*Free* Visual Direction Cards

I’m back with my Monday freebie! A few years ago, I admired the direction cards one of the first grade teachers at our school had made. She had printed words such as “cut” “glue” etc. Onto sentence strips and laminated them. Then, when they were doing a project, she put the cards up on the board’s ledge in the order she wanted the students to complete the task. Brilliant!

Except, my kinders can’t read. (most of them) So I set out looking through my clip art for pictures I could use to go along with the words. I think what I came up with is pretty cute. If you like my visual directions cards you can grab them for free HERE. 

If you missed my other freebies you can get them here:

Where are we? Poster Set

Days of the week Poster Set

All my new classroom sets will be FREE, FREE, FREE all summer. In the fall I’m going to bundle them into a packet on TPT, so grab them now!

Also, Voting starts today for the most fascinating blog award. Please vote for me using the badge at right! 

In Pictures and in Words Book Study: Chapters 1-6

I’m linking up with Mrs. Wills for her Book Study of Katie Wood Ray’s book “In Pictures and in Words.

   First, of all I want to say that I am super excited about this book study. So much, in fact, that I decided to participate even though I’m already participating in the Daily 5 study. I feel that as a teacher, writing is my Achilles heel. It’s the point in the day where I feel the weakest. Some days I feel as though I’m grasping at straws and I’m left wondering “did they really learn anything today? Are they becoming the writers they should be? Are they putting into practice the things we’ve talked about?” Not my shining moment as a teacher. So I’m really excited to learn more about teaching through illustrations and how I can incorporate all of this into The Writers Workshop (Caulkins) that our district uses. I’m not great at summarizing on my own, so I’m going to go ahead and let Mrs. Wills guiding questions lead me. 

        How might you explain to students that illustrating is composing?

I think that studying other illustrators work, and taking the time to notice what is going on in their pictures is so important. I know as a teacher I don’t take enough time to stop and point out different techniques in illustrations. So often we get so focused on making sure the kids are composing text, that we forget about the process behind illustrations. I know I’m guilty of telling my students to just jot down a quick sketch before they begin their writing. I loved when Katie was talking about the book MUD and used out loud thinking with her kids to talk about how the illustrator zoomed in on certain parts of the child to really show the mud oozing, or how in another book she pointed out to the kids that the character was shown from behind so they could see what the character saw. I think that by taking the time to notice these things and letting the kids notice them, and then allowing them the time to craft their illustrations and practice these kinds of techniques we can show them that composing the illustrations can be just as powerful as composing the text.

   How might your attitude towards writing affect your student’s willingness to write?

Is this question for me or what? I think it is so important to have an eager approach to writing. But do I always? Definitely not. I think the more we dread writing, the more the kids will. The more we are excited about it, and dive into books with the intent to study from other authors and illustrators the more the kids will be too. I also loved how Katie pointed out the importance of showing the students a picture of the author/illustrator to make the idea more concrete to them. She also said you should refer to the author/illustrator by name when pointing out what they did so that the kids think of themselves as authors/illustrators who can do the same kinds of things.

 

   How might you help your students build stamina in writing?

I think it’s important to not expect too much too soon. I know I need to slow down and remember that writing is a PROCESS. I shouldn’t expect them to do the same kind of writing at the beginning of the year as at the end of the year. I LOVED when Katie said it is OK to slow down and spend more time on the little things. Like drawing. And composing illustrations. Obviously at the beginning of the year it is best to start in small increments of time and build on to that as the year goes on.

   What language might you use with your students to talk about reading like a writer, both as a writer of pictures and words?

Like I said earlier, I love the idea of not only referring to the author and illustrator by name, but also of showing the kids a picture of them. The more the kids think of the author/illustrator as people, the more they will connect with them and feel comfortable with the idea “hey, I’m a writer…. I could do that too! I think that the more you take the time to notice writing and illustrating techniques, the more the kids will get in the habit of noticing them on their own. And as Katie said, they always notice more than we do!

   Name Several Books not already mentioned in the text that you could gather for your classroom’s unit of study on illustrations.

Here are some great picture books that I think would be excellent for studying illustrations:

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

I Ain’t Gonna Paint No More

Corduroy

Duck on a Bike

The Snowy Day

Growing Vegetable Soup

Summer Bucket List: Bunting Banner

Alright guys, I have been having serious issues with blogger! I tried all last night to get up my bucket list post. It published it to my blog, but it didn’t show up in follower’s feed (I know because I follow myself) and when I checked my icon in other people’s blog rolls, it didn’t show the updated post. What am I doing wrong??? I’m going to try my post one more time.

