Save our Earth...It is the only planet with chocolate!

My reading corner is now a...Recycling Center.  

In the recycling center the students will be able to:

• Read book about taking care of our Earth
• Sort plastics, paper, cans, and glass
• Make an Earth art project (I saw the idea on-line but cannot remember where...if it looks like something you posted, please comment!)  
• Play I spy for different types of recyclables and sight words that are hanging on the newspaper wall

Mrs. Ramseier (one of the K teachers I work with...and can I say she ROCKS) had a student teacher,  Sabrina Schubert, who came up with this Recycling Center and I LOVE IT!  Thank You!

Sorting Recycling Pictures ~ I got these pictures from Color "R" World last year at the Early Childhood Conference at UW~Stout.  Wendy Sessler and Shell Sturgis are excited to re-open Color "R" World for business once again since Tami retired.

 

 Litter Bug Poem {click Here} 

Click {here} to go the the "Color~R~World website!

Also...check out our Earth Day post for the famous Earth (dirt & glue) necklaces! 

Thank you, Amber    

Calling all Cheezeheads!

I think it is our time to meet up!  This post is going to be short and sweet!  If you are from the Wisconsin area and would like to get together, please leave a comment below or message me at 5krocksblog@gmail.com   More information to follow! 

Thanks, Amber 

Kindergarten Rocks and My Family Does, Too!

Look at the AWESOME shirt that came in the mail.  I love it and the color (purple was my mom's favorite color).   Putting this shirt on is making me so excited to present this year at the UW~Stout Early Childhood Conference.  This year I am presenting 4 different sessions with my kindergarten side~kick LuAnn...HE HE HE.  I laugh because she has helped me present the last 3 years and in the session booklet it stated she was a kindergarten teacher and she really was a 5th grade teacher.  During the presentations, I would joke that she wants to be just like me...and now she is!  Even though it is her first year teaching kindergarten...her knowledge as a teacher has taught me so much this year and I cannot wait to share her with you early childhood educators!  Our sessions are: Literacy Rocks, Calendar Time Rocks, Nursery Rhymes Rock, and Blogs that Rock.  Please comment and let me know if you are going to be at the conference or maybe even one of our sessions. 

Cadyen and I being silly taking pictures of eachother.

My handsome little man! 

My career as a teacher is a passion of mine that I enjoy sharing with others.  I also feel like a better mom because I hope to instill the work ethnic I grew up in (my parents owned a restaurant) and to truly love what you do.  It also makes me feel guilty!  But being a Wife, Mom, & Teacher...all 3 are demanding but ENJOYABLE.  Cadyen and Kelsea mean the world to me and I promise to devote small times with them that become tradition or just right out silly fun.  The hardest job for me is the wife bit.. after work (teaching kindergarten kiddos) and then being a mom all night I just want to crash and go to bed.  And what about me...me time...I want to make time for myself to walk each night.  My husband has came up with the idea of sending a picture through texting (hopefully) once a day to share what we are doing when we are not with each other.  It has been a fun thing to do and our pictures can sure get creative.  I hope to come up with something special for him, too!  Any ideas???      

Kelsea's senior picture...can't believe she is graduating this year!

James and I at a hockey game...Go Red Wings!

I mentioned earlier that my mom's favorite color was purple.  Losing a parent at any age is hard.  Kids~young adults~adults need their parents much more than we think, and I needed my mom still very much when she died unexpectedly.  My mom passed away over a year ago and I still miss her EVERYDAY, especially as I am a mom myself.  I miss her laugh, sense of style, her reassurance, her hands, her ways of showing me of how proud she is of me, her smile, her way of getting excited about the littlest things, her way to giving, her way with her grand-kids, I could go on and on…she deserved to watch her grand-kids grow up and it is just not fair.  My mom was an angel her on earth and now she is an angel watching over me and my family.  I could never say good-bye to her, because I could never bear the pain.  Instead I will say I love you mom…until we meet again I will have so much to share with you…and I know you will be proud!

Here is my FAVORITE Mother's Day activity to do with the kiddos.

Click here for the "I Will Always Love You Mommy" words 

I enjoy blogging and presenting to share what works in my classroom as a way to give back to all of those who have given so much to me!  THANK YOU for reading my/our posts and being a blogger yourself! 

Amber      

HEIGH~HO HEIGH~HO...A FARMING WE WILL GO!

We were happy as "pigs" in mud creating this farm unit for you.  We decided to try something new and separate the math and literacy units.   Ohhh...and the most fun we had creating these units...making our own farm clip art.  Kiss your brain KPM Doodles!  

       

Here are pictures of some of the activities you will find in our farm units:



Rhyme Until The Cows Come Home
The students will choose a cow, color in a cow on the recording sheet, and say the picture out loud.  Then the student will write three more words that rhyme with the picture on the cow.



Welcome to our Funny Farm
The students will read the sentence and find the farm animal given and write how to spell the farm animal word on the blank line.  Then the student will color the animal at the end of the sentence the same color.  

I'm in the MOO-d for Middle Sounds
The students will choose a cow and color the cow head on the recording sheet of matching color.  In the circle below write the middle sound heard in the picture. 

