Work Stations Update

Here is a peek at some of our new stations for this week.  First, here is the Playdough Station.  Students draw a card with a sight word on it.  They then use the stampers from Lakeshore Learning to build the word.

Another station is our Retell Station.  This week we are using the felt board for the Five Little Monkeys series.

Also, I found this fantastic  freebie from Kindergarten Rocks!                  for our Word Building Station.  I used our die cut machine for the mittens and then my circle cutter from my scrapbooking supplies to cut out the circles.

Marshmallow Snow Globes

Here is a project that we completed over the course of two days.  They are snow globes!  First, each child cut out a pre-traced blue circle and glued on marshmallows for a snow scene.  We used permanent marker to add features to the snowmen.  Then, an adult stapled the plastic and the cut out paper plate to the scene.  The plastic is a Ziploc bag with circle traced on it.  When you cut the circle out you have two for two students.  The base of the snowglobe is from Ginger Snaps!  They turned out great and will make a wonderful hallway display!

Today we also completed this CVC puzzle for Jan Brett's book, The Mitten.  Students cut out the boxes, read the cvc words, and then glue to the matching pictures.  This one results in a picture for The Mitten.  This was found at Kelly's Kindergarten.  She has other themed CVC puzzles that the kids love to do!

Winter Writing

This week we are reading The Jacket I Wear in the Snow for letter J. Here is neat writing activity that I have used for this book.  The kids love the end result!  You can find the printables for this at Kelly's Kindergarten.  I just love her!

MLK Giveaway!

Donna over at Peace, Love and Learning is a having a giveaway for a Martin Luther King, Jr. unit!  She will pick a winner for every 20 comments made!  Hurry and check it out!  You have until Tuesday to enter!

Sunday School Art Project....A Little Late!

Happy  Sunday everyone!  So, I know that this is WAY late.  However, maybe you can file the idea away for next year!  I kept forgetting to snap a photo each time I was at church!  These are currently hanging on our bulletin board.  

Each year we have our Christmas program on a Saturday evening.  Then, the following Sunday for Sunday School I do a group project with all of the grades together.  This is the project that we did. 

 I saw it on Blogland.  I can't seem to find the link where I found this project from!!  Totally Tots shows part of the project, but not the part with baby Jesus laying in the manger.  This blog also has several other related activities that may be helpful to you next year!

New Blog Alert

Hi everyone!  I hope that everyone is enjoying their weekend!  My sister-in-law came to town with my nephew for the weekend and it has been great to spend time with them!  
As you may have read previously, one of my resolutions this year is to exercise in some way everyday to help with my weight loss goal and to live healthier.  Well, I just found a new blog:  Will Jog for Cupcakes!  This is a group of women who are working to encourage each other to meet their weight loss goals.  They have shared a bit about each author and I just love how they willing to share their journey with us!  Laura Starnes from Kinder Kraziness is one of the authors!  Check it out!

Did You Hear the News About Pete!?

Did you hear the great news?  A new Pete the Cat book is coming in May!!  You can pre-order it here!  Gotta love that Pete!

Sight Word Review

This is by means nothing fancy.  I just thought I would share an activity that I did in small groups today.  I know that we all try to cut down on the "paper" work that we give our students.  This is one way that I review sight words with my students that does not use paper and takes minimal prep time.
First I give each child a sight word card and have them read it to me. Then, they are to dump the corresponding cup of letters to spell the word.

Next, I have them "point and spell" the word, naming the sight word at the end.  Then, I take the card away and mix up their letters so that they can spell it again, this time on their own.

Finally, I have them put the letters back in the cup and write the word on the dry erase board.  We repeat this with about 5-6 words during a center's time.  Like I said, nothing fancy, but they enjoy it and it is a great review!

I hope that everyone is having a Happy Thursday!

New Year's Challenge

Thanks to Heather, over at Peace, Love and Kindergarten, I was directed to an awesome challenge for the new year and I wanted to also take the time to share it with you.  In addition to challenging myself to do some sort of exercise each day, I have joined the following A-Z Scripture Memory Verse Challenge.  I am looking forward to joining in on this awesome opportunity!  This may also be a challenge that my whole family may join in on!  Thanks for the idea, Heather!
          For all of the information, click on the button below!

Stations for our First Week Back

Here are a few of our stations for this week:
This is a large tub of rice.  They use the spoon to scoop out a letter and place them in the correct spot for our winter words.  I got the sheets a few years ago from Kelly's Kindergarten.  They are still there, ready to print and laminate!

This next picture is of our current Write Around the Room activity.  I die-cut the snowflakes and added sight words.  They fill out the sheet that I got from Mrs. Bremers Blog!  It was a freebie!

I know Christmas is over, but I just had to squeeze this one more holiday activity in!  Have students take turns placing a magnetic letter in a stocking.  Their partner reaches in to feel the letter and guess what it is.  Then,  they trace the letter on their recording sheet.  If you would like a copy of the sheet please leave your email in a comment.  I have not yet figured out how to do Google Docs.  I am hoping to teach myself soon!

Well, that is it for now.  Have a great day!

Catching Up!

I know that this is the second post of the day...but I can't help myslef!  I am now on my new computer.  As mentioned earlier today, my old one died over break and I have soooo missed blogland, Google Reader, Pinterest and all of you!  I am trying to catch up, but......
 Anyways, I wanted to share some photos of my almost finished kitchen.  I posted way back in October the ugly demolition picture.  Well, a lot has happened since then.  I am so grateful for my husband and father-in-law and their awesome talents.  They have done a fabulous job!  I am just loving my new kitchen!  Please note the dishwasher.  As a child and even up until now I have NEVER had a dishwasher!  I HAVE BEEN THE DISHWASHER.  I am so excited to finally  have one!

    

  
The refrigerator is still the original.  We hope to replace it in the near future. The oven is also the original, but is still fairly new and I am very content with it.  Thanks for stopping by today.  I will be back to posting school related items very soon!

  

I Missed You!!!

Wow!  I so wanted to post over break, but then my computer at home died!  I am catching up on our first day back from break today.  I am supposed be back up and running tonight at home with our computer!  I was going through withdrawl!!!  I am SOOO behind on Google Reader again!
These pictures are from last year, but we will be doing the same projects today!  The New Year one was done at school and then a version for Sunday School.  The one posted is from church.  However, you get the idea!  I have seen this posted on MANY Blogs!  I have been doing this for a few years now. I found it on a kindergarten teacher's website...I will have to try and locate that to give proper credit. Enjoy!
**PS-Here is the link to the writing paper for the hats.

This penguin art project is from Heidi's blog.  I just love her!