Happy Kinder Valentine's Day... & move over, Mom!

What a week! I am utterly exhausted from a week full of evening parent-teacher conferences and sugar-fueled Valentine's day parties. However, I have had some really sweet and funny "high points" to this week and I'm glad I am taking the time to reflect and remember them.

----------------------------------------------------------------

First of all, Valentine's Day in kindergarten is pretty darn cute. They are extra sweet on top of their normal adorableness. We recently worked on writing letters in our room and the important aspects of a letter (dear, from). So, this week, we cut out hearts and wrote Valentine letters to people we love.

I told the kinders they could write to anyone they wanted to outside of school. Basically, I was telling them they had to write to someone other than me. :) Ha! I've kind of become a "safe" writing topic and I'm trying to expand their horizons a bit.

I took pictures of some of my favorites. They are adorable and so genuine. 

[Dear Mom and Dad, I love you guys! You are funny. I like your cookies. I love you the best in the family.]

The next two are funny because these little ones always call their parents by their first names (which seriously cracks me up when they tell stories!)

[Dear Jon, I love you. You are funny. I like your smile. You are awesome.] a.k.a. Dad

[Dear Sarah, I love you. You are awesome. I like your hugs.] a.k.a Mom

Gotta love the little ones who write to their pets. Don't ever underestimate how much an animal can mean to a child! 

[Dear Fish, I love you! You are beautiful. I like your nice fins.]

[Dear Dog, I love you! You are cute. I like your licks.]

 The last two wrote to their siblings. I sure hope my children one day love each other this much!

[Dear Jackson, I love you. You are kind. I like your smiles.]

[Dear Lyra, I love you! I love when you laugh. I like to play with you. From your sister.]

----------------------------------------------------------------

Then, of course, I found some pretty adorable letters in my Valentine bag today. You would think these things get old after five years. But, they just don't. There's something so amazing and genuine about a kindergartner applying all they know about letter sounds, words, and handwriting to create a message for you. 

[Dear Mrs. A, Be my Valentine.]

[Dear Mrs. A, You are the best teacher in the whole wide world. I love to write.]

----------------------------------------------------------------

Last, but not least, a hilarious and adorable story from a mom at parent-teacher conferences. I think an appropriate title for this story is "Move over, Mom!" This mom and I laughed about this for at least five minutes. My heart was just overflowing.

I had one of my great conferences last night. You know, one of those conferences when the parents sit down at the table and I can just say, "Your child is wonderful! Perfect!" Those are always fun. :) Well, I was explaining to this mother and father about how great their daughter (we will call her C in this story) is doing at school. I was telling them how much I really love their daughter and how much joy I get out of seeing C blossom in reading and writing. So, our story begins:

Mom: "Well, I can assure you the feeling is mutual. Because C absolutely loves you."

Me: "Yes, I love all the pictures and letters I get everyday. I always tell her how much I love every single one of them (laughing because there are about 10 a day!)"

Mom: "You should see all the letters that don't make it to school. I swear she writes you 5 love notes every night before she goes to bed."

Me: "Ha ha - she is so sweet."

Mom: "Yes, but I don't think you understand how much she loves you. She wants to be exactly like you. Before Christmas, I got a pair of brown riding boots like the ones you are wearing. With zippers on the side and buckles. C kept saying how she really wanted brown boots. So, I found matching ones for her for Christmas. She opened the box at Christmas and started gasping. Here I am wearing my boots and she starts screaming, 'Oh my god! They are just like Mrs. Anderson's boots! With the zippers and buckles and all!'"

We both laugh...

Mom: "Oh, it gets worse. That one wasn't as bad as the last thing that happened. I love how you have taught them to write letters -- and I love that you write the kids back."

Me: "I try to write back as much as I can because they like it so much."

Mom: "Oh yeah, she loved it! C got it out of her backpack right away and showed me. Then she ran to her room with it. Later that night, when I went in to put her to bed, I saw it on her night stand. She had taken a picture frame with a picture of her and I in it... taken the picture out and put your letter in the frame!"

Ha ha -- adorable right?! We laughed and laughed about it. On the second 13 hour day I had worked in a row due to conferences, that story was just what I needed to keep me going. 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Embrace the madness

Halloween week in kindergarten = madness.

Fight the madness?

