Rudolph, Rudolph, Uh... Rudolph?

My students love directed drawings and guided art lessons that introduce them to lines, colors, and different mediums, and I very much enjoy seeing how their sequencing and fine motor skills develop over the course of our year together.  I remember this particular lesson appearing several years ago at ARTventurous, a fun blog full of creativity that continues to provide plenty of inspiration for regular education and art teachers alike.  My Super Stars created their versions of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer with our school's art teacher just in time to brighten up our classroom for the holidays.

But... do you see what I see?

Rudolph:

Rudolph:

Rudolph:

Chupacabra:

 Rudolph:

Yes?  No?  

(I love them all!)

Freshening Up the Blog for Spring

One of my to-dos for spring break was an item that usually results in the bi-annual freshening up of my blog.

It didn't happen.

Oh, goodness no, it didn't happen.

I had the school yearbook to finish.  I had laundry to do.  LOADS of laundry.

I had to sleep.

You understand.

Now it's the day after Easter, and the links in my blogroll haven't even been checked yet (they change every so often, making an unchecked, non-updated blogroll useless), HOWEVER...

Thanks to a fabulous colleague, I DO have a new blog header!  (~scroll back up, take a peek~)

It's simply sweet, straightforward, and feels fresh.

Thank you, Doti!

You can find her on Etsy and on Instagram (check out her cute spring lettering art!)



~Happy Spring!~

(... and I'll find time this weekend to update the blogroll.  Maybe.)

Take Home Folders

One of the many routines I introduce to my Stars each year is the practice of collecting papers, artwork and notes from the teacher/school, placing them into a "take home" folder, tucking them safely into backpacks, and taking them home each afternoon.

Parents also need to be introduced to this new routine, and once established, will hopefully remember to use the folder as an efficient mode of two-way communication.  Email is handy, but so many work samples, drawings, examples of student writing, notes from friends, as well as the usual school photo fliers or school spirit shirt order forms still need protection from the elements and stray lunchbox crumbs as they make their way into parents' hands.

I use plastic, two pocket/three pronged folders, in Super Star yellow.  Don't use plastic coated paper folders: they'll rip, fold in half, and be destroyed before the end of the first quarter of school. The plastic folders can be found pretty inexpensively throughout the year.  Find them on sale and then stock up:

I use a large mailing label sticker and template to create a spot for names.



Additional labels are used to create "Left at home" and "Right back to school" prompts for the inside pockets.



 Plastic page protectors (3) are added so that our kindergarten sight word list and phonics reference charts can be easily found by the Stars and their families throughout the year.  The third page protector is the perfect size for mini-books or practice readers.






What kind of "parent communicator" do you use?

*****

Don't forget to enter the giveaway for the numbered clothespins featured in my previous post!  Use Rafflecopter and leave a comment (with a valid email address so I can contact you if you're the winner) on THAT post for a chance to win! (NOW CLOSED)

*****

Are you an ECE or kindergarten teacher who would like to share your photos of this year's classroom set up and decor?  Link up at this post and share your space.  I'd love to come visit you and admire the magic you've worked!

*****

~Michaele~

Repost: Kindergarten Lunchtime Tips

Repost: Here's an update to a post I blogged three years ago, with tips on helping students navigate their lunchtime routine at school.  Whether students eat in a cafeteria or remain in their classroom for meals, a little help from parents before school starts can make all the difference.  Read through to the end for links to kid-friendly lunch box meal ideas!

(Eco lunch boxes found here)

Parents, do you have a kindergartner gearing up for his or her first day of school?  It's not just time to think about tracking down school supply lists and new clothes, but to prepare for new schedules and routines that will quickly be put into place regarding snack and lunch times too.  

*Soggy sandwiches aren't fun to eat, so try coating both pieces of bread with peanut butter with some jelly in the middle to avoid jelly-soak-through.

*Orange chips stain clothes. Yes, kids still wipe their hands all over their shirts and pants, ignoring the cute napkin you included in their lunchbox. Lunch time is a social time so kids are too busy chatting, visiting, and listening in on conversations to remember the good manners you taught them.

