Some November Happenings...

November has been quite busy.  I forget to take pictures of everything we do as I am still getting used to keeping up with a blog!  I will start with my door.  My door has been the same since the beginning of the year.  Thanks to the blog and instagram picture from learninginwonderland.com for the idea!  I did add brown student handprints to his body which turned out really cute (no picture, of course).


Here is my last minute/do this during inside recess turkey...

...and his cute feet.

I created a little Thanksgiving packet for sale on tpt here.  Within that packet is a 'Count the Room' activity.  This is the only picture I took of my students using the activities in the packet - I am still learning!


I think she is so cute with her clipboard!

Another activity I had for my afternoon class was creating their own Thanksgiving dinner plates from store grocery ads.  I picked up enough grocery store ads from a local store and the students cut out pictures of the food they would like to have on Thanksgiving day!  This was super simple and a huge hit with all the students!

The students were all over the classroom cutting and gluing their favorite foods.  Luckily no one chose any alcohol!

Here are my morning turkeys....

 

On Friday we had a Thanksgiving feast.  Students brought the food and we had parent volunteers decorate and get the room ready for us.  The K-5 class were the Indians and the K-4 class were the Pilgrims.

 I love this picture!!!!!

 

Well, that's it!  What a fun time.  I wish everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!!!!  We have very much to be thankful for!

A Little Taste of our Apple Unit from October....

It has been a long time since my last blog post...keeping up with blogging will be harder than I thought!  Although we are in November I thought I would post a little of what we did in October.  Since we visited an apple orchard we learned a little about Johnny Appleseed.  We watched the old Disney cartoon first....

 

The students loved to sing Johnny's song!!!

 

Next, we made Johnny Appleseed hats which I downloaded for free here at Kindergarten Rocks' store on Teachers Pay Teachers. 

Hmmm...two very different thoughts happening here,

This pic turned out so cute.  I wanted a picture of his hat, but he would always turn to look at me when I would take the picture!

 

Next, the students worked on a Johnny Appleseed number puzzle which I downloaded free in a Johnny Appleseed unit from Royal Baloo here.  So much good stuff in that free unit!

 

 

 

We taste tested red, green and yellow apples. 

 

She's loving it.  Look at his sour apple face! I don't think he ever ate a green apple before. 

 

We also made apple sauce, sang apple songs, learned about the life cycle of an apple tree, plus much more!

 

 

 

A few pictures of our trip to the apple orchard.... 

 

 

Fun Times!

Short Vowel Cut and Paste Activity....Success!

Knowing the short vowel sounds is essential to great reading.  Since we will begin reading groups in about 6 weeks, I will be reviewing the short vowel sounds often with some cut and paste activities I have created.  I will end this with a final review which is also in my activity pack. Students will work on these individually to allow me to see their understandings/misunderstandings.

Today, as morning work, my students worked on one of my Short Vowel Cut & Paste Activities - specifically the 'a' & 'e' beginning vowels set.  We have been working on the short vowel sounds since the beginning of the year so this was a nice individual review while working those fine motor muscles!

1 of 31 activities in my Short Vowels Cut & Paste Activities Set.  Please visit my store at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lighting-Fires-Through-Learning

Here is one student very busy.....

 Do you see her warm fuzzy on the table???

 

I often tell my students that short 'e' likes to sound like other letters as it seems to be the trickiest short vowel for my students to conquer.  Often students will say the short 'i' as in indian sound or the short 'a' as in apple sound instead of 'e' as in elephant.  This activity helped me to see which students needed more review and which students had it!

 

 

He's got it!! Yeah, for him!

and another fuzzy.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hello blogging world...here I am!

Well, I am new to blogging but very excited to get started!  I have been married for 20 years this month.  I have four wonderful children between the ages of 15 and 22.  I currently teach K-5/K-4 at a Christian school. 

I must say I love teaching!   I began teaching about 15 years ago.  I taught K-4 and K-5 for a total of four years before homeschooling my four children up until two years ago.  I also love homeschooling!  During our homeschooling years I worked on my bachelor's degree in elementary education (Interdisciplinary Studies - to be exact!).  I received my teaching certificate from the state of Michigan in January of 2012.  I began teaching 5th grade last year and moved to K-5/K-4 this year. 

My adventures in education ~which education should be an adventure~ has been great.  I learned so much through homeschooling and the use of different curriculums and the many, many workshops I attended.  I also learned so much through conversations with other homeschool moms, many of whom were certified teachers.  We talked of curriculum, learning styles, instructional methods, learning disabilities, differentiated instruction, dinner, husbands, etc....  

I have also started selling products on teacherspayteachers.com.  Please check out my products! http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Lighting-Fires-Through-Learning

Please join me as I share my experiences of teaching!