A Touch Of Nature!

At our school we are so fortunate to have a wonderful outdoor classroom where the children can explore and play.  

This lesson was given to me by one of my colleagues.  

Each student gets a framed rectangle to bring outside.

Their job is to find something from nature to study.  It can be an insect, worm, rock, whatever you find in the outdoor classroom.

Once my students find their object to explore they put the frame down and they are not allowed to move it.  The frame needs to stay there for 5 whole minutes!

During these 5 minutes my students need to use their senses to explore their object.  

After 5 minutes, we return back to the classroom and write in our science journals about our outdoor wonder.

Just love this!

How To Catch A Wave!

My classroom is centered around a beach theme.  The beginning of school is fast approaching and I spend a lot of time thinking about how to structure my expectations for my students.  I found this idea last summer during my late night peeks at blogs.  I would love to give credit to the fabulous teacher that came up with this idea so please let me know if it was you.

We set up classroom rules and they are titled and referred to as "How To Catch A Wave."  They look like this.

My little surfers sign the bottom of the classroom expectations showing that they understand what is expected.  Now for the fun part.  I give each child a beach wallet to keep in their cubbies.

When I catch my surfers following these expectations or "Catching a Wave" as I call it, I reward them with penny(plastic penny).  My surfers keep their money in their wallets.  As they collect more money they begin to exchange money like 5 pennies for a nickel.  Each month and sometimes twice a month, I open the classroom store.  My surfers use their money to buy things.  I usually allow them to buy no more than 3 items a visit to the store.  Make sense?

I label all items like a real store!  The children learn expectations.  Positive behavior is recognized, and my surfers learn about money all at the same time.  So much fun.  My surfers get so excited when the store opens.

Just a day shopping at the surf shack!

Ideas for Bulletin Boards!

I added a new tab today to my blog.  Take a closer look at my bulletin boards for the year.  

Kindergarten Journal Writing

Here are some pics of our classroom journals that we use each and every day!

My kiddos write weekly in their science journals about our classroom science experiments or the weekly science theme.

This kiddo is writing about the life cycle of our classroom plant experiments.

Each week I introduce a poem to my kiddos.  During literacy centers the children illustrate the poem and find common sight words.

During our insect unit, the children use stamp pads to illustrate bugs for this poem.  I found this cute poem in Deanna Jump's Insect unit!  So cute!

Math journals are used daily for our question of the day.  During guided math, my kiddos complete the problem of the day, and then  they work in centers.

So proud of my kiddos!

Come Take a Classroom Tour

Ok I just added my first tab to my blog.  Come take a classroom tour to see my kindergarten classroom.  If you take a look please post a comment so I know you are out there.  I would love the input!

Welcome To My Kindergarten Blog!

Wow!  I can't believe I finally figured out how to start blogging.  My goal for this summer was to start my blog, and here it is.  It needs a lot of fixing up to do, but at least I am making progress.  I hope by the end of the summer, I will have a pretty good idea of what to do, but for now you will have to have patience with me.  Looking forward to a wonderful experience!