Oh, the Places You'll Go in Kindergarten

Hi everyone! Can you believe I have been gone for over a week now! I miss blogging so much!
I just had to make time tonight to add a new post.
We have been having a SEUSTATIC of a time!

Our librarian has helped us with dress up days this week!  Today is barely Tuesday and we have had so many engaging activities!  I have to admit that it is hard keeping the kids on task with so much excitement, but then I remember and can see how much fun they are having while learning.

Here is a bit of our schedule for the week:
Monday: "Oh the Places You'll Go"- Wear slippers or boots to school.
Tuesday: "Green Eggs and Ham" - Wear Red, White, or Green.
Wednesday: "There's a Wocket in my Pocket" and "Wacky Wednesday"- Wear pockets.
Thursday: "Fox in Socks" and "ABC Book"- Wear crazy socks.
Friday: "Cat in the Hat" and BOOK FAIR OPENS: Wear a hat.

On Monday, during language arts and reading, we read "Oh the Place You'll Go", we talked about imaginary places and then we went into a discussion about where we want to go for college and what we want to be and where we would like to go when we have our own transportation.  At first it was hard for students to really read into their imagination, but once I started encouraging and giving examples of the imaginary places that I would like to go..... The stories were great.  For example, my own son told me his response that he gave in his class. "I would like to fly to Las Vegas in an airplane and win lots of money."  (That sounds great even for me!) LOL.


You can be anything you want to be! oh the Places you'll go!

On Monday, during Math we read "The Foot Book".  We discussed measurement.  Students took turns measuring each other and then different objects in the room.


On Tuesday, During Reading and Language Arts we read "Green Eggs and Ham".  We created a graph.  Who will think Green Eggs and Ham are Yuk? or Yum?  It was more of a prediction.  Believe it or not we only had 4 say that they thought Green Eggs and Ham would be Yuk.

On Tuesday during our science lab time, we had the great opportunity to make OOBLECK from the book "Bartholemu and the Oobleck".  Boy was this fun and hands on!  We talked about the ingredients, the steps, and then the result. Is it wet? Cold? Hot? Soft? Hard? etc.

On Tuesday during our Social Studies time we finished the day with a journal entry and a cooking lesson for "Green Eggs and Ham".!

(Now can you see why I say that we have so much fun already and it is barely Tuesday)
SIGH... I am out of typing breath!

Her are a few pictures from Monday and Tuesday. Please visit my facebook page for more pictures.

Wednesday during Reading and Language Arts we will be reading "Wocket in my Pocket" and the "ABC Book"- We will be creating our very own story about Our Wocket in Our Pocket.  We will also be creating an ABC class book to put in our library.

During Math we will be adding and subtracting fish for "1 Fish 2 Fish Red Fish Blue Fish"

During Social Studies we will reading "The Lorax" How can we practice conservation every day?

Thursday we will be reading one of my all time favoirtes! "FOX IN SOCKS!  I love the rhyming in this book!  I have creating a pocket chart game for students to play with rhyming words.  We will be creating our own paper socks as well.

For Math we will continue "1 Fish, 2 Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish". We will be graphing multi colored goldfish today.

It's Rhyme Time!!

Friday- Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss!

Kinder Fun

I am honored to be featured in today's local newspaper. Valley Morning Star.
Armando is an excellent writer and could not have captured my story better.

Dina Arevalo/Valley Morning Star

  Kindergarten teacher Michelle Ayala has created a new classroom for her students, their parents, and her colleagues. The tech-savvy teacher at Dr. Rodriguez Elementary School in Harlingen created a blog last year called "Mrs. Ayala's Kinder Fun" to help promote parental involvement and foster a sense of community learning among her peers.

http://www.valleymorningstar.com/articles/ayala-98169-classrooms-michelle.html#.T0CEdBIlU-I.facebook

Michelle Ayala has fun every day in each of her classrooms.
Yes, classrooms. One is real and the other virtual.
Ayala teaches kindergarten at Dr. Rodriguez Elementary in Harlingen, but she also hosts an online blog, “Mrs. Ayala’s Kinder Fun,” which is growing in both size and popularity. She uses Kinder Fun to show what her class is learning and also give and share ideas with parents and other teachers.
The blog, which just celebrated a year on Feb. 10, features plenty of photos, video links, tidbits and tips and was an idea that snowballed into what it is today.
“I saw a blogger on Facebook and my principal sent me the link and I just got hooked,” Ayala said. “Then I started thinking it’d be really cool to have my own blog and website. One night I just got to working and it became an all night project.”
Lessons appearing on the page include recent topics like dental care, arts & crafts and other tips. Photos of students creating and participating in activities give parents a chance to check in on what their child is learning.
“It’s like a classroom journal. I do current events, lesson plans and I mostly share activities,” she said.
Ayala also reviews educational supplies for an online website and features them on her blog, which she says has received good response from her associates.
“It’s been really, really good,” she said of the response. “The teachers I work with collaborate through the blogs. They’re able to log on at school and that’s been the biggest jump since it started. Teachers are becoming more comfortable with technology, which is awesome.”
Ayala, who’s been teaching for over five years total, said support for her and the blog from Harlingen CISD has been helpful to the project.
“I’m really fortunate that here in Harlingen they embrace technology and they encourage me,” she said. “They’re real excited about the blog.”
In addition to the page, Ayala also has a Facebook fan page and Twitter account for Kinder Fun.
“With Facebook, it’s easier to like the page and see what’s going on,” she explained. “You don’t have to be friends with parents on your personal page, but they can be fans of the page and it’s easier access.”
Indeed, a parent can click on the page from a computer or even smart phone and visit the classroom without leaving home or office.
“Now, it’s a little addicting to them,” she said. “They want to see more pictures and they look forward to it all the time.”
Ayala is hoping to attract more readers, especially teachers from across the Valley and state, to participate and offer ideas to enhance the blog. She noted that she’s had teacher participation as far away as Pakistan and is hoping to bring that closer to home.
“I think the next step is collaborating with Valley teachers,” she said. “I don’t know what a kinder teacher in Rio Grande City is teaching. I’d love to see all our Valley teachers collaborating together.”
Log on to www.mrsayalaskinderfun.com to learn more.


