Hey y'all!

Wow what a week!  The first week of school always exhausts me.  I know I have fallen asleep in my chair every night this week around 6pm.  Only to get up and chase after a high school-er that is in band and volleyball.  I thought, once I got back into school, I would have so much to blog about, and I do but I was too beat to even open my blog page.   But it is Friday...and that some how gives a teacher more energy.

I have a great group of little fish this year.  I love teaching in a diverse area.  I have students that are Asian, Kurdish, Latino, Arabic, African-American, and Caucasian.  Only one that is silent out of 19.  That won't last long :)

This week we worked on procedures.  Nothing sets the tone for the year as this first week does.   I spent a lot of time on simple things.  Some of them were how to: sit on the carpet, push in a chair, go to the bathroom, walk down the hall, eat in the cafeteria, hold a pencil, use glue and scissors, and some whole brain teaching concepts too.  It is always eye opening at the beginning of each year, just how far they go by the end of Kindergarten.  So many of them rely on their parents to do everything for them.  I work hard to make them independent.  Some of them just look at me with wide eyes and I can hear them thinking...she wants me to do that all by myself.  LOL!  And guess what?  They are amazed they can do it and grin from ear to ear.

One thing I forgot to do this week...I forgot to tell them I would be back to pick them up from the cafeteria after they ate.  I had three crying when I came back the first day.  I felt so bad.  I never dreamed they thought I wasn't coming back for them.  One of the little fish said, "Mrs. Tomes...I thought you weren't going to come back and get us and it was crazy in there."  I couldn't help but give her a hug and tell her I would be back each day to get her from each place we went outside of the room.  Kindergarten is like no other teaching job and I love it so much.

I took a couple of snap shots of what has been going on in my classroom this week.  Besides procedures, I introduced A-E and the numbers 0-2.  It was just a quick intro, more in depth is coming later, but it gave me a quick assessment of where my fish are.  We also read lots of books about the first of Kindergarten, including Pete the Cat: Rocking in my School Shoes.  Oh my, did they love this book!  I am not sure how many time I read it this week.  We did a tour of the school with a Groovy School Tour from http://mrsliretteslearningdetectives.com  The fish loved it!

Today we did self portraits from Character Clips by Krista Walden.  They turned out adorable.  Take a look!

Aren't they great?

Check her out on Teacher's Pay Teachers:  http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Character-Doodle-A-Face-Creative-Clips-Digital-Clipart-655616  

We also worked on our names this week.  One of the things we did was glue beans on our name.  It was a great way to practice gluing techniques as well as learning what our name looks like.  They turned out really cute.  Here they are drying on the table.

I got my new stamps from Oriental Trading this week!  It was like Christmas.  They are really big however.  I am wondering how to store them.  If any one has any ideas, please let me know!

I hope ya'll had a fantastic week.  Mine seemed to be :)  Keep swimming out there!

Hey y'all!

Gosh this school year is coming upon me too fast!!!  I had to have my room ready by Tuesday for Kindergarten Orientation.  I thought it was Monday,  See what the summer can do to you?  Makes you forget all about a calendar.  Oh well, at least I wasn't thinking a day late.

I do the parent part of orientation.  I get to reassure them that we are going to love their babies and take care of them.  And boy do they have tons of questions, haha!  But I expect that.  It is fun to get to know the parents.  The other K teachers are in another room testing the future kinders.  We then spend a couple of hours afterwards splitting our classes.  Yep we get to do it ourselves.  The principal looks it all over and makes a few changes from her insight but it is mainly up to us.  Isn't that great!

Ok, the last blog I wrote I had done the writing wall, well it was missing something.  So I added boarders and flowers.  Check it out!  It turned out great!

I finally finished my calendar support packet.  It feels like I was working on it forever.  But the wonderful part about it is it matches the I can statements, the Blue-Green Labels, and the new Blue-Green Word Wall I finished today.  I am so excited about the cool Blue-Green colors!  See what you think?

Pout, Pout, fish not included, hehe!

an I can statement

Labels

They turned out so well!  

