The Power of a Name

I like to begin the year celebrating each student's name.  We know they all love the sound, the look, and the feeling it gives them.  It is important to me that each student knows each other's name and calls them by that. We play assorted name games, and we love "Who Stole a Cookie."

Here is a great activity to do that first week of school.  What is the first gift we each got?  Can you believe we all got the same thing?  Our names, of course!  It is the first gift we received from our parents.

Use the paper below and bubble print each child's first name.  I write those long names on the diagonal.  Each student then decorates, colors... their name.  It is one of the first things I hang in the room.  Once they are all completed, before I actually hang them each student can say something about the coloring, their name, what they like about it...

Click here to download the document.  I suggest copying it on card stock for durability.

Here's to a great school year!

Sara

New "Year's" Resolution Linky Party

There seems to be many of the fellow bloggers celebrating the "New Year" in August!  I am happy to join in on this "party."  One of the things I love about my job (there are really so many) is that we can start fresh each year.  Whatever worked last year, keep!  Whatever did not work - stop it!

I am joining the celebration with "Teaching Maddeness" and you can, too.  Click on the link below.





Here are my resolutions!

1.  Drink more water!  I can have a water bottle that I fill, and hardly drink!  That will just have to stop!  My goal is to fill it (20 oz) twice and drink all of that!  It helps to have a great new bottle!  Thanks, Jaime.

2.  Organize my work on my computer and my hard copy records in a new way.  Have to be "smarter not harder." Touch those papers as few times as possible!  Will have a new personal binder, too.

3. Take and post more pictures in the classroom.  I started this in the last term of the year.  The students loved it.  I put some clear plastic sleeves (the kind you can use in a 3 ring binder -"page protectors.") up on the wall above the spot where the children put their folders each morning...and turn in their work.  You can upload photos in a power point file using "insert photo album."  I like four pictures per page.  It creates a great collage.  They love to look at photos of themselves...and LOVE to comment when new pictures were posted.

4.  Create a visual time-line in the classroom.   Have seen this in "blog world" and on Pinterest. So great in so many ways.

5.  Mail notes to the students twice a year.  We just can't lose the art of written letters.  Maybe if we model it, it will happen more!

I will stop there.  I just love the number 5.

Let's all plan to check in with each other in late January, to see how we are doing!

Good luck to all!

Sara

DYI Crate Seats

Those milk crate seats I have seen all over the blog world and Pinterest, really had my attention.

So I went to Target this week, as the crates were on sale $3 each. 

 I liked them because they had the lip you need to have the wood sit just inside the top.  

We will be using them for storage.

Home Depot had my buy of the month!  I made four seats, so I need a good size piece of plywood.  The pieces I looked at were nearly $7 a piece and I could only get one required size... so that seemed silly.  My helper was amazing and we found a HUGE piece for $10.  There was a lot of waste, which he said they sell for scrap (I certainly had no other need.)  When we were done, he noticed there was a piece in the scrap bin we could have used... so I got the scrap price!  Fifty cents each!  Yeah!  $1.06 total expense.

My husband helped me staple gun the fabric. It helps to have another pair of hands. 

For detail on how to make them, see Classroom DIY.  Nicole has very easy to follow directions.

I ended up using an old flat sheet from my son.

Frankly, it was an accident (as I had purchased fabric and made a mistake...) and it has finalized my agony over a theme for the year.  Each seat has the patter in just a slightly different arrangement.  

"Reach for the moon..."  Love it!

I highly recommend you make these.  Simple really.  Love the practical part - storage!

The crates are rectangular - not square. They don't look the same size in the picture but they are!

Build teamwork with fun experiment

Years ago I came across this experiment to try at the start of the year in Kindergarten. I have used it to build a team-working philosophy.  Every time it fosters such fun and a memory none of the students will forget!  It is a great anchor event that you can refer to all year. 

You will need:

• Iodized salt
• Vinegar (regular or apple cider)
• Old dull pennies (More than enough with one for each student)

I begin the lesson by gathering the class together on the carpet. I explain that I was looking to give them each a "lucky" penny as a small token for their first week of school.

 

 

"I knew I had put a bunch of them tucked away in a special container...  Can you believe how disappointed I was when I opened it  and found this..."

 

Then I put them out on the floor.

 

 

"They were really shiny and I was sure you would love them. But look!"

 

 

We look and explore... Next I tell them I that I remembered on old recipe with ingredients listed above. Sadly I am not sure how to do it. "Let's see what we can do..."

 

 

So we go back to our tables and I pass out the pennies and we try the salt first. I give each child a small bowl and I sprinkle some salt on the pennies. We all agree that we should try scrubbing. And of course, that doesn't work.