No, embrace it! I'm all about channeling that excitement and energy into some positive, cognitive experiences.

Here's one way we did it...

On Nov. 1, each kinder was invited to bring 4 treats from their night of fun. First, we sat in a big circle and sorted our candy by many, many attributes (all student-generated attributes... chocolate/no chocolate, one piece/many pieces, color of wrapper, etc.).

Then, we ate our candy, kept the wrappers and sorted them by beginning letter.

We ended up with a fun class book -- A-Z Trick-Or-Treat. The kids love "reading" this book at the library center.

I got this idea from a teammate of mine who got it from another teacher! All I can say is Thank Goodness! It is a lifesaver the day after Halloween!

  

Some letters had a lot... some had none (so we made up our own candy!)

Like I said... embrace the madness. :) It might lend itself to a great lesson!

Digging for letters

My kids LOVE. THIS. STATION. And I love the letter practice and fine motor practice they are getting! Plus, it's super fun. And super quiet. Everything you want in a workstation. :)

We have a "magic table" in our room. This table has been our "morning check-in" table all year. The kids literally use it everyday.

Well... last week... they discovered what is underneath:

A SAND TABLE!!!

This is the first time I have used the sand table in my classroom. I have had it for four year! But, I'm a total neat freak in my classroom, and I've never *trusted* my class like I do this year. My class is absolutely wonderful -- so mature and so responsible. I knew they would do wonderful. In 2 weeks, there has been no sand on the floor! Hooray!

But... it's not just a sand table. It's our current ABC Station. It's called "Digging for Letters."

Using a Sharpie marker, I wrote letters on glass gems (from the dollar store), and "hid" them in the sand. The kids then dig for the letters -- and record it on this sheet:

It's a hit! My kids just love it - and they are so cute when they find a letter. "LOOK! I found H!"

Click on the picture above or HERE for the printable.

Differentiated Letter Bingo

We only have 3 days of school this week -- and yesterday, we went on a field trip all day! So, with 2 days this week, it was a perfect time to play "catch-up" and have some fun with the kids. 

One thing I love to do with my whole class is BINGO. They never get sick of it! It's so versatile -- you can practice any skill! I play all the time with my kids during small group instruction, but only on these "special days" do we play as a whole class. :)

I wanted to play letter bingo with my kinders, but I wanted to provide some differentiation. Kindergarten always presents a challenge in the range of abilities... but this year I have students who know less than 5 letters -- and students who know all 26 letters (uppercase and lowercase)! 

So, I came up with this Differentiated Letter Bingo -- and I love it! It's a great way to engage all my students on their level. I plan to "secretly" seat my class in two groups. I will show and say the letter to one group (to encourage matching and letter ID) -- and just say the letter or sound to the other group (to encourage fluency and phonemic awareness).

                          

There are three levels of game boards -- the kids simply cut out their letters and glue them on the grid to create a bingo board! Then, you can call the letters by name, sound, or even a word that begins with that letter. ENDLESS POSSIBILITIES!

Click on the pictures above or HERE to download the printable.

Alphabet Geoboards

A recent classroom favorite... Alphabet Geoboards!

I love having a fine motor station during Literacy Workstations. It provides great strengthening practice for writing, drawing, and cutting. This fine motor activity has an extra incentive... letter formation!


Click HERE to download your own cards. (I saved ink by printing b&w copies and tracing the lines with markers. Then, I laminated the cards for durability.)

Initial sound punch

Same idea as the previous post (see Syllable Punch post). Copy, cut in half, and place at a workstation with hold punches.

Click the picture above or HERE to download the PDF. Enjoy!

Four in a row -- letter matching

Just a QUICK game post -- "Four in a Row." Easy practice for matching uppercase and lowercase letters. Some of my kinders come in with VERY minimal letter exposure. Initially, matching letters is often easier for these kids than identifying -- and the game provides a fun way to practice.



Click HERE to download the game board. 

Easy fabric letters tutorial

I love letters -- I'm a kindergarten teacher! And, I've always looked longingly at all the cute decor letters sold in stores. So, today, I decided to make some myself... and they turned out great! WIth only 3 materials needed!



I knew exactly what I'd use them for, too -- to personalize a whiteboard for our kitchen.


Keep reading below for a photo tutorial. (Thanks for the inspiration A Girl and a Glue Gun!)