*While packing lunch, check to see if there's a slit cut into the straw wrapper for your child's drink.  If there isn't, make one so that your child doesn't resort to ripping it apart with his or her teeth.  Juice boxes tend to be easier to punch straws into than the pouch style drinks.

*Though teachers and lunch aides discourage it, food bartering/swapping still takes place at lunch or snack time. Please remember that some students have food allergies, occasionally severe. It's important that your child knows being a good friend doesn't require the sharing of food or offering "just a taste" of some other treat with classmates.

*If your child likes to save leftovers for a snack later in the day, please practice fastening those plastic storage lids or baggies now, or be prepared for very messy spills and mountains of crumbs coming home to you in backpacks or lunch sacks.

*If you send a thermos with lunch, make sure your child knows which way is "up" and how the lid should be level when twisted back on.  Leaks and spills are messy, especially if your child shares a locker or cubby with a classmate.

*Not every classroom has a refrigerator available, so if you live in a hot climate, plan on skipping the mayo and milk.

*Snack packaging (the wrappers on cookies, chips, graham crackers, trail mix, fruit snacks, etc.) isn't always easy for little hands to open. Cut a small slit in the top of each to help ease your child's frustration. The same goes for the tips of bananas, or the peels on oranges. BTW, few teachers, lunch aides and custodians will appreciate it if Dad insists on teaching your kindergartner how to "pop" chip bags open.

*We're happy to help your young ones learn how to open milk cartons and lunch wrappers, but children feel such a sense of accomplishment, independence and helpfulness when they can do it on their own and teach their friends the tricks of the trade as well.  Small milk cartons are available at most grocery stores if your kindergartner would like to practice before school starts.

*Not every child knows that you'd rather not open a lunchbox full of wrappers, banana peels, or used juice straws at the end of every day. Additionally, kids don't always know that you might want their plastic containers returned home! Decide and discuss which food wrappers or containers are disposable trash, and which aren't. You'll keep a lot of your Tupperware collection intact if you address this sooner rather than later. Ditto for silverware!

*Make sure you write your child's name on that lunch box or lunch sack, because there's always at least one classmate who will have the same one, or one similar looking enough that mix-ups will occur.

*If your child will purchase lunch at school each day, make sure you find out the routine in advance and see if you can prepay so your child won't panic or experience a meltdown if lunch money has been lost on the playground.  Prepaying also enables the lunch lines to move more quickly.

*The teacher might ask that all students bring a snack (or two) each day or might ask parents to sign up to provide snacks for the entire class one day each month.  Make sure to ask if there are any food items that cannot be shared due to allergies or cultural food preferences before preparing snacks for your child or classmates.

*Eating surfaces are also learning surfaces in classrooms, so your child will need to clean crumbs and spills before beginning a new activity.  To many children, "cleaning" means brushing crumbs from the tabletop to the floor or soaking up spills with sleeves or shirt hems. Thank you for teaching your child how to wipe down and dry a surface and to throw wrappers away in the trashcan.

*****

Do you have any tips or helpful hints for how to handle lunch and snacktime at school?  Please share by commenting~

*****

~ Wendy Copely shares Lunch Box Ideas for Back to School

~ Tina from Mommy's Kitchen has lots of great photos of Back to School Lunch Ideas from Walmart

~ ... and Moms by Heart feature printable lunch note freebies here.

Updating Teacher Binders

Admission: I haven't updated my teacher binder (cover, divider pages) since I created it five years ago.

That's right, it was 2008.  Don't believe me?  Here's the post.

No wonder I was feeling ready for a change yesterday as I tackled the next organizational chore on my summer to-do list: sorting through binders.

When Uncle Sam decided to move my family from Alaska to New Mexico, there was no way I could bring every single teaching resource with me, so I became a binder queen, sorted through all of the reproducible books I had, tore out the pages I thought I might need, divided them by month into wide, three-ringed jobbies, and donated the rest.  It lightened the load considerably from what I started with, but the binders, August through May, were chock-full.  

