One World One Heart 2011: Welcome Teachers!

... and education majors!  And homeschooling parents!  And any and all other early childhood advocates!

Yes, I can be a bit exclamation-point-ish, but if you're a regular reader of Kindergarten's 3 R's, then you're used to it by now.



If you're a new visitor, directed here by Lisa's OWOH blog list or my other blog, Twigs and Tulle, I do hope you'll stay and wander a bit through my recent posts and archives!  If you're not the teacher type, but have a teacher (or future teacher!) friend or family member who'd enjoy my blog, I do hope you'll pass this link on to him/her and leave a comment for a chance to win:



A large bag of pattern block shapes!

Students love to learn about the attributes of shapes and make creative pictures and creations as they work with these wonderful geometric models.  Wonderful for a learning center or extra shape reinforcement activity, your children (or students) will love working with these manipulatives!

For a chance to win the bag, just leave a comment ~on this post only~ along with an email address or blog link so I can reach you if you're the winner.  If you're a blogger participating in OWOH, never fear, I'm on my way to visit you too!

I'll draw the winner of the pattern blocks on February 17- how exciting!

Don't forget to visit Twigs and Tulle for the giveaway post there (it's something crafty and cute!)!

Happy reading!

Bohemian Rhapsody on...

...ukulele.

Yes, ukulele.  And it's beautiful.  Take a listen:

HELP: iPad and iPhone Users...

...what MATH apps have you downloaded, use, and ARE HAPPY WITH for your school-aged child's use?  Moms?  Dads?  Teachers?

I'm looking for recommendations for ECE-2nd grade.

Thank you thank you!

(Yep, I get to test-drive an iPad for work and would like to transfer valuable search time over to trying-it-out time for highly recommended apps!)

"Anansi" is Not an "Ll" Word...

... "but Mrs. Sommerville, his LEGS start with Ll!"

Why, yes they do!

While making our Ll word list this morning, I asked the Stars to think of animals that start with Ll, and told them that we'd use construction paper at our art center to make the animal(s) they named.  While "ladybug" and "llama" and "leopard" made the list, it was one of our favorite characters, Kwaku Anansi that captured the Stars' draw-cut-glue spirit.

Spider?  Not an Ll word.

Arachnid?  Not an Ll word.

Anansi?  No, that's not an Ll word either.

And then the solution: L-e-g-s.

Works for me!

Here's what you need:



I scanned a page from our storybook and highlighted the shapes that the Stars could use to make Anansi:



Students used white crayons to draw Anansi's head onto the large black square (pencil shows up fine too):



Several Stars mentioned that Anansi has the letter T on his face, which we cut like so:





A hole punch made perfect nostrils:



... and black rectangles formed Anansi's legs:





He's got legs, and he knows how to use them!

CSN Giveaway WINNER!

Of course I had to track down a teacher-ish number generator to determine who would be spending the CSN Gift Certificate!  Thanks to Mrs. Glosser's Math Goodies, we have a winner!

and that comment was:



Congratulations Debbie!  I'm emailing you this evening with the information on how to redeem your $55 gift certificate!

Thank you ~everyone~ for following, blogging, tweeting, FB status-ing, and spreading the word about this great giveaway, and of course, many thanks to CSN for giving us the opportunity to learn more about all of the terrific items they offer!

Did I Mention...

... that the CSN gift certificate I'm giving away at this post is for
F-I-F-T-Y  F-I-V-E  D-O-L-L-A-R-S?

No?

How forgetful of me!

Head to the post and decide how many chances you'd like to have in the drawing that will take place tomorrow afternoon (January 18, 2011)!  Commenting, subscribing to BOTH of my blogs, tweeting, and linking to my giveaway on your own blog all earn you extra chances!

The giveaway is open to residents of the United States and Canada.

Reminding Myself to KEEP CALM...

Thanks to my global professional learning community (*YOU*), I'm reminding myself:



Want to create your own "Keep Calm and..." poster?  Go here!

CSN Giveaway for YOU!

I love hosting giveaways on my blog, and was thrilled when approached by CSN Stores to offer a gift certificate to one lucky reader!  Fans of CSN Stores know how wonderful their site is, but for those newbies who haven't yet discovered them, you're in for a wonderful surprise!  From school supplies, storage ideas, games and home improvement tools to modern dining room furniture and accents for your home and workplace, CSN has it all!

I've been a catalog shopper for most of life, especially since as a teen and young adult I lived in rather remote locations in Alaska.  During the decade that I taught in Alaska, I was comfortable ordering classroom supplies, tools, books and manipulatives from "outside" school vendors, those companies who offered furniture, decor, posters, supplies, and even storage solutions for my students and classroom.

When Uncle Sam relocated us to the Lower 48, larger communities and multiple roads and highways opened up a whole new world of opportunities and venues for my classroom shopping excursions: more yard sales, office supply stores, swap meets, auctions, and of course, many many m-a-n-y stores offering items that could be used as-is, or after some minor modifications or reinterpretations.

Too much of a good thing is a good thing, right?

Not when you're a teacher with a limited budget and not many "free" hours in the day to travel, search, compare and buy, and certainly not when you're a teacher, wife, mom, crafter, baker and Army spouse like I am!  I love it when I discover online sites that have it all, are clear in their descriptions, take consumer viewpoints and opinions to heart, and offer ways to earn rewards for continued patronage.  CSN Stores fits the bill perfectly!

Some of my favorite CSN items for school are:

A listening center for my Super Stars:

Chalkboard removable wall decals...

Story/circle time rugs:

...and of course a heavy duty pencil sharpener!

*****

For a chance to win a gift certificate to use at CSN Stores:

1) Check out their site (make sure to click on their "See More" tab on the far right and scroll down to their "Educational" section) and then come back here to leave me a comment (on this blog post only) letting me know what item caught your eye as a teacher, parent, baker or crafter.

2) Decide if you'd like to earn additional entries by leaving separate comments (on this blog post only) when you:

     * Become a follower of this blog AND my crafty blog, Twigs and Tulle
     * Tweet about my giveaway
     * "Like" CSN Stores on Facebook
     *  Post a link to this giveaway on your blog

I will draw the winner next Tuesday, January 18, so you have plenty of time to take a looksie!

*****

This giveaway is open only to those residents of the United States and Canada.

Second Semester: Are You Ready?

Many of us said "adios" to Semester One right before winter vacation, and as usual (at least on my end), the two weeks "off" flew by!

Thankfully I put away all of my Christmas and winter holiday decor on the last day of school and had pulled out the snowflakes, Martin Luther King Jr. posters so they'd be ready for the stapler today.

Living in Oz means my students are required to learn about and celebrate Kansas Day (January 29).  While we learn about our state symbols, we also observe changes in the weather, learn about MLK Jr., pick up several more sight words, work with addition and subtraction, and look for patterns in numbers to thirty.  My Super Stars paint, find and work with environmental print, get their craft on, and continue exploring their kindergarten world while hoping and wishing for snow to fall:

Are ~*your*~ fingers crossed for snow days?