A Pirate's Life for Me!

I know Halloween is over but I love pirates!  I saw Melonheadz Peter Pan and Pirates clip art and it inspired me to write a Pirate Unit!  I woke up at 3:30, I thought it was 4:30 with the time change, ugh, and I had a pirate poem running through my head.  So I had to get up right then and write it down.  Do any of you have moments like that in the middle of the night?  My husband thinks I am nuts.  I fixed a few problems with it them went straight to the computer and started creating it.  He rolled over and started snoring!  Imagine that? In the middle of my awe inspiration.  Oh well, I had to listen to him write a song about Jelly Fish this afternoon, over and over he sang it.  To each their own :)

So this week I am going to show you what I taught my little fish about Pirates.  It is P week after all.  Pigs and Pirates, lol!  I have made myself promise that I will carry my camera in my pocket all day so I won't miss anything.  My little fish are always doing such amazing things and I never have my camera, or I am caught up in their excitement.  I have go to do better.  Who likes a blog with out pictures. And speaking of pictures...here are a few teasers of what to look for.

I can't wait to get it finished.  I don't know when y'all do pirates but I am doing it next week.  Instead of wheels from Journeys...shshshshshshsh.  Don't tell!  Hehe

Have fun out there and JUST KEEP SWIMMING!

Hello out there.  I hope all of you are enjoying your day. I am at the beginning of a two week long Fall Break.  Yippee!  And...my wonderful husband surprised me with a trip to the beach.  If you know me at all, you know the beach is my favorite place to be!  Double yippee!  Can you guess where I am?

I am sitting here crossed legged on the bed looking up at the ocean as I write this.  Sigh...if only life could always be like this.  

OK, down to business.  I woke up early, like a teacher ever can sleep in, and I started working on a fun new product.  It's punch cards.  I am sure most of you know what they are.  I haven't introduced them to my little fish yet, but I hope they will like them.  I have beginning sounds and numbers.  I also am going to include empty ten frames to add play-dough balls to.  They love anything to do with play-dough.  Well here is a sneak peak.  Let me know what you think or what else you would like to see included.

I think it is turning out cute.  

Ok, can I just say that Greg Smedley is my hero.  I don't know how he can blog every single day, but he does and with such wit.  He is definitely the rock star of Kindergarten blogging.  He threw out a wave in my direction the other day on his blog picks.  I thought I better get my b... in gear and write something.  So here is to Greg!  Love you guy!!!

Oh, I have to show you what I bought on a shopping trip on the boardwalk with my daughter.  Can you say flip flop stuff?!!  I had to hold myself back there was so much of it.  The only thing that kept me in check was my husband sitting outside waiting on my to bring out what I bought.  That will always do it.  But look at all the cuteness...

Just look at all those flip flops!

OK, I am off for a walk on the beach then ice cream...aren't you jealous?

Just Keep Swimming!

Happy Saturday!!!

It is a beautiful day here in Music City after a calm rainy night.  I know, I know, I haven't been here forever, and here is why...

The 5 foot 11 inch freshman Volleyball queen.

Who also plays Sax in the band.

So if any of you are a band mom or a mother of an athlete, just imagine doing all this at the same time with honors and AP classes.  We are barely alive.  But it seems today I have a couple of hours so I am blogging, yep you heard me right.

So here is what has been going on in A Flip Flop Kindergarten!  I have a fantastic group of 19 kids. Smarting than the average fish.  We have been busy learning how to navigate centers which have included Literacy Centers Station, Reading Station, Writing Station, Listening Station, Computer Station, Pocket Chart Station, Magnet Station, and Working With Words Station.  We have been working up to 20 minutes of whispering and staying in our area.  So far so good.  Next week they will experience the queen fish wearing her crown, hehe!  That is when I wear my crown at the guided reading table and no can bother me unless there is BLOOD OR FIRE!  And YES it works.  Wish me luck :)

I am loving using Deanna Jumps Writing Through the Year!!!  

The kids are loving it too.  They love getting to choose what they are writing about, but some how the big fish teacher got them to write about things that begin with M, and nouns and verbs, and characters and settings.  It must be magic, hehe!  Here is a look at some of their work. They are working so hard.

Well my evaluation for this semester is Monday.  It seems like the year just started.  I can't believe I am already having to think about this, but oh well.  It will be done and over with.  I created a lesson on Fall Positioning Words.  So you know I had to create something to go with it.   I made the cutest book and power point with graphics from Melonheadz.  I really like what she does.  Check it out. Click on the picture below for a link to my TPT store.

Fall Positioning Words Book

 I have already sold some this week without even telling anyone they are out there.  That really made me smile. So here is the power point I  did to introduce the lesson.  Click on the picture below for a link to my TPT store. 

I hope you enjoy it.  And don't forget to say a little prayer on Monday about 12:30 CST.  

Have fun out there and keep swimming!!!

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!