tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-49898334198502399502024-02-07T00:04:19.432-08:00Through the Looking GlassA blog devoted to kindergarten.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger22125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-20531927713696312082013-01-03T11:25:00.000-08:002013-01-03T11:25:36.004-08:00Catching Up, Part IIIn December we do lots of activities to go along with Jan Brett's <u>The Gingerbread Baby</u>. There are so many great gingerbread packets available on TPT. There are many I would love to own, and I have a difficult time restraining myself. My all time favorite packets were created by Fran Kramer. They're jam packed with wonderful activities. <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Holiday-Joy-With-The-Gingerbread-Boy-Literacy-Activities">Click here to check out her literacy activities.</a> <br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Holiday-Joy-With-The-Gingerbread-Boy-Math">Her math activities can be found here.</a><br />
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Our culminating activity is to make individual gingerbread houses for each child in class. WH spends the day helping to make the houses. He makes the best icing! My partner gave me the recipe the first year we worked together. Previously I used eggs. However considering all the problems raw eggs can cause, I don't think that's a good idea anymore. The recipe calls for <a href="http://www.wilton.com/recipe/Royal-Icing">Wilton's Merengue Powder</a> in place of eggs. It's pretty pricy, so I always pick it up at Michael's with one of my 40% off coupons. If you click on the link you will find a picture of the can and a recipe, but it's not the one we use. Here's our recipe: <br />
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1 box confectioner's sugar<br />
5 TBSP merengue powder<br />
1/2 cup water. <br />
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Put the merengue powder and sugar in your mixer bowl. Start the mixer on slow and then begin to add the water. After incorporating all the water, beat on high until it's thick and glossy. About 7-10 minutes. If it gets too thick, you can always add a little more water.<br />
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First thing in the morning, the kiddos attach their milk carton to a 6" cake base using a generous dollop of icing. Then they put up the graham cracker walls and roof. Paper plates can be used in place of cake bases.<br />
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After the houses sit for an hour or so, we decorate them. It's the MOST fun!<br />
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Last year WH and I found the cutest gingerbread trays at Winco. They have 6 compartments and a lid. We bought three in order to have one tray for every two children. It makes it easier for the them to reach what they need.</div>
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I like to wrap the houses before sending them home. In the past I used Saran wrap, but it's very hard to work with. So this year I looked for an alternative. I found these terrific gift basket bags at Michael's. They are the best! Wrapping took a lot less time this year. We just plopped the houses into the bags and tied them up with ribbon. </div>
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When shopping, it was really tough to choose a size. I ended up buying the large bags. You can see that they are a bit big. Next year I'm going to purchase medium bags. </div>
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This project is costly. It does help to pick up the cake rounds, bags and merengue powder throughout the year as I get discount coupons. I bought the ribbon just before Christmas when they put it on sale for 70% off. It's sitting in my studio waiting for next year. I also like to do the shopping for the candy and sugar. It's just easier than trying to explain what I need from each family. The parents are always happy to give me a few dollars and let me do the work.</div>
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I just read about a shop in NYC that sounds fantastic. I'd love to be able to do my December candy shopping at Dylan's Candy Bar. It's the creation of Ralph Lauren's daughter, and it looks like an amazing place to visit.</div>
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I can't seem to upload the video for Dylan's, so I'll have to make a separate entry for it. </div>
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I hope your new year is off to a great start!</div>
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Karen</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-48890492790431046452012-12-27T17:16:00.000-08:002012-12-27T18:49:03.805-08:00Catching Up, Part I<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
My district has approached full day kindergarten in a unique fashion. For the first trimester, we work with our partner and our students come for half a day. Beginning second trimester the kids come to school all day. I love blogging, however after we go full day, I'm out of steam by 3:00. Hence, I'm pretty far behind here at throothelookingglass. So I'm going to post a few pictures and ideas from the past couple of months.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rJdBN2Zo8FOYVWGsVuFoAQv30OEkRURRinol1j1VAYZdpLb0ffTYYegMxgZU_F1JeA3RkuQT-Oy8DZBriUsDf3LtISNve3DQFCATjBWtRkcV0TuyQF97mL4nzYB9xrAU8-iOis8fXfuF/s1600/DSC05191.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg2rJdBN2Zo8FOYVWGsVuFoAQv30OEkRURRinol1j1VAYZdpLb0ffTYYegMxgZU_F1JeA3RkuQT-Oy8DZBriUsDf3LtISNve3DQFCATjBWtRkcV0TuyQF97mL4nzYB9xrAU8-iOis8fXfuF/s320/DSC05191.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I don't know about you, but report cards create a great deal of stress for me. It's tough to assess and keep the little ones engaged, productive and reasonably quiet. This year I came up with a simple way to assess sets. First, I placed numbers on the flannel board. When I called on a child, they took their name card out of the pocket chart and placed it in the felt tray. (Placing the name tags in the tray reminded me who had made the sets. I do have memory problems from time to time:) Next they used felt critters to make a group for each number. After completing the task, they went back to whatever they had been doing before I interrupted them. When I had a moment I pulled them back and we went to the board to go over their work together. Afterward, they cleared the board and returned their name card to the pocket chart. Then I called the next child on the list. It worked really well for me.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJK4tKPA06zwXtdRDm6-U3C2JKOup0SQyhHRpT9ijhLf5ifoIwE_cbQiSp_Ok3K7z3aGb7oaC5nl4XEt8PbnUGfnT0b_2psI81ROwwtDGagzbyjtHs7R5P4hyphenhyphenbc05vfnrvl88zzEXfkPwZ/s1600/DSC05206.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJK4tKPA06zwXtdRDm6-U3C2JKOup0SQyhHRpT9ijhLf5ifoIwE_cbQiSp_Ok3K7z3aGb7oaC5nl4XEt8PbnUGfnT0b_2psI81ROwwtDGagzbyjtHs7R5P4hyphenhyphenbc05vfnrvl88zzEXfkPwZ/s320/DSC05206.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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This apple is another example of a project I found on Pinterest. The apples were so cute, but the pockets were empty. I didn't want to send them home empty, so I asked my WH to create apple seed number flash cards to put inside. <a href="http://kpmdoodles.blogspot.com/2012/06/johnny-appleseed.html">Using the seed from KPM doodles Johnny Appleseed digital clip art </a>, he put the numerals on one side and a group to match on the back. I sent a note home with them asking the parents to review them with the kids as part of their nightly homework. They can also be used to practice number order and to name the missing number.</div>
