Veterans Day!

Veterans Day was an all day event in  my Kindergarten class. Having lived at the coast for only three years, I wasn't used to being in a non-military community for a holiday like Veterans Day. I took the time to talk about our military, to watch Discovery Education videos about our military, and to share some of my family experiences being a military 'brat.' I gave my students time to discuss and share with their shoulder buddies and also in front of the class. Most of my students knew about the military only from play and cartoons.

We wrote letters to my nephew, David Cody who has just joined the Army. I am so proud of him, but at the same time I am sad because I know what a sacrifice this will be for him as far as being away from family and friends.

With my Kinders they have to have some kind of connection before they can even begin to write. I was hoping our day of talking, watching, discussing, and sharing would prepare them for their afternoon writing activity.

I believe by coloring they are beginning the writing process. They are thinking about what they are doing and getting their thoughts together.

As they finished, I hung their work out for all to see.

Tuesday we started another activity and I took down their letters to my nephew, David Cody and got those ready to mail to him.

I thought they turned out great.

It is nice to see Kinders beginning to understand a little about the world around them.

They made connections to our military which was different than just TV shows or cartoons.

They thought about a real person, my nephew, wanting to help his country.

Some just thought about fighting, but we talked about helping children all over the world.

If you would like my Veterans Day Writing Activity, https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Veterans-Day-Writing-Craftivity-for-Kindergarten-1560777. It's $3.00 on TPT, but can be used for many years to come. On the pictures there is a year, that has been taken off.  Please leave me some feedback and consider following my TPT store for new product notification!

How Do You Display Student Work?

We have to have student work displayed in our hall and classroom. I love to do this anyway, but it is a requirement at our school. I wrote about how I display my students work on a previous post.

I thought maybe someone might be interested in  how I display my students' work in the hall. In a previous county we had a pretty strict Fire Marshall and things could not be hanging all over the place (I think it was only 60% of a wall could be covered??)

This is what I came up with a few years ago. I like the way each student has their place on the wall!

I usually only change it once a month, but in the past I have changed it weekly.

I didn't notice till now that one of the little spider webs is crooked!

How do you hang up your student work? Leave a comment below with a link to a pic! I would love to see how others display their students' work!

I have my  Student Work Topper on TPT. I printed my original Toppers pictured above in black and white and then took Sharpies to color in the WOW's (I do this a lot!) No color at the time and I had to finish this! The TPT packet has color and black and white Toppers, plus 10 different describing words! And instructions! Check it out if you are interested in displays! (Click on the picture below for a look!)

Thanks for the visit! 

October Flew By!

I don't know about the rest of you, but October just flew by for me! I love October and all the fun activities that we can do with our students, but I couldn't get it all in.

We did have so many fun times and I know every one of my students look at spiders in a different way. We never got around to actually carving a pumpkin, but we did make the cutest little pumpkins as our 'curtain.' I love to hang things from my window.

This is a picture of my class window last year. These are the dodecahedron's we did in 4th and 5th grade AIG. Mr. J. Hughes, one of my favorite TPTer's made this item up! He is amazing. You have to visit his store, (here's the link.)

This is my window this year. I haven't decided how I am going to do my 'curtain.' I think I want a little more color than I had before. (More on this later.)

We have 27 students in our K classrooms. Next Tuesday I will have 21! I am so thankful we have a new teacher. She is right beside me (we connect with a hall with a B and G bathroom!) She loves Science and I am so excited. I will miss my students but they will be next door and I can pop in anytime.

I can't wait to have just 21 folders, notebooks, activities to make, students to meet with.... and the list goes on and on!

I do have a little Turkey Center Activity in my TPT store if you want to take a look. It is Gobblin' Fun! I am going to introduce it today in whole group and then let my students have a go at it! We are working on Beginning Sounds and this is just another way for them to have fun while practicing!

I'll take pics later!

Thanks for visiting.

Enjoying Summer Break!

It has been a month since I've posted on my blog! A lot has happened, but mostly this:

Ocean Isle Beach, NC

My hubby and I walk on the beach almost every morning or night. Then we sit and just watch the waves. Very therapeutic!  I can plan a whole week's lesson while sitting and watching the sea. Or I just think about nothing and just relax.

I've also been doing a tad of knitting. This is a little vest for a friend of mine who just had a baby boy, Charlie! I love his name. The pattern is Cabled Vest and is really so easy.

My deck is probably my favorite place to sit. It's shaded by a big ole Oak Tree. I love it. I can sit there, under the tree, any time of the day and there is always a cool breeze!

I've also been thinking about my sweet students. This is a gift one of them brought to me a few days after school let out. My last year's fourth graders do not know that I will not be their teacher next year. I just found out myself a few days ago. I will miss them so much, but this is a change I asked for. I'm going from 4th and 5th grade AIG to KINDERGARTEN! Some people wonder about my sanity, but I know I will enjoy teaching K again. I loved AIG, but I taught Reading, Math, and Social Studies to 2 grade levels, plus I had a home room with all those responsibilities. No time for a break or even to regroup before the next group came in. I started out teaching Kindergarten and I look forward to this coming year.

So, I have been planning and thinking and reading about Common Core and early learners. Wow, things have changed since I taught K. Looking forward to visiting some K blogs to see what everyone is doing. I did put a few new items for K on TPT. Also a really nice freebie that I think everyone will like.  Here's the link: Sight Word Dictionary !

Here's some little Thumbnails of the Dictionary! Very tiny, but you can download the Dictionary for Free at my TPT store! 

Have a wonderful summer, and as always, thanks for visiting my blog!