Random Acts of Kindness Feb. 10-16

Hello friends!  It’s February and for me that means it’s the month of love, sweetness, kindness… Well no more!  What I mean is – Every day of every month of every year should be the time of kindness.  February 10-16 we celebrate Random Acts of Kindness week.  This year more than ever I’ve observed acts of meaness that I made it a point to read and address kindness in some shape or form to my kids.  If we start young perhaps we can make a difference?  Have we gotten so busy in our lives that we failed as teachers, parents, in developing our children’s characters?  Maybe it will take a daily story or perhaps a daily act of kindness to engrain kindness and compassion.   We’re more likely to find less acts of bullying if we address Kindness and Compassion and develop a better tolerance toward each other – not just around certain holidays, but all year long.  Kindness should know NO calendar!  What do you think?

For My Kindness story of the week, I chose Kindness is Cooler, Mrs. Ruler (written by Margery Cuyler)  because of the creative rhymed words of wisdom the teacher offers to the class such as, "A slice of nice makes a mile of smile" and "Good deeds fill needs." and for the neat slogan:  Kindness is Cooler!

 

In this story, the kindergarten teacher Mrs. Ruler is frustrated with her K class who has been acting out all week long and decides to charge each student to perform five acts of kindness.  I also love the fact that the author includes a list of 100 acts of kindness (you can tie it in with the 100 days of school). 

I’ve just finished creating a product that includes random acts of classroom kindness.  I plan to cut up the RACK hearts, place them in a jar and have the kids do a daily act!

And… to get them more motivated I’ve included them in QR coding!  (yeah gotta get some technology in somewhere).  I’ve also included some blank hearts for kids to come up with their own activities as a homework project or to generate their own in QR code.  If you click on my "follow me on bloglovin" button I will provide this product as a freebie that is normally for sale at my store. Just send me an email so that I can get this product to you! 

 

 

 

Another neat project from our talented art teacher this week:

 

 

One more thing: I'm linking up to Farley's for February's Currently!

 

2 truths 1 fib:  I love collections of all kinds – dolls, baskets, pottery, quilts, antiques, wreaths,…. And I love my green tea!  But I hate to sleep! I guess I’m in the minority as far as sleep goes!  There aren’t enough hours in the day to do the things I wanna do!  Like spend hours doing some crafts with my artsy buddy or finishing my fabric angels!   I’m working on four of them – one for each season but just not enough hours in the day therefore sleep is an overrated activity!  I could be finishing these up ….

 

 

 

 Here’s to a week that’s one of a KIND!  LOL!

Data Binders, Boards and More!

Hey everyone! I hope everyone is staying safe, warm and cozy from all that severe weather in the states (we call it CONUS)!  As for us, we had a dusting of snow but trying to stay warm and cozy myself as I sit by my fireplace in my unsunny (don’t get a lot of sun) winter room! Assessments are done and now I’m finishing up report cards and updating my data binder.  Tracking data to show evidence of growth is something we are all asked to do no matter where you teach.  It’s not any different here.  It’s up to us to document and show growth in a way that is meaningful to our students but will also drive further instruction.  Here’s what I do:

I have an Assessment Wall of data boards that show growth in several areas.  For example – a student will add a coconut to add to their coconut tree when they’ve learned to recognize, write and learn the sound of a letter or a bubble gumball to add to their bubble gum machine when they can identify and write a number.  They can also drop a word card into their “There Once Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Word” bag when they identify and write a word.

Also, the students can track their learning by coloring, writing their learning on their data sheets of the data binders.

For part of our hibernation day, we read the story Time to Sleep by Denise Fleming.  The forest animals prolong settling down for their winter nap who must tell each other that it’s time to sleep.  Great story for sequencing...and click for a freebie!

Check out the art work that our talented art teacher does with our students!

 

Kindness Book of the week:  The Kindness Quilt by  Nancy Elizabeth Wallace is a story about a kindness project and Minna can’t decide which one is right for her.  But as she starts to write and draw, a paper quilt picturing acts of kindness begins to take shape.  Check out my kids' quilts and click here for the freebie if you’d like.

Pictures from our hibernation activity:

What's a post without a pin from pinterest!

A peek at next week:

Would love to hear how you share data with parents, students and principal!  Stay warm and have a great week!

Review, Assess, and Rest Week!

We come to an end of another 9 week period and it’s time to assess, assess, and assess.  Think about it – if you’ve been teaching 30 plus years with 4 nine week quarterly assessments in a year times an average of 24 kids well that results in an amazing 2,880 assessments and that’s not counting the additional daily screenings, observations……Wow! 

As we continue into the 21^st century many of our assessment tools are changing.  There are several online tools such as ESGI (which I simply love).  But this past week I simply used Voki to help me review skills with the kids while I used Educreations to do my one on one screenings!  Here’s a brief recap of tools and how I use them!


Voki

 

 

I use Lucy Moosey to give instructions to the class as they write rhyming words on their white lap boards. Voki allows you to create and animate an avatar.  The kids absolutely love the characters and seem to focus so much better!  You can also add your voice or type in a text and choose an accent of your choice. I'll be using these ANY week!

Educreations

Educreation is a recordable interactive whiteboard that can record your voice as well as your students’ voices and their handwriting to help assess or teach a lesson.  Check it out!

Tagxedo

 

I use Tagxedo as a review word splash.  The kids are so into it!

ESGI

 

ESGI is an online assessment process that helps guide instruction in the classroom.  Click to head over their site. Would love to hear what you use for your end of quarter screenings!  Now off to add to ClassDojo!

 

Did I mention I share a birthday with Martin Luther King, Jr?  Parents (and former parents), and coworkers surprised me with lots of goodies.  I even got my own personal minion! (Thanks Ms. D)

 

 

Centers and activities of the week:

 

 

These activities come from my MLK product.

 

Peek at this Week’s activities:

Now that winter is upon us and we happen to be the animal class we will be hibernating and transforming our classroom into lots of caves and will be doing quiet activities such as reading in our caves for part of the morning.  Just as bears have to use their sense of smell to find food when they wake up, we will crawl around the room sniffing for our food, which will be eaten in their caves. The kids will wear their warm pajamas to school on that day. Some of the activities will include having a snowball fight (wrinkled up paper with words they have to sound out), graphing their favorite bedtime stories, and playing hibernation rhyming games.

http://www.pinterest.com/thebeezyteacher/hibernation-activities/

 

We’ll also read books about animals that hibernate such as  Bear Snores On. 

 

This story is about a bear that snores on while the other animals stop by to have tea and popcorn with him.  The party goes on without him as he sleeps.  Nothing wakes him up!

 

Since I absolutely love Karma Wilson books on the Bear series - I thought I 'd read Bear Says Thanks.

 

I hope to share hibernation pictures next week!

Happy Hibernating and keep warm in your caves!