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We took a trip to the pumpkin patch a week or so before Halloween. My grade level colleagues and I purchase the little pumpkin faces kits from Oriental Trading and have the kids decorate their pumpkins before taking them home. It's great fun.</div>
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We don't have a Halloween party per se, but we do make treat bags and decorate cookies. Here are the treat bags. I got the idea from Pinterest. I love that site!</div>
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This year we have a nice group of moms who volunteer regularly. They're terrific helpers and I love them all.</div>
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While cruising through Pinterest one evening in early November, I came upon the cutest Veteran's Day craft activity. It is necessary to have parental supervision when putting this project together. We did it in stages. It took three days to complete. Day one we made the head. Day two the kids wrote. Day three we put it all together. They were so proud of their finished product.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2c5V2cKRX7dgHQ7s9zJ-JbCeoFy0sFWZmIeS7YWTyQoiX0TuVvscvLHcq9-lWurgGFtG50Ey6CxhgIJKgtX8w4oiMq9rZ3lCN9XANffBmtbW_eLDcdXGKTk1pSYkuuiZQkj7IEwHchGg/s1600/DSC05297.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhE2c5V2cKRX7dgHQ7s9zJ-JbCeoFy0sFWZmIeS7YWTyQoiX0TuVvscvLHcq9-lWurgGFtG50Ey6CxhgIJKgtX8w4oiMq9rZ3lCN9XANffBmtbW_eLDcdXGKTk1pSYkuuiZQkj7IEwHchGg/s320/DSC05297.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Soldier-Boy-and-Girl-Craft-and-Writing-Templates">You can find Miss Kindergarten's craft and writing templates here. </a> </div>
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One of the fourth grade teachers at our school sent out an email asking for student work to send to soldiers in Afghanistan a week or two after we made these cute little fellas. The children willing contributed to the care package. I hope the soldiers who received them enjoyed them. The kiddos were so proud to have their work sent off to cheer up the troops. </div>
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My husband and I are working on some activities for January. I look forward to sharing them with you. </div>
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Enjoy what's left of 2012!</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-18519780013648195472012-12-25T17:13:00.000-08:002012-12-25T17:13:28.694-08:00Merry Christmas!It's late afternoon. My dad just left and I'm sitting here thinking about how blessed I am. We had a very quiet and peaceful Christmas day. Dad came for dinner. My wonderful husband cooked and it was delicious!<br />
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We exchanged gifts and sat around reminiscing. In February it will be five years since we lost mom. I didn't expect my dad would last very long without her, but he is part of the greatest generation and does what needs to be done. I'm so proud of him. They were 3 weeks shy of their 62nd anniversary when she went to sleep in Jesus. I'm thankful she is no longer suffering and I'm thankful for the faith that sustains us. We know this separation won't be for long. I'm so grateful to Jesus for coming to earth and giving His life so that we might enjoy eternal life with Him and our loved ones should we accept his invitation.<br /><br />I only put up one tree this year. I don't remember school ever being as crazy as this year has been so far.<br />
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The ornament at the bottom center of the picture has a photo of our Fluffy. We lost him in October. We lost our 17-year-old, Schmoopy, in February. We miss them both.</div>
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Here's the gingerbread tree. I usually put up a fruit tree as well as one with coffee ornaments. Hopefully I'll get them up again next Christmas.<br />
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Even though we still have our dear little Indiana, I didn't have the heart to hang the kitty stocking. Fluffy was the only one who actually enjoyed the little treats we purchased for them all.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uBX85N7-kpsZ45Wj1ET4WShH_7r3FqD_NRNzo1NJAmmEIrH99UFzgLMx1AEHlJ9nluVvkJEZtl3zMZbBucPNM-9v19nto9IVsyMuTBq0YXmaIi3yf3uyPjphiwk0uwiMiiZRd5Cc7D68/s1600/DSC05363.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-uBX85N7-kpsZ45Wj1ET4WShH_7r3FqD_NRNzo1NJAmmEIrH99UFzgLMx1AEHlJ9nluVvkJEZtl3zMZbBucPNM-9v19nto9IVsyMuTBq0YXmaIi3yf3uyPjphiwk0uwiMiiZRd5Cc7D68/s320/DSC05363.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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This morning, our precious Indiana was content to sit on a chair watching my husband cook dinner. He also likes to sit in the kitchen window and observe the finches feasting. I enjoy watching them too.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ89ARJSPqN0-FJK37oZr3sO5pjz5WpxG7gmwQr8xbVAJqGCaHGTTmJ1IIZrQj4Iz9ndTI05MGXHtCOqOj2hPMGDFijlBHiRLpSwS3RqWk79nAmzcVhV7Pa3y00rLb_yMPUTw26hDGfRz1/s1600/DSC05352.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ89ARJSPqN0-FJK37oZr3sO5pjz5WpxG7gmwQr8xbVAJqGCaHGTTmJ1IIZrQj4Iz9ndTI05MGXHtCOqOj2hPMGDFijlBHiRLpSwS3RqWk79nAmzcVhV7Pa3y00rLb_yMPUTw26hDGfRz1/s320/DSC05352.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Last week I dressed the table with a linen cloth and napkins, my Lenox "Holiday" china, Waterford crystal, candlesticks and a centerpiece. About an hour before my dad arrived I started thinking about the linens and cringed at the idea of laundering and ironing them. So I took it all off and re-set the table with our everyday dishes and snowman placemats. Nobody even noticed! I will put the Christmas finery back this evening. I enjoy looking at it.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWKHewGQjYdXcEsMURVRyMw_AlHaSOOgYHc8eESA0qWiL6UOykBKQY2ydw-zk4dzsSu5rH635AAhrHNfbaTtaBYpUV37raAahk8H1AVT0fDwKmMsV8HgxpC7c5HSN9e55bZyAmR2nAzq3/s1600/DSC05336.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMWKHewGQjYdXcEsMURVRyMw_AlHaSOOgYHc8eESA0qWiL6UOykBKQY2ydw-zk4dzsSu5rH635AAhrHNfbaTtaBYpUV37raAahk8H1AVT0fDwKmMsV8HgxpC7c5HSN9e55bZyAmR2nAzq3/s320/DSC05336.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have a nice little collection of Santas that usually adorn the free surfaces around the living area of the house, but I only set out a handful this season. <br />
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I love birds. I have them scattered all over the house. The little fellow on this bowl is one of my favorites.<br />
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All my trees are fake, so I like to have a touch of the real thing somewhere. <br /><br />I wish you all the best of the holiday season.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-large;">Merry Christmas!</span></div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-28374379232608456602012-10-07T20:38:00.000-07:002012-10-07T20:38:52.771-07:00Columbus Day<div>
The weeks just fly by and I'm having a hard time keeping ahead of things. I was hoping to finish the Columbus products by now, but we're still working on them. I do have a freebie to share with you. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8NPYeylW_uw0Gag7ayksIojohXRi8XABJocnBtug1IyUiEk1kQogbLeSCZIeZ8_7SnoYe6Y2mhmQxXxofR2js5HKSXTct6jL4HkSn9KEpmMuTkgJXrzkM8iK0yjtHyhtjL9ffnCWCbqz/s1600/1492-Thumb1.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjB8NPYeylW_uw0Gag7ayksIojohXRi8XABJocnBtug1IyUiEk1kQogbLeSCZIeZ8_7SnoYe6Y2mhmQxXxofR2js5HKSXTct6jL4HkSn9KEpmMuTkgJXrzkM8iK0yjtHyhtjL9ffnCWCbqz/s320/1492-Thumb1.png" width="320" /></a></div>
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It's a BittyBook for Columbus day. <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Christopher-Columbus-1492-BittyBook#">You can find it at my TpT store. Just click here.</a> It's simple and repetitive. It affords the kiddos another opportunity to practice reading sight words and learn a few historical facts. <br />