My next project off my summer bucket list was the bunting banner. I was inspired by Abby’s from The Inspired Apple. I followed her directions almost exactly.

First I gathered my supplies. Here’s what I used:

Fabric in blue, green, yellow and paw prints

Heat-n-bond

White ribbon with blue polka dots

Scissors

Iron

The next step was to cut my triangles. I cut one to be the size I wanted, then used it as a template to cut the rest. Then I put on a marathon of Keeping Up With The Kardashians, because assembly is a lengthy process.

It’s a relatively easy process though. Here’s what you do.

1.  Lay out your ribbon in a straight line WRONG side up.

2. On top of the ribbon lay out the heat-n-bond

3. On top of the heat-n-bond, arrange your triangles WRONG side up, and overlap them just a little bit so that the heat-n-bond isn’t exposed

4. Iron!

And that’s it! Then all you need to do is slide everything over a little and continue down the ribbon until you’re done!

I can’t wait till I can show you pics of my banner hanging in my classroom in August. I’m going to go for the layered look like this one from 2 sisters:

So now my to do list looks more like this:

1. Supply Storage
2. Pendant Banner
3. Curtains
4. Brownie Points Magnetic Board
5. Spend time at the Pool/Beach (this is an ongoing one)
6. Finish TPT Units – Back To School, Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Alphabet Wake Up Work, Numbers & Shapes Wake Up Work
7. Crate Seats for Guided Reading..
8. Listening Center Seats & Storage
9. Sight Word Sticks
10. Door Wreath

I just finished and posted my fall centers, along with an alphabet morning work pack, check them out! 

Check back next week when I share another project :)

Kindergarten Daily 5 Book Study - Chapter 2

Hey Everyone! If you haven’t joined the Daily 5 book study, it’s not too late. This week Caitlyn, from Kindergarten Smiles, posted about chapter two. Each Thursday the host for the next chapter will post questions for you before reading and also allow for you to ask questions in the comments. The following Wednesday, that blogger will post answers to that week’s questions and a reflection of that chapter. You will have an opportunity to link up each week too so the learning will continue to spread online. This is very exciting! So, let’s get to chapter two’s questions.

1. Do you trust your students? How do you build this trust? Are you able to trust them and allow them to be independent throughout all aspects of your day? Are you going to be able to stay out of their way?

For the most part, I trust my students. There are always a few who seem to need redirecting though. I’m hoping that through this study I can learn to have my students be more independent and self-monitoring, and then trust will feel more natural. I know that it will take a lot of work and a lot of modeling and practicing. Hopefully we can get to a point where I can trust that if someone gets on task, their peers will be able to point them back in the right direction by reminding them what they are supposed to be doing or by referring them back to anchor charts.

2. How much choice do you give your students throughout the day? Do you go over your daily schedule with your students or is it just 'posted' in the room?

Not much. We’ve been doing centers, so while I have a reading group at my table, my kids go to other assigned centers. I think choice will be good for the students and get them motivated, but I know it will need to be done in a very controlled way. I haven’t decided completely if I will switch completely to daily 5 yet (I want to complete the book study before I decide) but if I don’t and stick with centers I’m going to work on providing more choice within the centers.

3. How are you going to create that sense of community where students will hold each other accountable?

I think it’s really important to build community at the beginning of the year and to include students in the decision making right away. Working together to come up with class rules, routines and procedures helps students to take ownership for “their class” I’m really hoping that the students will step up to the plate too keep accountable themselves and their classmates.

4. Student ownership in learning? How do you instill this in every child?

Making sure the kids know “why” they are doing something is so important! The more you share with them the why, the more they will view it as important. When you keep that from them (or forget or run out of time) then only YOU know why it’s important. They don’t. I always start out at the beginning of the year making sure my students know the why behind everything we do, but as the year goes on I start to slack… this year I want to stay on top of it, all year!

5. Stamina! How are you going to build stamina with reading? independent work? Will you use a timer? Will you set goals?

I’ll definitely use a timer, and set goals! Our first day I will time the students to see how long they can go. Afterwards we will discuss and set a goal for next time. The next day we will try to meet that goal. As time goes on, our goals will grow and eventually we’ll be working towards our full amount of time. I want to make sure my kids understand the word stamina this year too. It’s a word I’ve never used before in the classroom, but it’s so important that kids have it and that they learn to let it grow!

