My Wandering and Random Thoughts!

Hello Friends!

I am linking up with Fabulous in First and sharing some Sunday randomness and this DEFINITELY is filled with random thoughts!!!

1.  I just love gardening! When we were in San Francisco, I was  so jealous of the fact that they get to garden year round and we in Illinois, have only a few months.... sniff, sniff..... Anyway, first I am going to share with you some updated photos of our school garden. It has been sooo much fun sharing this love of mine with little ones this summer!

2.  I also love my flowers  in my gardens at home. My flowers were "singing"  to me yesterday, so I took a few pictures of them!

 3.  I have been in my classroom for the past 2 weeks and thought I would share with you this cute bulletin board that I put up yesterday. It has a little bit of a glare on it...It is not completely finished, but done enough that I can share!
I am trying to figure out how to get the kid's names on it so that they match the title plus I think that I am going to cut the lettering from the ellison cutter instead of using the computer printed words. But you get the general idea! The flowers are the paper accordion ones that you can find at Walmart or the Party Store.

Here are the rest of them.... ugh....... Still LOTS to do!!!!!

4. Part of the reason I have been in my classroom is because I am having foot surgery on Tuesday and I was allowed to get inside and work. I will not be able to walk for 10 - 14 days - Yikes! I just picked up my mode of transportation this week! It's called a "Roll About" and you put your sore leg's knee on the pads and scoot yourself with your good foot. The problem with it is that it is going to tear up our carpet... BUT, we were planning to replace it this year anyway, so this will make it happen, for sure! I chose this over crutches because I felt that I would be more secure with this than crutches, but it still takes some maneuvering to get around. It is like driver's ed all over again!

5.  I just finished my latest resource! It is a Social Studies packet. It is called "Maps and Globes for Little Kids" and I am really proud of how it came out! 

If you purchased my "Nutcracker" unit, this is a revision for that and you can ONLY get it through email from me! Just go to your "My Purchases" page on TPT and take a screen shot of your nutcracker purchase. Send me the screen shot and I will send you the revision!

6.  Lastly, because of my surgery, I am not sure when my next post will be... I am going to TRY to get one written for the next chapter in "Talking, Drawing, Writing", but we will see........ Hopefully I will be able to be on my computer after a week. I have been fretting and fretting about this surgery. I am super worried about the inactivity I will have for awhile and I also am worried about how my foot will be for the first of school. I have to be back to school on August 19 for our "Meet the Teacher" day, so my goal is to be walking comfortably in a boot by then...  I am glad that I scheduled the surgery the way I did, though. It gave me time to enjoy some summer fun... my trip to San Francisco, my gardening, and time with my kids. I also am so lucky to have such a supportive principal and maintenance staff who cleaned my room early so that I could have the time to do some room arrangement and decorating. I know that I will appreciate this because I probably will not be allowed to go to school until August 9 or 10 at the earliest!

So..... that is it for now! 

Until next time!

Blessings, 

Cindy

My Favorite Pins Friday Linky

Hello Friends!

I am linking up with Cara from First Grade Parade to showcase some of my favorite pins!

1.  One of my favorites is from "Rainbows Within Reach". We do a big jungle unit in the spring and these giraffes are cute as a button! Click the image to take you to the website and if you click HERE, you will find a post I wrote a few months ago with pictures my own students painted!

2.  I just pinned this today. It is a list of FREE primary videos from Ready Teach.com! When you click on the link, it will take you to a page that says this:

Not Found

Apologies, but the page you requested could not be found. Perhaps searching will help.

But if you go to the top of the page, you will see this:

 Click "Primary Videos K-2" and you will find the links!

3. I LOVE this idea from Julie in Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten! I am definitely going to use this when we start labeling this year!

4.  I LOVE salsa! I think that I could make any type of Salsa a meal any time of day! So when I found this recipe for Salsa, I had to pin it! Yum!

5.  And last... I love this "Hey Girl" poster because it is soooo me!

 Happy Friday!

Until next time!

Blessings,
Cindy

Star Spangled Sale Today Only - Celebrate the USA!