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Below you will find several single pages for easy viewing.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YxcFwoB4zudZ1wj9PES0eG85q91lMENVcb54r8AIvn90Qt1TZ8RPrykXFNKpwm9OvLUXCuQ6jf7spKwdypoAp_vMDAsMVGRR3sLc8GAblF3Ic1s2k3iJ_7Wr7-SABjfM90nYrtbuMEjT/s1600/1492-Thumb2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YxcFwoB4zudZ1wj9PES0eG85q91lMENVcb54r8AIvn90Qt1TZ8RPrykXFNKpwm9OvLUXCuQ6jf7spKwdypoAp_vMDAsMVGRR3sLc8GAblF3Ic1s2k3iJ_7Wr7-SABjfM90nYrtbuMEjT/s320/1492-Thumb2.png" width="216" /></a></div>
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This is the front cover.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtteDuM0OWukaSmu4smgLoGU6CRFETdb4w5EYjE-MpQqUHoVE2N3JZaUnj0qaI_8c2fMpHUDZWt8uu7u92D7ddBQfDwRNhDRvjowtCJL4hOmzkT70mxUWnEixULN0jcBmqZKQ9e6TrL84i/s1600/1492-Thumb3.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtteDuM0OWukaSmu4smgLoGU6CRFETdb4w5EYjE-MpQqUHoVE2N3JZaUnj0qaI_8c2fMpHUDZWt8uu7u92D7ddBQfDwRNhDRvjowtCJL4hOmzkT70mxUWnEixULN0jcBmqZKQ9e6TrL84i/s320/1492-Thumb3.png" width="210" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSPaoZQGa7DFQD4Z0Z-wUhQWq7U9SPgZo0DSg_1OIY-QfvyJKnXemAuTfbjqjpWTY1n156GQ5CtLiIigO7voQTtld3-xywr2i8OWRxOsqbXTR_o-ERxC7LiXYgmrO-s6WdJ_P51iBGiVX/s1600/1492-Thumb4.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrSPaoZQGa7DFQD4Z0Z-wUhQWq7U9SPgZo0DSg_1OIY-QfvyJKnXemAuTfbjqjpWTY1n156GQ5CtLiIigO7voQTtld3-xywr2i8OWRxOsqbXTR_o-ERxC7LiXYgmrO-s6WdJ_P51iBGiVX/s320/1492-Thumb4.png" width="208" /></a></div>
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I hope you find this useful. Enjoy using it with your little ones!</div>
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Karen</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-54193146985741399272012-09-21T18:15:00.000-07:002012-09-21T18:15:21.567-07:00BittyBooks<br />
The weeks are flying by and next Wednesday we will celebrate Johnny Appleseed Day. It sure got here quickly this year. The kiddos and I have been having a great time with <u style="font-style: italic;">Go Johnny, Go!</u> We've been reading the big book daily and they're doing a great job of memorizing the text. This coming week they will get their own copy. They've been asking for it all week. <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Johnny-Appleseed-Go-Johnny-Go-The-Story-of-John-Chapman">If you haven't seen it yet, you'll find it right here.</a><br />
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With the cost of everything on the rise and the resources to purchase them on the decline, it's tough finding materials that don't use a lot of paper and ink. This year I thought I'd try to create teeny, tiny books for my little people using the smoosh book format. We call them BittyBooks. The first is a retelling of Brown Bear. I incorporated Open Court sight words into the book and it turned out really well. The only problem is that there weren't enough pages to print all of the characters, so I wasn't able to include the gold fish. Even so, it works. This week we made a book to complement <u style="font-style: italic;">Go Johnny, Go!</u> It's a BittyBook and it's about the life cycle of the apple tree. <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Johnny-Appleseed-BittyBook-Life-Cycle-of-the-Apple">It's a freebie available at TpT, so check it out here!</a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUUh8VmD72dF4zPd1GjCM08D0c78NTBopfpgHXPq2Jxo81c3dMZhRy-eHxyXEbNN6TiO4hsRx7Vf9tR8lyRkfUteY4Zi5zDnkkjRymDftEtLBiSCLDFJIH-chk3nkPPvuZPK-KVPEAHYI9/s1600/AppleLifeCycleBittyBook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUUh8VmD72dF4zPd1GjCM08D0c78NTBopfpgHXPq2Jxo81c3dMZhRy-eHxyXEbNN6TiO4hsRx7Vf9tR8lyRkfUteY4Zi5zDnkkjRymDftEtLBiSCLDFJIH-chk3nkPPvuZPK-KVPEAHYI9/s320/AppleLifeCycleBittyBook.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">The children have already accumulated a large quantity of books that we've made in class. Storage has always been an issue for me. I have used gallon-sized zippered baggies in the past and they are such a nuisance, in my opinion. So this year I went in search of a solution to my book storage problem. After searching Dollar Trees and 99 Cent Stores I came upon plastic shoe boxes at Target. They're the perfect size and they're stackable, even when loaded up with books. At .97 cents each, the deal was sealed for me. The next thing I needed to figure out was how to label them. I didn't want to put names on them because I'd like to be able to reuse them next year and beyond, if they hold up. I came up with the idea of labeling them using numbers and characters from </span><u style="font-style: italic; text-align: center;">Brown Bear, Brown Bear...</u><span style="text-align: center;"> In my room, the children are broken up into 4 groups. The groups are: red birds, yellow ducks, blue horses and green frogs. </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpTCufc4GlSzPwCalzTMrFTBBwN8-cl2C8_7lr0o4shyrjRuWoPMsKoWBsz9lQZhx-HcUyuqoyl4qjA59glK3K3qzZMZJJllL-JeoFW1OzQaBKTp_u0czwTrcYq5B6RzGTPoRGXLzGn4Q/s1600/DSC05187.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEpTCufc4GlSzPwCalzTMrFTBBwN8-cl2C8_7lr0o4shyrjRuWoPMsKoWBsz9lQZhx-HcUyuqoyl4qjA59glK3K3qzZMZJJllL-JeoFW1OzQaBKTp_u0czwTrcYq5B6RzGTPoRGXLzGn4Q/s320/DSC05187.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="text-align: center;">I numbered the children in each group from 1-6, so the labels have both a picture and a number. I printed out the labels and cut them to size. Next I brought out my trusty Xyron sticker machine and turned the labels into stickers.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz2e0buL9XVIODYsW41TUC4VfiLNMP__8nG2faB9Bv1ocZV76bXPW9GyLYdbaKVQigipE1O2w4nOHC4DhQAHua4r3y1xMpp_UcdCBkTjDsJr26KuqmTS-B6pply1nvAkknoLCIMX613C8/s1600/DSC05190.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAz2e0buL9XVIODYsW41TUC4VfiLNMP__8nG2faB9Bv1ocZV76bXPW9GyLYdbaKVQigipE1O2w4nOHC4DhQAHua4r3y1xMpp_UcdCBkTjDsJr26KuqmTS-B6pply1nvAkknoLCIMX613C8/s320/DSC05190.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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(I have a book box too, and here's a picture of my label. :)</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBbNOEPsCQt8SUvPo9oSub4Lb7d6JsN2hTNRh7FznsvcziQlWsxbdN7CHC7wCfuHLsRBv_DtdrRDrqaYNh6j-O4JRlTMVRYceQCYCrV02DIbfkhWPy1t0GCzZH8lVTY8DVMRSrvPpX9Vt/s1600/DSC05188.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVBbNOEPsCQt8SUvPo9oSub4Lb7d6JsN2hTNRh7FznsvcziQlWsxbdN7CHC7wCfuHLsRBv_DtdrRDrqaYNh6j-O4JRlTMVRYceQCYCrV02DIbfkhWPy1t0GCzZH8lVTY8DVMRSrvPpX9Vt/s320/DSC05188.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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Finally I affixed the stickers to the boxes.</div>
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They fit beautifully on one shelf. </div>
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Now reading is a happier time in my classroom. No more struggling with book bags. When it's time to read, the table managers go to the shelf and pick up the stacks of boxes. They pass them out. The children take out the books they need and stow the boxes under their chairs until it's time to put them away. No more ripped bags, no more struggling to place the books back in the baggies properly. No more headaches! I love happy endings, don't you?</div>
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Happy Friday Everyone!</div>
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Karen</div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-53290673830851600842012-09-09T19:03:00.001-07:002012-09-09T19:03:15.682-07:00Go Johnny, Go!Autumn is my favorite season, and the legend of Johnny Appleseed is my favorite folk tale. I loved the books Fran Kramer used to make. She would make an 8.5" x11" color version for the teacher and a smaller black line book for the children. I decided I needed to write my own kindergarten-friendly version of Johnny's story for my class. We uploaded it today <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Johnny-Appleseed-Go-Johnny-Go-The-Story-of-John-Chapman">and you can find it right here.</a> <div>