By ARMANDO GARZA/Valley Morning Star

Seussville 2012

Dr. Seuss believed that books and learning to read should be fun and exciting for children.

I love that quote!  So true!! What is reading without having fun!

Celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday on March 2, 2012!
This is always such a fun time in the classroom. There are a million and one activities that you can do in and around your school.
First learn all about Dr. Seuss himself!
All About Dr. Seuss HERE

Read more about March 2nd below!
Honoring Dr. Seuss, Read Across America Day is celebrated on March 2nd, Dr. Seuss' birthday. The National Education Association sponsors events to inspire reading in children throughout our schools and communities. -

READ ACROSS AMERICA

Best of all The Lorax movie comes out March 2012!





Book DVDs
        

Activities and Crafts

  

  

  

  

Great Blog! With great Resources!!

Thing 1 Thing 2 Puppet

Stay tuned!!  to be continued....

Check out this great post by Surviving a Teacher's Salary!
HERE

Read at target! February 25th- 9am-11am.
Target will have activities and goodies for the kids, and they will be reading The Lorax.

Avery

Avery! Sound familiar?  Of coarse it does! I know I have a variety of Avery products at my home office and at school.  I am going to tell you about 3 super office supplies!
"Avery EZD Heavy-Duty Reference View Binder"
"Avery Custom Binder Spine Inserts"
"Avery Note Tabs"

Let's start with the BINDER!  "Avery Heavy Duty Ring Reference Binder"

A teacher LOOOOVES Binders! It helps us be organized and it helps our shelves look neat.
I love that the binder is not only HEAVY DUTY but it is really easy to open and close the rings.  I usually have to use two hands to open a heavy duty 3 ring binder. Not with this one!  I held my Ipad with one hand and opened the rings with the other hand! Can you believe it! LOL! I didn't! I had to make sure and try it several times! I would really recommend this binder for situations where you are going to have a lot of pages.
I typically like to stick to 1 to 2 inch binders, since I always seem to run out of space on my shelves.
I usually only use this size of binder for Staff Development manuals or teacher booklets from our curriculum.
One other element of this product that disappointed me a little is that cover.  Often times I just flip the insert in the front of the binder and write the cover info for the meantime until I can make a professional cover.  When I flipped the cover insert over, I saw that it had more advertisement.

<-- This is what I found when I turned the cover insert over.











I must be lost in the times, because I had no idea that Spine Insert Labels had been invented!  Where have I been??!!!  I was still making my own binder labels with regular copy paper or cardstock and then the difficult part was always trying to shove the paper in the insert area. Of coarse my paper would always bend :(.
Avery has a cool product that makes it as simple as 1.2.3!
They are called "Avery Custom Binder Spine Inserts". SUPER DOOPER EASY!!!
Isn't it lovely!


No cutting needed either, just a slight tear and you are set! I am really going to enjoy organizing my binders' spines this summer, I might just go Binder Labels CRAZY! :D.
I must say that I did not dislike any aspect of this product.

On to the next item.....

Avery Note Tabs

I thought these looked really interesting!  Here are my favorites!  The size, the transparency, and the durability.  I love the size because, I tend to always buy small binder taps so that they won't cover text or wording of a document.  I love the transparency of the tab because I can stick it any where on the page without hesitation that it may cover the document's content. I think the best part of the binder tab is that it has great durability.  I put the tab on a regular sheet of notebook paper, and it made that part of the paper very durable and easy to turn the page.

I did not particularly like that the writing on the tab takes a bit to dry and I smeared the wording several times. I used a pen and then a marker.  I got my fingers dirty and then the page got smeared as well.  The second time I wrote on the tab I blew some air on it, and it still smeared a bit of ink on the page that was on top of it.

The best part of Avery products is that we can give back to education when we purchase these products!

BOX TOPS!

Avery also includes an easy instruction on how to fold and cut your Box Tops labels so that they do not have adhesive on the back when you are ready to cut them.

I
PAPER CLIPS
& STAPLES

Dental Health 2012

Happy Dental Health Month!!
Here are a few resources and activities that we will be using in class!
Feel free to share about what you do!

KEEP EM CLEAN!

Colgate Games

Tooth Kingdom

Tooth Brush Painting













BrainPOP Teeth


Bright Smiles

Have you called your local Dentist Office?

WE DID!

Free toothbrushes and coloring books!