As my husband has retired and we've been in our home for almost two years now, I decided that it was time to look through my stash of reproducibles and whittle down as much as I could to free up some much needed space in my classroom cabinetry, though I really just wanted to update the covers on the binders that I've been using for lesson plans, student data and subs.  It took self-bribery to motivate me: You know, if you take care of the monthly binders, THEN you won't feel guilty about decorating the other ones.

I may have also promised myself an iced vanilla chai as an added incentive.

See the eleven binders on the middle shelf?  They're no longer there.  I worked the stash of October-May reproducible pages down to TWO BINDERS.  Teachers are natural hoarders but let me tell you, the occasional purge is liberating.  Since the pages I removed are being donated to a local pre-school program, I don't feel like anything is being wasted. 

Whew.

And my reward to myself?  Reworking the covers of my frequently-used-binders!

First, I had to trim a piece of 12 X 12 scrapbook paper so it would slide into the clear pocket/sleeve on the front cover:

Using page 5 of Kimberlee Fulbright's free Editable Teacher Binder, I used cardstock to make cover pages for my lesson plan, student data, substitute teacher and quarterly reproducible binders.  I also used page 5 to print off divider pages for the quarterly binders: math, reading, writing, science and social studies, art and music, and assessments that I slid into page protectors.

To the left is the original cardstock size, on the right is the trimmed version:

After gluing the back of the cardstock, I adhered it to the scrapbook paper and smoothed out air bubbles and wrinkles with a brayer:

Saving ink, I printed in grayscale/black and white since I knew I was going to add cardstock punches that would provide a happy pop of color.

Sticker time!

After sliding the page into the sleeve/cover:

Bright and happy and hard to miss, organized binders save me a lot of time when planning, tweaking, and tracking down info.

*****

Need some more binder inspiration?  Visit:

~ Lindsey over at The Teacher Wife: How to Create Your Own Teacher Binder

~ Jenny at Luckeyfrog's Lilypad: Teacher Binder Remix

~ ... and Mrs. H at Once Upon a First Grade Adventure: Project Binder-ize!

New Curriculum Materials and Suggested Resources? Take the Time, Make the Time

I've spent the past week looking through the kindergarten chapters in Common Core Curriculum Maps (Jossey-Bass pub., 2012), and have been putting my visual self to work creating and filling Pinterest boards as I explore each of the six units recommended for my grade. I've included links to samples of the suggested artwork, music, literature, and videos as well as to many teacher-created activities and resources, most of them offered as "freebies" at the time I pinned them.

In the case of unit 3 (Exploring with Friends in the Neighborhood), you'll find I've pinned alternate artwork in addition to the two pieces suggested by the authors.  Appreciating the fact that the unit's activities are "neither prescriptive nor exhaustive," and that teachers "can select from among them, modify them to meet their students' needs, and/or use them as inspiration for creating their own activities," I sought out examples of vibrant neighborhood/community art that would engage my students and get them talking about the friends, family, neighbors, animals, activities and professions that they encounter daily.  But why did I feel the need to seek out alternatives in the first place?

Units 1 and 2 suggested works by Picasso, Matisse, Whistler and others:

As I look at each piece, I can hear in my mind the comments and questions that my Super Stars might pose and share as they examine color and make inferences.  I can imagine their journal entries and interpretations of the artwork that they'll create at the painting easel, creative construction zone or art class.  Families might even decide that a trip to a museum or art gallery should be moved higher up on the to-do list this year.

I can also imagine the dialogue borne of not only inquiry and intrigue but of confusion and possibly fear if my students were to reflect upon all of Pieter Bruegel's Netherlandish Proverbs, 1559, one of the two pieces of artwork suggested for unit 3:

According to Wikipedia, the painting depicts Dutch proverbs of the day and includes representations of "the absurdity, wickedness and foolishness of humans."  A fascinating piece, I can imagine junior high, high school, college students and adults studying it and engaging in colorful discussions and debates over the imagery, style, humanity, complexity, economy and iconography depicted.  But four, five and six year old children?

Ew, I can see their butts!

What is she doing to that devil?

My mom/dad says that the devil can sneak into your heart and...

Etc.