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<br />Here are a few sample pages to give you the flavor of the book.</div>
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I took my teacher copy to school last week and the children loved it. They especially like the refrain, "Go Johnny, go!" I can't wait to pass out their copies. They like having their own smaller version of the books we read in class.</div>
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This is a sample of two pages from the kid version.</div>
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And this is the last page in their book. I want to get as big a bang for my printing buck as I can, so I included a list of the sight words from the book and I've asked the parents to review them frequently with their children.</div>
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We begin week five tomorrow. It doesn't seem possible! </div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-84101417366853388262012-09-03T20:33:00.002-07:002012-09-03T20:33:27.587-07:00WorryI don't know about you, but I'm feeling a bit nervous regarding the common core math standards. Particularly "composing and decomposing numbers from 11 to 19 into ten ones and some further ones," otherwise known as K.NBT.1. In our assessment booklet, the children are given a number sentence frame that looks like this: __+__=17 Above the number sentence frames there are two empty 10 frames. The children are expected to put 17 objects into the 10 frames and then fill in the blanks as follows: <u>10</u>+<u>7 </u>=17 Oh my! <br />
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So last week we got busy. I made 5 frames to begin with. <br />
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I gathered together number tiles and counters and placed them in the little lunch boxes I purchased at Target several years ago. I put them aside until center time.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXrvWPL6oE45Tb6TuoYj1kRx5NttzkHa7X9SCDqbIstBYOmMIlSo40NcGmHrXLlEaCoh_-oCR2pAV1ZSHgoJhp0MGVtCrJrPkDtVDKYcrIQq1fL258Qydng5ZtGpO-wtU3qDztAZ7CFXT/s1600/DSC05151.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJXrvWPL6oE45Tb6TuoYj1kRx5NttzkHa7X9SCDqbIstBYOmMIlSo40NcGmHrXLlEaCoh_-oCR2pAV1ZSHgoJhp0MGVtCrJrPkDtVDKYcrIQq1fL258Qydng5ZtGpO-wtU3qDztAZ7CFXT/s320/DSC05151.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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When the kiddos got to the table, the first thing we did was review the color and number flash cards. Next, they placed their number tiles in counting order. Even though we only went to 5, it was a difficult task for some of them.<br />
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Then, using number flash cards and counters, they made groups to match numbers. The cards were in random order. Their counters were placed on the graphics below the 5 frame. After I showed them a number, we counted together. As we counted, they slid their counters up in to the frames until they had the correct number of counters. </div>
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It was slow going the first day. The next time we did the activity, some of the children were able to work independently. They put their number tiles back into the lunch boxes and drew tiles to determine how many counters were needed to make a group. </div>
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We'll do this activity again tomorrow. We've been off for three days. I hope they remember something!</div>
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I hope you all had a lovely Labor Day!</div>
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Karen</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-82900696466576030242012-08-26T13:40:00.001-07:002012-08-26T13:40:31.208-07:00Rockin' In My School ShoesWe all love Pete The Cat, that much is certain. My Scholastic book order catalogs were waiting for me when I returned to school a couple of weeks ago. I was happy to see that they are offering <u>Pet The Cat: Rockin' In My School Shoes</u> in their back-to-school catalog. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2djjtmckHENXVLdqZOHEMV_Wj-Fa1YgnqIxCxGIoPVRIy88dO-0YmPB-S6MTrNbLJS8CkAARF7MuLxD4vWlcmOXmmUVfzco3N6s6E-eZTWkEJ7a2_Mmk1MpvmxG_kg0UOIFvMyZYQlo2W/s1600/9780545501064_default_xl.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2djjtmckHENXVLdqZOHEMV_Wj-Fa1YgnqIxCxGIoPVRIy88dO-0YmPB-S6MTrNbLJS8CkAARF7MuLxD4vWlcmOXmmUVfzco3N6s6E-eZTWkEJ7a2_Mmk1MpvmxG_kg0UOIFvMyZYQlo2W/s320/9780545501064_default_xl.gif" width="249" /></a></div>
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I purchased a hardbound copy of the book over the summer and I had my fingers crossed that Scholastic would make it available to the children right away. Although I'm happy about the availability of the book, I was disappointed that they are not offering a CD with it as they did last September when they opened the year with <u>Pete The Cat</u>. CDs are so much easier than looking for the songs online, in my opinion. My wonderful husband came to my rescue. He downloaded the music off the website and burned CDs for my partner and me. He used artwork from the book and printed it on the CDs. <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUOqssQf5ycKR8HPC8ADS_48bNyTQzzVBPf92cpg3H40L4pRHB3dvvMH6cUaI38GWHa_JOL-3jLBnLnxSj29N6fxm95TGCVg0gR9_aG08y3MdcSAQVm42pQJ0ZO7q50FUHcebX60rOtoR/s1600/DSC05147.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUOqssQf5ycKR8HPC8ADS_48bNyTQzzVBPf92cpg3H40L4pRHB3dvvMH6cUaI38GWHa_JOL-3jLBnLnxSj29N6fxm95TGCVg0gR9_aG08y3MdcSAQVm42pQJ0ZO7q50FUHcebX60rOtoR/s320/DSC05147.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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He personalized them for us by adding our names to the school bus stop sign on the <u>School Shoes</u> discs and the license plate on the <u>Four Groovy Buttons</u> discs. Thanks to my husband, we've been rockin' in our school shoes all week long:)</div>
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Here's a picture of our little "Pete the Cat." (Actually it's Indiana.) With Indiana, as with Pete, it's all good. (Groovy!)</div>
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Have an awesome week.</div>
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Karen</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-87649968279958652282012-08-24T20:18:00.000-07:002012-08-24T20:18:02.772-07:00Friday FreebieHere's a link to my latest Friday Freebie I hope you enjoy using it with your little ones.<br />
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<a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Eating-Shapes-Book">It's a little book called Eating Shapes.</a> Enjoy, and have a wonderful weekend!<br />
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KarenUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-81185251613321404512012-08-22T22:03:00.001-07:002012-08-22T22:03:24.195-07:00Welcome to the New School YearWell we survived the first six days of school! Yay!! Tomorrow night is Back-to-School Night and I'm certainly looking forward to the weekend. I've stayed at school until just before seven the past two evenings, and I'm getting behind here at home. <br />
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I love my new kiddos. They're a darling group. We added a Transitional Kindergarten at our site and it seems so funny that every child in that class was born in November! They will celebrate all of their birthdays in one month, and it's a short month at that.<br />