It seems I need to take some pictures of them on the wall huh.  I have to put up my word wall yet, well... change it from what is there now and make a flip flop graph for Reading At Home, then I will be done :)  I am so ready for the little fish!  I hope you liked the Blue-Green items as much as I do.  

Keep swimming!  Until next time!

Hey Y'all!

It has been a week since I have been here.  I took some time off and enjoyed the boat before I had to come back to reality.  Band camp started for my daughter this week so I am back in Music City.  I have been to my room everyday this week so far and am planning on being there the rest of the week.  Kindergarten Orientation is Monday and I am doing the parent part IN MY ROOM.  So I hope to have it up and ready by then.  Well mostly, I hope...(I am really dreaming aren't I?)

Well on another note, I saw this on Pinterest and just had to do it.

I was waiting until they were cheap before school started.  Now I have new puzzle pouches.  Love them!

And the colors... perfect for my room!

I have so enjoyed not having to move rooms this year.  I moved 5 years in a row before this, all in the same school, but still...I feel so much more organized and I can find things.  I also had a wonderful student teacher last year and I got to organize some stuff while she was there.  It so makes a difference!

I put together my writing center this week.  Here is a preview.  All that is left is the paper and writing instruments.  Can't wait to see what the little fish can create!

I started putting up my calendar support today.  Pictures to come tomorrow.  I have to do some more cutting out of the laminating.  Now that is never ending.  

Now that I have some actual pictures of my room maybe I can blog more.  I don't know how y'all did this all summer.  I need to be more creative.  

Oh, I almost forgot, I put a new product on TPT.  It is the Blue Green Calendar and Morning Meeting Support Packet.  I have a preview, come check it out :)  It matches the labels and I Can statements I have.

Have a great evening and just keep swimming!

Tuesday Tinkering

Hey Y'all!  I hope your day has been swimming.  

I thought I would tell you today about Time to Teach, my classroom discipline system.  I know most of you use clips or cards and send home daily reports.  This is something totally different and I love it.  This will be the third year to use Time to Teach. 

 Time to teach is concept that is meant to save time lost due to discipline issues in your class.  This is the very short version of how it works.  Of course you have set up your procedures and model how you want them to behave.  But the meat of time to teach is this.  When a child misbehaves, and you know they will, you stop and look at them in the eye and say "We need for you to stop talking out." or whatever they are doing.  They you go about teaching and don't draw attention to it.  If the child continues to misbehave you say, "Johnny, I need you to go to refocus."  And again go on teaching.  The child will leave the group and go to a time out area.  Yes there are steps for the child who will not go, but I swear to you 95% of the time they get up and march straight to the chair and don't say a word.  I know right, it is a miracle.  When I am finished teaching and have time to deal with the child, usually within a couple of minutes.  I talk to the child about what they did wrong and have them tell me what they could do differently.  I also make sure the child knows I care for them and want them to do well.  

I do send a note home if a child has repeated times in refocus, but these are few and far between.  It really is a wonderful system.  It also lets the child know they do not have several chances to not behave. With the clip system there is usually a warning and then a clip is moved the second time.  This can happen several times a day as the child makes there way down the chart.  With refocus they have the warning and that is it.  Usually the warning is all that is needed.  

If you are interested in the details about Time to Teach, I will be glad to help.  Just leave me a message.  Oh and here is the form I made to send home to parents if needed.  

A couple of days ago I posted an I can... product on TPT.  Here it is, and it is free!

Today I created labels for my classroom that match it.  I thought you might like to see it.  So here it is also.

I just love the blue and green with a touch of orange.

Have a great night and just keep swimming!

Monday Mayhem

Happy Monday Y'all!

Yep we can still be happy it is Monday because tomorrow is another day of Summer Vacation Day :)  Although I did have to spend this morning in a textbook workshop.  Wow, it was only three hours but it felt like all day. Glad that is over with.  I got to swim through it with Greg from http://www.thekindergartensmorgasboard.com/  We survived, I think, hehe!

