...I am still learning in Kindergarten!

pinned from pinterest Last weekend of summer before I get back into routine of teaching.  Am I excited?  I would say excited like going on a roller coaster...not sure what the next turn will look like or feel like, but I am buckled in and ready for the ride. In prep for my "ride" I have been researching new ideas, reading up on my old ideas, de-cluttering things I have had in my "classroom files" for YEARS!  So one of the sites I have been thoroughly enjoying this summer for new and fresh ideas is  pinterest .  I love pinterest (...you can follow me here ) well, haven't found anyone who doesn't like it.  While perusing the site I saw a neat pin idea with rocks.  The pin was for a guest book idea where you have a bowl of rocks out and have your guests write their name on one and you have them out on display.  So cute. So before I tell you what I did...let's rewind a bit and find out how my teaching all started shall we? I have alway...

Every year around this time I teach the students about community helpers.  We talk about how God has a plan for our lives and that we can use what we do (our job) when we are older to serve him.  At the end of the two-three weeks of teaching this I ask them what they want to be when they grow up.  It never fails, each year the answers make me smile.  This class was no exception.  Enjoy :)

ANGRY BIRDS in my classroom?!? I love kid's creativity!  I had blocks out on the carpet this week for one of my centres.  I don't give them any "instructions" other then to build something.  I don't want to put limits on their creativity and love to see what their minds come up with.  Some children (working in pairs), build one thing together and other build their own thing. On Monday one of the students started building a "tower" and then another one a little bit further away.  He then had some coloured blocks and started throwing them to knock over the towers.  I do not prefer the students to throw things in the classroom (understandably) so I walked over from helping another student and asked him to stop throwing blocks please.  He said "I have to."  Obviously needing an explanation as to why he felt the NEED to throw, I asked the big question "Why?".  He answered "because I am playing angry birds!"  As I looked at w...

This week in Kindergarten I have been teaching my class about signs and how we can read them. A lot of signs around them have no words but we are still able to "read" them and know how to obey them. I showed them an exit sign and even if they could or could not "read" it they knew what it's purpose was. I showed them a blue sign with a lady on it and a blue sign with a man on it and they all knew it was a sign for the washrooms and which one was for which...(with of course giggles, ALWAYS giggles when it comes to the washroom...what is WITH that?) We went on to the traffic light and how we knew that when the light was red we know to stop, when it turns green we know it is time to go. The next sign I showed them was a STOP sign. I told them again that even if they could or couldn't "read" the word most of them should know what the sign means. They all said it meant stop and that they see that sign all the time. As I went to move on to the ne...

In Kindergarten, both the students and I LOVE Bible time. I show big colourful illustrated cards and tell them the story. They sit back and listen and you could literally hear a pin drop each time I read it as they are so intent on listening to every detail. They look forward to this time every week...and so do I :) ...but of course, with everything that happens in my classroom, I never leave without a good laugh. One of these times was back in November or so when we were going through some of the Old Testament stories. This one in particular was about Jacob and when he wrestled with God. The Kindergarteners took in every word as they always do. They really were amazed by the story. When I asked about the story the following week to see if they could recall what it was about, one student put up his hand and said "God jumped out of a bush and tackled Jacob". I guess that's one way to tell the story! Today left me laughing as well as I was telling the children the ...

So I had a request to write about some more cute things that keep happening in my class. Well, a couple have happened in the past couple days, so I thought I should share: Story one: Every week as we learn a new phonogram, the Kindergarten kids get to bring in a show n tell that starts with the letter we are learning. After they show their item I ask them to put it on the red table by the door. That way it is not a distraction in their lap while other's are having a turn. This morning one of the students brought in something that started with "t". He showed his teeth (in his mouth). He walked around the carpet showing his teeth...then the whole class started to laugh because he said he couldn't put his show and tell on the red table. He then proceeded to tell me that his OMI could, cause her teeth come out! Oh boy ;) Story two: Every Friday we have chapel together as a school. Before we go into chapel I always like to review with the students what we should...

This year is the last year of teaching with having at least one of my own boys in Kindergarten with me. For the past 8 years I have had one of each of my four in my classroom with me, and starting in September that will change. My youngest will move on to Grade one! As I have watched each of them grow and change in their year with me, it made me think about my life. When I was in Kindergarten, I decided two things; I wanted to be a teacher when I grew up and I wanted to be a mommy. Who knew I would be incredibly blessed to be both at the same time. So, I found the photo of me in Kindergarten and I have come a long way. I found it interesting to see myself at the age I "started" my journey of education....I don't plan of ending it anytime soon :)

Today in Kindergarten we were talking about shapes; particularly squares and rectangles. I showed the class our Canada flag and asked what shapes they saw on it. One child said two rectangles. Perfect! Another child said "the Toronto Maple leaf". Um, yes, a RED maple leaf, but Toronto? :) Symbols are all around us, and with these five year olds, that is how they label something or define an object or place. If I show them a symbol of an octagon they define it as a stop sign, whether it has the word stop on it or not. It got me thinking of what defines me? When people look at me do they put a label on me by what they see? Do they define me by my job alone or do they get to know me as a person. At a staff meeting this past week our Pastor shared with us about "Walking with God" which is our church theme this year. He said something that really resinated. He asked "If you couldn't teach, who would you be?" He challenged us in our own persona...

This past week I came up with a cute craft for "l". I cut out shapes for the students to glue as directed and then gave them white glue in a cup with a q-tip (for a gluestick) and also gave them fusilli noodles. They glued the noodles around the head for the mane. I then gave them a black marker to finish off the details of the face and claws if they wanted to. Some even drew their lion with teeth ;) They really loved this craft....not sure if it was because it was messy (glue) or because they got to play with food, but regardless, they had a great time and the final product was worth all the mess.

For our j craft I had the students cut out different coloured jelly beans and then glue in in a jar. I loved this craft for the simple fact that they got lots of practice cutting ;) They turned out great as well. I showed them a real jar with jellybeans and pointed out how the colours were in all different spots. They also were not all in rows. So their challenge was not to put them in any order or in any pattern (which they love doing as we have done TONS of this in our math lessons) They met the challenge and their jars turned out awesome.