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For the little people known as kindergarteners...

Today I will begin blogging about my adventures, learnings, and thoughts towards teaching. My experiences in education are not as vast as some others, but I believe they are valuable. I believe in our children, even those who are often seen as unlikely to succeed. I thrive when I see young people growing and learning in unique and exciting ways. My hope for all of my students is that they learn at least one thing while they are in my classroom...I want them to know that, "They are special, and they CAN learn". So many students that I meet day to day have been told that they can't, I want to share with my students that they CAN and they WILL. There is a moment, when you have been working with a child for a while, when all of a sudden you see the glimmer in the child's eye...the moment when the child realizes that they have had success. It is these moments that drive me to continue my learning as an educator...it is these moments that get me through all of the challenges I face each day in the classroom.

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Counting, Numbers, and Sight Words

Woo Hoo!!! Fall is here. That means pretty leaves, apples, strawbales, and scarecrows! Here are a few goodies, which I have posted in my Teachers Pay Teachers !!

Feel free to check them out:)! I am super excited about my fun new clip art from Scrappin Doodles!





Saturday, September 17, 2011

The Flat Stanley Project

Ah...the school year has started, the testing is settling down (I mean as much as it will settle down!), and we are ready to start getting into some fun year long learning! I have been researching ideas for what to do with my kindergarteners to provide them with a really fun writing experience which would allow them to write about what they do in their day to day lives as well as be engaged in sharing their writing/experiences with others. While researching I remembered the book Flat Stanley, and my own experience with reading the book as a child. When I was in school I had the chance to read Flat Stanley and then we wrote a story about where we would go if we could make ourselves flat. I loved the project and I loved using my imagination!

And now, as a teacher, I am going to use the same story to help my students develop their writing skills, create relationships with people all of the world, and use their imaginations! We are going to link up to the Flat Stanley Project This week my students will each create their own "Flat Stanley". They will color them, take pictures with them, and write a letter introducing him or her. Then, we will send them out. Flat Stanleys will go to people I know as well as to people we find by on the official Flat Stanley Project website. My hope is that our Flat Stanleys will take us on a tour of the world!

If you are interested in hosting a "Flat Stanley" from my class, feel free to post a comment or send me an email. The requirements are simple...hang out with Flat Stanley and show him where you are from! Take him to work, to the park, a ball game, a historical site, or any where really! Take lots of pictures and then send him, the pictures, and any other fun souvenirs or brochures back to me. My students will look forward to learning about all of the places Flat Stanley will visit!

All the while, my students will be having their own adventures with our class Flat Stanley. Each weekend one of my students will take home our class Flat Stanley. They will each get the chance to create an adventure and journal about their adventures.

I can wait to get started on our fun adventures with Flat Stanley! Check back Monday night for pictures of each of my students Flat Stanleys! Maybe you will see one that you would like to host:)!

Wow...It's been a long time!

Well, I am back. And although I know we are all busy, I gotta give a shout out to those of you who can handle the beginning of the year craziness, your home life (i.e. Kids, house cleaning, cooking, etc.), AND still find time to blog!!! I seem to be lacking in the ability to balance it all. Anyway, I have a few blog ideas for today and I am going to try to make the time to get them all done!

This first blog is just to share a link to Teachers Pay Teachers. If you don't know about this website already, I gotta say, it's AWESOME! I love the whole idea of it. I love the idea of being able to buy printables to use in my classroom from other teachers instead of paying outrageous prices for books and activities from the teacher store. I am so grateful for the activities I have found on TPT. Anyway, here is the link, enjoy your shopping friends:)!

Teachers Pay Teachers