Ocean Visual Plans

Spring break is a tease!! It goes by too quickly! I know the next 2 months before spring break will go quickly! I am done with many things for this year, particularly with my classes. Now, I just need to get back on track tomorrow am for my pre-observation, student-led conferences, and kindergarten play! Back to a full schedule and smiling kindergarten faces in the morning!!

I am linking up with Deedee Wills. I love her visual plans, which inspired me to try my own. Before spring break, my kinderkids and I were learning about animals, focusing on Australia. This week, we will start with The Great Barrier Reef and animals in the ocean.

 

 

It will be fun getting back to hanging out with my favorite group of 5 & 6 year olds!



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Five for Friday and Spring Sale

 

Since I am finishing up my spring break with an Easter weekend, I thought it would be a good time for me to join in on my first "Five for Friday". The highlights of this week:

 

1. I went on a mini-vacation with my husband at the beginning of my spring break. We went to Washington, D.C. to see the cherry blossoms and try out my new camera. I found out that next week is suppose to be the time to see the full cherry blossoms. Lucky for me, one of the only places they were in early bloom, were in front of the hotel we stayed at. Later, I did find another spot.

 

 

2. On our last day there, we saw SNOW!! For me, this was a great thing. I grew up in snowy places, and then moved to Florida. It gets too hot and humid in the sunshine state... so I am happy for the cooler temps!

 

3. I went to two zoos! I had fun experimenting with my new camera. Here is one of my favs of a red panda.

 

4. I finished and posted my Australia unit on TPT. My kinderkids and I were having fun with it. Click on the picture to read and see how I used some of it in my classroom before spring break. It is on sale...

 





5. Which leads me to putting all my TPT products for sale from today to Sunday! Click below to see who else is having a sale.

Button from Lovely Literacy & More blog.

 

I am looking forward to seeing family this weekend. Have a wonderful Easter weekend!

 

 

 

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Favorite Nouns

 

 

It's already Thursday! I have so much to do before my spring break is over! Well I am taking a break to blog and join this linky party. 

 

My favorite person: My husband... he has grown to be my best friend. Love him!

 

My favorite place: In the Swiss alps! There was no other feeling as skiing down the Swiss alps or hiking through the mountainous terrain and looking down at the world below. It is such a beautiful and serene place to be.

 

My favorite thing: My laptop! I do so much on it... be it for school, work, fun, music, etc.

 

My favorite animal: I am fascinated with all types of animals. However, one little fluffy creature has been in my life the past 14 1/2 years. She is my favorite animal!

 

 



 In my kindergarten class, we are currently working with nouns and verbs. Click on any of the noun sort pictures to get it for free.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Kangaroos, Koalas, Boomerangs, and Fairy Bread

I am on a cool winter... I mean spring break. I even saw snow! Now I am back in sunny Florida, and it feels quite cold today! Before spring break, my kinderkids and I were having fun learning about different animals in different habitats. We were specifically learning about Australian animals. Here are a few highlights that can be found in my new TPT packet:

 

 



 

Here's a great youtube video called Jump, Jump, Jump (The Kangaroo Song) by Loco Loco:

We will continue to learn more about Australia when we get back from our spring break. We will explore sea animals in the Coral Reef.

If you are interested in my Gday Mates Australia Literacy & Math unit, you can get it on sale at my TPT store. If you are a follower, you can leave a comment and email address to this post. I will choose one follower to be the winner of my newest unit! Congratulations, Beth!

Have a great day!

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Australia Visual Plans

It has been quite busy around here before spring break! My kinderkids and I are going to the zoo this week, and we're prepping for our student-led conferences- which will happen after spring break. I will also need to start thinking about prepping my kinderkids for their play in May. I am also finishing up 2 classes: Daily 5 and Reading Endorsement #2 this week! I am so ready for the upcoming Spring break,which starts on Friday for me! Looking forward to seeing those cherry blossoms!

It is a short week in kindergarten for us this week. We have a field trip and a teacher work day (which I took off). I am almost done with making my Australia unit digital. It is not ready for my TPT store just yet... hopefully soon! Here are my visual plans for this upcoming week:

I'm linking up with Deedee Wills. Check out other visual plans here...

 

 

Have a wonderful week!

 

 



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Space, Penguins, and Freebie

We finished up our Bears in Space unit this past week. Here is a preview of it:

 

At one pocket center, my kinderkids put sentences back together again. They wrote the words on a recording sheet and read the sentences again with a partner. I am amazed at how far these little guys have come this year! Kindergarten is a great year to see the leaps and bounds that children make.

At the name pocket center, my kinderkids placed their names, friends' names, and other words (ones they made on index cards) on the popsicle sticks (blanks).

Daily, we worked with a variety of venn diagrams comparing Frank Asch's bear stories, as well as sun/moon and day/night ones. We also retold stories.

In our math and science journals, we wrote about why a book falls down. This little one blew me away with his journal entry! He even used a question at the top!

One of our team's math activities did not get printed out. This led me to do this impromtu math activity instead. I had leftover 100th day snacks left over which was perfect for students to sort and place on a ten frame. They worked with a partner and counted their snacks. Each partner had a different marker, so I could see who wrote each equation. They did a great job working with numerals 11-19.

On Friday, Thing 1 came to our room to make green eggs and ham with us!

This upcoming week, we will start our Wild Animals unit. We will start our adventures with Antarctica and penguins. I am linking up with Deedee Wills, and attempting my own visual plans! I am thinking of transferring my visual plans into my interactive whiteboard software (Mimio ink) with all the links to the assignments, songs, and visuals. Has anyone done that? I think it will be a great way to organize my different digital stuff into one big file for the week!

 

Are you still with me? Well I'm also linking up with Freebilicious...

 

 

 

I used My Cute Graphics to make some math games for the upcoming spring season. Click on the pictures to get it from my TPT store for free!

 

 

Have a spectacular week!



 





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Currently March...

 

 



It is a quiet house! Nice to have this calming effect before going to sleep!

I had to get up extra early this morning to head out for a workshop 2 1/2 hours away. My sweet husband even got up and offered to make some coffee. Right now the dogs are nearby... looking as cute as can be all curled up sleeping by my side.

I spent the day at a Kagan K-1 Cooperative Learning workshop. I love how energizing and fun these workshops are! I learned new cooperative learning strategies, and am excited about how to incorporate one this week. I think I will try bringing my shoulder partners talk on the floor to a 4 group interaction with Round Robin Rally. I am beat though!

I still really want my very own ipad. Wish I could say I needed it. What I really need is some play time! I have had a few busy weeks with classes after work, report cards, conferences, etc. I am looking forward to this week with no classes- only on-line discussions.

Today, I really enjoyed the people I interacted with at the Kagan workshop. Everyone seemed to be smiling and having a good time. I love the positive boost I felt most of the day. On the way back home, I have to say traffic jams are a bit annoying... especially ones that double the length of your trip!



Good night! Looking forward to reading other currently's tomorrow am with a cup of coffee!

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