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We started a painting techniques book this week. Each day, after the new color is introduced, the children get to experience a new painting technique. We introduce the colors in the order in which they appear in <u>Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?</u> So the first painting was brown. <br />
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We started with bubble painting because I think it's the most fun. If you haven't done this with your class, I highly recommend you try. To create the medium, combine dishwashing liquid, a few drops of glycerine, tempra and water. Mix it well. Then pour it into a shallow container. One at a time, have the children use a straw to blow into the mixture. Bubbles will well up quickly. After they have a good froth going, they hold their paper over the bubbles and lower it until it touches the container.<br />
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This creates a lovely effect. Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of the finished product. I'll have to post one at a later date.<br />
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We've been having a great time with the Brown Bear unit I put together over the summer. If you haven't seen it <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Karen-Kory">you can check it out right here</a>. Below are photos of some of the goodies included in the unit.<br />
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This is a coloring sheet. There is one for each animal in the story, and I've borrowed the flamingo from <u>Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?</u> so that we would have something to go along with pink. The children love having their own pictures of the critters that hang on our wall next to the calendar board.<br />
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These, of course, are the color wall cards. I included number wall cards as well. I haven't taken a photo of them yet. (Actually, you can see the number one card peeking through the tree at the bottom of the picture.)<br />
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And here is my favorite component. The "Count Along With Brown Bear" book I created for the unit. First the children rainbow write the number. Next they cut out the corresponding number of animals for that page. Then they trace the numbers at the bottom of the page. Last, they read the book. I love the scaffold of placing dots under each word. It makes it so much easier for the children to follow along.<br />
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I hope all of you are off to a great start. We have the best job!<br />
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KarenUnknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-82290374283741465792012-08-12T18:44:00.001-07:002012-08-12T18:44:55.997-07:00Starting The Year With Brown BearWhew! I finally finished and put up my first packet on Teacher's Pay Teachers. It was a new experience trying to get things figured out. But we did (my husband is wonderful) and it's available now. We had difficulty putting up the preview page, and we're still waiting for that to be resolved, but it's up! <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Starting-the-Year-with-Brown-Bear">You can find it right here.</a><br />
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Since TpT only allows four thumbnail photos, I thought I'd preview a few more here. <br />
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This is one of the number wall cards. Card number one has one brown bear, number two has two red birds and so on. I ran out of animals after number nine, so we ended with ten teachers.<br />
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I also included a set of color wall cards in the packet. As there aren't any pink animals in the story and I wanted a pink wall card, I used the flamingo from <u>Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What Do You Hear?</u> </div>
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There is a black line coloring sheet for each color, including pink.</div>
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This is one of the color word task cards (there are 10.) If you have letter tiles, they world work well. If not, I have included a page of letter tiles that you can print, laminate and cut out. Using the squares at the bottom of the task card, the children build the color word seen above the animal.</div>
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Included in the packet you will also find a counting book, math talk cards (I'm really excited about them,) sorting and graphing sheets, color word handwriting sheets and story sequencing cards. You can see pictures of all but the sequence cards when you click the link at the beginning of this post.</div>
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Look for another Friday Freebie on Teaching Blog Addict at the end of the week. It'll be fun!</div>
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Have a marvelous Monday,</div>
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Karen</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-12093330337365123902012-08-10T08:50:00.000-07:002012-08-10T09:41:58.548-07:00Dollar Tree FindsWhen I went to school yesterday, my partner called me in to show me some things she purchased at Dollar Tree. I was anxious to see what she found because I hadn't yet made it over to check out their Back-to-School merchandise. After peeking at her goodies, I made time to go later in the afternoon. Here' what I found:<br />
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Crayola color board books. They are pretty big. About 14 inches long, is my guess. They only had the four colors in stock. I don't know whether or not they are available in orange, purple, brown or black.<br />
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Award certificates for knowing the shapes and tying shoes. </div>
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I don't teach how to tie shoes anymore, but I am hoping these certificates will motivate those who don't seem to care about learning that skill. I get so tired of tying shoes. </div>
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My favorite item was this little <u>Eletelephony</u> board book.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbBm6FcTwQUGunA7jNFhZOzilpFZIfFuuWphvtKrWj0jnu_kTmt3LkPH0f4KfQ3vMWPJJactvHOJVR1w37edX_PTYVArYOMKm2xWy2G-S0w8G-YStv8ZidqBq8rierEp1_Ps0JJTpshRTk/s1600/DSC_1085.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbBm6FcTwQUGunA7jNFhZOzilpFZIfFuuWphvtKrWj0jnu_kTmt3LkPH0f4KfQ3vMWPJJactvHOJVR1w37edX_PTYVArYOMKm2xWy2G-S0w8G-YStv8ZidqBq8rierEp1_Ps0JJTpshRTk/s320/DSC_1085.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I have always liked the poem and so I couldn't resist picking up the book. Now the children can enjoy it with me. </div>
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Happy Friday!</div>
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Karen</div>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-39875751531689294312012-08-07T17:10:00.002-07:002012-08-07T17:10:29.192-07:00End of SummerWe just returned from our last trek of the summer. It doesn't seem possible, but school starts next week! We stopped off at The Paper Source in Berkeley where I found the cutest Folkmanis hedgehog puppet.<br />
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She'll be a wonderful addition to my January bag of tricks. She looks to me like she just stepped out of Jan Brett's <u>The Hat</u> or <u>The Mitten</u>. Hmmmm.........maybe I need to get busy and knit Hedgie her own little "hat."<br />
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My next find was at "love at first bite," a Cupcakery we patronize whenever we're in town. <br />
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In addition to a Lemon Pistachio cupcake, I picked up the cutest game. I'm planning to add it to my free choice cupboard. I think the spatula spinner on the "cake stand" is so cute! Don't you?<br />
