Teacher Blog Tuesday - April 30th

It's Teacher Blog Tuesday!

Today's blogger is Brenda Kovich from Teaching....Seriously!

1. Name of Blog and Link? 
Teaching . . . Seriously

2. Tell us a little about your blog and why you started it.
After 30 years of teaching, I feel like I have a lot to say. Teaching can be an isolated activity, and, in my estimation, teachers don’t always share. Subsequently, new teachers end up “recreating the wheel.” My blog is all about sharing what’s worked for me. It’s dedicated to big picture planning, responses to student needs and administrative/political demands, instructional decision-making, and reflection. I am serious about teaching. That’s how my blog got its name. 

3. How long have you been teaching? 
I have been teaching for 30 years.

4. What grade do you teach? 
I teach fourth grade. It's a full-time high ability (gifted and talented) class.

5. What is your favorite thing about teaching? 
My favorite thing about teaching is teaching. I love brainstorming ways to connect with these students at this time, creating curriculum, delivering instruction, and making sure I reach all students.

6. What else would you like to tell us about?
As a teacher of high ability students, differentiation is my life!

Research projects provide opportunities to differentiate content, process, and product in every classroom (and they address the second Common Core State Standard for Writing). Animals! Animals! Animals!, a free product, explains how. Next year I will be teaching a gen ed fourth grade class with a high ability cluster. I’m just beginning to develop some leveled materials. Examples can be found at http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Just-So-Stories-Reading-Bundle-Grade-4 and http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/RL41-The-Wind-in-the-Willows.)

7. Where else can we find you?
TpT

 8. If you want to include a freebie, what is it and where can we find it?
Animals! Animals! Animals! can be found on Teachers pay Teachers.

Head over, follower her blog and grab a freebie.  I hope you learned something new!

 

Reasons why I haven't blogged this week....and a giveaway!

Hello friends!  I'm sure you thought I fell off the face of the earth for a minute.  I didn't.  This week in Kindergarten was cray-cray BUSY.  Note to self: do NOT schedule so many events in one week.

We started off the week with a new student on Tuesday.  The poor kid still doesn't have a name tag with everything that went on this week!

On Wednesday, we ventured out to Strawberries on 903 for a field trip.  We went for a hayride, saw animals, and picked strawberries.  The kids loved it!  We went to the park afterwards for lunch and to play. Lots of fun!

On Friday, we had Field Day!  We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day.  The weather was PERFECT!  The students roamed around for 2 hours going from station to station and playing games while we manned our station - Jump Rope.

 

After lunch, we headed across the street to the Community Garden.  We got to plant a bean and transplant a strawberry plant.  Again BEAUTIFUL weather!

Friday night was Relay for Life in Greenville.  I am so proud that our school raised nearly $20,000 for such a great cause!  After being outside all day, it was a struggle to head out to the event, but we made it for a few hours and walked a few laps.

So that's the week in review.  I also managed to get to the gym 4 times, which almost killed me. It was an exhausting week and I am still trying to catch up on rest!  So sorry for my absence.

Now - how about a giveaway?
Remember when I posted about the pencil sharpeners over at Classroom Friendly Supplies?

Super amazing pencil sharpener!  Troy is offering to giveaway one to one of you!  All you have to do is enter below! (You must have a US address!!)  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are not the winner, you can stop by the Classroom Friendly Supplies Website and purchase one for yourself!

 

Teacher Blog Tuesday - April 23rd

It's teacher blog Tuesday!  Today's blogger is Ms. Shope!

1. Name of Blog and Link?
Ms. Shope’s Class

2. Tell us a little about your blog and why you started it.
 For the past 2 years I have loved reading other people’s blogs and have “stalked” many classrooms. I wanted to share my love of teaching with others, so this past summer I took the plunge and started my little blog!

3. How long have you been teaching?
I have been teaching for 8 years. In the past 8 years I have learned so much from my students...my hope is that I have taught them ½ as much as they have taught me!

 4. What grade do you teach?
I have taught kindergarten, first and third grade...but of course I love KINDERGARTEN the best! I currently teach kindergarten. We have so much fun every day and I cherish all of my little friends.

