December Currently!

I am still in shock (like most of you) that it is December already. It seems like this school year is flying by! I have linked up, once again, with Farley over at Oh Boy 4th Grade for this months currently. Here is what I am currently up to.....

 

 

 

 

I just love the Griswold's! I have to watch "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation" every Christmas. It just cracks me up. I never get tired of it. I was so excited when I saw that it was on TV tonight! Yay me!

 

I have finally finished all of my indoor Holiday decorating this weekend. I just love my Christmas tree. I have spent the last few years collecting gingerbread ornaments and my tree is now complete thanks to the Cracker Barrel and Hobby Lobby.

 

My parents have both passed away and Christmas is now kind of a lonely holiday for me. My husband's family have all moved away and my Christmas wish this year is for all of us to be together this year. I don't want any presents. I feel that God has blessed me with all of the material things that I need. I just want to have fun and celebrate with the friends and family that are still on Earth. That would be the best Christmas gift ever!

 

I really need to start my Christmas shopping. I haven't bought the first thing yet and it is killing me. Last year I went black Friday shopping and was finished that day. This year I decided to stay home and now I regret it so bad. I hate waiting until the last minute.

 

My random act of kindness is buying a stranger a drink at Starbucks. I am also planning on taping a dollar to our drink machine at school so that the next person to buy a drink gets one for free.

 

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and reading my currently. I hope that you have the best Christmas ever! Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

 

 



We Give Thanks!

What a busy month November has been! I got to attend SDE's Tennessee Kindergarten Teacher's Conference. I learned so many new and awesome ideas. I am so excited to start using them in my classroom. I got to go to workshops given by Heidi Butkis from Heidi's Songs. I just loved her ideas and songs. I ended up buying 4 Cd's, 5 DVDs and her amazing word family book. I started using them this week and the children love her songs. The week following the conference was a short week due to Thanksgiving. We celebrated Thanksgiving by having a Thanksgiving lunch and invited parents to attend. It was a huge success. Almost all of my students had a parent or grandparent come to eat with them. We also made this awesome "Turkey Pie Graph." I asked my students the question, "Do you like to eat turkey?" Our graph turned out awesome and the children were so proud.

 

 

We also read a story about the first Thanksgiving. After we read the story the children made drawings of something that they are thankful for.

 

 

 

Here is the final picture of our Thanksgiving wall display.

 

 

On our last day of school before the break, we made long legged turkeys. Are these too cute or what????

 

 

 

 

 

I got the awesome Thanksgiving ideas from the one and only Deanna Jump. You can purchase her Thanksgiving unit on TPT.

 

Stay tuned..... I will soon post pictures of our classroom elf! Don't you just love the holidays?

 

 

 

 

 



November Currently!!!!

Wow! I can't believe that it is November already and time for another currently. I have linked up with Farley over at Oh' Boy Forth Grade for this months currently.

 

Okay.... so I am totally addicted to the show "Sons of Anarchy." That Jaxs is a total dreamboat! He is so bad yet good at the same time. Wowzers!!! He is my new crush. My facebook friends kept posting about this show so I started watching it on Netflix to see what the fuss was about. I am now a SOA addict. Is there a support group for this????

 

I am super excited about the time change. I know that a lot of people hate it but not me. I do so much better in the Winter and Fall. For some reason my brain believes that I am getting extra sleep and I do so much better about getting up for school. I know... crazy huh?

 

I am getting super excited about Thanksgiving and Christmas. Not only do I get to eat tons of awesome food but I get to spend time with family too! I have been searching and gathering tons of awesome ideas for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I can't wait!!!!

 

I am really wanting to start my own Teacher's Pay Teacher's store. I am going to start my first unit this week and hopefully finish it before Thanksgiving. I also really need more time in the day to get all of this stuff done. That's not going to happen is it?

 

In my classroom we listen to Dr. Jean Feldman Cd's all day. She is awesome and one of my idols. At home and in the car I am totally digging Coldplay. Their music is so chilling and soothing.

