Do You Know Roy G. Biv?

A fun song for art teachers and students learning to identify colors!

90+ Degrees Forecast...

... and I've managed to find a song that appeals to BOTH the teacher and crafter in me:

A Full Teacher Work Day Tomorrow

...and you know what *that* means! No meetings, no professional development, no inservice topics to discuss. My to-do list? A full page in my notebook. But it's a small notebook. And I'll have Dear Daughter to help. We...will...plow.

Tonight I'll be making the Rolo/Pretzel/Pecan nummies, and tomorrow my house will be smelling delicious as I bake cookies, cookies, and more cookies for my colleagues' Friday treat. When you're new to the staff and can't possibly learn the names of everyone in the school, I highly recommend taking in wonderful treats. It's staff support, I tell you!



Don't tell my grade level colleagues, but I'll be making something for each of them this weekend! We are going to have a GREAT year!

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I need to make sure I have my "beginning of the year" kindergarten playlist loaded onto my iPod this weekend. Songs to remember? Shake My Sillies Out, The Wheels on the Bus, Five Little Monkeys, Purple People Eater, YMCA... and some Summer Solstice selections by Windham Hill for our "Brain Break" time. Can't forget Apples and Bananas (you *know* it's a cool song if Keith Urban will sing it!):


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Tomorrow is Show and Share Thursday (hey, I didn't forget this time!) so check back in for some updated photos of the classroom- school starts Monday, so we're in the home stretch!

Getting Back to My Teaching Groove

...and because I teach kindergarten students, this one is on my "must-practice" list:

Sing along, won't you?

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
I dunno why she swallowed that fly,
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd, to swallow a bird!
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly -
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a cat.
Imagine that, she swallowed a cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die

There was an old lady who swallowed a dog.
What a hog! To swallow a dog!
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a goat.
Just opened her throat and swallowed a goat!
She swallowed the goat to catch the dog ...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat.
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a cow.
I don't know how she swallowed a cow!
She swallowed the cow to catch the goat... She swallowed the goat to catch the dog...
She swallowed the dog to catch the cat...
She swallowed the cat to catch the bird ...
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider
That wriggled and jiggled and wiggled inside her.
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly.
But I dunno why she swallowed that fly
Perhaps she'll die.

There was an old lady who swallowed a horse -
She's dead, of course.

*****

Don't forget to look for these when you visit the library or bookstore:

Show and Share Thursday: Loose Ends

Today I'm tying up loose ends: finishing up the latest baby afghan (pink!), finding a nice "rule" font for the plain notecards I decided to dress up with patterned paper and stickers ("embellish" is too-grand a term for what I do, Queen Scrapbooker/Mixed Media Artist I am *NOT*), packaging up giveaway books in preparation for mailing on Monday morning (check my previous post to see how to enter), and taking Daughter back to the dentist to re-repair a chipped tooth. All this while my husband prepares for his latest hunting trip (which any military spouse will tell you is like a mini-TDY, so the house will finally be CLEAN!) and I try to decide what Valentiney-type of craft to busy myself with this weekend.


This afghan brings my baby-stash up to eight:

These are the cards that despite my lack of embellishment know-how still look more appealing with the little work I DID do to them:

And here are the giveaway books, nestled in and ready to move to their new home where I'm sure they'll be shared and enjoyed:

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Some sites to share with you:

Alicia Paulson of Pozie Gets Cozy has a site all about HER up and running now, and has some very cute crochet patterns (available for purchase and download) that I'll have to take a closer look at now that I'm wanting to take a short break from afghans.

Songs for Teaching has a list of songs for Valentine activities for February. Some of the songs have sound file samples you can listen to- my favorites are "Valentine's Song" by Hap Palmer and "Valentine, Valentine" by Denise Gagne. Head back to the home page and you'll find recommended songs for academic subjects, holidays, etc.

Though I've never been a Room Mother myself, Parents.com has some wonderful Valentine Treat recipes that have me looking forward to the time when the toddler has his first kindergarten class party several years down the road- I can hear the oohs and ahhs already!
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Remember, if you have a craft, recipe, photo, or idea to share as a teacher, blogger, crafter, parent, or military spouse, feel free to email me at michaelek1(at)yahoo(dot)com by each Wednesday of the week so I can add them to Show and Share Thursday- yep, I'm happy to link back to you!

Kindergarten Music and Movement

I was recently asked for my Kindergarten Playlist, so here's part of it (yes, it grows and changes all the time):

August/September:

Good ol' kindergarten standards: "Shake My Sillies Out," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Itsy Bitsy Spider," the "Hokey Pokey," "Baby Bumblebee" (and we do the GROSS version), and rounds of the "Alphabet Song," "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (they're the same tune!).

Our "clean up song" is "The Fox" by Nickle Creek (find the book and your students will thank you!).

October:

Keep the songs listed above and add: "Five Little Pumpkins," Mussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain" and "The Hut on Hen's Legs (Baba Yaga)," "The Purple People Eater" and "Monster Mash."

Clean up song: "YMCA" by the Village People

November:

Add: "Apples and Bananas," the "Turkey Song," "There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly," "Down by the Bay," "Popcorn," "Old MacDonald Had a Farm," and for quiet DEAR time, the "Thanksgiving" album by Windham Hill.

December:

"Must be Santa," "Dreydl Song," "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (classroom buddies love teaching my students the Batman version), "Jingle Bells" (anyone else have students who ask "Teacher, what's a SOAPENSLAY?"), "TheTwelve Days of Christmas," and "Feliz Navidad."

Our clean up song is the "Christmas Medley" by Grimethorpe Colliery Band, and my students love to dance to the beautiful rhythms on this album:



January:



Raffi gets some more airtime with "Baby Beluga" and "Brush Your Teeth," and the students love to sing about "Frosty the Snowman" when they look at compound words that begin with "snow." My students warm up and get to cleaning up the room when they hear Gordon Lightfoot sing "Old Dan's Records," (just more proof that I'm Alaskan) but I'm sure they'd love some wonderful music from China for Chinese New Year. Any suggestions?

February:

Our kindergarten list experiences a little bit of growth with patriotic music for Presidents' Day, "Sing a Song for Martin," and "Concetta" by John Tesh. I've had several families go and purchase
to get their children to clean up at HOME!

March/April:

My students are hoppin' to songs like "Little Bunny Foo Foo" and "The Bunny Hop," but they love to sing "Five Little Ducks," "Five Speckled Frogs," and "Five Little Monkeys" too. What is it with the number five? As we enjoy stories by Dr. Seuss, my students enjoy the Moxy Fruvous song "Green Eggs and Ham." Weird Al even has his own version, but it's.... migraine inducing.

Clean up song: "Michael's Ride" from the Waking Ned Devine Soundtrack.

May:

For the end of kindergarten, we enjoy the music from the entire year, and add songs such as "Raining Like Magic" (hey Raffi sure does get around!) and "Celebration" by Kool and the Gang.

Now get out there and SHAKE YOUR SILLIES OUT!