5. What is your favorite thing about teaching?
The kids are my favorite part of my job. I love when I see them grow and change to become thinkers and problem solvers. Seeing them become responsible citizens is what it is all about! I won’t lie I also really love how I can be a silly nut...I mean really...what other job can you dress up as Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, sing and dance to Five Green and Speckled Frogs and make crazy faces and voices all day long?!?! So much fun!

6. Where else can we find you?
Come pin with me! PINTEREST Or find me on TPT.

I will leave you with a spring freebie...sending you warm wishes from sunny South Florida!

 A big THANK YOU to Mrs. Payton for having me as a guest!

Product Swap!

Have you heard of the product swap from Mrs. Stanford's class? It's pretty neat - she pairs up bloggers with TpT stores and they swap a product and make/use them in the classroom and then they blog about it.  This gives everyone a chance to see some great bloggers, TpTers, and great products.

I was paired up with Amy from Teaching is Sweet. Her TpT store has almost 50 products that are great for Kindergarten and First Grade.  

I was super excited to see that she had a shapes packet because my kids definitely need a review of 2D and 3D Shapes, so I asked her to send me her 3D & 2D Shapes Unit.

This unit included a TON of resources.  I wish I had this resource when I first taught both topics, because my kids really enjoyed them. 

This is what's included:

Posters - There are 24 posters included in this packet. Individual posters for cone, cylinder, cube, sphere, rectangular prism, circle, square, triangle, rectangle and hexagon are included in color and black/white. There are also posters for all of the 3-D shapes on one page in color and black/white and 2-D shapes on one page in color and black/white. 

 I have...Who has... Game - There are 24 cards to play I have...Who has... by identifying the 3-D shape.

 Spin a Shape - Students spin a paper clip to land on a shape and complete a graph. Spinners for both 3-D and 2-D shapes are included in color and black/white.

Shape Fill Game - Students roll a die to see who can fill in all their boxes first. There is a 3-D and 2-D version. 

 3-D Shapes in the Environment Cards - There are 48 cards of objects in the environment that are shaped like cubes, spheres, cylinders, cones, and rectangular prisms. These cards can be used to play Roll, Say, Keep or to sort them by shape. 

3-D and 2-D Books - The 3-D book introduces the terms three-dimensional and solid. The 2-D book introduces the terms two-dimensional and flat. Students color and cut out the books. Booklets -There are two booklets: I Am and Sea Life, Sea Life What Do You See? The booklet I Am focuses on drawing 2-D shapes and the terms edges and vertices. Sea Life, Sea Life focuses on identifying 3-D shapes. Students cut and glue a 3-D shape next to a sea creature.

There were several things I enjoyed about this unit.  First - the directions are crystal clear.  There is no way you couldn't figure out how to use the unit.  Second - She offers several things in black and white or color so if you are low on ink you can still print it and color it if you like.  Third - The activities were fun.  My kids LOVE a game and they truly enjoyed this unit.  So without further ado, here are some pictures of my sweeties using the unit.

These are the materials I printed and laminated.  The posters that included the shapes were great to use at my table for reference.  I didn't print the large posters because I already had some, but I found these sheets really handy.  I also printed the I have..Who has... game, Spin a Shape game, and the environmental shapes.

I had the students sort the environmental cards. She has several ways listed that they can be used, but this was a great review for my friends.

 

This game was my students' absolute favorite part of the unit.  There is a 2D & 3D version.  The students roll the dice and whatever number they land on tells them to color in a specific shape.  The first player with their board colored in wins.   

 

This 2D book was GREAT!  It included square, circle, triangle, hexagon, and rectangle.  Each page had them draw the shape and then answer how many edges and vertices it had.  This was really a great review! 

These are the other books included in the packet.  The kids really enjoyed them.

This packet was great.  I loved the information included and it certainly followed Common Core to a T!  

If you are teaching 2D/3D shapes I would definitely recommend it!

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to review your product Amy!  

Amy is reviewing my weather unit on her blog.  Stop by and check it out!

If you are interested in a copy of my Weather Unit, leave a comment letting me know the activity you liked best from her review and I will pick one person to send a copy!  Leave another comment if you follow my blog and another if you follow my TpT. 3 chances to win my friends!

Now, head over to Mrs. Stanford's blog and check out the other product reviews!