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I've been busy creating activities for my new TpT store. It's so much fun! I was devastated when I read that Fran Kramer from Kindergarten Crayons is leaving kindergarten. I learned so much from her and now that she's no longer in K I decided I'll have to create my own activities. The first one is an "I have...Who has...?" game to go along with <u>Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?</u> by Eric Carle. It's a freebie and you can grab it here. <a href="http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-Have-Who-Has-Brown-Bear-Edition">I have...Who has...? Brown Bear Edition</a>.<br />
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We're finishing up a beginning-of-the-year packet with activities that connect to Eric Carle's Brown Bear book. We hope to get it on TpT no later than Thursday. I hope you'll check it out!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-70404357926799189882012-04-11T21:38:00.000-07:002012-04-11T21:38:56.365-07:00EasterIt's so nice to be home on vacation this week. I love sleeping in and lazing around the house in my jammies. On Monday, WH and I printed out and laminated <a href="http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/2012/04/who-likes-scrambled-eggs.html">Fran's terrific CVC word</a> and <a href="http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/2012/04/tpt-is-sick-and-needs-rest-oh-no.html">addition activities.</a> I can't wait to use them next week! If you're not familiar with Fran, click on the links above to check out her blog <i>Kindergarten Crayons</i>.<br /><br />Our vacation started last Friday, and on Thursday we celebrated. We hunted eggs, made sandwiches and decorated cookies for lunch. As a treat, we ate lunch in the room instead of in the cafeteria. We work the kids so hard these days. It's important to take some time to play once in a while. On Wednesday we colored eggs in class. The kids were so excited! This was a new experience for many of them. I wrote their names on their eggs with the wax crayon provided in the dye kit and then they chose their favorite color and we put their eggs into the corresponding dye cup. <br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">On Thursday, we had an egg hunt. I sent them out in groups because it's easier to manage that way.</span></div>
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I had lots of parent help, so things ran smoothly.</div>
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Of course, they had to compare baskets after all the eggs were found!</div>
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This year I added a little something to the egg hunt. While shopping at Target a few weeks ago, I found some big golden eggs in the dollar bins. They also had the cutest carrot and ducky bubble necklaces. I knew I had to buy them all. So for each group, one golden egg was hidden. The child who found the golden egg was awarded a prize. He or she chose either a ducky or carrot necklace in exchange for the golden egg.</div>
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After all the eggs were found, the kiddos came inside and exchanged their plastic eggs for candy.</div>
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It's so much easier than stuffing the eggs, and that way I can recycle my eggs year after year. I store them in egg cartons. Then I know exactly how many eggs I have at a glance.</div>
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At one station, we peeled the eggs and made egg salad sandwiches for our luncheon.<br />
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For years I had them mix up the egg salad the old fashioned way. But a few years ago, I discovered an easier way to make it. After peeling the eggs, drop them into a ziplock sandwich bag along with some mayo and a dash of salt. The kids mash it all together and when they're finished, snip off a corner of the baggie and squeeze the contents onto a slice of bread. It's so easy and lots of fun!<br />
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">In addition to the sandwiches, we had chips and Peter Rabbit veggies (radishes and baby carrots.) For a beverage, I always serve 7up because if it spills on the carpet, it doesn't leave a stain. </span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">They were really stuffed after lunch, so we saved the cookies to eat as an afternoon, after recess snack. We watched the Beatrix Potter dvd of Peter Rabbit and Benjamin Bunny as we munched on cookies.</span></div>
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<span style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">It was a wonderful day, and a terrific way to start our vacation.</span></div>
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Cheers!</div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-51953398979527121922011-10-28T00:03:00.000-07:002011-10-28T00:03:32.969-07:00A Trip To The Pumpkin Patch<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
We had a wonderful time at the pumpkin patch a few weeks ago.</div>
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A local business plants a large field of pumpkins every year. In October, they open it up to the schools as a field trip destination. They provide an excellent learning experience for the children and they are very generous hosts. After getting off the bus, we sat down and listened to a presentation on the pumpkin life cycle.<br />
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As the presenter spoke, they passed around little sponge-filled jars containing sprouted pumpkin seeds.<br />
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Afterward, we tromped off to the field where each child selected a pumpkin to take home as a memento. The workers cut them and wiped them off before placing them in bags for the kiddos. Before leaving school, we reminded the children not to choose a large pumpkin as they would be responsible for carrying it back to the classroom. It's a long walk from the bus stop back to our room.<br />
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After everyone had their prized pumpkin, we walked back to the parking lot where the employees served the children cookies and juice. Yummy!<br />
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Next, we took a group picture and then each child was photographed individually standing next to a scarecrow. Then it was time to get back on the bus and head home.<br />
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In August, I ordered some cute Halloween stickers from Oriental Trading Co. After we got back to class, we gave each child a packet of the stickers. They had a ball creating their own pumpkin faces with them. </div>
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When they finished, we took more pictures. Then it was time to go home.<br />
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What a fun and memorable day!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-81317484302481155622011-10-27T21:48:00.000-07:002011-10-27T21:48:35.307-07:00More ApplesauceIt's a little late, but I still want to post pictures of our applesauce adventure. We made it on September 22nd. I had several wonderful parents volunteer to come in that day and help. <br />
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They were so cute. They took turns running the peeler/corer and they were all very helpful. <br />
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After the parents prepared the apples, the children chopped them up into little pieces. <br />
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When they finished, they dumped their pieces into a bowl. The contents of the bowl eventually made it in to my electric skillet. After adding some cinnamon, sugar and a little bit of fresh lemon juice, the apples simmered for a couple of hours. Oh my! The room smelled wonderful!<br />