Teachers can interject themselves into the conversations of their students when they feel it's necessary, but in my opinion, Netherlandish Proverbs risks requiring excessive amounts of maneuvering and redirection as students explore, reflect upon and compare their own neighborhood to the one depicted by Bruegel.  This maneuvering can further be affected by a teacher's own interpretation of and feelings about the painting, or beliefs about religion, modesty and morality, topics about which parents and families feel very strongly.  As you imagine yourself viewing Netherlandish Proverbs through your kindergartners' eyes, do you think they'll examine the painting as a depiction of collected scenes in a neighborhood/community, or do you feel their attention will constantly be divided between the separate images that for whatever reason, catch their eye? 

*****

What kind of community artwork do I think is appropriate for young children?  Todd Berman has created collaborative neighborhood art full of colorful characters found here:

Angela De La Torre depicts colorful architecture in Buffalo the Beautiful:

Faith Ringgold's Tar Beach art quilt and story (link to Amazon.com):

Reading the foreword and introduction in Common Core Curriculum Maps, I was unable to find a statement contributed by an early childhood/kindergarten teacher, though the Maps were "written by teachers for teachers" in the public school arena.  Hoping to find an explanation about the consideration and final selection of Netherlandish Proverbs, and provide my two cents regarding suggestions for future fine-tuning of the Maps, I checked online and found that commentary and suggestions can be shared only if an educator becomes a member ($25 fee) of the Maps site.  As I've already purchased the book and am comfortable tracking down resources and activities to supplement each theme, I won't be spending the extra money, though I'd love to hear from any of you who have decided to access the Maps and the additional bells and whistles online. 

Teacher Tip: Whether you're an experienced teacher or one new to the profession, always take the time to look over curriculum materials suggested to you or utilized by your district.  If you're swamped, make the time, as no one knows your students like you do, and your professional judgement must be utilized for their benefit.  

*****

Links to artwork suggested by the Maps can be found in a PDF Art Guide available here.

*****

Don't forget to vote for my blog over at Circle of Moms (click on the badge) daily until July 9.  I appreciate your visits, and love to share what I know and do with other early childhood professionals, teachers and families!  Thanks for scrolling down the list, finding my smiling face, and returning the love by clicking on the heart:

~Michaele~

Common Core Curriculum Maps, Zoo Phonics, and Pinterest, Oh My!

I've been "off work" for the summer since the end of May.

This means I've been...

1)  ... in my classroom six times, moving furniture,  re-papering bulletin boards, and planning changes.  Oh, and killing ants.

2)  ... attending professional development regarding K-12 science education.

3)  ... catching up on my education-blog reading.

4)  ... familiarizing myself with this book:

A quick-scan of units 1-6 in May had me a bit perplexed.  While I appreciate thematic units with art, music, and science integrated, I couldn't find phonics-specific information, and wondered why suggested stories/literature weren't more current.  Part of me is a traditionalist, so Mother Goose and her nursery rhymes have always been included in my class library, but there is a wealth of newer poetry, artwork, literature and music for children available too that teachers shouldn't ignore (I've got your back, Pete the Cat).  New-to-service or new-to-district teachers who follow these ELA maps will need to ask their grade level partners if they'll follow a letter-per-week model,  c-v-c unit instruction, or complete immersion.  Traveling around thanks to Uncle Sam (Dear Husband has retired from the Army), I'm flexible with change because I've had to be: despite state standards, NCLB, Race to the Top and the Common Core, no two districts have been cookie cutter in their implementation of curriculum.  My suggestion to new teachers?  As you swim through materials or create your own bank of resources from scratch, ask questions.  Lots of them.