Hello Friends!

I am having a mid summer, 4th of July sale! Everything will be 20% off for today only!

I wish you all peace and joy and lots of time with your families!

Click the image to hop on over to my store!


Blessings,

Cindy

Chapter 5 Talking, Drawing, Writing and a Freebie!

Hello Friends!

Hey, it's not Thursday; it's Wednesday and I am posting my reflections on Chapter 5 a day early! Woo hoo!

Chapter 5 is entitled "Writing Words." I have to say that THIS is the chapter that I have been longing to read! I have taught kindergarten for 18 years and you would think that I would feel competent in all the subject areas that I teach, but teaching writing has ALWAYS stumped me. I think it is because I have never really had a formal education on how to teach writing; everything that I know I have gotten from reading books and blogs and trial and error. So, when I read Chapter 5, I was blown away with the practical suggestions it gives for teaching the craft of writing!

As with most, if not all, kindergarten teachers, I teach my kiddos to use sound spelling when they are writing and the authors in this book totally agree with that style of teaching. I love the words they use with their students to make them comfortable with spelling........"When you're learning how to write words, people may hear different things, and that's because everybody is trying their best. So you need to remember, always write the letters for sounds that YOU hear." "When you are learning to write, you can't possibly know how to spell every word correctly. But what you can do is try your best." Aren't these just the nicest words to use to encourage each child to do what THEY can do and not compare themselves to others?

The other wonderful thing about Chapter 5 is that the authors give a strategy for children to use when they are struggling to spell a word:

1.  THINK OF WHAT YOU WANT TO SAY.
2.  SAY THE WORD SLOWLY.
3.  LISTEN TO THE SOUNDS IN THE WORD.
4.  THINK ABOUT WHAT LETTERS MAKE THE SOUND.
5.  WRITE THE LETTERS FOR THE SOUNDS YOU HEAR.
6.  GO BACK AND TOUCH YOUR WORDS TO REMEMBER WHAT YOU WROTE.

As I was reading this chapter, I realized that even though I have always felt that teaching writing has been my weak area, I actually have been doing it correctly. The difference is that NOW I have validation in what I do and concrete strategies for teaching this extremely important skill to kids. Because despite the fact that as we grow more and more dependent on technology (and pencil and paper may eventually go the way of analog TV's),  our students will always have to know how to compose sentences and put their thoughts on paper in some way. And those of us who teach beginning writers must give our students as many foundational tools as we can so that when they ARE ready to become accurate spellers, they have learned to not be afraid to try!

This is such an inspiring book and such a wonderful reference for a teacher to have!

Here is a chart I made to teach my kiddos the steps for writing words based on the steps listed in the book. Click on the image if you would like a copy! And if you click the Book Study link above, there is another freebie waiting for you!

Until next time!

Blessings,
Cindy


PS - And don't forget to click my "Follow Me on Blog Lovin'" button to receive my posts by email. I have to say that I did really use Google Reader, so am not really sure what we have lost, BUT I love Blog Lovin! It is such a nice way to keep track of the blogs I love!

Sunday Randomness

Hello All!

I am linking up with Michelle, from Fabulous in First to do some Sunday randomness....... !

I have given up my favorite sweet treat this summer and it is killing me! I usually do not miss it, but when I am starting to get hungry (like I am now!), I CRAVE Nature Valley Dark Chocolate Granola Thins - Arghhh!!!! 

When I became a seller on TPT,  I can't believe I thought I knew what I was doing! Oh my gosh.... the things I have learned these past 2 years would fill HUNDREDS of pages! So, when I went back and looked at some of my older products, I was the teacher to MYSELF and said, "Why don't you try that again, Honey? I bet you could do a lot better!" (Smile) So, today...... I have spent HOURS revising 3 of my Draw, Cut, Create units and I have to say that I am pretty proud of them! I plan to have a flash freebie soon on one of the packets, so make sure you are following my FB page to get it!

The signs that we put up in our school garden are surviving our Illinois heat and rain! Yay!

And my last random thought... Why did I sit inside at my computer all day and not enjoy the summer sun? Sigh.......  I shall NOT do that tomorrow!

