Weather!

Wow what a day, we had some really bad weather here today. We spent most of our day in the hall, but my students did really well. I took some time this morning to let my students know that we would be having some storms (because most of their parents had already told them this). We talked about what we should do if we had a tornado drill. 
We were sent to the halls at around 9:00 this morning due to tornado warnings. When we were able to go back to our room it was almost time for our lunch so we got our math lesson in and went to lunch. When we returned from lunch I let my students listen to Storm Is Coming. I have this on CD an I like to let the students listen to a story before I read it to them and show them the pictures. I will read it to them later and show them the pictures.

 

This was a perfect book for today! We compared how the farmer put all of the animals in the barn and how we were put in the hall. We also compared the farmer to our principal and how our principal was taking care of us just like the farmer took care of the animals. 

The students drew a picture about their favorite part of the story. I had planned on letting the students share these with the class. I had planned to let the students compare how they felt  in the hall to how the animal they drew felt in the barn. Well I was not able to do this because we were sent back to the hall again while another set of storms came through.

I am so glad that we were sent to the hall because when I got home and watched the news someone had lost their life in the storms today, homes were destroyed and pictures of a tornado were shown. 

I hope everyone has a safe week and hopefully the bad weather will be past us for a while.

Penny 

Another snow day

Today is yet another snow day. I really needed this day because my son had to have surgery yesterday so it was nice to be able to be home with him.
All these snow days have been nice but I really need to have my students in class for a full week at some point. Between the snow days and flu I haven't seen all of my students for a full week since before Christmas.
I have tried to move ahead without doing so much that my students that are out will get behind but at some point we are going to have to move much faster. It seems just when we are ready to start something new we have a snow day, oh bother. 
Well that's enough complaining.
We have been making some valentines for the Veterans. We made Christmas cards and when I delivered them and ask if it would be ok for us to make some more things in the future the nurse was so nice and almost cried. She told me that they were overwhelmed around the Christmas holidays and then after that it was as if they were forgotten about. 
Veterans are the reason we have the freedoms we do and so I always want to remember them even if it is just with a construction paper card that says 'Thank You'. 

My student understand that the cards are going to the men and women who made / make sure we are able to come to school. I have been keeping hearts and construction paper at a table in our room and each day we take some time to make a card. I have asked other teachers to help if they can and I have had lots of participation.

If your class or school is able to do something like this I would encourage you to do this or something like it.

Here are some pictures of my students making cards to send to the Veterans.

Grondhog day project

Here are some of the books we read for groundhog day . . . 

I found this cute art project at about.com - I'm just posting the pictures because there was a great tutorial already posted here.

My students really enjoyed doing this project.
**I am not allowed to post student pictures, that's why you will see hand only in my post.

Last Observation for the year! I hope

Exciting news.... I am a non tenured teacher and this is my third year to teach which means I will be up for tenure (that is if we don't have that taken away) anywho today was my third formal observation for the year and my last observation I will need in order to be considered for tenure!!!!!!!!!!!! woohoo.


My lesson was about germs and how they are spread, which is something my students needed to be reminded of. I couldn't take pictures because well I was being observed but I thought it was such a neat lesson I would share it with you.


We receive Studies Weekly  and this weeks had this great lesson. We all know about germs and we are constantly trying to keep our classroom clean so I don't think you need that info. The activity was as follows = using four different colors of glitter sprinkle a small (very small) amount onto a paper plate (one color per plate) I divided my students up into groups of four. Each students in the group is given a plate and each person places their hand on the glitter. Have the students look at their hands explaining that what they see is just like germs. 

I know you are thinking no big deal I have taught this lesson before, and so had I. It's the next step that I had never used before.

Next have the students to shake hands with each person at their table and then look at their hand. They will have some of every color of glitter on their hand. This represents how each person can pass germs. Pretty cool I thought!


I also wanted my students to understand the importance of using SOAP & WATER  to get their hands clean!!

I gave each student germX and after they rubbed it in they looked to see if all the germs came off their hands. The students will not be able to get the glitter off using just GermX

**Just as a side note - I have about 4 germX bottles in my room, one in my field trip bag, one in my lunch box, and one on my pocket book. So I believe in using this stuff but as you know if you teach kindergarten or young children there are some things small children get on their hands that needs  more than even germX can handle!
 
I then gave each student a wet wipe to clean their hands. This will take some of the glitter off but not all of it (at least not for most of the students). 

Finally I  had one of the students to go to the sink and use soap and water to wash their hands. The student then showed the rest of the class that soap and water was able to get all of the germs off. 

They really like this lesson and all I had to do the rest of the day was to remind them about the germs we had talked about this morning.

I did this lesson before lunch so it was a perfect time for students to use soap and water and get all of the glitter germs off their hands.