Hay There...Count by 2's
The students will put the hay stacks in order from 2 - 20 counting by 2's.  Then write the answers on the recording sheet.



Horsin' Around with ...Numbers
The students will write the numbers in correct order on the recording sheet.  You can use three numbers that are mixed up or a number in the middle and lines on each side.  Your choice!



Barnyard Boogie Addition
The students will roll the farm animal die.  Using the farm animal rolled the students will look at the key and write the number in the box.  The students will roll again and write the number in the second box.  Add the numbers together and write the answer in the barn. 

Look What's Sprouting Up!
The studnets will roll the cube or draw a card and color in the vegtable on the verticle and the horizontal graph.  If a student rolls a snail, he/she loses a turn.  Continue rolling until one of the vegtables reaches the top.  Then complete recording sheet questions.

Here is a fun farm freebie for you!

Click {here} to download the booklet!

You will have to find four pictures for each vowel that the students will glue on the barn and write out the word.   Barn clip art by DJ Inkers! 

Please don't "hog" these fun centers and tell your friends where to find them. 

 Click {here} to go to our Barnyard Bunches of Math Centers!
Click {here} to go to our Barnyard Bunches of Literacy Centers!

"Ewe" are loved if you leave a comment! Yes...We know some pictures are sideways.  We do not know why it does that...maybe you can tell us!

Thank you, Amber & LuAnn 

Blasting off my Rocket Reading Area

My kiddos were so excited to see this reading rocket today.  I feel bad that they have to wait 2 more days...until blast off (they can read/work in it). 

Our moon table the kiddos can sit at. 

Can you find the constellation in the sky?  Hint...it is a part of Big Bear.

Here is an ordering activity of the planets from the sun.  I have push pins in the wall under the stars labeled 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc. and the students can take the planets off and on to place in order.  We talked about Pluto not being a planet anymore!

Here is a "far~out" space freebie at our Teachers Notebook shop.  ZAP {right here} to go to our shop!   I got the math concept from one of Julie Lee's centers and "with permission" I was able to make it into a space themed center to share with you.  Have you heard of Mrs. Lee's Blog yet?     Click {here} and you will be mesmerized for hours!

The first blogger to comment on what is wrong with our post will get our "Farm Unit" for free.  Watch for our fun farm post very soon.  Hogs ~N~ Kisses! 

Amber & LuAnn  

Nanoo~Nanoo

I am on a top secret mission to have some fun with our space unit the next 2 weeks. I am in the process of putting up a spaceship in our reading corner.  I wonder how long it will take me to finish it tonight!?!  I have my Frappe Mocha from McDonalds to keep me going! 

This is my first time making my reading corner into a spaceship.  Here are some of my ideas:

• I am going to put black on the walls with different colored stars all over.  One color of stars is going to make the Big Dipper and one color the Little Dipper surrounded by all the other colors to see if the students can find them. 
• Closer to the floor I am going to make the moon, sun, and the planets so the students can place them in order...what planet comes first, second, third, etc.  I will have circles on the wall and the students will Velcro the planets in its place. 
• I am going to have shoe boxes that the students can look in.  In fifth grade, they made  constellations on one side...but I am going to dot sight words for the students to read. 

If you are a visual person like me...pictures to come.  If you have any ideas to share to make it even more fun for the kiddos....Please Comment!

I saw this idea last school year and cannot wait to do it with my class.  This idea is from Mrs. Wills and it is ...OUT OF THIS WORLD! Check out her scaled model of our solor system in more detail at her kindergarten blog. Click here!

Check out Mrs. Lee's Blog for pictures of her Space Centers & Activities.  LOVE them all...of course! 

Click below the pictures for some far~out freebies from us!   Clip art is from KPM DOODLES & DJ Inkers.  I know you will be going to their sites soon!  

       Writing from 1 - 50...is out of this world! Click {here} for freebie!

         Sound Out Words...the alien way! Click {here} for freebie!

        Label an Alien...how fun! Click{here} for freebie!
        Label an Alien Words. Click {here} for freebie!

Thanks, Amber

Who Let the Writing Out?

I bet you are singing in your head..."Who Let the Dogs Out?"...right now!  I wanted to share with you a little way we quickly review what good writers do in their journals before we start writing.  I will call on students to draw a card out of the bag and then he/she will say out loud to their friends what they need to remember to do in their sentence by looking at the clue on the card.

The bag I am using is from Katie & Co.  Have you ever seen them at a conference before?  I just LOVE using their products in my classroom.   Katie & Co. is a site devoted to fun learning activities and tools for your classroom.  She uses a lot of flannel board, puppets. and songs!   Click {here} to go to their website and check out their products!

Here is an example of one of the activities I bought last year. 

Have you been to Joyful Learning in KC: a blog for kindergarten teachers yet?  Thanks to Chalk Talk I have found another great blog with amazing ideas.  Joyful Learning recently posted about Writers Workshop in her classroom.  As a class they made a chart about what they "used to do" in writing and what "we do now" in writing. 

Picture from Joyful Learning in KC

I cannot wait to do this with my kiddos in the classroom.  This is another great way for me to show them how proud I am of their writing!   Click {right here} to go to her writers workshop post and more! 

Click {here} to download writing reminder pictures!

Thanks, Amber