Morning Meeting in Kindergarten

Last week I shared my Kindergarten schedule. Today I wanted to share our morning routine. It is probably our most productive 30 minutes of the day.  We cover a lot of different skills and it grows and changes throughout the year.

Here is an overview
1. Morning Message
2. Alphabet chart/ blends and digraphs chart
3. Sight words, sight word exercises
4. Song
5. Calendar Math


1. Morning Message:  Here is peek at my morning message right now, it will change over time. Here is one weeks morning message ready to go on Monday. We keep the same message for the week. I use different colors for each sentence right now.

                       
Monday: The kids come up and fill in the missing letters in the sight words.  We also make the sounds in words to find missing sounds.  For example, we made all the sounds in the word 'him' to decide that short i was missing.

Tuesday: Punctuation and capitalization. Here we talk about the different types of punctuation and add them to the message. Then we circle the first letter of each sentence and talk our capitalization.

Wednesday:  I always end with a question and on Wednesday, we graph the answer to the question in a variety of ways.

Thursday: This day we may do a variety of things, including:
         -counting the words or sentences
          -picking words and counting their syllables
          -picking words and finding words that rhyme
          -finding all the words that start with a certain letter

Our Friday schedule varies a lot and morning message isn't always a part of it.

2. Charts:  In the beginning we only identify letters on the chart, then add sounds, after Christmas we add blends and digraphs.

3. Sight words: By now, it's time to get up and move. We exercise to our sight words.  We jump, kick, hop, march, etc... to each letter.  Occasionally we play a sight word game. We read sight word poems from this chart, they love these poems:




4. Song- This is just for fun, any song will do!

5. Calendar Math: Date, weather, seasons, days of the week, counting the days on 10's frames, review the rules, counting in a variety of ways, patterns, and other skills as needed!

Pattern practice goes across the bottom.

The teal chevron calendar pieces can be found in our TPT store  here and here.

Thanks for stopping by! I would love to hear about your favorite morning routines!

Jill




   

What do we do all day? - Our Kindergarten Schedule

I always love looking at other peoples schedules. I love to see how they fit everything in one day. I am always updating my schedule to meet my students needs.
Here is my current Monday – Thursday schedule:

Before you worry about science and social studies missing from our schedule, don't worry – it is always there! It is integrated throughout our day! Our Friday schedule is always  different and that is were I fit our hands-on science time.  We also use Scholastic News, which is great for both science and social studies.


Our Morning routine is so important! We cover so much during that time. I love our morning message, we practice a large variety of skills.  I will be blogging about our morning routine soon!! Come back and check it  out.


Thanks for stopping by,

Jill

Focus Walls

Hi everyone! It's been a while since we have blogged but we are finally getting settled in to the school year. As we move through the weeks, it is interesting to see the things that our students learn about our classrooms and about how they can use the structure and set up of the classroom to their advantage.  My third graders have learned that they can find the relevant information and key concepts for our learning on our classroom Focus Wall.  I have used a Focus Wall in previous years but it has usually been pretty small and focused on Language Arts.  This year, I moved to a new classroom that has a giant chalkboard that had been covered with paper (and hot glue, and sticky tack, and masking tape).  It took me a few weeks to decide that I was actually going to leave the chalkboard in it's natural chalkboard state in order to avoid falling paper, fading, and all the other issues that come with covering something that is not a bulletin board.  Did I mention the chalkboard is also NOT magnetic? Ugh... #teacherproblems.... So, after much thought and consideration, I decided to make the board a huge Focus Wall.  I have a small section for Social Studies and Science (I alternate between the two so I didn't need a space for each), and pretty large sections for both Math and Language Arts.  I have a designated area for the week's objectives and I also try to make it a point to add important vocabulary words and "I can" statements.
This Focus Wall has become an integral part of my classroom.  My students know that they can find important vocabulary words for our Math concept, Spelling words, and new Social Studies and Science objectives on the wall.  Last week, I forgot to add the Spelling words to the wall after our pre-test.  I must have had half of my class ask when I was going to finish the Focus Wall.  I was so happy to know that they are actually using it and depending on the wall as a source of information about our learning.
I made the super cute subject and "objectives" labels for my wall with my Silhouette Cameo and some removable adhesive vinyl.  I love how clean the labeling looks and I don't ever have to worry about it falling down or fading.
Below are a few pictures of my Focus Wall

Decals before I put them on the board.

Decals up but the board still being cleaned

Close up of the decal

The cute focus wall peeking out behind Jill and I

Thanks for stopping in! 

Caitlin

Our Class Pet

Meet our class pet Lucy!

She is an excellent, quiet pet and  I don't have to feed her.  The kids love her!  The inspiration for Lucy came from these books:

I loved this cute little beagle in the books. When I spotted the adorable stuffed animal beagle above, I couldn't resist. 