For some reason I have been thinking about Flip Flop Cookies!  What is up with that.  My daughter helped me make some yesterday for the in-laws that came to visit us on the boat.  They turned out so cute.

And then today I found this at the Dollar Tree! (and yes I did some shopping)

This looks like an Open House idea for the little fish.

I have a couple of projects in the works.  I had so much company last week I didn't get them finished like I hoped.  But there is always tomorrow.  Let me know what you think.

I want to share a tip with you that I love, love, love!  It is a glue tip, hehe, pun intended.  You know those glue bottle that get clogged, EVERY TIME a kinder opens it.  Well here is a solution.  I spend the first day after school taking off all the tips and spreading Vaseline in each one.  I know, it sounds crazy but it works.  I didn't have to unclog but one glue bottle all year.  REALLY!  Yes I did have to peal off some glue off the top, but they didn't clog.  It was a life saver.  Oh and I used Krissy Miner's Top Secrets for Glue Techniques to teach them a little dab will do.  Got to love those little guys.  I will confess, I did show her Top Secrets more than once throughout the year :)

Have a great night out there, and just keep swimming!

Spring Declared

Yep you read that right.  I declare it is still spring.  So if Mother Nature can have spring like weather in July then we should get another month off to enjoy it.  What do y'all think?  Aww come on, if we all have the same mind set it will spread to those that make our schedules, don't you think?  It is like that Peter Pan  theory, I do believe in fairies, I do believe in fairies, I do believe in Spring......I think it is working, keep chanting...

It has been a rainy day again here in Middle Tennessee.  I have been sitting here on Old Hickory Lake watching the water rise and wondering how the ducks and geese survive this.  They are out there swimming and quacking like they love it.  Oh to be a duck, hehe!

Or in this case, a goose!  A view off my front porch, don't you love it!

Well as I sat watching the rain fall on the water, I was looking at my to do list and one of things not completed, out of many, was to make new I can statements for my literacy stations.  So I sat down and whipped this up this morning and am offering it as a freebie on TPT so come and get it here!

Stay dry out there and just keep swimming :)

Happy Day after the 4th.

I hope y'all had a wonderful 4th of July!  I know I did even in the rain.  It poured all day here and was cold.  I don't ever remembering a 4th of July where I had to wear a sweatshirt all day.  What is up with that?  This is the south!  But I spent it with wonderful friends and again good music at the boat dock.  I love summer, wait I don't think you heard me...I LOVE SUMMER!

Here is the hubs on the mando and a couple of our friends.  What fun!

I spend the morning with another dear friend.  We were celebrating our birthdays.  Mine is the first and hers is the eighth.  We had a great breakfast at Crackle Barrel and then went shopping at Target and Big Lots.  Look at my finds!

I love the big tote.  Just the right size for my clipboards.  And the rolling cart, $28 at Big Lots, what a deal.  I picked up 3M hooks for $2.80 for 2 of them, for my headphones.  Batteries for my teach timer for $2.00, WOW.  Look at that green duck tape for my line!  And some colored masking tape.  I know I really didn't need that, but it was so darn cute.  And that pencil pouch to show the little fish and parents the kind I want them to get for notes and money.  All that at Big Lots.  What a find!  

Target had the write on pockets, that I had wished I had bought more of last year, for $1.00.  Playdough cutters for the beginning of the year center learning.  And a folder to show the kind I want them to get at preview night.

Can you tell how excited I am?  So tempted to sneak over to the school and put it away, but the boat is calling my name, so it will wait until another day.  I am just loving the aqua and bright green colors.  That mixed with a bit of orange, my favorite color, and my room is so cheery.

I created a new book about Maddie night before last.  I have had a lot of good responses about it.  This one features the next two sight words in the Journey reading series, the & and.  I was talking about it to my friend over breakfast and someone was listening and wouldn't stop talking about it.  Hehe, she was older and went on and on about her dogs and thought I had the cutest idea. She was so sweet.  That is what the South is all about.  Conversations with strangers that make you smile.

Well here it is.  Click here to get it and enjoy!

Have a great weekend and keep swimming!