Mrs. Wills Kindergarten

A Kindergarten Blog: Tweaking Daily Five Now that I have one year of doing the daily five behind me, it is time to start thinking about this year and what worked last year and what I need to tweak or change up. Last year I placed baskets with markers and crayons around the room for students to use when working on writing. Obviously, I did not have enough baskets for everyone so my students would share. I felt like this distracted them from their writing. This is a picture of what I did last year. Last year I waited awhile before allowing my students to have full choice in their rounds and when I did start I did not keep track of where they were going. Last year I only did two rounds and I did not do a very good job of teaching in a mini-lesson format. Last year when students went to word work they were expected to stay there the full 15-20 minutes. Last year I waited until my students reached 15 minutes of reading stamina to add a new station. Last year I tried having my students shop first thing in the morning.

A Kindergarten Blog: You Get What You Get I think I need to stay away from Amazon. I am in a book buying frenzy! I bought this one this morning. About the book: Melvin throws fit every time he doesn't get what he wants. Not only does Melvin learn how to deal with disappointment, he teaches his family the lesson too.

Growing Kinders A Place Called Kindergarten Organization Welcome! Here is the view of our first grade hallway at Wayland Bonds Elementary! This year we decided to go with a camping theme. We made our doorways look like log cabins by making logs out of butcher paper. We all bought a pine tree from Mardels. Here is the camping welcome sign as you enter the first grade hallway. We each took laminated scrapbook paper and glued it to the wall with a cloths pin. My Classroom Pictures Here is a look into my classroom! This is my teacher desk. I have each pod of desks labeled with group signs. Click HERE to download my group signs from my TpT Store! The baskets on the shelf are each student's individual book basket for their independent reading books. I use this pocket chart to store the student's library and lunch cards. Weekly Activities and Worksheets This is how I organize the week's worksheets and activities. Sharpened Pencils When my students need a sharpened pencil they just come get one from the drawer. Need a Color/Found a Crayon Centers FREE Centers!

August 2013 My wonderful kindergarten class just finished their 3rd week of school! I can't believe how fast it has gone by! We have been working hard, having fun, and learning so much each day. They have really started to build their stamina at being at school all day long. Here are some highlights from week 3 of kindergarten: Sight Words: this week we focused on the sight word 'the' We traced the word 'the' with fruit loops! I passed out large letters to the each student: 't', 'h', 'e'. I displayed our sight word book of the week on the pocket chart. Once we have done lots of practice reading on our pocket chart: modeled reading, finding sight words, reading strategies, choral reading, echo reading, I give each student their own book which is the same as what they have been practicing on the pocket chart. Click on the picture for this FREEBIE! I have them do a picture walk and then go through each page of the book to circle the sight word of the week with a marker. We made Pete the Cat of course!

First Week of School! Just finished our first week back to school! I had such a wonderful week with my class! They are all so cute and did so well on their first full week of school! I have full day kindergarten and I was really proud of how well all of my students did for being at school all day long. I must first say that this week was also wonderful because the last two years of teaching I had between 29-32 students in my class! (First Day of School): -Students played with playdoh at their seats when they came into the classroom. -We got to know each other by playing a game with a beach ball. -We talked about sitting on the carpet and used our friend to help us remember how we are supposed to sit and raise our hand if we want to talk. -We read 'David Goes to School' (which my class LOVED!). -I let the students explore some of my toys and had indoor recess. -We read one of my favorite first day of school stories: 'The Kissing Hand'. -We made a craft to go with our story! What a GREAT first day of school!

July 2013 I am giving away my very first FREEBIE!! Star Letter Necklaces: FREEBIE!! A very important part of kindergarten at the beginning of the year is making sure the students know their letters. A fun activity that I do with my students after I introduce a letter to them is determining which students names in the class has the letter that we are focusing on that day. I write their names on index cards and we decide as a class if they have the letter in their name. **I need to get into my classroom to take a picture of this pocket chart activity I have to go with this. At the beginning of the year, we decide together one name at a time who does and who does not have the letter in their name... yes this takes time. If they DO have the letter we are learning that day in their name, they get to wear a STAR LETTER NECKLACE for the day.

The First Week of School and Classroom Pictures We did it! I survived the first week of school! I am so lucky to be working with the best partner teacher on the planet :) And we absolutely have the best class in the whole entire world! We are so lucky to have such a nice sized room! Here is one of our bulletin boards. Our calendar wall: This year we are going to count the days in school using base ten blocks. Here's our word wall. We set up a supply station for the first day of school. The super adorable labels are from Laura Martin's TpT store. And I made these sweet treats for my teammates to celebrate our first day! We meet our adorable class on Tuesday; they were so eager and ready to learn! We took our first day pictures with the cute little "K" {huge thanks to Michelle from Apples and ABCs for this adorable idea and tutorial!! Then we read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and then brainstormed some ideas on how we get ready for kindergarten! This will be the first page of our memory book! We also met some new friends!

Dear New Kindergarten Teacher, Please Read This Dear New Kindergarten Teacher,It is now August and school is just around the corner. Do not feel terrified. Don't. I am here to help you. If you are new to this grade level I have some suggestions for you that might make your first few weeks go a little easier. How do I know that? These packets are only five dollars each and can be customized with your student's name. Kindergarten kids love, love, love to help their teacher and this will show you how to implement a management system for this without wanting to shoot yourself. You are going to want to set aside one bulletin board in your room for just writing. This will provide you with a systematic monthly writing form for each month of the year. You will be introducing the alphabet using your reading program but your students will need lots of opportunities to see those letters and manipulate them in centers. This is the perfect alphabet book for you to buy. Are you still reading? Have you discovered the Target Dollar Spot?