 

Thanks for checking out my November currently. Click on the button below to link up to Farley's currently.

 

 

Building Vocabulary Through Vocabulary Journals

My principal recently purchased a set of Elements of Reading vocabulary cards for every classroom in our school. At first I was wondering what in the world I was going to do with them. I then brainstormed and decided to start using them for our vocabulary journals.  Here is a picture of what the vocabulary cards look like.

 

 

 

I am really excited about how well my students are expanding their vocabulary through the use of the cards and their journals. If you would like to check out the cards and  buy a set for your classroom, you can find them by clicking on the picture below. It will take you to the Elements of Reading website.

 

 



Bumpkin the Pumpkin

Halloween went great in my classroom this year. Our Halloween school days are always crazy! Kindergarten students in costumes always make for a wild day, lol. My kinders were really good this year. The events of the day wore me out. Here is a group picture of my sweeties in their costumes.

 

 

Are they not just too stinkin cute???? I decided to devote the entire day to the holiday. Their minds were in Halloween mode so I decided to play on that. We read several Halloween stories and then I read them my "Bumpkin the Pumpkin" story. They loved it! During center time we made our very own pumpkins out of toliet paper and orange table cloths.

 

First we covered our toliet paper rolls with a piece of orange table cloth.

 

 

Next, I had the children cut out the eyes, nose and mouth for their pumpkin.

 

 

 

After we glued the eyes, nose and mouth to our pumpkins, the children had to twist a piece of a paper lunch sack to make the stem for their pumpkin.

 

 

Here is a picture of our finished product. I think that they turned out fabulous.

 

 

 

The children gave their pumpkins to their parents at the end of the Halloween party.

 

Here is a picture of our party. My parents did a terrific job of bringing in treats and snacks.

 

 

One of my students loved our story "Where's My Mummy?" so much that he had his mom make us these fabulous mummy cupcakes. Are they not just too cute?

 

 

I hope that everyone had a Happy Halloween! :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Where's My Mummy?

 

With Halloween on its way, I decided to read my favorite Halloween book to my Kinders Where's My Mummy? My class LOVED this book. I have had to read it to them 3 times since Monday, lol. First we read the book and then made our text to self-connections by drawing a picture of Baby Mummy when he was scared in the story and then of a picture of what we do when we are scared. They turned out so cute.

 

 

 

After finishing the text to self-connection writing activity we made our very own mummy. At first they looked like marshmallow men so I had a brainstorm and we cut up white paper towels and glued them to the mummy's. They turned out so cute and the children were so proud of them.

 

 

 

My class is so excited about our Halloween party tomorrow. I will post pictures of it tomorrow afternoon. Happy Halloween everyone!

 

 

 

 

Apples!

Hello everyone! I recently did a mini apple unit with my Kinders when we studied the letter A. First, we had an apple tasting activity. I brought in yellow, green and red apples for the students to taste. I had them pick their favorite apple and color a paper apple the corresponding color. Our graph looked like this:

 

After we finished our graph, I had the students fill out this chart to record our data.

 

 

The next day we made these adorable paper plate apples. The students had such a fun time doing this and it made such an awesome hallway display.

 

 

I got the chart idea from the fabulous Deanna Jump. Happy Fall Yall!

 

 



October Currently

Hello everyone! Long time no blog, huh? I have been so super busy since football season started. I am the director of my area football cheerleading league and also a coach for one of the three squads. August and September were super busy months for me due to the new school year starting and cheerleading season. Our last ballgame was today so I will now be able to be a good little blogger again, lol.

I have linked up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the October currently.

 

 

 

Thanks for checking out my October Currently. Please come back soon and visit my blog. I plan on adding pictures of my NEW (yes, new!!!) classroom and some of the ideas that I have been using in my Kinder class this year. Thanks so much for following me! :)

 

 

 

This is my favorite October book. I am going to do a Halloween unit after Fall Break using this adorable book.



