Check-in

I have a fun way for the children to "sign in " for the day. I have an apple chart  filled with index cards. They have the children's names printed on them. When they come in the room, they take their name card to their table. We count and review cards left in the apple chart. Cards left should be absent children.  We do some quick problem solving before the cards go back in. An example would be: We have 26 children in our class. There are 2 cards left. How many children are here today?  The children then replace their cards into the chart.We always count the cards again when the chart is all filled up. I try to switch that up a little  bit, too. We don't always count from 1 to 26. Some days we count up from 8 or 11... and some days we count down. It's a quick, easy way to interject some more math into our day!

Stop and Think

As part of our school wide behavior program we tell the children to Stop, Walk, Talk. If someone is bothering them they tell them to Stop. They Walk away and Talk to an adult. It's good to teach them when they are young and just imagine how nice it would be if everyone would stop and think before they spoke.

Change of Season!

Time to put the Welcome signs and all those apple decorations away. Let's get out the leaves, all the beautiful colors that make up the season of Fall!

Can't Believe It, Already A Cold!

Second week of school under our belts and, like so many other teachers, I have a cold! Did not expect this so soon. Everything is progressing nicely(except, of course, for the cold). We are following research based 3=33 weeks. For the first 3 weeks of school, we teach, review and reinforce our rules, routines and procedures.This is taught as a lesson every single day. This helps the next 33 weeks to move along much more smoothly. Children always react better when they know our expectations. This is our beginning of school poem.

On Our Way!

Kindergarten is in full swing now. As I predicted, I did not get back to post until the weekend. The children are wonderful! They are settling into our class routines. We started out with our "magic  clay balls". This is always fun!. Put a little bit of colored play dough in a bigger amount of white play dough. Form it into a ball. Do this carefully so as not to squeeze any of the color. Tell the children if they can make their white ball colored it will be a magical year. Watch the fun!

Still Getting Ready...

Just about time. Tomorrow my new batch of Kindergarten kiddos arrive! Got to say, I can't wait. I love this time of the year. But, seriously, my fellow Kindergarten teachers, won't we be so very tired the whole first week? I would love to sign on and see what everyone else has to share but realistically that probably won't happen till closer to the weekend. Hope it's a wonderful school year, full of lots of learning, lots of smiles and of course lots of teddy bears!

Almost There!

Two Inservices down. Get to meet my new kiddos Tuesday!