New Year's Eve FREEBIE

We are planning on staying in this New Year's Eve!  So to keep it fun I created a little activity that will keep the little guy entertained!  Each hour there is a new activity for him to get involved in!  Each bag contains the activity and a little card to say what it is for!  Click here to download it for free!

Winter Wonderland, Letter Work and a Giveaway

Hey Ya'll!  I hope you all had a great holiday! Our's was very busy!
We had so much fun!  I don't know if all zoos have a festival of lights, but the Houston Zoo really did it up BIG! It was SO cold (which hardly ever happens in Houston) the night we decided to go that we had to bundle up!  I think that getting all bundled up made us feel more like it was Christmas time than normal! We loved it!  I wish this was a field trip option!

We don't go back to school for another 10 days! But I have been very busy working on some alphabet intervention activities ( Now I Know My Alphabet) and a blend booklet.  Here is a little sample of the alphabet intervention packet that I have made.  It is over 120 pages of engaging activities!  The first two followers who leave their email in the comment section get a free copy!

I have also been using the Babbling Abby's Kindergarten RTI: Letter Recognition packet from TpT!  It is also a great intervention tool!

This is how I have been using it!



We have also been working on solving word problems that are winter related and making cute little arctic animals!  These are part of my Winter Wonderland Unit...the first two followers to comment specifically that they want this one will get a free copy! This is a mini thematic unit that is common core aligned...

                      

Some students are also working on multiplication...which is something I have never had to teach!  So I have made a little packet on mulitplication...



I also get the pleasure of working pretty closely with our VI teacher!  She is awesome!  Here is the "edible" craft she brought to our class!

Click Here to Get Your FREEBIE Punctuation Posters!

Have you decided what your New Year's Resolution will be?  I am working/thinking so hard what I want mine to be...I really want to follow through this year!  Last year it was to do Crossfit...I committed to that until September...hopefully I can do better this year!

  I know one of my resolutions will to be a better blogger! 

Happy Holidays! Enjoy your time off!

~Brandy



Silence for Sandy Hook Elementary

Winter Wonderland Activities...with a lil' picture tour

Wow!  I have been so busy...(who isn't this time of year?)! I have been working on so many fun projects for the classroom!  I want to share them with you.  So here is a lil' picture tour...

This is another one of my sensory sorting boxes and the recording sheet...this was so much fun!  They also graphed it! I Love integrating subjects! I got the little holiday manipulatives at Hobby Lobby!

 

We have been very busy deciphering word problems and finding different ways to solve them!  They are really diggin' this! And I am too...I love getting to integrate writing and math!

 

I tried to make the subtraction bowling a little more exciting...I made snowmen to attach to them!

 

 

 

I made little penguin games and recording sheets for addition and subtraction...we used the little white pom-poms as the manipulatives!

We made a snowman craftivity with their names...and then we graphed it as a class and recorded it individually!

 

We worked with our cvc word matching and recorded them!  This was fun for me to watch! 

 

And last...to finish off this little tour of pictures...isn't this a lil' cutie??  I made it...and I am proud (the husband let me use a REAL POWER TOOL...a sander)!  It is an old school desk that I painted

turquoise with a chalk board painted top!  Love!  I just think that color is SO stinkin' adorable!

 

OH yeah...when we get to 50 followers we will have a little sweepstakes!  You guys are so awesome!  I have loved seeing all of your comments and checking out some of your blogs!  I am so thankful for all of you for checking out my blog!

 



 

Brandy

 

 

 

 

 



Keyhole Socks...Say WHAT????

OH. MY. GOODNESS!!!  I am constantly wanting to wear (and buy) cute shoes...both flats and heels.  But oh, breakin' in a new pair of shoes hurts!  You will not believe what I found...Keyhole Socks!  Check these lil' Keyhole sockies out...

That's right...you can now wear all the cute shoes you want to...even all day in a kindergarten classroom and NO ONE will know you're wearing socks!  Hurry on over and take a little looksy! 
They are having a Black Friday special, too! LOVE!

I know it's not an "educational" post...but hey, it makes the teacher happy! :o)
Brandy

I Can't Believe It's....Butter?

A sweet, retired teacher friend so graciously came and helped our ENTIRE kindergarten campus make butter! She is just awesome...even in retirement she is a dedicated educator! Here are some of the pics of the butter churn she has...AND yes it is very old!

 

 

 

Then we went back to our class and made an Anchor Chart...I'd really like to thank Mrs. Carroll for "reintroducing" me to those lovely charts (but as I give her props...please do not compare mine to hers...she is awesome at them & I, by no means, would ever consider myself an artist)!  I mean, anchor charts give you so many teachable opportunities...you may plan for it to go one way, but then the little guys start talking & it takes on so much more meaning!  Seize the opportunity!