August Currently

Hello everyone! I am so sorry that I haven't posted in awhile. I have been super busy lately. We started back to school on August 1st with Teacher inservice and had our first day of school on August 3rd. I have also moved into a new classroom and have been working hard on getting ready for the new football cheer leading season. I have teamed up with Farley over at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for the August Currently.



I am very jealous of my blogger friends that still have weeks until their new school year begins. Don't get me wrong.... I love school, I just wish I had more time to get school and cheer leading stuff finished before school begins.

I am having a hard time with my only daughter going to the 5th grade this year. I can't believe that she has grown up so fast. It seems like yesterday she was a student in my preschool class. :( I don't know why 5th is bothering me so bad. I seriously have never felt this way with any other grade. I was even fine with Kindergarten.

Okay back to my currently.....
1. I am in serious need of ink for my printer. I went to Walmart today and bought another pack. I have already went through 1 pack in a week, lol. I have found tons of blog freebies this summer and am itching to print them off.
2. I have the best coffee mug ever. It will hold an entire pot of coffee and keeps it warm all day long. However, it has a dent in the side of it and has started leaking. I am in search of another one for this year.
3. I am a huge cardigan girl, lol. I stay cold all the time at school and always have a cardigan or hoodie handy to wear. I would love to have a few new cardigans for this school year.

Now I am off to complete Farley's rule of 3 and then get some rest. Thanks again for stopping by! :)

Behavior Management

I have used a behavior management technique in my classroom for years now that really works for me. I used this method when I taught preschool, first grade and now kindergarten. I use the smiley face method. When a student breaks a rule or misbehaves they have to pull a smiley face. I use four colors: red, yellow, blue and red. Here is a picture of my behavior chart.

Here are the colors of the smiley faces and what each color means:

I have a sheet that I put in the students homework folders every night. I color what face they got for the day and check mark underneath the rule/rules that were broken. The parents have to initial this sheet every night. I am attaching a copy of my Weekly Behavior Report for you to use in your classroom if you wish. This method has worked great for me and I hope that it can help you too.





Mrs. Janelle's Behavior Chart

Splat Game and Freebie!

Hello everyone! Yesterday I made a trip to Wal-mart. While I was standing in line waiting to check out, I looked down and saw the cutest fly swats ever. I just had to buy them. They were a steal at $1.00 each.

While I was driving home the gears in my brain were turning. I decided to come home and make a game for them. Last year I would project sight words onto my whiteboard using my document projector. I would call out a sight word and my students would take turns swatting a word with a fly swatter. They loved this game and begged to play it all the time. I made a game last night using our Kindergarten sight word list. I plan on using my game "Splat!" as a large group activity to introduce and practice sight words. I am including a free copy of the game for you to use in your classroom. I am so excited to offer my first freebie! :)

Splat Game

Awesome Giveaway!

Hello everyone! Mrs. Stanford has reached 500 followers! Wowzers! She is having a fantastic giveaway to celebrate. Click on the link below to go to her blog and enter.

My First Award! :)

Kimberlee from Two Fulbright Hugs, presented me with an award!!! I am so excited!  - Wowzers! Thank you, thank you, thank you Kimberlee. Upon accepting this award, I must abide by the following rules.

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you.  THANK YOU so very much Kimberlee! :)

2. Include a link to their site.  Check out Kimberlee's blog by clicking Two Fulbright Hugs

3. Include the award image in your post. See picture below :)

4. Give 7 random facts about yourself. See below.

5. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

6. When nominating, include a link to their site.

7. Let other bloggers know they've been nominated.

 

Random facts:

* I love to read and I am a huge book worm.

* I am the director of a football cheerleading league. I also coach one of the squads.

* I am the coach of the Tracy City Eagles Cheerleading squad.

* I have a ton of best friends. 95% of them are childhood friends. I am one lucky girl.

* My favortie food is Mexican food.

* I am a pageant Mom. My daughter has competed in pageants since she was 4 years old. One   entire room in my house is for her throphies and crowns. Don't worry..... I am not like the Moms on Toddlers and Tiaras. Wowzers some of those ladies are silly.

