At my new school, food in the classroom is welcomed, celebrated, even loved. With zero allergies in my class this year (woo-hoo!), I’m exploring theme based snacks like never before.

To be clear, I’m not super crafty or handy in the kitchen, but thanks to the internet and Pi… Read full post »

As any of you know who have taken over a room from someone else, there is often hidden treasure lurking around every corner.  The room I took over at my new school was from a teacher moving schools and changing grades.  She took most of her belongings, but left quite a… Read full post »

Oh how I love a teachable moment.  They pop up all the time with kindergarteners – often because of the unique gems they blurt out.  Well today, I created one all on my own.  Yay me!

A few weeks ago I noticed my Quiet Time after lunch and recess was bombing.… Read full post »

A few weeks ago, I attended an afternoon of professional development with some teachers from my school.  It was lead by our amazing literacy leader and all about flexible grouping.  Like most, I thought flexible grouping was all about putting the low kids in a group, the high kids in a… Read full post »

Yesterday was a day.  Before a single child arrived, I felt defeated, deflated, and discouraged.  Without going into details (I don’t want to seem unprofessional), I just felt as if the chips were stacked against me.

It was a long day.  Everything that could possibly go wrong seemed t… Read full post »

It happens almost every year about this time.  Some little guy (it’s usually a boy, I’m not sure why) decides that a hug now and then just isn’t enough and he proceeds to attach himself to me as close and often as he can.  I call him my ‘Velcro boy’ because… Read full post »

Oh yes, it happens everyday.  My sprouts manipulate and often mangle the English language.  It’s part of the developmental process of learning – I get it, but it’s also extremely adorable.

Today, as I was assessing letters and sounds one on one, Joey came over and interrupt… Read full post »

Oh Eric – he always makes me smile and laugh everyday.  This afternoon, while assessing him on letter sounds, when I showed him the ‘A’, I was expecting him to say, ‘/A/, /A/, Apple’ as that’s the picture on the chart we use.

Instead, when he saw the &#8216… Read full post »

As many of you know – my poor site has come under attack lately by something called ‘malware’.  I had no idea what this was and I’m still not entirely sure, but it meant my site wasn’t ‘safe’ or ‘clean’ and you could possibly get an infect… Read full post »

Each morning, my entire school eats breakfast together.  Each classroom sits together and dines.  It’s something my principal spearheaded last year (before my arrival) to curb absenteeism.  After just one year of offering free breakfast to every child, it worked.  Not only were abse… Read full post »

Yesterday, in the dewy haze of late morning, I took my sprouts outside to do some illustrating.  We’re studying trees and have been talking a lot about roots, trunks, branches, and leaves.  With a few days of study under our belts, I thought it would be a good time to do… Read full post »

Yesterday, a reader posted the following on my facebook page:

This is my first year to teach kinder (I am also a male, and proud to be a male kindergarten teacher). I am at school 10-12 hours a day. On the 10 hour days, I work a couple of more hours… Read full post »

My new school’s PTA does Popcorn Fridays to raise money. Kids bring in 25 cents and get a bag of popcorn for snack. Now I have lots of kids in my room that I knew, for whatever reason, wouldn’t be able to bring in a quarter. 

A little guy came up… Read full post »

Yesterday I read the amazing Milo Armadillo to my class and something wonderful happened.  When the story ended, and I closed the book, the class erupted into applause.  Usually one or two clap at the end of books and sometimes it spreads, but this was different.  Clearly it had moved them… Read full post »

One of the unexpected side effects of having four ELL students that speak almost no English is I’m learning more Spanish than my high school Spanish teacher ever taught me.  For every English word I teach them, they teach me a Spanish one.  I guess there really is something to be… Read full post »

Wow – what a day.  Today was our Butterfly Celebration and it went off without a hitch.  The icing on the cake was our first butterfly came out of it’s chrysalis a couple of hours before and we were able to release it as part of the celebration.  Amazing… but that… Read full post »

Mostly my days are full of laughter, smiles, and hugs, but every so often something happens that just breaks my heart.

Today I had a substitute for the afternoon to do some (pretty amazing) professional work with my K-2 colleagues.  It was my first time out of the classroom and I… Read full post »

There is something so charming about witnessing a child learning to snap (or wink for that matter).  Last weekend, somebody taught Frank how to snap.  Well, being the crafty fellow he is, he figured out to snap with both hands simultaneously.  Try to picture it in your head – Frank sn… Read full post »

As I settle into the third week at my new school (Monday will be day 13 to be exact), I’m just overwhelmed at the level of affection and closeness my new sprouts are showering on me.  I’m just amazed at how quickly my new friends are acclimating and viewing school, our… Read full post »

Today we started our first PBL (Project Based Learning) on butterfly life cycles.  To prepare, I went in over the weekend and blew up my life cycle inflatables.  I have an egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, and butterfly.  I placed one above each table… problem is, I have five tables, not… Read full post »

One of the things I love most about teaching kindergarten is the spontaneous nature of five-year-olds… and, well, me.  My brain works at a speed so fast, sometimes thoughts pass me by without ever truly garnering the attention they deserve.  Every once in awhile, one pops out of my mou… Read full post »

One of the aspects of my new small school I just adore is the amazing amount of freedom with scheduling and space – it allows for real teachable moments that are engaging and organic.

Last week, knowing we were going to be starting our Butterfly Life Cycle Unit soon, I wanted… Read full post »

Well, two full days with my new sprouts and I’m more certain than ever I was born to teach kindergarten.  Maybe that sounds silly, but it’s just how I feel.  These kids come in, so eager and excited about school and look to me for every cue.  Me.  Who the heck… Read full post »

Well I’m mostly done.  I jetted in this morning for a couple of hours to do some last minute setup tasks and came to the conclusion that I will truly never be ‘done’ so I came home and decided to try and enjoy the long weekend before we hit the ground… Read full post »

As I setup my new room, two new items I’ve found on Pinterest have become my favorite new ‘things’ in my room.

First, my door.  When I saw this online (you can get the file from Teacher’s Pet - I’m not sure the link is still working) I knew I had to… Read full post »