Where I've Been Lately

Every time I logged in to write in this space, my mind cleared and I had no where to go. I wasn't loving the idea of writing here, nor was I a fan of using my precious summer time for school activities. Then school started--and we all know how crazy the school year is! Then my mom got sick (she's better now). Then I had a baby. And here I am, just shy of a year later, with a renewed interest in filling this space with the stuff I love. The stuff of teaching.

That first paragraph pretty much sums up where I've been. Back and forth to the hospital to visit my (then) comatose mother. Like I said, she's better now. Then I had the pregnancy, in addition to having 2 small children at home. The baby is here now, and keeping us on our toes. It's definitely a busy walk in the park having three kiddos!

I have some goals for this space, and I find it necessary to write them out so that I will hold myself accountable.

1. Reboot by posting twice a month, every month. I don't want to commit to more than that at this time, as writing here can be very time consuming (see above for why I'm short on time!).

2. Log back into the Instagram. I have my personal account, and I have a teacher account. I haven't logged into the teacher account in ages. Instagram is such a wonderful place to share teaching successes and ideas. Getting back on there for teacher things will be great!

3. This isn't really a goal for this space, but I want to write it here anyway. Increase the Teachers Pay Teachers sales. Teachers Pay Teachers is such a wonderful resource for all teachers. I create some items, and I find that I really feel happy when I am working on those creations.

That's all I have for now. I'm going to go back to the couch and get some baby snuggles...because it's mid-April and it's snowing? hailing? icing? I'm not exactly sure what's going on out there...

{NEW PRODUCT} Apple Alphabet and Number Matching Cards *English AND Spanish*

Head on over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to download your very own set of apple matching cards! I used the cards last year as an independent activity, especially when students finished their tasks early. The purchase of the cards comes with a sent of upper- and lower-case matching cards, as well as matching numbers to tens-frames.

This set is the Spanish version. And HERE is the English set!

Flexible Seating

I visited my classroom today - I haven't been out of school for a full month yet! I was hoping to see if any of my new furniture had arrived. Sadly, there are no new tables. No new chairs.

I'm jumping on the flexible seating bandwagon, thanks to a grant I received from my district. While quite a few teachers opt to completely remove desks and tables from their classrooms, I have decided to keep the tables. They will be at different heights, and have a variety of seating options.

Truth be told, I'm beyond nervous to start the school year with flexible seating. If I had my way, I would start the year with your typical table heights, and the regular school chairs. Switching the room up in November or December would be ideal.

But storage. Oh, the storage problems in a school. There wouldn't be a place to store all of the seating options. Instead, the flexible seating will begin on Day 1.

I opted for clover shaped tables, instead of rectangular tables. I will still place four students at each table. I plan to keep each "type" of chair together, at one table.

These awesome Zuma rockers will be at one table. Hokki stools will be at another table. Floor cushions from Lakeshore, regular chairs at another, and two different types of schools from IKEA: the Urban Junior Chair, and the Marius stool will finish out the rest of the tables.

Here's a quick peek at my classroom from the 2016-2017 school year.

Stay tuned for updates on the new classroom design as the school year gets closer!

Preschool & Kindergarten Reading Logs

For the last few years, our school has required all grade levels to send home reading logs. At the kindergarten level, I decided that monthly was the best option for our students. Each child is sent home with a reading log at the beginning of the month. Their job is to color one object for every 20 minutes of reading. Easy-peasy!

The themes coordinate with the months -- pencils for September, hearts for February. It's perfect!

Head over to my Teachers Pay Teachers store to pick up your own pack of monthly reading logs! It includes all 12 months for the year-round schools, too!

How to Make Apple Pie

One of my favorite kindergarten activities is instruction writing, because kindergarten students have some pretty wacky instructions for simple tasks.

I'm adding this activity to my fall unit on apples this year and am super excited to share it with you!

{How to Make Apple Pie} is an instruction writing activity for any elementary grade. Use it as an introduction to writing instructions during a fall writing unit. At the kindergarten level, have volunteers or buddies from an older classroom transcribe the silly instructions kindergarten students give. I usually equip my volunteers with a list of prompts to help the younger students complete the task.

The prompts include:

• How many apples do you need? Where do you get them?
• What do you do to the apples?
• What do you use to make the crust?
• Where do you cook it?
• At what temperature is it cooked? For how long?
• How do you serve the pie?
• Do you share it with anyone?

As mentioned before, I've never done this will apple pie before. I have, in the past, asked students to write instructions for how to cook the Thanksgiving turkey. One student said that you have to catch the turkey in the wild with a net, then cook it for 10 minutes at 30 degrees.

Their answers are absolutely priceless!

Once all the students have finished the activity, I like to staple them together to make a class book so that students can share their illustrations and instructions with others. I have also make copies of all of the pages and sent them home as books to share with their families.

You can download your own copy of {How to Make Apple Pie} here and {How to Cook a Turkey} here.

Let me know how these worked in your classroom! What were the silliest instructions?

About

Welcome to my little corner of the teaching blog-o-sphere!

I have spent my entire teaching career enjoying the tiniest learners at the elementary school level. Eight years in kindergarten, and I couldn't be happier! I teach in at a Spanish immersion school in the suburbs of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

While I'm not at school, I enjoy hanging out with my family, swimming, reading, and learning more about teaching the kinder-kiddos. I also enjoy creating products for my Teachers Pay Teachers store, Crazy Kinder with Señora Maus.