Next week we are heading back over to Tammy's blog to discuss Chapter 3! I am excited to move on to the different areas of Daily 5 and how to implement them! 

Back-To-School Center Pack WInner!

Congratulations to 

Who won my Back-To-School Centers Pack!  I'll be emailing you shortly!

For everyone else, I'm putting it on sale for 20% off until Friday! 

I'll be back tomorrow with my Daily 5 Book Study post :)

Free "Where are we?" cards and a Nomination!

I’m back with another freebie I’ve created for my classroom! You’ll remember I’m decorating with blue, green, and puppies all over! I first saw the neat idea of a "where are we? board" over at Mrs. Freshwater’s site. She saw the idea from Smiling inSecond. 

Smiling in Second's Board

I knew I would need to do a little tweaking for this to work for my kinders. First up, I needed to add some more places. We’re a fine arts magnet school so we go to more fine arts classes than your average kindergarten. Second, I wanted to add some pictures. Mrs. Freshwater had the great idea of adding a job to your job board so that one of the kids is in charge of updating the board each time you leave the class. But most of my kinders won’t be able to read when they come to me, so picture cues should help! I decided to make my board just a regular sized piece of paper and I’ll put some Velcro down at the bottom and on the back of the cards. I plan to hang it outside my room with a pouch nearby with all the strips. When it’s time to leave the room my helper can just pick out the right card and stick it on! You can get my free “where are we?” set HERE.

AND, I was so surprised this morning to see an email that I have been nominated for an award! I hope you all will vote for me starting June 25th!

Summer Bucket List: Supply Storage & a giveaway!

Today I'm going to show you all how I made my first project off my summer bucket list. If you don't remember my list looks like this: 


1. Supply Storage
2. Pendant Banner
3. Curtains
4. Brownie Points Magnetic Board
5. Spend time at the Pool/Beach (see yesterdays post!)
6. Finish Fall Units
7. Crate Seats for Guided Reading
and I'm adding a few more....
8. Listening Center Seats & Storage
9. Sight Word Sticks
10. Door Wreath


First up is the Supply Storage. I was inspired by this awesome picture from here.

But of course I had to make it my own. If you didn't see my freebie days of the week cards earlier this week, then you don't know.... my classroom color scheme next year will be blue and green, and my theme is puppies! I'm going to be posting freebies that I'm working on all summer long :)


But back to the organizer.  I started with the same organizer, and some spray paint, which I bought from Home Depot. I also bought some scrapbooking paper from Michaels and I made the labels on my computer. 

I used an old box as my backdrop to catch any extra spray paint and used thin coats of paint that I let dry in between. The key is to do very thin coats and to keep your hand moving. Otherwise you will get bubbles and drips. 

Once it was completely dry I used one of the drawers to make a template and I cut out scrapbooking paper to fit on the inside. I added a label to each one and then used clear tape to attach the paper to the drawers. Here is is all finished! 

I love, love, love it!! And I still had some spray paint, so while I was at it I painted my ugly red bell too! 

So here is how my list looks now: 

1. Supply Storage
2. Pendant Banner
3. Curtains
4. Brownie Points Magnetic Board
5. Spend time at the Pool/Beach (see yesterdays post!)
6. Finish Fall Units
7. Crate Seats for Guided Reading..
8. Listening Center Seats & Storage
9. Sight Word Sticks
10. Door Wreath


Check back next week when I share another project :)

I'm also well on my way to tackling #6, which is my fall units. I just posted my Back-to-School Centers and Camping Centers . You can check them out HERE and HERE. The Back-to-School centers took me forever! The set includes 13 games that are simple enough for your students to do at the beginning of the year. They cover colors, letters, beginning sounds, numbers and shapes! These are perfect for when your students are just learning the procedures of how to do centers. Each game comes in both a color and black and white (to copy onto colored paper) version and includes a recording sheet. The worksheets that require your students to write also come in a traceable version, for students who need extra support! This is my biggest unit yet! 

AND, I'm going to give one away! You can enter three ways 
1. Leave me a comment telling me what projects you are going to tackle this summer
2. Follow my blog and leave me a comment saying you do
3. Follow my TPT store and leave me a comment saying you do!


I'll pick a winner on Monday!