Lucy has a couple different jobs. When students are sitting nicely and being great listeners, she can sit in their lap for a few minutes. This is a great incentive! 

She also makes a great reading buddy!

Soon, she will get to spend the weekends with students. They will be asked to read with Lucy over the weekend.  Students will fill in a journal about their time with Lucy and share it with the class on Monday.

You can grab this freebie here.

The kids have been excited with Lucy from day 1. She is great addition to our little classroom family.

A Peek at My Week

Hi! I thought that I would share what my week will look like this year.  Not surprisingly, over the course of this first week, there were some minor changes but nothing too big! I am so lucky to have only 10 third graders this year.  To me that means lots of small(er) group and individual instruction opportunities!  This is going to be a great year for my students and for me!  This week, we spent most of our time practicing the routines that we will use for each of our subject areas and for things like entering the classroom, walking through the hallways, and turning in work.  I think I have a pretty good schedule set. Although we are required to teach Religion first thing in the morning (I would prefer to teach Religion in the afternoon), I think I have a good amount of time for the other subject areas. Below is my weekly schedule:

I plan to use 20/80 (20% whole group 80% small group) for both Math and Language Arts this year.  I am also going to try to use this model at least 2 days a week for Science and Social Studies.

Check out some of these pictures of Science small group practice from this week:

Hands on "Observation Station"

Fact Finder station

Vocabulary Sort Station

Yesterday marked our first full week of school and so far, my students have been rocking the small groups! I have loved the enthusiasm and authentic learning that I have seen.  I look forward to starting our first unit in the Treasure's reading series, Numbers to 10,000 in Singapore Math, and learning about rocks and minerals next week!

I hope everyone is having wonderful first days of school and if you haven't started school yet, enjoy your last days of summer!

Caitlin

Kindergarten Classroom Tour

It is so hard to believe school starts Monday!!  Although I'm excited, I am already tired just thinking about the first day.  There will definitely be caffeine involved.  I am lucky to have a nice, big classroom.

I am never truly done with my classroom, but here is ready for the 1st day.

Focus Wall and Stations/Centers
Number posters by Proud To Be Primary
Comprehension posters by Class of Kinders

The picture above includes my focus wall. We will add anchor charts throughout the year.  You can also see the classroom library, computer station, and word work station.

Here is a close up of my word work station, mainly because  I love to show off my pretty table my husband painted for me! 

 

I love the pretty book boxes I found at the Dollar Tree. I bought all the green and blue ones they had! I couldn't fit all of them on one shelf, so the rest are over the nap mats.

Classroom Library

Teacher area and small group table

All the math manipulatives in one place

Calendar Math

Word wall, prayer wall, and big book stand.

I am using chair colors to let students know which table they sit at.  The plastic drawers will hold their crayons and folders.  No one ever needs to look behind those curtains. It is not pretty in there.

There you have it! Thanks for checking out my Kindergarten classroom!  --Jill

One Thing I Love About My Classroom Love Linky

 

One thing I am loving about my classroom this year is my calendar setup!

Here is why I love it:

1. My tens frames are ready to count up to the 100th day of school. We are going to use stickers to fill it in.

 

 

 2. There are not a lot of pieces for the weather and season chart!  I was always wasting time searching for the piece we needed that day, now all I have to do is move a clip. Easy!  Also I love the real pictures for the weather chart. 

3. The month headers are so cute! I love that little monster on October!

4. This is the first time I have used a pocket chart for a calendar. Why have I waited so long?!  No sticky tack, sticky clips, or Velcro for me this year!

5. The pennant above it! I am loving pennants this year. 

You can pick up this set in our TPT store here.  It comes in purple and yellow too. It also includes many other pieces that I didn't hang up and can be easily used for older grades. Right now it's 10% off!

--Jill

   

Sight Words and Word Walls

You have heard from the other half of Journey through Elementary, Caitlin. I am so lucky to work with her and now blog with her! This is my first post. I have put it off because blogging is a little intimidating. I am going to start with what I know-- sight words and word walls. I have to admit I am a little obsessed with sight words, is it just me or is that a Kindergarten teacher thing? I am all about making sight words fun! We exercise to sight words, play games with sight words, cheer our sight words, etc. Then, of course, the sight word goes onto the word wall. But I don't want that word wall to be a big waste of space! I make sure it gets used-everyday! My word wall is magnetic and I love it. We can pull the word down and use it during writing, and then put it right back up on the wall.

