Five for Friday- Summer is still going strong

Summer is still going strong here!  Not even a hint of school yet :-)  Summer school finished up today and I have 3 1/2 weeks of relaxation ahead of me!!!  So I'm celebrating by linking up with Doodle Bugs Teaching for some Five for Friday fun!!

 We need help!!!  We have a new principal, amazing guy!  He hired me and was AP my first year and then left.  But he is back and is wonderful.  Here he is sitting criss cross for my last Blog Hoppin scavenger hunt picture with my summer school kids.

Well, he wants a new school motto.  Something we can frame our learning, PBIS, and everything else around.  We are the William Ramsay Roadrunners.  Any cool ideas for sayings??  Would love if you could comment below.

 So I've been pretty lazy when I get home from summer school... BUT when I pull out my computer to do something this is the look I get from the dog:

Who can get anything done with that going on??

 Went to Lakeshore and found some new decor thanks to Teacher Created Resources.  IN LOVE!!

Now I just have to change, um, everything in my room...

 A random kid picture.  One of my girls made a skyscraper, complete with a door, security system, windows (on the roof...) and stairs to get down (although they look like you would fall off the building...).  Cute!

 The hubs was out of town last weekend so I enjoyed some wonderful seafood for dinner!! He's allergic, which is a total bummer because all of this was cheap and really easy to make!

Now head back over to Doodle Bugs Teaching for more Five For Friday Fun!!  Happy Summer!

What Worked Last Year Part 1

Last year was a rough year for me so I decided that I should take a look back at all the good things that happened so I can have a positive end to it, especially since I am so excited for this coming year!  So it's time for a little:

 Voice Level Chart

This bad boy worked all year long!  Now, they weren't the best at maintaining this level for a long period of time, but with a reminder they could readjust and knew how loud each level was.  This is actually a combination of 2 different charts, neither of which I can find a link to... Sorry!!  

Fast Fact Friday

This fun didn't start until sometime in March but it was great! Every Friday ALL the kids in school took a quick 3 minute math test based on what was being taught.  Our kinders started with adding pictures, then moved on to adding numbers, and then went to subtraction.  While research doesn't really support a weekly quick test, I did notice that their basic math fact skills did improve! I was very impressed! Kids would work on a level until they passed.  They also took in home every week to practice their mistakes. I loved it and hope it continues next year.

Words of the Week

This is where I keep my words of the week.  We spell them each day with a different cheer and do a new sentence every day.  I do 2 words every week starting at the beginning of the year.  My kids did AWESOME this year with sight word knowledge- more on that to come in Part 2.

A year long science project

Our year long science project was this rotting piece of pumpkin.  YUM!! ;-)  We studied pumpkins and then put a chunk in this little container and watched it get disgusting all year long.  We would look at it occassionally and talk about the states of matter and what is happening inside and how pumpkins do this is nature too.  Very interesting.
Ok, that's it for Part 1, but stay tuned for Part 2!  I would love to hear what worked for you this year.  Feel free to link up below :-)  Happy Summer!





 

Throwback Thursday- The BEST DAY EVER

Hi friends!  Today the Freebielicious girls are doing Throwback Thursday!

I'm throwing back to November 2013 when the most amazing day ever happened!  Debbie Clement visited all 8 kindergarten and 2 preK classes at my school AND our principal bought EVERY CHILD her book Tall Giraffe!  You can read about it below.  Enjoy:

TUESDAY WAS AMAZING!  Tuesday was the day friends! THE Oprah, I mean Debbie Clement visited our school and did 4 programs throughout the day so that all 8 of our kindergarten classes and our preK class could enjoy the fun!  She is so fantastic and truly loves interacting with children.  You can check out her blog post about the day by clicking HERE!  

I was the photographer for the day- I took 550 pictures!!! YIKES! Totally worth it though.  Here are some of my favorites!

 

Isn't this picture amazing!!! Luckily all 3 are allowed to have their picture put online!!! Love those boys!

Debbie celebrated her very first "Oprah" moment when she got to hand out a book to every child, to keep, at home, FOR.EV.ER!!  So awesome!!

Don't you just love their little outstretched hands!!

Before the program, each class completed some sort of giraffe artwork.  Enjoy!

This one is from my class!

 If you don't know Debbie you can check out her blog HERE and her website HERE.  Give her a shout out and let her know I sent you :-)

Wonderful Idea Wednesday

So I know I'm a day late, but yesterday was crab boil day with my team!!!  My very first crab boil, which was amazing and I would totally do it again today :-)  Anyway, here is my short but sweet Wonderful Idea Wednesday post to link up with the girls from Freebielicious!

 My center chart is one of my favorite things in my classroom! Here it is:

While it might not be the cutest thing in the world, it might just be the most functional.  The kids find their name (which is usually in the same spot for an entire quarter) and they can then see what table they will be at for the first and second rotations. 

Each table is labeled to match these cards:

One math center and one literacy center at each table and then a center on the floor.  6 in all for each.  This makes it easy for the kids to move around the room INDEPENDENTLY when it is time to switch.  I LOVE it!! 

But here's the kicker--> when it's time to set up or clean up I have the kids do it all!!  I label the spots where I keep my center materials with matching labels:

No more asking "Where does this go??" They know where the math and literacy centers live and can put them away without bothering me, which I love!  You will notice in the first picture that the Z label is bigger.  That's because center Z is located on the floor right in front of that shelf.  The size matches the labels on the table to help the students learn that that is where it actually is.


So that's my wonderful idea!  Head back to Freebielicious for more!  Happy Summer!

Tell Us About You Tuesday

Hey friends!  I'm linking up with the Freebielicious girls for Tell Us About You Tuesday!

 My name is Heather and I am a kindergarten teacher in northern Virginia.  I've been teaching kindergarten for four years now and LOVE it!  It's such a wonderful life in kindergarten, even on the tough days (or the tough years... ahem, this past year, ahem).  

I have been married to my wonderful and talented husband Matt for almost 6 years now.  Here's some pics of us in Italy last year for our 5 year anniversary!  What an amazing trip!

We have a very spoiled and overly loved dog Allie.  My husband swears he loves me more... But he's a bad liar...  We adopted her in April 2014 and were SOOOOO excited to finally have a dog.  She's now on a diet for being a little overweight and turns out this girls loves zucchini, which is great because she can eat a ton and barely get any calories.

I used to play tennis and volleyball (way back in high school- does that even still count!?!?) but now I am totally into golf!!  The hubs got me into it and we now love going out together on the weekends. I finally broke 100 this year, twice now in fact. And it feels GOOD!

Lastly, I am a lover of FOOD.  I have been branching out so much in the last couple years and have found so much more that I love.  Tacos, spagetti, seafood, meat, any meat, meat on a bone (I AM A CARNIVORE FOLKS!), enter other foods here.  But my all time favorite food is ice cream!!!!  I don't even need all the toppings and mix ins and fanciness.  Just a nice bowl of really good vanilla is enough to make me happy.  I'm smiling just writing about it.  It makes me so happy :-)

Well, that's a little about me!  Head back to Freebielicious to meet some more new friends!  Happy Summer!