* I am a huge hockey fan. I love to go to hockey games with my husband any chance we can get. My favorite team is the Nashville Predators.

* I taught preschool for 2 years and 1st grade for 3 years. This year will make 3 years that I have taught Kindergarten. I love Kindergarten! I hope that I get to teach it forever!

Great blogs I have nominated:

* Lovin Kindergarten

*  Kinder Doodles

* Kelly and Kim's Kindergarten Kreations

* Hugs for the Teacher

* Kinder Trips

* Kindergarten Seeds

* Kindergarten Kindergarten.com

* Mrs. Brown's Weekly Chatter

* Kindergarten Sparkles

* The Nature of Grace

* Amsti "Kindergarten" Style

* Primary Possibilities

* Krazy Kindergarten Teacher

* Smedley's Smorgasboard

* Kindergarten Fun

Please go and check these blogs out! Thanks again so much Kimberlee!



 

July Currently

I am linking up with Mrs. Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for July's currently. I have been wanting to do this and I "think" that I have finally figured it out, lol. So here it goes! :)

Here is Farley's cute button in case you want to link up too!

Here is my all time favorite book to read to my class.

Pete the Cat is an awesome book to read to Kindergarten kiddos. I bought this book last year and it became a favorite of my Kinders and mine. I plan on reading this book every single year. I also bought the Pete the Cat unit from Deanna Jump's TPT store. I love it and so do Kinders. Highly recommended!

My favorite "go-to" professional book that I refer to each year is.......

I came across this book in college and have found it to be very helpful. Harry Wong has a lot of wonderful strategies to use in classrooms for organization and management. I refer to this book often. I actually have acquired 2 copies of this book over the years. I am thinking about sharing one as a give-a-way if I can figure out how to do it, lol. Baby steps.....

Thank you for looking at my July currently. Please follow me.... I am in need of followers. Have a very Happy 4th of July everyone! It is time for me to get in the shower and enjoy the day! God bless America!

Old room goodbye...... pictures of my old classroom

Hello everyone! I have decided to start my daily blogging by adding a few pictures of my classroom from last year. I am moving across the hall to a larger classroom this year and I am really not that excited about it. It is going to be a lot of work. For a few weeks I have been dreading the move but I have decided to look at it as a positive. I get a larger Kindergarten classroom and get to decorate from scratch. It is going to be a lot of work but I am up to the challenge. I have searched many (and I mean many) Kindergarten blogs this Summer and have tons of ideas swimming in my head. I have decided to start next week and get my NEW classroom ready for the new year. So....... here are a few pictures from my old classroom.

This is a picture of my meeting group area. This is where the magic begins! My students begin the day with choosing classroom helpers, exploring the daily calendar, singing our favorite Dr. Jean songs, etc.... We visit this area several times a day. What in the world would I do without my carpet???? I wouldn't be the same without it.

This is an up close picture of my special helpers section of my meeting board. Each student in my class has their own apple with their picture and name. I move the apples in a clockwise pattern each morning so that we have new helpers each day. I have decided that I am going to try to use a "bee" theme this year that will match my carpet.

This is the only picture that I could find of my small group/guiding reading area. This picture was taken at the beginning of the school year and changed a lot toward the end of the school year. As you can see it is really small. I am going to have a larger small group area in my new classroom. So excited!

This is what my large group area looked like. The tables were handy....... yikes they look rough don't they? I think that these tables were used in Kindergarten when I attended Kindergarten at this school. I am 33 so........ anyway, they served their purpose. I am keeping my fingers crossed for new tables. They are on my wish list. :)

This picture shows my computer area and my play dough center. I also have a large cubby shelf that I store classroom items in.

This is what my double doors looked like in my classroom. My new room only has one door leading into the hall. I am thankful because I will have more space. :)

Thank you for looking at my old room. It did change toward the end of the year. I just remembered that I have more pictures on my old cell phone. I will upload some of them tomorrow. :) Happy blogging!!!