Friendships and things of the heart...it's Valentine's Day

It is Valentine week, our weather is strange, and there is a full moon on Friday.  My plan this week is to over plan.  I want to start a few new things and emphasize some that I have let slide.  As you check out my plans look for little gifts of love.  There are several freebies along with links to the products I am using (some are mine, some are from other talented teachers....all should have links)

We recently changed reading partners.  I want to be sure these new partners are working well together, and that my students remember who their partner is.  We have had to shift Reading Workshop often these last two weeks because of assemblies, MAP testing, end of the semester rewards.  It has not been consistent and my student's reading stamina has suffered.  This week we are going to work on that....and just remembering how to follow the rules. 

Writing workshop has suffered the same fate.  This is a rebuilding week.  Rebuilding the routines and lessons.  Writing has been the one subject I push aside if I run out of time.  My goal this week is to have my students write every day while having writers workshop and teaching the mini-lessons.

I am organized (I think).  My main math learning targets are set, my centers are prepared.  My letter of the week is planned and scheduled.  But, with Valentine's Day on Friday I want to squeeze in some emergent readers, a craft for moms, and literacy centers we won't have time for on Friday because of party plans (or maybe they will be my party plans).

We are also participating in the Groundhog Project.  So we need to set aside time to learn about weather, how to read a thermometer, and if the sun ever comes out again our shadows.  I am really getting anxious to trace our shadows and make our little Groundhog puppet.  You can read about them here.  They will

So here is a Peek at my Week.  This is plan A.  Plan B is tucked in my daily drawers, just waiting for a sunny day.

We can do this!  It will be a busy week....but then it is a three day weekend.  I am linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to share my plans and to check out what everyone else is doing on this crazy week.

Peek at My Week...Turkeys

I have often said that my talent is recognizing a good idea when I see it.  This week my plans are filled with good ideas...a little bit of everything Kindergarten and turkeys. 

The ideas and activities in my plans I have found across the internet.  I am so thankful for creative teachers who create wonderful resources and then share them on their blogs, tpt stores, and through pinterest.  I have included links to each of these  resources and ideas.  Some are free, some are paid items.  The paid items are so worth the cost.  So without further adieu here is what we are doing.

We are still working our way through the letters and the numbers.  Our routines for both are going strong. You can read about my number routine here.  I love using peas and carrots to really look at the numbers.  For letters we use Animated Literacy, plus Reading a-z and several other resources collected over the years for phonics and handwriting.

Content Area and ELA standards will meet while we learn about Turkeys.  We will use Kathleen's Pederson Let's Talk Turkey to learn more about Turkeys and more about nonfiction.  We will label the parts of a turkey using Lori Rosenberg's labeling page.  You can grab it at her blog or on Freebielicious.  We will be using what we learn to write about turkeys.  Our nonfiction writing will start with a tree map.

Next week I am back in the classroom and I will be prepping for our Thanksgiving Feast and learning about pilgrims.  This week...enjoy Turkeys! 

Head on over to Deedee Wills and take a peek at what everyone else is doing.

Scheduling Blues....Peek at my Week

What is working this year?   My schedule is working this year...much better than last year!  Lunch is still at an awful early hour (10:40), but our special is in the middle of the afternoon instead of at the end of the day.  ESL pull out is first thing in the morning.  But we are learning to work with that.

With that being said....I still wish I had more time.  I never seem to have enough time for everything I want to include in our day.  It seems that I am always looking for ways to include more.

We are lucky enough to have educational freedom in our classrooms.   As long as we are following the standards, we can teach in ways and in the order we feel is best for our students.  As a Kindergarten team we talk about what we are teaching and the way we are teaching.  We coordinate parts of our math and language cirruculumn so that our students are getting roughly the same lessons (we all do Animated Literacy and we all introduce numbers one at a time with peas and carrots).  But we also are able to give our students individual experiences, and we get to glean ideas from each other.  We really have a great working team.

If there is a day I want to focus on a skill, a topic, or a story I can swap things around as I need.  Unfortunately, the drawback to that is that certain things I need to include every day get pushed back.  Lately I have been pushing writing time out because I thought I needed more math center time.  They started pulling my ELL kids first thing in the morning.  I didn't want them to miss calendar time, so I was pushing back calendar time and trying to find useful thing to teach to my remaining students.  I was using that time to teach math center games as a whole group (that way they could be better partners during centers).  I realize that as I push back calendar time, I was pushing out writing time.  That will change shortly (I am gone for family medical reasons and I don't want to change things too much while I have sub running my classroom).

For a little peek into my week I am linking up with Deedee Wills of Mrs. Wills Kindergarten.   Good thing I don't have school tomorrow, my computer crashed and I lost my lesson plans and all my links.  I hope I have everything up and running again.

You can see that we are skipping writer's workshop and doing Math Centers and more of a guided writing with guided drawing.  We are focusing all week on the number 5.  Students will be learning several games that will be included in centers in the weeks to come.  Since 5 is an anchor number we spend extra time exploring and playing with it.  Next week we go back to introducing the numbers.  When we get to 10 we will stop and play again.  Lots and lots of number activities with 10.

Because lunch is so early it seems that our literacy block just fit better in the afternoon.  I set up my afternoons so I can do ANYTHING literacy related (sometimes we sneak in math).  And Fridays it is ALL afternoon.  We have no specials, so they are all mine 11:20-3:05.   Content area can range from science and social studies topics to creating books to free choice time (when I do much of my testing).  Eventually I will be pulling small groups during literacy centers.  Right now we spend more time whole group with animated literacy and letter/sound introduction.  We have a little routine going and it usually takes about 3 days for each letter.  In the meantime we are also doing reader's workshop (which I try not to skip) and once a week we watch and practice sign language with Signing Time.

Is that as clear as mud?  I hope that gives you a little idea of what life is like in my classroom.  We are busy, busy all the time.  These plans really are just a "peek".