With all of the relocations, I have had a trusted stand-by, thanks to a former colleague in Alaska.  I've used Zoo Phonics (since the 1990's) in the four different school districts which I've taught, because it's a program that works well to not only teach letter sounds but to help differentiate for the needs of my students.  Many children enter kindergarten with letter name and sound knowledge, so slogging through twenty-six weeks' worth of the alphabet can be boring and redundant.  For those kiddos with little to no print awareness and/or low phonemic skills, Zoo Phonics is an engaging introduction to letter names and sounds that includes a body motion to help facilitate whole brain/body learning.  Students at all levels of phonemic awareness enjoy the fun factor, and are able to employ the elements of animal identification, story, sound and motion in the first two weeks of school and as they develop their reading and writing proficiency throughout the year.  Watching strong readers and their early-emergent classmates interact, share, and choose to partner with one another when writing, exploring word work activities or enjoying books in the class library using their shared Zoo Phonics references is a strong affirmation for me as a teacher as I work to create an inclusive environment where students learn not only from me but from one another. 

By the way, Zoo Phonics didn't ask me to promote or praise their program, no sir-ee Bob.  I've just seen it work in Alaska, New Mexico and Kansas, with general education kids, English language learners, students with special needs, and especially those who are articulation-challenged.  Watching a student who can't produce r, l, w, y, t, or s sounds verbally *still* be able to write words, thoughts and sentences by indicating a body motion or finding the necessary animal on a Zoo Phonics chart is a powerful thing to witness. Barring a hearing loss or auditory processing problem, students can hear and discriminate between sounds even if they can't produce them. 

5)  ... creating Pinterest boards for units 1-6 from Common Core Curriculum Maps.

If you'd like to take a peek at the boards (or follow them), you can find them here:

Unit I: A Colorful Time with Rhythm and Rhyme

Unit 2: Tell a Story, 1, 2, 3

Unit 3: Exploring with Friends in the Neighborhood

Unit 4: America: Symbols and Celebrations

Unit 5: The Great Big World

Unit 6: Wonders of Nature: Plants, Bugs and Frogs

I'll continue to add to them this summer.  

*****

Thankfully, my summer hasn't been all work and no play: today I'm going to go out to lunch with a friend!  On a Thursday!  

The little things really are the big things with teachers, aren't they?

I hope your summer has gotten off to a wonderful start!  What are your plans?

*****

Don't forget to vote for my blog over at Circle of Moms (click on the badge) daily until July 9.  I appreciate your visits, and love to share what I know and do with other early childhood professionals, teachers and families!  Thanks for scrolling down the list, finding my smiling face, and returning the love by clicking on the heart:

*****

See you back here tomorrow when I ask your opinion about artwork suggested in Common Core Curriculum Maps.

Tutorial Tuesday: Bunny Crafts

Here's a quick list of link-ups to super cute bunny crafts:

Cardboard Tube Bunny Family at Crafts by Amanda

Bunny Ears Tutorial by East Coast Mommy

Envelope Bunnies by Martha Stewart

Bunny Windsock Craft by Mommyapolis

A painted bunny art lesson over at Deep Space Sparkle

... and a link to one of my previous blog posts with measurement details for egg-shaped bunnies!

*****

Make sure to take a look at each site's other sweet spring crafts too!

*****

Blog Make-Under

Just a quick post to let you know I gave the blog a bit of a make-under.

Gone are the stars, gone are the stripes, gone is the outdated photo, which I didn't realize was outdated until my youngest son (a.k.a. "The First Grader") said "Uh, Mom... that doesn't look like you."

So here's the new header:  if you look closely you can see the gray/white hair forming at my temples.  You won't have to squint to see my jowels.  Though eighteen years of teaching kindergartners will produce smile and laugh lines aplenty, apparently they won't prevent gravity from tugging on one's cheeks.

I haven't checked the links in my blogroll/sidebars lately, so that's on my to-do list for this weekend.  I'd love to update my site with new early childhood/kindergarten bloggers as well, so leave a comment with a way for me to track you down, okie dokie artichoke-y?

Have a great weekend!

Michaele

Q is for...

Q-Tip painting:

...and quilts (we read The Quilt by Ann Jonas before designing our own):

Some of our favorite Qq words:

quilt     quick     quack     quibble     queen     quiet     quarter     quicksand

*****

Here are links to:

DLTK's Letter Q Crafts for Kids page

Mama Miss' The ABC's of Printables page (letters P to T)- a FREE (and very cute) printable

... and a letter Qq path of motion tracing page

*****