So here is our anchor chart for making butter...(don't judge...I free handed this) :o)

 

Then we wrote about it...

 

One final mention...I am always on the look out for a good bargain and ideas that will help my little guys become better writers!  Well, I love this product that allows students to work on spacing (one might say it looks like an astronaunt?? I'm pretty sure you've seen the product)...while freeing up their lil' fingers!  But I wanted to find a cheaper alternative to the product...so here is my "space guy".  Props to the hubby for spray painting them for me!







 

Oh yeah...not too be too "corny", but...isn't that a great lookin' "crop" of numbers???

 



Thanks for stopping by!  If you have any good suggestions for future anchor charts let me know...I am really trying hard get the little guys into them! 

Brandy

Wow...Check out Pete & My First Sweepstakes!

Wow...Thanks Ms. Carroll for the shout out! I have to start by saying she is such a refreshing person and is always smiling! Not to mention an awesome teacher...you can imagine how exciting it is to get to witness her awesome teaching each day! So, some really awesome teacher friends of mine are over the moon about a lil' kitten named Pete!  They recently introduced him to me (where have I been???).  I am so in love with him now!  I bought myself a copy of all four books and then a great idea came...what if I had my first sweepstakes?? So I am going to have a sweepstakes starting! You will have a chance to receive a copy of all four of the Pete the Cat books(Pete the Cat I Love My White Shoes, Pete the Cat Rocking in My School Shoes, Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons & Pete the Cat Saves Christmas) and a cute little "stuffie" of Pete the Cat as well! 

Remember to leave your contact info (email) when you apply!  Thanks!  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Having Fun with Thanksgiving Activities & Introducing Veterans Day

This week we began making interactive anchor charts!  The kiddos loved them!  They enjoyed being in charge of something so "important"!  They also loved being able to go to them and use pointers to practice what they had learned!

 

And we got to hang out a lil' while in the tepee...they can listen to books while in the tepee.  They love it!  Please excuse how old this little thing is starting to look...it's getting old!

 

 

 



 

A bat, a monster, & a turkey activity...all in a days work

We were quite the busy workers today!  We made a bat out of a toilet paper holder (yep, there really is a good reason you've been saving those things) to study our -at word family, we made a monster to remember that monster starts with M, and we kicked it in to high gear and made a Shape Turkey for the hallway!  Can you believe that we only have two days until Halloween and in the same week we will start Thanksgiving units!  Wow!  Did you also realize we only have three weeks until Thanksgiving Break??? Crazy!  This year is going too fast! 
 
Here are our "Bats"!

 

 

 





 

To make the bats you need to have your students paint the toilet paper holder black.  Then you will need to trace their hand prints, I connected the two hand prints and had them cut it out as one piece...this made gluing it to the back of the toilet paper roll easier.  Once the paint is dry I cut two slits on each side so that the beginning sound strip would slide through. 

 

 

We also made a tear art project.  We made an M is for Monster (is Frankenstein really a monster??I I wasn't sure...I must have asked Mrs. Paraprofessional this question a million times) and worked on spacing out the words in a sentence....

 

 

Be warned...these are so cute that you will get SO many compliments on this project!  People literally opened the door to the class to tell us how cute they were!  Ahh, that's gotta make ya feel good?!

 

We also made a turkey project to work on spacing out words...and so we'd have a project ready to go for Thursday...you know the lil' guys will be very tired after a full night of trick or treatin'!

 

I know, I know...rushing the holidays...shame on me!  But I love to be prepared!  Besides, I have so many more things planned that sneakin' one it early won't hurt, right??

 

 

Here is the shape turkey project...

 

I love how each used their little imaginations and made the turkeys slightly different...one facing straight ahead and one turned sideways!  I don't know about you...but I think those are some "shapely" turkeys!





 

As always, Kick Starting Kindergarten!

Brandy K.

 



Trick or Treat...

Hi all!  Gettin' ready for the big night this week of trick or treatin'!  I love fall so much!  The weather gets cooler (yay! to our first real cool front!), pumpkin & apple scents are everywhere, and there are lots of treats to be eatin'!  So to celebrate the season I have posted a Halloween Math Games Freebie (to preview before you buy) in TpT Store!  Check it out!

 

And....Just look at this lil' cutie!

 

This was a gift from a teacher to a student I know...I just LOVE it!  What a great and inexpensive keepsake for the kiddos!  Now I gotta get busy making these for my students!  It looks really easy to make...She used the large yellow construction paper (two pieces its double sided) and then she just layered all the other pieces of the pencil. Before she assembled the two sides together she glued a new, white wire hanger in between!  AHH...so clever!  Won't they just love it???