I would love to give credit to whoever created the sight word cards, but I got them years ago and can't remember where I got them. When we have a few extra minutes in the day (think dismissal time),we play Guess my Sight Word. I give them a hint so they can guess what word I am thinking of- for example, I am thinking of a sight word on the word wall that is 3 letters long and starts with the letter t. Then they all gasp in excitement and throw their hands in the air.

I also have this handy sight word of the day sign hanging by our door on a clothes pin. We will take it down each morning and fill it in with a new word. Every time we come in the classroom they have to read the word to me, and sometimes I even ask them to spell it. You can get this for free here in our TPT store.

Like I said, we play lots of sight word games and today I am very excited to share a game I just made to add to our sight word and word wall fun. My class last year begged to play sight word hangman, which inspired me to create a different spin on hangman. The idea is the same, I pick a word from the word wall and they have to guess letters. In this version, for every wrong guess we start building a potato head! I am so excited to use this game this year. I know my Kindergarteners are going to love it!! I think I am going to add magnets and put it on a cookie sheet. You can purchase it here in our TPT store!
  Thanks for reading if you made it to the end! I would love for you to comment below on how you use sight words and word walls in your classroom! -Jill

Potato Head Sight Word Game

Classroom Love Linky!

One Thing I'm Excited to Use This Year!

I really wanted to be able to blog about my whole classroom and to show pictures or maybe even a video.  After working at school (working and chatting and trying to choose matching teacher t-shirts and staring at the wall) from 9:30 to 4:00, my room still isn't done. Not video ready, not even photograph ready really.  As I was desperately trying to take pictures at an angle that would hide the mess that still looms in my room, I had an "aha!" moment.  I would love to share one thing in particular that I am really excited to try this year.

Have you all heard of Wall Pops?? I had never seen these things! They look like this:

Fancy, right? Not at first glance, I know! But the possibilities with these things are endless!  They are actually adhesive vinyl circles that are DRY ERASE! Yes, dry erase! They can be stuck to almost any surface and the adhesive is removable and they can be repositioned! Ok, so how am I going to use these magical circles in my classroom?  Check this out:

Above is my small group table.  I stuck on a circle for each student.  I'm going to use the "Pops" to have my third graders write notes, vocabulary words, questions they have about the text, connections, etc. This will be easier than having the kids hold or try to manage separate personal white boards.  I thought these would be great for other subjects as well and I plan to use these for diagrams, word problems, and equations.

This picture is of my writing station.  The students can use the Wall Pops here to list words, check their spelling, write title ideas, brainstorm, make outlines, and more.  I know you're probably thinking, "Doesn't she know that you can dry erase on tables?".  Yes, I do know that BUT this is so much cuter AND it gives the students defined space for their work.  

Love these as much as I do? You can check them out here: Amazon.com. Of course, there are a few different colors to choose from too!

I'll be sure to take more photos of students using the Wall Pops and I will update with an other post about how well they are working out for my classroom!  Thanks for reading and good luck with your own classroom set up!

-Caitlin

Friendship Friday!

Hi! This Friday we will join Mr. C's Classroomtopia in a link up for new teacher bloggers.  If you are a teacher or teacher blogger, please check out the new blogger links on his page!  If you are checking out our page for the first time, please scroll down to the previous two posts to learn more about us! You can also follow us on Facebook or check out our Instagram account by following Journey_Through_Elementary!  Jill and I head back to school tomorrow for a staff meeting- look out for new classroom tour blog posts in the next couple of days!

Assess Me! Getting to Know You!

Saw this link on Mrs3Grade's and thought we should definitely join in! She is becoming one of the teachers that I follow regularly. The original poster, The Tattooed Teacher has not only a great blog but some awesome products as well!

Here Goes Nothing!

Hi!  If you're reading this, we appreciate you!  This blogging thing is pretty new to us and we are hoping that we learn a lot from this "journey" and that we can improve our blog and Teachers Pay Teachers products as we learn and grow.
It's probably pretty important that we introduce ourselves so that there is a real person behind the cute logos and products.  Journey Through Elementary is a collaborative project of myself, Caitlin, and my colleague, Jill.  We have close to 20 years of combined teaching experience and have taught in almost every grade level PreK-5.  We hope that our experiences help to us to create useful and effective products and ideas.
Jill and I teach at a small Catholic school in Arkansas.  She is currently teaching Kindergarten and I am teaching third grade.  We are very lucky to have small class sizes this year.  We like to work together, along with the first and second grade teachers, often because there is only one teacher at each grade level in our school.
This year, we are implementing a lot of new ideas which we will share with you on the blog.  We are moving to a K-3 Class Dojo system, changing our dismissal procedures, adding school visits from various experts to enhance lessons, and we are even teaching our own PE classes! I hope that what we write on the blog and what we create for TpT is helpful to you.  Please leave us feedback! Again, thanks for reading!

Caitlin