Check out other randomness at Fabulous in First!  And don't forget to click the FOLLOW ME ON BLOG LOVIN button above to continue receiving my posts! Google Reader goes Bye, bye tomorrow! (So sad...... )

Until next time!

Blessings,
Cindy

Five For Friday; Well Six, but Who's Counting?! Yay!

Hello Friends!

I am participating in Doodle Bugs Five for Friday this week - WAA HOO! So, here we go!...............

1.  My daughter and I just returned from a week trip to San Francisco to visit my brother and his family. I love that city! Here are a few fun pictures!

We climbed UP the street one block over and climbed DOWN Lombard Street!

  Usually the dock on Pier 39 on Fisherman's Wharf is packed with sea lions, but when we were there, we saw only a few. They were noisy, though!

 This is a picture of my Mom and me and the picture below is of my daughter and me. We are standing at the the old Navy base on Alameda Island. Notice the sky. My brother said it hardly ever rains in San Francisco in June, but guess what, it did while we were there!

I love this view of the city! And of course, my beautiful daughter!

One other thing I LOVE about San Francisco...... Cars STOP for pedestrians; unlike where I live where cars seem to speed up when they see a pedestrian.... yes, very sad...... Thank you San Francisco, for respecting a person's right to walk and ride bikes! :) 


2.  As I said in a previous post, I will be "imprisoned" in my house for most of July due to foot surgery. I am a planner, so the wonderful maintenance guys in my school cleaned my classroom early so that I can get inside and set it up before August! I loved my theme last year which was apples because I LOVE apple colors. So, my thought is to continue parts of the apple color for my classroom decor, but instead of apples, I am doing polka dots! We do not have a teacher supply store in our town so I have to order bulletin board trim and other decor on line. Unfortunately I just received the confirmation and the trim will not be here until AFTER my surgery.... Boo hoo..... oh well, hopefully I will be able to get the bulletin boards up in August!
These pictures are from yesterday after 3 hours of working...... still MUCH to do, but I know I will appreciate it when August rolls around!

3.  I just finished an EARLY Apple literacy packet for Word Work. (Early meaning it is for EARLY in the year!) It is based ONLY on the letters in the word apple. I always teach my students to spell APPLE and thought this would be a fun way to reinforce that skill. 

  

4.  I am sure by now that you know that Google Reader will be no more after July 1. I am really unsure as to how this is all going to work, but do know that a switch needs to be made in order for us to continue to follow our favorite blogs. You can see my "Follow me on Blog Lovin" button on the top left corner of my blog. (That cute button is courtesy of Melissa from Common and Core and More. Click here to find her tutorial about how to add the button to your own blog!) If you want to continue to read my posts, you will need to click that button. It will take you through a really simple setup process and you will be all set to go. 

5.  I was chatting with some bloggy friends discussing favorite pencil sharpeners. I just have to tell you that THIS one is my favorite of all time! It has multiple size holes for different sized pencils and can sharpen ANY kind of pencil! It has a large shavings receptacle and has even survived being knocked on the floor! I got mine on Amazon, but I think you can get it other places, too! 

6.  And just for fun..... I learned how to make DELICIOUS vegetable soup while in San Francisco. The key is ROASTING  the vegetables before adding them to the liquid. This dehydrates the vegetables and then when they are added to the soup mixture, the vegetables are reconstituted with the flavor of the broth! Yummy! 

Here is the recipe for VEGETABLE SOUP

(I used these vegetables.......Carrots, onions, celery, string beans, asparagus, red pepper, green pepper, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas, corn, sliced mushrooms)

On a baking sheet in a single layer, roast veggies in a 400 degree oven. Turn veggies after 20 minutes and continue roasting for 20 more minutes. Veggies are reduced by half; they should NOT burn.

In a large cooking pot or crock pot, add the vegetables to this liquid combination:

46 ounce V8 juice

32 ounce Vegetable broth

One  14 ounce  can diced tomato and peppers

1/2 teaspoon each cumin, thyme, oregano

I added a teaspoon of fresh basil.