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While they patiently waited, the children worked on various other tasks. They sorted and counted manipulatives, worked on phonics with my partner and colored their Johnny Appleseed puppets.<br />
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(I have so many precious photos of the children that I wish I could share with you, but these anonymous pics will have to do.)<br />
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About half an hour before dismissal, we portioned out the tasty dish and set the cups on the table to cool while we went out to recess.<br />
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Here's a photo of the world's best aide:) Thanks for all you do for us Diana.<br />
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At last. Time to enjoy the fruit of our labor. Yummy!<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-40756689197520990132011-10-17T00:50:00.000-07:002011-10-17T00:50:49.643-07:00PinkaliciousFor all you Pinkalicious fans, check out the newest book out this fall, and Maryland Pink and Green's blog to see Bethany's photos from a book signing event. It looks like it was lots of fun!<br />
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<a href="http://www.marylandpinkandgreen.com/2011/10/pinkalicious-book-signing-party.html?spref=bl">Maryland Pink and Green: Pinkalicious Book Signing Party</a>: Room and Board, Washington’s premier retailer for contemporary American-made home furnishings, hosted a book signing party with award-winni...<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Karen</span><br />
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<br /></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-10309624168878998982011-10-16T19:11:00.000-07:002011-10-16T19:11:00.520-07:00Acorn TreatsI just ran across the cutest autumn treat and thought I'd share the pic. Does anybody know what cookie they used for the acorn top?<br />
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What are some of your favorite fall treats?Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-25112928236031645592011-09-22T20:37:00.000-07:002011-09-22T20:37:32.623-07:00The Little Red HouseAs I was going through my September files recently, I came across a copy of the story "The Little Red House With a Star Inside." I think I picked it up in a children's lit course way back when. I love this story and tell it to my class every year. The best part is the collective gasp from the kiddos when I cut open a little red apple and show them the star inside. It's these magical moments that make me love teaching kindergarten. This story is a classic and I'm sure most of you are familiar with it, however in case you aren't, I'm including it below.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #555555; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;"><b style="color: #003300; font-size: 16px;">There was once upon a time a little boy named John who was tired of all his toys and tired of all his picture books and tired of all his play.<br /><br />"What shall I do?" he asked his mother? And his dear mother who always knew beautiful things for little boys to do, said:<br /><br />"You shall go on a journey and find a little red house with no doors and with a star inside."<br /><br />Then John's eyes grew big with wonder. "Which way shall I go?" he asked, "to find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?"<br /><br />"Down the lane and past the farmer's house and over the hill," said his mother. "Come back as soon as you can and tell me all about your journey.<br /><br />So John put on his hat and his jacket and started out.<br /><br />He had not walked very far down the lane when he came to a merry little girl dancing along in the sunshine.<br /><br />"Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?" John asked her.<br /><br />The little girl laughed. "Ask my father, the farmer," she said. "Perhaps he knows."<br /><br />So John went on until he came to the great brown barn where the farmer kept barrels of fat potatoes and baskets of yellow squashes and golden pumpkins. The farmer himself stood in the doorway looking out over the green pastures and yellow grain fields.<br /><br />"Do you know where I shall find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?" John asked the farmer.<br /><br />The farmer laughed, too. "I've lived a great many years and I never saw one," he chuckled; "but ask Granny who lives at the foot of the hill. She knows how to make molasses taffy and popcorn balls and red mittens. Perhaps she can direct you.<br /><br />So John went on farther still, until he came to Granny sitting in her pretty garden of herbs and marigolds. She was as wrinkled as a walnut and as smiling as the sunshine.<br /><br />"Please, dear Granny," said John, "where shall I find a little red house with no doors and a star inside?"<br /><br />Granny was knitting a red mitten and when she heard the little boy's question, she laughed so cheerily that the wool ball rolled out of her lap and down to the pebbly path.<br /><br />"I should like to find that little house myself," she chuckled. "It would be warm when the frosty nights come and the starlight would be prettier than a candle. But ask the wind who blows about so much and listens at all the chimneys. Perhaps the wind can direct you.<br /><br />So John took off his hat politely to Granny and went on up the hill rather sorrowfully. He wondered if his mother, who usually knew everything, had perhaps made a mistake.<br /><br />The wind was coming down the hill as the little boy climbed up. As they met, the wind turned about and went along, singing, beside the little boy. It whistled in his ear and pushed him and dropped a pretty leaf into his hands to show what a good comrade it was.<br /><br />"Oh, Wind," asked John, after they had gone along together quite a way, "can you help me to find a little red house with not doors and a star inside?"<br /><br />The wind went singing ahead of the little boy until it came to an orchard. There it climbed up into an apple tree and shook the branches. At John's feet fell a rosy apple.<br /><br />John picked up the apple. It was as much as two hands could hold. It was red as the sun had been able to paint it, and the thick brown stem stood up as straight as a chimney. It was a little red house. It had no doors.<br /><br />"I wonder," thought John. He took his jack-knife from his pocket and cut the apple through the center. Oh, how wonderful! There inside the apple, lay a star holding brown seeds.<br /><br />John called to the wind, "Thank you," and the wind whistled back, "You're welcome."<br /><br />Then John ran home to his mother and gave her the apple.<br /><br />Be sure that you cut the apple horizontally about half-way down between the flower and stem ends.<br /><br />The cut apples also make great stamps for making prints on paper place mats for the apple feast. Use the shortened version below as the center of the place mats and the children can make apple prints as a border around it.</b></span><br />
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When cutting the apple, remember not to cut from stem to blossom. You must slice through the center in order to find the star inside. <br />
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After telling the story, we make apple prints using the apple halves and yellow paint. Here is a photo of the project we make with the prints. <br />
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<br /><br />Happy Printing!<br />
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Karen<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-53388303912109538792011-09-21T22:48:00.000-07:002011-09-21T23:36:45.701-07:00ApplesauceFall is my favorite season. I love the subtle changes in the lighting and the cooler weather. Every year I look forward to September and bringing out my apple activities.<br />
