Change Is Good!

Hello bloggy friends! 

I have been gone for a little while because I have been super stressed out! After much prayer, thought, consideration, etc. I decided that this year would be my last year at my current school. I have been there for 10 years & I feel like I just need a change of scenery & a new path to follow. I will miss all my students, the staff, & the families that I have come to know & love. It is super hard to say good-bye to the school that I have given such a big piece of my heart to.

But, change is good, right!?

Here are some of the things that I am looking forward to:

1. Growing & learning as a teacher!

2. Making new friends :)

3. I'm moving back to KINDERGARTEN!!! YAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!! 

I started moving 10 years worth of teaching stuff to my new classroom. You don't realize how much you have until you have to pack it up & physically move it. Needless to say, there is a lot of purging going on! Do I really need those file folder math center games? Yes, I still had some of those oldies stuck in the back of the closet. Hello Mr. Trashcan! 

I am so excited to start this new adventure. I cannot wait to blog about all my new experiences- good & bad. Ha! 

Let's Talk Writing

So this year my kiddos have really taken to writing. 

I mean REALLY!! 

They LOVE it!!

They love informational, small moment, opinion, choice, you name it. They have really great ideas & have really embraced writing

 but...

They are dropping the ball with conventions! 

I don't know how this happened. I'm teaching all the skills to them...capitals, punctuation, spacing, blah, blah, blah...

They are just not havin' it!

They just seem to disregard the need for any sort of convention. 

So, I'm busting out my good ole friend that I used with pretty good success when I taught kindergarten.

 It looks like this:

It's nothing new! In fact, I've sent it to a gajillion of you over the years! I get emails for this every.single.day! 

It's nothing special, but you WILL have to do some lessons on how to use a checklist. 

If you do it correctly this can be a very handy tool for you & your students! 

Let me know what you think!

Happy Teaching!

Hello...Is This Thing On??

Hi Bloggy friends!!

I have REALLLYYY been missing you lately!

I have had more than my fair share of crazy happening lately & I am hoping that I can get back to blogging more now. 

Anyway, enough about me...

Do you students LOVE using the dotters as much as mine do??

I am sooo over winter, but I made this little ditty to wrap up any & all winter-ish activities for this year. 

They have to roll one die, add ten, & dot the answer. If they finish dotting before time is up I let them color the picture. This is one center that is super engaging & keeps them pretty quiet as I work with small groups.

I have Roll & Dot activities in ALL of my "Save the ink" math packets. They all have different directions... sometimes they roll 2 dice & add them together, sometimes they roll 3 dice & add, sometimes they roll & subtract the small # from the big #...there are soooo many variations.

Here is this cutie for you for FREE!!

Try it out with your kiddos & see how they like it...
(click the pic to grab it!)

Let me know how it goes!!
Until next time...
Happy Teaching!!