Story Telling with Puppet Pals App

Puppet Pals is a great app! My students use the Puppet Pals app (compatible with iPad - but it works on an iPod too) to retell stories. They are able to choose the characters and settings. Then, they recorded themselves telling a story. It's great for those shy students. Below is a sample story (I'll admit, I tried to persuade them away from the 'helpless princess' but the kindies vetoed me), they made up everything, including the story line. The focus was dialogue, so they played the parts of the characters. Here it is: from start to finish it only took 5 minutes!

I've Been Teacher Tagged

Adorable teacher-blogger Tammy from First Grade at Klinger Cafe tagged me (darn...I was running as fast as I could..) This is my first time being Blog Tagged ..so here it goes:

1.   You must post the rules.  (check!)
2.   Answer the 10 questions the tagger posted for you. (okie-dokie!)
3.   Create 10 questions of your own to ask the people you are going to tag. (hmmm..I just have ONE: Does anyone know a teacher representative for Thirty-One Bags?) 4.   Tag 10 people and link them with your post.  Let them know they've been tagged (Hard one..so many have been tagged and answered questions already. SO anyone reading this, can considered themselves tagged and please let me know what bag I should buy from 31s)


Tammy asked:

1.   Do you do writers workshop in your classroom?

       - No, but I would love to do a writer's workshop. Maybe next year.  

2.   How do you feel about teaching spelling?

       - I think spelling should be taught to learn phonic patterns, not to memorize words. 

3.   Who would you most like to see at a conference or workshop?

       - STEVE SPANGLER! I went to his workshop 10 years ago and it was amazing! From 6th grade to Kindergarten, I've used his products and experiments. He's amazing!

4.   What kind of grades do you take (A, B, C, D, F etc)

       - My district is on the 4, 3, 2, 1 system (I like the A, B, C, D, F better) 

5.   How many days/weeks do you test?

        - Luckily, I don't have to worry about state testing, but the District has periodic Math Assessments (4x year), Writing (2x year), and then there's the Math chapter test, Treasures Unit test (every 3 week). 

6.   What is your favorite way to spend your summer vacation?

        - Eating at new places, hunting for food trucks, (then hiking or jogging to run off the food I ate) and I LOVE to spend time with my pug baby (pathetic, I know, but she's getting older and I want to spend as much time with her as possible). 

7.  Do you have a bestest teacher buddy?

     - Sadly no, I wish I had a bestest teacher buddy, but I do have some awesome teacher buddies. 

8.   What should I get my 22 year old son for graduating college, and 18 year old daughter for graduating high school two weeks later? (ha ha this one is trick but very important!)

       - For the son - a cell phone plan that includes unlimited minutes (so you can call him ALL the time); for the daughter - a mother and daughter vacation (so you two can spend time together!)

9.    Are you a mountain, plains, or ocean person?

       - Mountains with lots of shade (the sun does not like me)

10.  Do you ever feel like you’re talking to air when you are teaching?

        - hello? hello? anyone there?

Happy Easter!

Have a wonderful weekend...only a few days left of my Spring Break!

Teaching Colors

When I found out I was teaching Kinder, the first thing I did was scour YouTube for Kinder-themed videos. Below are some of my favorite color videos (my students love them too). Every morning, I let the Helper of the Day pick a song or two to sing.Warning: the tunes are catchy and will stick in your head!

Click the link to see all my KinderVideos (on Pinterest, of course) that I found on Youtube. 

 Songs are by Frog Street and videos by BeebleBrox01.

Born to Learn

This is a great  (5 minute) video detailing why "play" is an important part of children's development. It made me think about how I can incorporate more play time with  my kinders (all the while teaching those standards) and how problem-solving and creativity can be fostered in my classroom. Thank you to Look at My Happy Rainbow! for sharing it.

Teachers Taking Care of Teachers

I have decided to 'adopt' a classroom affected by the tornadoes. I can't imagine losing some of my materials and supplies I bought, let alone losing everything.

If you would like to help out a teacher affected by the tornadoes (it can be letters of encouragement, anything you created, any tangible materials you can part with when you spring clean your classroom), I know it would mean so much to them, knowing that other teachers care.

Click on the heart to link up with other teachers!

Sight Word Booklet

 I finally got around to making a Sight Word/Word Family Booklet. The original idea came from Sue from The Very Busy Kindergarten. Click on the link to see her great booklet, she also does an excellent job explaining how to make them.  

I finally got around to making one (yep..Sue doesn't lie when she says it's A LOT of work, but I think it's worth it). I changed it a bit, in that I used regular index cards and a binding machine to save $ (instead of buying a spiral index pack which is expensive). I had 3 of my students cut and glue the cards in their notebooks to see how it would go, but..it didn't work out too well, so Ill be making them. Not happy about it, but like I said: I think it will be great for the kids. 

The sight words are based on McGraw-Hill Treasures Kindergarten Sight Words and I added a few from the top 25 Fry and Dolch Word List, along with easy to read sentences. Students will trace the word, put dots under each word, and highlight the sight word in the sentence. The eyeballs in the corner reminds them they must know the word  by sight.  On the opposite end of the booklet, is where the word families will be, It's exactly like Sue's. 

If you would like a copy of the Sight Word cards for the booklet, let me know and Ill be happy to send it to you. I plan on making another booklet for students who are ready for Booklet 2.