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Tomorrow we will be making applesauce as part of our Johnny Appleseed celebration. Although Johnny Appleseed Day isn't until Monday, we usually do special activities on Fridays. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, this year we'll be making it on Thursday. I can't wait! The room smells so good as the apples simmer in the electric skillet. The kids love the little machine that cores, peels and slices the apples into rings. They enjoy cutting up the apple rings in to smaller pieces after they come off the machine. I give them each a plate and a serrated plastic knife and they do a terrific job cutting with those little knives. Afterward I add the apple pieces to the skillet. While the children wait for their turn at the applesauce table, I provide other apple-related projects to keep them entertained. I found a Johnny Appleseed puppet over 20 years ago in one of the lesser-known classroom magazines. (I only wish I could remember which one!) It's really cute. I give the kids one of those teeny tiny bags one size down from lunch-sized. They color, cut and glue the pieces, et voila--they have a puppet! The smaller bags stay on their little hands so much better than those awkward lunch bags, and it's also a nicer fit for the puppet pieces. <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8tyL8YH2lYAZTgzNTVjNWQtOTA4YS00YmFmLWEyNTYtMzU3YjY4ZjZhMjBk&hl=en_US">Click here to get your copy.</a> (I hope I'm not infringing on somebody's copyright.)<br />
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We always eat our applesauce at the end of the day. As my contented little ones snack on their delicious treat, they watch the Disney movie about Johnny Appleseed. It was made in 1948, but it's just as charming today as I remember it being when I was a child. This is one of those films that Disney releases for a short time and then returns to their vault for several years before re-releasing. If you're interested in finding a copy, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Legends-Alfre-Woodard/dp/B00005RDST/ref=sr_1_1?s=movies-tv&ie=UTF8&qid=1316664262&sr=1-1">hop on over to amazon.com asap</a> as they currently have it in stock.<br />
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How do you celebrate September?</div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-5533974777445053002011-09-14T22:09:00.000-07:002011-09-14T22:09:05.857-07:00Food<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbyUvUxPl-XW-Kwa06D3XmpOh-ooesh-VZptSP-5apU4U_p82QUH1v8cas7TcL0-DAyuADZpib9WFWVkOOB9fXeElMfJpxZdFpNXe38zPzmSXKCGXukf4ObBoMoJbIpbYAeRcn5BppWrC/s1600/FoodFrame-1_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjLbyUvUxPl-XW-Kwa06D3XmpOh-ooesh-VZptSP-5apU4U_p82QUH1v8cas7TcL0-DAyuADZpib9WFWVkOOB9fXeElMfJpxZdFpNXe38zPzmSXKCGXukf4ObBoMoJbIpbYAeRcn5BppWrC/s320/FoodFrame-1_2.jpg" width="320" /></a>I love using food to teach concepts to kinders. Every year, on the first day of school, I have the children make a sunflower cookie. They are sickeningly sweet, but the kids love them. I give each child a sugar cookie and a craft stick with a generous dollop of lemon frosting (lemon because it's yellow.) After spreading the frosting around, they count out 8 pieces of candy corn and place them on the cookie as petals. We aim for symmetry, but don't always succeed. To top it off, they add chocolate sprinkle seeds in the center. The little ones enjoy creating their first day snack. It's a happy way to start the year. <br />
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(Click on images to enlarge.)<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilSJgw5B_LBHt2FjcHXK1_Z6ofdqH0HXXUHV6_0k-WPePn9XJV9toG8N_mWKqt21IUnH7dqYQ1PFrZTvse1UyiXxAaH_54mOEnDXJPjcS6YAHUu_G6NbPic3dERskDMxb61-PZnwWBtI6k/s1600/FoodFrame-2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilSJgw5B_LBHt2FjcHXK1_Z6ofdqH0HXXUHV6_0k-WPePn9XJV9toG8N_mWKqt21IUnH7dqYQ1PFrZTvse1UyiXxAaH_54mOEnDXJPjcS6YAHUu_G6NbPic3dERskDMxb61-PZnwWBtI6k/s320/FoodFrame-2.jpg" width="320" /></a>We had a great time eating our way through the shapes last week. It was fun to watch the children in action. Some drew their shapes meticulously with great attention to detail. Others were created with a quick flick of the wrist and a few swipes of the crayon. Either way, each child was pleased with his or her effort and the book is a favorite. The rectangle (sugar wafer cookie) was the tastiest shape hands down. I think it was the pink that made it taste so good :)<br />
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Last Friday we used M&Ms to sort by color. On Monday, we used the data to create graphs. It's a great way to reinforce the concepts of more, less and equal. Over the summer, I found the cutest sorting and graphing sheets to go along with everybody's favorite classic <u style="font-style: italic;">Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See?</u> <br />
<a href="http://www.makinglearningfun.com/themepages/BrownBearMMsorting.htm">Hop on over to Making Learning Fun to grab your copy.</a><br />
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Have you seen Fran's <u>Happy Birthday</u> book over at Kindergarten Crayons? It's darling! I'm thinking about introducing the book next Wednesday, baking cupcakes in class on Thursday (I LOVE cupcakes!) and then decorating them during free choice time on Friday.<br />
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How do you use food in your classroom?<br />
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Bon Appetit,<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4989833419850239950.post-83930904607246359562011-09-05T16:09:00.000-07:002011-09-05T16:09:57.634-07:00Eating ShapesI've been considering a kindergarten blog for some time now. As, traditionally, September is the start of a new school year, this seems like the perfect time for a new beginning.<br />
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It's hard to believe we're into our 5th week already! The kids are hard at work learning how to write their names properly. We're three weeks in to the <i>Ti and Mo</i> phonics program, working on numbers to 5, AB patterns, sorting and shapes. I found some great patterning ideas over at my favorite blog, Kindergarten Crayons. Fran is amazing! Be sure to check her out. <a href="http://kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com/">kindergartencrayons.blogspot.com</a> She's got a wonderful pattern book up right now, and it's free! She's very generous. <br />
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I love making little books with the kids, don't you? We're making one right now called <u>Eating Shapes</u>. I got the idea from my priceless partner Lisa. Then wonderful husband Glenn formatted it and added some graphics and a border and voila! Here it is!<br />
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(Click on the picture to enlarge.)<br />
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If you would like to use this with your darlings, <a href="https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B8tyL8YH2lYAODE0YzlhZjktMjUxYi00OWQ4LWIwNmEtZWRiNmI2YWQ5OGY3&hl=en_US">you'll find it here. Enjoy!</a> <br />
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Here is a list of foods we used for this activity: <br />
• Circle ~ Chips Ahoy cookies<br />
• Square ~ Big Cheez-Its<br />
• Triangle ~ Triscuit Triangles<br />
• Rectangle ~ Pink wafer cookies<br />
• Oval ~ Flipsides crackers<br />
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I hope your year is off to a great start and that you're having a relaxing Labor Day.<br />
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Blessings,<br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3