If using a cooking pot on the top of a stove, simmer 1-2 hours until veggies are reconstituted.

If using a crock pot, simmer for 4 hours.

Until next time!

Blessings,

Cindy

Reflections of Chapter 4 of "Talking, Drawing, Writing" and Throwback Thursday!

Hello Friends!

Yes, here is it Thursday and sadly, I am again, just getting to my reflections on "Talking, Drawing, Writing".... sigh..... Life just seems to get in the way!

Anyway....... Chapter 4 is entitled "The Craft of Drawing" and it offers such wonderful ideas and tips for teaching kids to add details to their drawing. The authors continue to stress how important it is to encourage kids to do detailed drawings before adding words to their writing. One area that was interesting to me was how even though children receive lessons on how to draw, when left to draw on their own, they often return to their sketchy drawings with little detail. They feel that children need to receive continued instruction and practice before this type of drawing becomes internalized. I agree with this thought. When I think back to my own students, I know that I become a bit discouraged when they are unable to make connections between the lesson that was just taught and the outcome of their production. Just as with everything that we teach, repetition, practice, and an environment where it is safe to make mistakes and learn from them is the way it should be with everything!

We use "Handwriting Without Tears" in our kindergarten. We love this program for many reasons, but one of the fun reasons is that they teach children how to draw people. Although stick figures can be endearing, this type of drawing is not representational of people and honestly, I think children WANT to know how to draw people. In "Handwriting Without Tears", children learn a song about the parts of the body which I plan to use as a perfect springboard for using the techniques in "Talking, Drawing, Writing" for drawing people. The authors show children how to use ovals to draw people. They discuss how to use ovals to draw a head, a torso (I love this word!), and 3 ovals each for arms and legs. Another interesting idea that they use for showing children that drawing people is just using ovals is the use of a transparency. They cover a picture from a book with a transparency and use a black transparency marker to draw ovals upon the picture. Wow! What a wonderful way to show children that drawing ovals is one way to make people look real!

The majority of this chapter is filled with descriptions for how to draw people and I just love them all! They use these terms for their drawing... head, torso, upper arm, lower arm, hands, upper leg, lower leg, feet. I love these terms and plan to use them right away! I also love that the authors give suggestions for picture books that can be used for teaching the skills that they are describing. One of my favorite books is the "The Color of Us" by Lillian Katz. In this book, Ms Katz describes the various colors of skin and uses such delicious words to describe them...... gingerbread, peach, chocolate........ I have a resource that I use every year when we discuss the colors of skin. I use multi cultural construction paper, but other types of media can be used such as multi-cultural crayons and colored pencils.

Besides skin color, the authors give ideas and tips Drawing People in Action, Drawing People from the back, Drawing Hair styles, Drawing clothing on people, Planning how to draw your story, and Going beyond safe drawing. I especially enjoyed reading the section on encouraging children to go beyond what they feel comfortable drawing . They feel it is important that children realize that their drawings must match what they want to say. Drawing a house, flowers, and a tree may look realistic and is easy to do, but if they want to tell a story about what happened on the INSIDE of their house, drawing the outside of their house is not going to show what they want to say. So, helping children to understand that their drawing needs to match the thoughts in their head is critical to getting them to writing words that describe a story.

If you are not reading this book, you HAVE to get it and read it! I just cannot write enough words about how inspiring it has been to read! If you ARE reading it, isn't it worth the time? I am so glad that this book was a recommended read for me this summer!

If you would like to see my resource on "I Am Beautiful" , click the image below. It will be on sale until July 1!

Now.... Throwback Thursday........

I looked and looked for instructions for how to create an EASY rain stick. I could find directions, but they were all so hard for little ones to make.  I finally asked my Mom who was a teacher for 25 years and she gave me the directions! So, if you ever want to make a rain stick, click the image to the left to take you them!

 Oh and one more thing.... Ashley Hughes is still hosting her fantastic giveaway on her blog. This is Day 4 - Woo hoo! Click the image below to take you there!

 Until next time!

Blessings, Cindy