Friday, February 22, 2013

Five for Friday Linky Party

Well, my winter break is coming to an end, and I can't tell you how excited I am about all my new followers.  I spent the entire week blogging and commenting on so many wonderful blogs.  It was so inspiring.  I wish I always had this much time to just find new blogging friends.  I learned so much this week about how amazing you all are!  Thank you for following me.  I am SLOWLY getting there.

I am linking up for the very first time with Doodle Bugs Teaching Five for Friday linky party.  I had such an amazing week with my family I had to share.



So let's get started,

 1.  Snow day in Westminster, Colorado.  We live in California so this was a BIG deal for us.  So much fun.
2.  Playing basketball outside in the snow.  Another highlight of our trip.

3.  Car racing at Colorado's Unser Race track.  How serious do they look?

4.  Went to the MOST AMAZING breakfast place ever.  It's called SNOOZE and its unbelieveable.  I had the OMG French Toast which was mouth watering.....yum!

5.  Last but certainly not least, before I left for break my kiddos brought in for sharing one object that represented what they wanted to be when they grow up.  Here is my little scientist.  So darling.  He made my day :).

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So now back to reality....my kinders up to now, only went half day kindergarten(can you believe some schools still do that?).  Starting bright and early Monday morning, my kinders stay all day with me!!  It's always a BIG adjustment.  Lots of tears all over again, and some refusals to accept the reality of school all day...UGH!  


The GREAT thing about having my kinders all day is having SO MUCH MORE TIME NOW!  So many fun things happen in the afternoons.  We have science with a great science teacher, social-emotional teacher, and YES I love reading chapter books to my kiddos in the afternoons.  I think I will start with Popper's Penguins since we just finished our Arctic unit.  So fun....

Right before break we began our Super Structures STEM unit.  I am fully invested in STEM units.  I took a fantastic workshop on STEM instruction and now I am addicted.  In fact, I am working on my Super Structures unit as we speak.  It's taking me sooooo long to finish because this is my very 1st unit!  Man, I am going to do back flips when this unit is done :)!  So to give you a little highlight of what is happening in my kinderworld take a look at some pics of our STEM centers for SUPER STRUCTURES!


 PATTERN BLOCK ART
 MATHEMATICAL PROBLEM SOLVING
 GEOBOARD SHAPES
 MAGNETIC PATTERN BLOCK SHAPES
ENGINEERING AT ITS FINEST!

So if you are not familar with how STEM instruction works here is a little background.  STEM instruction is integrating science, technology, engineering, and mathematics under one common standard.  Super Structures is a unit where my kiddos learn about shapes and 3 dimensional shapes in all subject areas.  I can't wait to share with you my first unit because it's so much fun for my kiddos!

5 comments:

  1. So interesting that your kindergarteners only went half day for the first part of the year. Did you have planning time then in the afternoon? Good luck Monday morning! :) I love your STEM activities!! I can't wait to see more!
    Julie
    Ms. Shope's Class

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  2. I was finally able to visit your blog! :-)

    How did it work that your students went only half a day for part of the year? I am assuming that you didn't have 2 half-day classes, then. My little sister is 13, and she went to half-day Kindergarten, and her school/district still does that. I don't see how you could meet the standards with just a half a day, especially now with the new CCSS. I taught K for 3 years, and I know that the afternoons were very long at the beginning of the year, and the kids would be falling asleep by 2pm!

    Erica
    Blooming In First

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    Replies
    1. It is very difficult to get all the standards in. We use that free afternoon time to help kindergarten kids that need letter/sound recognition or reading. We call it Lunch Bunch and they stay with us for an extra 1 1/2 hours after noon. I know, I think we are one of the last districts to do early release for kindergarten.

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  3. I am LOVING all of that science! Thank you for sharing!

    Irene

    Learning With Mrs. Leeby

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  4. What a busy, wonderful week you had. I am your newest follower.

    Terri
    The First Grade Princess

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