Summer and Sunflowers

I have successfully transitioned into SUMMER MODE!

After a whirlwind last few weeks of school, I have had a chance to catch my breath!  Here's to 2 months of  VACATION!

I wanted to share with you a fun watercolor painting that my students did the last week of school.

I started off by demonstrating a directed draw of a sunflower.  The students then traced over their pencil lines with a black crayon.  Next they used watercolor paints fill in the sunflower and background.

 
 


   

 I love the results.  They are suitable for framing - but I may be biased!!!

Stop and smell the flowers,

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day!  I will be spending the day with my mom at my brother and sister-in-law's house.  My son is working today and my daughter is still away at college for a few more weeks.  So we will be celebrating later when we all can get together.

I wanted to share with you a gift that is all over Pinterest and the internet this time of year.

This year I had the students make the cute Breakfast in a Bag.  I did this last year and it was a big hit!

One side of the bag has mom laying in bed.

The other side has a cute poem.

We packed the bag with a sweet roll, juice, and a colorful napkin.  The kids also made a card with their photo on it.

I'm sure the moms, tias, and nanas will enjoy it!

Big TpT Sale!

I may be biased... but teachers are the BEST!  We work hard all year long, and each day is a new adventure.  I teach Kindergarten and get to sing silly songs, read picture books, and work with math manipulatives everyday!!!  But I also have to deal with screaming tantrums, skinned knees, and untied shoes!!!

Well it's our week to feel appreciated!  I hope your school is organizing a little something to show their appreciation!

On May 7th and 8th, Teachers Pay Teachers is showing some love to all educators by having a huge sale.

All the items in my store will be 20% off.  In addition, enter the code TAD13 at checkout to get a total of 28% off all of my products!

You can visit my store here.

It's Lei Day!

In Hawaii, May 1st is Lei Day!  I used to live in Hawaii and loved taking part in Lei Day celebrations!

So I brought a little of that fun to my classroom today!  Of course I had to put a Kinder teacher spin on it!

Here are a few of the completed leis.

We got all the materials together.  Colorful Dolch word flowers,  green leaves, straw pieces, yarn, and scissors.

I had the students choose flowers that they could read.  They cut out the flowers and some leaves.  The classroom was very quiet during the cutting!!!  I punched holes in the flowers and leaves and the students began stringing the leis.

Once they were done, the ends of the yarn were tied together and everyone moved around the room reading the words on their leis to partners!

We even delivered a lei to our Principal to wish her a Happy Lei Day!

Make a High Frequency Word Lei is available for purchase in my TpT store.  It is available in Dolch, Fry, and CA Treasures versions.

Aloha,

Teachers for Boston

Here in California, my colleagues and I were devastated to hear about the bombing in Boston last week.  I  heard the stories of loss, bravery, and selflessness, and couldn't help but be moved.  I wasn't sure what I could do to help, until I heard that Michaela, over at The Center Based Classroom, was organizing a fundraiser to benefit the victims of the Boston Marathon bombing.  I quickly emailed her with a product.

She organized the donations, worked some "magic", and has come up with an incredible fundraiser!!!

Head over and make a $20 donation (100% of the money donated will go to the One Fund.)  You will then receive $150-$170 dollars worth of teaching products.  You can choose between a K-2nd bundle or a 3rd-6th bundle.

Thank you Michaela and all who donated.  The teachers at TpT are incredible!!!

Pass the Torch Linky

Get Ready for Bloggy Olympics!!!

Join The 3AM Teacher, the Reading Olympians, and over 80 SUPREME education bloggers as we take you through a tour of the Reading Olympians Root Study Program!!

*****
Hi from Southern California!  My name is Kay and I teach a class of 24 Kindergarteners, which includes 11 English Language Learners.

I was excited to have the opportunity to use the Kindergarten Root Study Program to teach my class about prefixes.  As part of the Common Core, students should be able to use common prefixes and suffixes as a clue to determine the meaning of unknown words.  This program addresses the standard perfectly.

I decided to begin with the prefix "un-."  The students already had an understanding of opposites and I felt that they could make the connection between their knowledge of opposites and "un-", the prefix that means "not" or "the opposite of." 

Day 1
First I read the Prefix and Suffix Picture Book (included in the materials) to the students.  It helped them to understand that a prefix is at the beginning of a word, and when it is added to a word, it changes the meaning of the word.

At this point, I had the students get up and move!  

Students worked with a partner acting out being kind to one another.  ACTION!

Then they acted out being unkind to one another.  AND ACTION!

This really helped them understand that adding the prefix "un-" to a word changes the meaning!

Students then worked on making the first page of their book.  After some teacher modeling, the students cut out and glued together the puzzle pieces for "un" and "kind" to make the new word unkind.

Day 2
The next day we worked on another page in the book.  The students cut and glued together the puzzle pieces for unafraid.

We love Thinking Maps at our school!  So we came back together and brainstormed all of the words that we could think of that begin with "un-."

I had pictures ready to glue on to the circle map, so these were the words I was guiding the students toward.  I chose easier words and we used actions and/or stories with the words.

We also completed a tree map to organize examples and non-examples of words with the prefix "un-."

The students really enjoyed learning about prefixes!  I think we will work on some more next week!


Discover the program IN ACTION in more K-6th grade classrooms as you Pass the Torch!! Get ideas, discover the progression of the program, and enter the Raffle for a chance to win ONE of the three prizes listed below!!

First Place Winner : Gold Medal

  Prizes: Complete Reading Olympians Program
            $50.00 Amazon Gift Card
            50% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Second Place Winner: Silver Medal

   Prizes: $25.00 Amazon Gift Card
              40% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Third Place Winner: Bronze Medal

    Prizes: 30% off Discount Code for a 1-Day shopping spree at The 3AM Teacher's Etsy store!

Pass the Torch!!!
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April Currently!

I am linking up with Farley at Oh' Boy 4th Grade for her monthly linky.

Listening - I love Angels baseball!  Today is the season opener against the Reds and I am listening/watching the game as I work on teaching stuff!

Loving - Soooo happy that baseball season starts today!

Thinking - I really need to do a load of laundry so I have something clean to wear tomorrow.

Wanting - I want some more Spring Break!  Today was my last day of Spring Break :(  Back to school tomorrow :(

Needing - I really need to vacuum!.  My black Newfoundland is leaving a lot of hair on the beige carpet.

Advice - My advice to bloggers and TpT sellers is to set your own pace.  It is stressful to compare yourself to others in terms of number of products, amount of money made, etc.  Set your own pace and set your own  goals that are achievable for you!