Sorting Letters & Numbers

Week 2 went a little more smoothly.

The kids are learning the routines and are learning a little more about my teaching style.

I, in turn, am able to learn a little more about them.

I can see more about what they do or don't know in certain areas.

One skill that I've not really had to deal with before is that some are confusing their letters and numbers.  With the Scott Foresman series, we go right into letter recognition.

A-E for week one, F-N for week two, O-S for week three and T-Z for week four.

Then we break down the letters and spend one week on each (two on vowels).

However, this year, I've had a few who can't even distinguish between the number 3 and the letter A.

So, we are going to slow things down a bit this week and not worry about recognizing 5 more letters.

We are going to sort letter tiles from number tiles.

We are going to do it with uppercase letters and the numbers 1-20 and then we are going to do with lowercase letters and again the numbers 1-20.

By the end of the first day, I may bump that down to 1-10 =)

I made up a little file folder game to go along with this.

I was going to take pictures, but I can't find my disk reader for my camera and I don't have a USB cord for it.  I think you'll understand when you see it anyway.

We are going to learn this as a whole group and then I will break it down to my small groups, then let them play with partners. 

I'll keep you posted with how things go!

If you would like, here is a copy of it.

*Content Removed due to new DJI Copyright ruling.*

26 away from 500 and a freebie!

Wow!  I'm so excited!

Only 26 followers away from 500!  

That is amazing!

Today, I was perusing the internet and decided that I needed to do a handprint book for my kids.  I saw the idea on Pinterest and figured that would be easy!

I also discovered that Little Giraffes had done a similar book.  She added a calendar to hers and has a great download HERE!

I have made a version of my own.  There are similarities between ours and mine does not have the calendar.  She also has awesome pictures to go along with hers.  I will have some after my first one is complete.

Thanks so much for following guys and please spread the word.  You know there will be a great big giveaway when I hit 500!  Also, don't forget that my stuff is free!  All of it!  However, I do accept donations to my Donorschoose.org project.  You can donate by clicking the button on the right!

My Hands

TW11 - Free For All Friday

I have had such a great time blog hopping with some wonderful teachers this week.

I plan to do a little bit more this weekend.

(It's hard to hop and work at the same time!)

Here is my freebie this week.

In the spirit of Back to School, here is a number order game with school houses.

Easy and simple =)

*Content Removed due to new DJI Copyright ruling.*

TW2011 - Three for Thursday

Sorry I missed yesterday.

I even have pictures of my classroom and just have not had time to upload them.

If I get a chance later today I will go back and do it.

Anyway: Three for Thursday

My favorite font:

 

My favorite blog:

I have TWO!

These ladies are both AMAZING in their own right!  

My favorite online resource:

I jumped on the bandwagon a few weeks ago and fell in love with...

Source: piecesofmeblog.com via Amélie on Pinterest

Shocker..right?!

TW2011 - Teacher Talk Tuesday

Advice for New Teachers:

10. Your room doesn't have to be all cutesy.  Sometimes kids can be overwhelmed by too much. Teach the students don't impress them.

9. Plan more than enough for one day.

8. Be a great team mate.  Work with your team teachers. Collaborate. You learn a lot from each other.

7. Don't let evaluations stress you out.  Do what you do best! TEACH!

6. Don't let blog ideas overwhelm you.  We don't do it all, you don't have to either.  We just love to share ideas.  Sometimes what veteran teachers do, may not work for you.  Develop your own style.

5. Be tech savvy.  The kids are, you should try to be too.

4. Try your best not to take your work home with you.  This is advice to myself as well, I still do after 10 years and I need to focus more on my family.

3. Be flexible!  What worked for you the first time, may not work the second.

2. BE PATIENT!

1. Love what you do.  No matter what others may say, we have the most rewarding profession of anyone.

Source: callmecraftyal.blogspot.com via Erin on Pinterest

TW2011 - Meet the Teacher Monday

Hi All!

I'm Laura Starnes.

Welcome to Kinder Kraziness!

I am beginning my 10th year teaching and my 9th year in kindergarten.

You can always see what I'm doing in my room here on my blog and on my class website HERE!

So, I know you are just reading with anticipation to find out a little more about me..right?

Well, sit back and relax because here we go!

I am married to Mr. Clint.

We have been married for a little over 2 years now.

He doesn't really like it when August rolls around. 

He also didn't really like it when I started this blog, since I already had one going.

We don't have the kids yet, but we have one big baby named Jack.

We also have a bad little girl named Libby.

Besides teaching, I love blogging.  My other blog is called Starnes' Stage.

You can always check out a few more of my personal blogs, pins and pictures on that blog. More followers are always welcome!

I also SING!

I sing with a band called The Express.

And I sing lead in our local Sweet Adeline's Barbershop chapter.

The Memphis City Sound Chorus

I attend Bartlett Church of Christ, where I also teach our little kids and help with curriculum.

