format onto a blank page, and let me children touch and roll. They LOVED it. We sound out all the sounds, recode into the word, and discuss if it is a real word or a silly word. Now, it is part of our transition from Morning Meeting to our Reading Block.

Tip: Use the search bar to find specific things in the Gallery, i.e. type "dice" to find CVC , blank, number, or dot dice.

Feature Friday: Earth Day Projects

In honor of April being Earth Month, here are a couple of "green" activities that we are going to do in my class: Coke bottle Terrariums and Bottlecap Buttons and/or Magnets.

I didn't come up with the Coke Bottle Terrarium idea, I just remembered doing it when I was in kindergarten. So I Googled it and found this-Coke Bottle Terrariums.

Bottle Cap Buttons - This is a craft I learned from friends in college. This activity may be a bit too much for kinders, but I am constantly astounded by what my kids can do, so we are going to give it a try.

Materials needed:
Bottlecaps from glass bottles
1" hole punch
Various types of paper to hole punch, and cut out (magazines, old calendars)
Various beads, sequins, or small objects that will fit on a 1" circle
Pour-On resin
Craft Magnets/ or Button Backs
Hair Dryer
Hot glue gun and glue sticks

Use a 1" hole punch to punch out circles from various kinds of paper (magazines, construction, etc.). Students can cut out letters to spell words inside their buttons, or decorate with glitter, beads, or whatever crafty thing that will fit on a 1" circle.

When students have finished filling the inside of the button, the teacher pours the resin (mixed according to box directions) in the button.  Use the hair dryer (set on low) to blow out the bubbles in the resin. Let dry overnight to harden. Attach the magnets or button backs to the back of the filled button with the glue gun, and voila....Bottlecap Buttons and magnets!

Kissing

Spring is officially here, and my sprouts have a new founded affection for each other. Not a day has gone by this month, when I have not heard "Ms. S! He kissed me!" or "I have a boyfriend, and I'm going to kiss him." Even I'm not safe. Just the other day, a friend came an gave me a chair hug (I'm sitting in my teacher chair, they wrap their arms around my neck, and press their cheek to my cheek), sneaked a peck on the cheek, and ran off back to her center. All I could do was laugh when I heard "I kissed the teacher!"

I love my job!

Funny

My sprouts are hilarious.

During afternoon centers, two of my boys were playing in the Imagination Station (Dramatic Play/Housekeeping). One had all of the play money in his hand, the other was trying to persuade his friend to share the wealth. Eventually, Mr. Scrooge got tired of his friend's persistent asking, stopped & sighed, dug through the stack of bills and pulled out a five. He turns and hands it to him, with the words "Here's a five. Go get a footlong."

I could barely contain my mirth.

A little while later, Mr. Scrooge is still hoarding all the cash. I call him over for a little chat.

"You should probably share that money, Bud. Share the wealth."

"But Ms. S, I'm Richie Rich!"

I couldn't help it, I laughed. With his almost white blond hair, and his pleading tone of exasperation, I just couldn't hold it in. He grinned, laughed, and skipped off to "spend his money." Methinks he has earned a nickname.

Zoo Day

Today was the day my little superheros have been waiting for for weeks! ZOO DAY! I was just as excited (perhaps a little more) as my kids were. I love field trips, and am very blessed to be among the dwindling number of schools that still has them. It was a great to watch our kids have this great experience. Many of them have been to the zoo (several times), but they have never been with their friends. It was great to see them "show each other around" and to hear all about the awesome animals they saw.

The highlight, however, was the bus ride. My little John Tesh raises his hand and says "Ms. S, did you know, I have never been on a bus before?" Of course this sparks a chorus of "me, too" and  "neither have I"s. 2 out of 20 friends in our class ride the bus to and from school, so this was a novel expereince for most of our class. They were in a state of pure bliss during the bus ride. Seeing Dunkin Donuts was almost better than seeing the zoo. Who'd a thought?

Smartboard Saturday: Harnessing the Power of Touch

As one of of my favorite kinder-bloggers wrote in a post, there is something transformative and captivating about touch in the kindergarten/early-childhood classroom. Reveal a new item to a group of kinders and you are sure to hear "Can I touch/hold it?" That is what makes teaching with the Smartboard so awesome.

At first, when wearing my rational adult hat and thinking about how expensive this awesome piece of technology is, I was terrified for my kids to be around the Smartboard, let alone touch it, lest they besmirch it with paint/marker/booger covered fingers . However, my inner creative teacher won out, and I now daily utilize  our Smartboard in student-centered or student-led, interactive, engaging lessons.Granted, I am still a stickler about students using/touching the Smartboard without permission, but with the appropriate modeling and procedures, my kinders have a healthy respect and appreciation for it. The point is, don't be afraid to let your kiddos touch and learn.

Tip of the Day: If you don't already have it, go to the Smarttech website, and download the thirty day trial of Smart Notebook software, and explore what it has to offer. This software is designed to enhance classroom use of the Smartboard, and has so much more to offer than PowerPoint.

Zoo shirts

So I have been a lazy bum and haven't posted for a while. Our Easter egg hunt was a great success, and now we are on to our next big spring event...the Zoo! We are blessed to be one of the few (if not the only) in our district who are taking a field trip this year, and we are making the most of it. I learned that it is a Kinder tradition at our school to make shirts for our kiddos to wear in the field trip. Now, I can be as crafty and artsy as the next teacher, until it comes to paint. The mess and stress drives me crazy. But we did it, and it was soooooo worth it.
Who knew that sharpies, sponges, and a little bit of paint could make such adorable creations?

The First Feature Friday- Building a classroom Family

Awhile back, I wrote about a couple of directions that I take this blog. A friend suggested that I could start doing features to integrate some of my other educational-related musings, and I thought it was a brilliant idea. So, henceforth, I shall be posting an idea/ activity or activity that I would like to share or try in my own classroom on Fridays, and sharing Smartboard tips, tricks, and lessons on Saturdays.

For the First Feature Friday, I would like to share a beginning of the year activity that I want to use next year.
The goal is to promote and build a safe, family-like classroom environment, and help students understand how important every student is. The materials needed are a floor puzzle (teacher keeps one piece), the book The Crayon Box That Talked, and the song We Are a Family by Jack Hartmann (on the Learning to Love CD).

Read the book to children, discussing how the crayons act, and how they would feel. After the book is read, as a class, put together the floor puzzle. As students realize that their picture is not complete without the missing puzzle piece, discuss how the classroom family is not complete without every person. Listen to and learn Jack Hartmann's We are a Family.

Manners

Today was our kindergarten Easter Egg hunt, our 1st official spring activity. It was all my kiddos could talk about; it was like pulling teeth getting them to focus for our reading lesson. But we did it, and even made our adorable bunny masks.

Not every little bunny brought a basket to collect eggs today. Thank goodness for a very thoughtful grandma who brought a lot of extras for our class. When my Bad Robot found out that a fellow classmate had provided him with a basket, he marched right up to him and said in his very direct style of speech, "Thank you for the Easter basket. " His classmate grinned from ear to ear and they shared a hug.

Such a lesson in grace, thankfulness, and kindness. You really do learn everything you need to know in kindergarten.