Tips and Tricks - Organizing

Wow! is it ever going to stop snowing long enough to go to school one full week? We missed another day of school this week and went in 2 hours late the next day. My students can leave at 1:15 so can you guess how much work you can get completed when you arrive to school at 9:45. Then go to lunch at 10:45 and rotation at 12:20 and then leave at 1:15??? Oh well that's a day we won't have to make up so I won't complain.
We found out today that because we have missed so many days we now will have to give up two days that we were supposed to be out of school.

On to some organizing

I bought these at Target in their dollar section at the front of the store. They were $2.50 and most of my books fit in them easily (some of the bigger books won't  fit) I keep books that I want to read in these and I keep the blue one hanging in our meeting area and the green one in our science area. They are displayed for the students to see the front and then after I read the book I place it on the edge of my chalkboard. They have a hanger on them like a clothes hanger and I have a hook hot glued to the wall to hang them from.

These also came from the same section and were $2.50. As you can see I keep my CD's in these for my reading series and CD's I use throughout the day. I keep these hanging by my desk this year. I have to use my computer to play them in because my CD player was broken when I had a sub (that's another story). When I get another CD player I will hang them near it. I have to say I use these on a daily basis so they were well worth the money I spent.

 

This is a small pocket chart that was only $1.00 and came in several colors. This one hangs in our calendar area with color words to review each day. I mix the numbers up and have students to put them in the correct order (we are passed 10 now). These are also great to use for centers.

I hope you can find some great items to organize with and remember to share.

Tips and Tricks - Organizing

I thought I would share a few more of the things I use in my class that make my days a little more organized.

I found this at the Dollar Tree and yes it was only $1.00 woohoo! They had red, blue, and black. I bought a few more and actually use one at home in my craft room. 
I have this hanging on a hook from my magnet board green chalk board, this is located in the area of the room I have mats and we have our meetings for calendar time, math, phonics, and story time. I keep my phonics letter / letter sound review cards, sight words, number words, color words, and upper / lowercase letters cards in this one. 
Now I don't lay them down and then forget where I put them and waste time trying to find them.
These are actually very sturdy to have only cost a dollar, they also have a little organizer like this that you use in the bathroom / shower that you could use for something like this.

I bought this patterning and sorting pocket chart from Oriental Trading for $17.99.  This comes with 414 double sided cards! They have a picture on one side and the words on the other side, so they could be used with different age groups or learning levels. My students have been working on sorting and they just placed the cards that were the same behind each other.  
I had these laminated so they would last and then I let my students sort them for me! I plan on either putting a rubber band around each group or placing each group in Ziploc snack bags, because giving your students 414 cards is a little overwhelming :0) I did let several groups work on sorting all of these so that it wouldn't be so bad. By keeping them sorted  I can keep them changed so that their are different cards to sort or use in patterns each time.
Compared to other charts I priced this was a great deal!

*this picture is from Oriental Tradings web page, sorry it is so blurry

This is a Numbers and Counting pocket chart that I bought from Oriental Trading for $14.99 (another great price). This chart comes with 244 cards with numbers, number words, math symbols and vocabulary, and picture cards. I also had these laminated so that they would last longer. 

I really love the fact that this comes with cards that have number words all the way to twenty. Again this is a pocket chart that can be used with different levels of learners. We have used this during math time and center time. My only complaint about this chart is the longer pockets (the ones that hold things other that numbers) don't do the best job at holding all of the cards. I am planning on putting some Velcro dots on these to help keep the cards from falling out. For the price I can make that adjustment.

I hope that you find this information useful and if you have any great tips or great buys I would love to hear about them. Leave a comment and let me know what you have found and if you have a blog leave that information and I will post a link to your blog.

Weekend out of town

Like most everyone in the country we have had lots of snow and a week out of school. I love the snow but I have had my share and I am ready for some sunshine, and to see my students. I hope they haven't forgot everything.

Here is what my road looked like and yes I am on a tractor with my husband as he clears the road. We are the only people who live on top of this mountain so it's up to my husband if the roads get cleared. It's beautiful until you are running out of food and milk! and you haven't been able to get off the mountain for a week. We were actually going to get our 4WD that got stuck earlier in the week.
We were supposed to go on a youth retreat with some friends, but after my husband got the roads cleared and went down the mountain to check out how everything looked he decided it was still to dangerous. So Saturday we tried again and we made!!!! We were on our way to Pigeon Forge!

This is where we got to stay!!! Beautiful isn't it and we are close to town. It was a great couple of days the only thing missing was the Internet. I am so behind on reading what everyone is doing.
So far so good on getting to go to school tomorrow. I hope everyone has a great week and maybe I will get to take some pics of what we are doing.