Yes, you read that correctly, Chickerella.  She showed me just how important and powerful our Fairy Tale unit has been. We started with Cinderella and ready many versions… even Dogerella, but I had never heard of Chickerella.  Until yesterday, when Maria, a little girl who is just learning English, came running over to me during [...]

Well, it really doesn’t get much better than the 100th day in kindergarten. It’s kind of like Christmas, Valentine’s Day (coming Thursday!), and the Fourth of July wrapped into one.  Well, it is in my class anyway.   I used an entire bottle of glitter to make this for the doorway: We sang our hearts [...]

This week, I was fortunate enough to have a visit from the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) Coordinator for my district.  She is leading a book group I’m partaking in on the book Number Talks and volunteered to come in and demonstrate with my class. It’s always eye opening for me to sit with [...]

Oh how I love a good email from a reader.  This one really hit home for me as I’m writing and editing the story of my first year in kindergarten and remember these feelings well.  Let me start with the email and then my reply will follow. I’m writing to get your opinion and experience [...]

Meet them where they are.  That’s always been one of my driving philosophies when working with children.  If they love Star Wars – use it. As is usually the case, this year I have a group of boys that are simply crazy about Legos. A few months ago, I had an idea… yes, it happens [...]

Each year I’m amazed how many kids in my class love Star Wars.  As a child, my brother and I were totally ensconced in the Star Wars universe and I have to admit, even as an adult, I still watch the movies and have more than a few t-shirts with R2D2 on them. About a [...]

Yesterday afternoon, with the full moon in full effect, I read my class Scaredy Squirrel.  That’s just how brave I am. For the uninitiated, Scaredy Squirrel is a little guy who is afraid of the unknown… so petrified in fact that he staying in his nut tree for fear of what might be lurking out in the world. [...]

As we head into the Spring, our assessments are showing a few sprouts really struggling with number identification (especially teen numbers) and certain sight words.  After vacation, Mrs. D. came in with a new game – one I’d never seen used in kindergarten, cup stacking. Now I’ve seen cups stacked as a game, but this [...]

No, sorry to disappoint you, but I am not expecting.  That being said, no less than four ladies at my school are.  In addition to that, a few of my teacher friends not at my school are also mommies to be.  I’m not sure what is going on, but the babies are in full effect [...]

We read Katy and the Big Snow again… really, what isn’t better than a little red snow plow?  The kids just adore this story and the maps we make to go with it.  We always work on our maps with pencil first, then after we add the details and label the places on the map, [...]