 

 

 

 This leads to the idea of trying the vinegar. So I give them a new bowl. We wipe of the penny and put it in the bowl with a little vinegar. You really do not need much. Just enough to cover the penny.

 

 

Repeat the same procedure... rub, rub, rub. Nothing changes. (Some will complain about the smell. So I use the apple cider. It helps a little.)

 

  

Inevitably, someone will suggest  "putting the salt and vinegar together."   Let the magic begin.

 

Have the students pour the salt from the first bowl on top of the penny in the bowl with the vinegar. As soon as the salt hits the penny in the bowl with the vinegar, the penny changes right before your very eyes. Seriously, all you need to do is lightly swish the liquid around. That penny will really shine.

 

Check this out!  It works every time!



So here it the opportunity to explain that this experiment is like our classroom.

 I as the teacher cannot do the work all by myself. 

The students cannot do it all on their own.

But, together, the possibilities are endless.

I then have children play with the penny, tracing, rubbing... and finally we tape it on the paper for them to take home.

Hope you try it.

P.S. You can even offer some cider and vinegare potato chips as a snack!

Special Award

Wow, what a surprise to come home today from working at day camp, to find a message from

Eileen, at a terrific blog -Second Grade Sunshine!  (Thank you, Eileen!)

The best part is that "Liebster" is a German word, meaning many things, including
sweetest, nicest, cutest, and dearest.
My dearest friend, Isabella will love this! Ya?

Seems this award is dedicated to bloggers with less than 200 followers.

Well, it is time spread some abundant sunshine on others.

Here are 5 blogs you will be sure to enjoy.

First, you should check out Kindergarten Kidlets.  It is bright and cheerful with fun ideas.

Next, is Crystal at Strive to Sparkle  You have love the name!

Third, is a blog with lots of creative ideas Mrs. Thigpens Kindergarten

Then you should check out Juggling with Kids for lots of great ideas.

And lastly, there is Nicole at Lanier Lions so fun!

It was fun selecting these blogs for you!

Spread the sunshine!

Sara, Auf Wiedersehen!  (just couldn't resist)

Must have picture books

I have been a little hesitant about "linky parties." 

But, today I found one about picture books.

I just cannot resist that.

How hard can it be for me to share 5 of my favorite picture books?

So, here it goes. (There could be so many more!)

Check out the five I am recommending.   Then head on over to The Teacher's Wife and find more!

This is a great play on the Three Little Bears.  My class always hollers "Again!"

Great play in the situation and role reversal.  Must read!

  Here is more about it

Great wordless book.  One of my all time favorite wordless books.
There is great illustration and my favorite page includes pancakes with wings!
Can be a good book on tape done by your class.
Then put it in your listening library!

 Love the imagination of this one!

Great play on the "catching" a cold.  

Can it be done with a baseball mitt, a net...

Check it out!

Another great wordless book

One of my favorites to read aloud.

You can have the students count the baby ducks in each page,

follow the butterfly,

and you can change your voice for each "friend" mother duck asks for help,

ie, the beaver with a stick in its mouth (read with my finger in my mouth like a stick...)

or the underwater conversation...

The class loves to imitate it when the read it on their own.

.

 You have to read this the first week of school.!

Cannot say enough about this book.

Terrific book that calls to body language,

loneliness,

making friends,

and seeking acceptance.

Have read it the first day for 12 years!

They always seek it out for independent reading...

1st day "Sticker Swap"

This fall I will be going back to Kindergarten.  I started teaching there and never imagined doing anything else.  I love them!  Kindergarten students are so eager to learn and to please.  Trust me, I know that they are a lot of work, but I am ready!  I have been teaching 2nd grade for the past 5 years and I love them, too.

One of the activities I look forward to doing again involves "swapping stickers."  Each student shares their name sticker with each other.   Don't all 5 year olds, love stickers?

Here is what you need:

• Laminated cardstock -one for each student
• Mailing label "stickers" for each student with only their name on it.  Have an amount equal to the number of students in the class.

Create a paper on "Word" that reads:

Friends I made in my class today!

Have that up at the top of the paper and copy it onto cardstock. Laminate the papers.  Write the number of the students in the bottom corner.  That way the students can count the names... to make sure they have one from everyone.

Next, make stickers for each student with only their names on each sticker.  I usually did their first names only and the first initial of the last names for the repeats.  (One year I had 3 Jacks!)  You can get as creative with the font... as you like.  You can do each student a different color, different font... lots of possibilities here.

Then let the fun begin!  Have them share their stickers.

And now you will have a great paper for the students to take home that they can share with their family...  They have a lot of new names to remember, and it is great to have them like that.  '

I make one, too.  It gets hung in the classroom.  We all like to see our names...

Such a simple activity, but so fun and meaningful!

Enjoy!

Sara