Back to School Fun

I have absolutely loved getting to know my new kindergarten friends. 

They are energetic, creative, funny, loving, and passionate about books! {yahoo!!!}

Here are some of the fun things we've been up to during our first full week together:

joined a Book Lovers Club

began drawing in our Doodles and Drawings book during Writer's Workshop

learned our star words  "I" and "like"

and excitedly found them in books! :)

                                                     played at recess

 played A to Zap on our classroom computers

had fun in dramatic play

 built at the Lego table

curled up with friends to read great books

 explored math materials

 and decorated and read from our poetry notebooks.

Looking forward to creating many fun memories with these students! 

1. 

My new kinder friends...

Loving every minute with my new Kindergarten friends! 

We have been busy getting to know each other and learning to routines here at school. 

Meet my new friends...
{they are ADORABLE!}

   

This free photo slideshow personalized with Smilebox

Five For Friday

I am linking up with Doodle Bugs to share my Five for Friday.

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who stopped by my TpT store for the back to school sale! I  hope that you love all of your goodies and consider following my store! :) 

 One of the goodies I scooped up during the sale was Doodle Bugs Back to School Clip Cards. I can't wait to have my students use these for Daily 5. 

 Last Friday I shared that I was at the Ohio State Fair.

It was an absolute blast!!!!

I rode THIS... my kiddos and I and happened to ride with a dad and his son. All 4 of them had a hoot laughing {even to the point of tears!} at me literally clinging to the center bar the entire time! Scott and Madilynn are total thrill seekers {like their dad} and ride anything and everything with a smile. 

Seriously, they are nuts!

Go make someone smile. :)

I am SUPER EXCITED about our weekend plans. 

I am taking my Brownie troop on a fun Girl Scout camping weekend. Not in love with bugs, snakes, or spiders, but.... I do LOVE spending time singing, dancing, crafting, swimming, and laughing with this girl! 

WISH ME {and my 6 brownie scouts} LUCK!!!! 

Doodles and Drawings

I absolutely love starting off the year in writer's workshop by teaching drawing. 

Last year I created a Doodles and Drawings book to help capture student learning and growth.

 While it accomplished things that I wanted - to ensure each student attempted a skill that was modeled in the mini-lesson and to have an organized collection of drawings from our first unit. BUT... it also accomplished a lot more...

students were SUPER proud and excited about their drawings - eagerly asking what they'd learn about next to add to their Doodles and Drawing book. Several students also made extra doodle and drawing books to use during free choice! 

Parents {absolutely adored} these collections of doodles and said they'd would treasure them for years to come! :)

Check out how I use this resource in my classroom by clicking HERE! 

Check it out at TpT here:

Grab your students Doodle books for less than $2 during the TpT sale! {Use promo code BTS14}

Reading Notebooks in Kindergarten

Are you considering implementing reading notebooks with your kindergarten students this year? 

My students and I absolutely LOVE using notebooks to capture learning. :)

Here are some of the ways that we use them:

(to join the book lovers club)

(to set a purpose for reading)

(to learn concepts of print)

(to share connections with texts)

(to study authors' choices... and to try them out)

(phonics)

(alliteration, beginning sounds)

(stretching out cvc words)

(word families)

We love our reader's notebooks. The students love sharing them with their peers and parents. 

I love that all of their learning is captured in one simple spot. 

I also love that these labels are printed and ready to go at the beginning of the year. No copying, cutting, folding, or extra teacher prep on my part!

You can grab these labels here:

All labels are aligned to the ELA common core standards! 

Grab them on August 4th or 5th and they will be 28% off if you use this code: BTS14

Shout out to Kathyrn for sharing her awesome reading notebook ideas. :) They were a huge inspiration and made me see how valuable these notebooks can be!