That's a little about me.  I can't wait to read about my other fellow bloggers.  

Click the button to meet some other awesome bloggers.

Blog Hoppin': Teacher Week 2011

Come join me and my teaching blog buddies for a week of posts completely dedicated to our LOVE of teaching!

Click the pic to take you to Blog Hoppin's link!

What to do with these?

I was at Hobby Lobby today and happened upon a very HOT item!

Colored HOT glue sticks!

How cool are these?!

via

Any ideas on what to do with them?  I also saw some that were glow-in-the-dark and these:

via

So..start throwing some ideas at me!

What do you think? 

I know my kids can't use them, because they can't use the glue gun...so hmmm???

This is hard!

I'm not sure how you other bloggers are doing it!

I can't keep up with a daily post on my K blog when I've started back to work.

I am trying to divide my time between the kids, planning lessons, upcoming evaluations, new math series, home, chorus, band..WAY too much on my plate!

So how are you all doing it?  You all are Super Bloggers in my book!

I have so many blogs and comments to catch up on..yipes!

I do want to say that I did complain the other day about 17 and then I saw your numbers and I felt bad!  I have had 22 at my highest, so I feel your pain.

I just forget how difficult it is at the beginning, especially when I have 3 students who are only 4 years old and 5 that JUST turned 5 before the year started.

They are SO young!!!!

Anyway, enough of my complaining.

You all ROCK! And to show my appreciation, here is a Zero the Hero freebie that I made for my kiddos.

It is a book that goes with Dr. Jean's song: Zero the Hero Number Stomp!

Enjoy!
Zero the Hero

Wanna know how my day went?

This is me to the T!

17 students just wore me out!  And I still have parent meeting tonight!

Aaaahhhh!

I hope everyone else is having a great start to the year.

Honestly, my kids seem great, it's just hard to get them where they need to be the first few days.  

In my spare time...haha...I am working on some freebies.

What a Week!

Ok! How did I forget how hard it was to get back into the swing of things at school?!

I am SOOO tired!

Sad thing is that I've only had 4 or 5 kids a day and I am WORN OUT!

Anyone else having this dilemma?

I'm sorry I've been neglecting the blogging world.

It's just been a little bit harder than expected.

On a good note though -

I'm WAY over 450 followers.

I can't believe that 500 is an actual possibility.

I think a giveaway is in the works soon.

I need to start putting my resources together to figure out what to do for you guys!

Stay tuned!

Until then, here is a little freebie:

Amazing Words from the Reading Street Series

Little School Bus

*Content Removed due to new DJI Copyright ruling.*

Classroom Pictures

As promised, here are pictures from my room.

These first three are after working for 2 days.

Tubs emptied, paper on bulletin boards...making progress! View from my desk.

The beginning of my calendar/morning meeting area.

The beginnings of my library and math manipulatives.

The next set are from my last day in my room.  It's not done, but it was comfortable enough for me to not have to go back over the weekend.  I just couldn't do it!

Entering in the room.  Table placement is probably going to change tomorrow.

Calendar area.  Still not finished, but getting there.

Tables..like I said, arrangement will be changed.  Labels coming soon.

Student cubbies, extra storage for journals and flash card rings, listening center at the end.

My movie alphabet wall.

My desk that I've promised my hubby will not stay this messy.

Small reading groups, storage for games, puzzles and puppet theater.

Class library (missing 3 file holders for books).

Math shelf, math station boxes coming soon.

So there you have it.  I'll have a bit more tomorrow when I stay after to get a few more things done.  Just a little at a time.

Now I'm off to church, then back home to finish up my Powerpoint for parent meet and greet in the morning.

Have a great first day tomorrow, for those of you who are going back!

I know you've missed me...right?

I am SO happy to be back!

My room is not complete, but I feel comfortable in it and am ready for Monday morning.

Thank goodness for Staggered Week in Kindergarten! YAY!

I am loving my new team, my new school, my new room, my new theme, my new commute and I know I will love my new class!

I am working on my pictures that I took of my classroom and will post them tomorrow. Until then, here is a freebie that I just made up today.

I changed my calendar around this year and wanted a new Weather Chart and I wanted something that dealt with temperature.

If your little K's are like mine, when I ask what the weather is, sometimes they don't say sunny or cloudy, they say hot or cold.  Which of course is weather related, but those words describe the temperature.  So, with the help of Scrappin' Doodles, here is my weather and temperature chart.

Weather Chart

I plan on laminating then getting round velcro strips and putting one above the line and below the rainbow. Then cut out the squares and place the necessary weather and temp on the chart.  On the temp chart you can also write with expo or vis-a-vis the actual temp!

Oh Boy!

It's registration day!

Let's see how many kiddos will be gracing my door this year!

I promise I will be back to a normal writing schedule when this first week is over!

Miss all of my bloggy friends!