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.... from a small rural school in Elbert, Colorado.

A good teacher is surrounded by MANY great teachers! Thank you to the great teachers at my school and out in blogland!



Friday, May 27, 2016

Did you make a calendar with your kindergartners this year?


I did and it was wonderful!
It was the first year that it worked beautifully.  I printed the full calendar and bound it together with the binding machine at the beginning of the year.  At the end of each month I passed it out to my students and we filled it out together. They used the classroom calendar as the model. 

Image result for the kissing hand
 I used the filled out version for August and we circled and put a star on the first day of school and my birthday. YEA!  They thought that was great. We had read, "The Kissing Hand" that first month, so our art was just a simple hand print (using the giant stamp pads from Lakeshore) with a heart sticker in the middle.

At the end of September, the students were looking forward to seeing their calendar again.  This time the students tried writing their numbers to ten.  Some needed help, but that was okay.  We marked our special days again with stars and did our hand print art. This time it was a leaf, but the ideas, when googled, are endless.

When October and November came to an end, the students wrote their numbers to ten again and had a blast stamping their hands and making a pumpkin and turkey.

By the end of December most of the students were able to write their numbers to twenty, so that is what we did for it, along with January and February.   The hand prints were turned into Santa, a snowflake, and the cutest penguin ever. 

Image result for handprint artImage result for handprint artTo end the school year, we filled in the whole calendar for March, April, and May.  The hand prints turned into 4 leaf clovers, flowers, and butterflies.  I am so sad that I didn't take more pictures, but I will this year.


My 2016 - 2017 SCHOOL YEAR CALENDAR with Art is ready.  It is on sale for $3.00.  I developed this for all grade levels; PK - 6th.  The monthly pages come in three versions: completely filled in, 10 or 20 days blank, or completely blank.  This makes it easy to individualize each class.  There are cover sheets for each grade level along with an art page.  Click here to go to my TPT store to check out the calendar.

Sunday, May 22, 2016

I'm Back! Let the Summer Begin!

After 25 years of teaching K - 3rd grade, and 11 of those being in Kindergarten, I've learned a few things.  I think it's time to share, and summer is the best time for that.  It's truly about, "Let's move it --- to learn it!" 

It might take a little bit for me to figure this out again, but before long, I hope to be adding pictures, freebies, and lots of helpful advice.  Of course. this will cause me to follow many other amazing teachers out there, and I can't wait to get started.