Fall Fun, Lesson Plans, and Morning Baskets

A few weeks back, I posted a question on my Growing Kinders Facebook page about morning work.  I wanted to go away from a worksheet type thing every morning.  I felt like I was sending WAY too  many papers home, and the morning papers were simply busy work.  I needed something for the children to work on just for a few minutes while everyone was getting their jobs done. 

Worksheets were OK, but kids felt like they NEEDED to finish them, and I kind of did too.  While, really, the kids just needed something to work on until everyone was finished.  I don’t like to waste a lot of time – especially in the morning – so the worksheets were gone.  In place of them?

Morning Baskets.  Inside of these baskets are FUN activities for the kids to work on to get their brains ready for learning.  The kids are getting their morning jobs done a whole lot faster because they want to “play” with what is inside the morning baskets.  Now, these might evolve as the year goes on, but here is what they looked like last week and for a little bit this week (until I can change them!)

  

Simple, right? Fun, right?  I challenge you this week to ditch the morning work worksheets and try something like this! Keep it developmental and fun in Kindergarten!

On to lesson plans…

You can download them by clicking {here}

These are some of the units that I am working from this week:

           

My family was able to break away for a bit this weekend for a little bit of fall fun….my husband is working on his MBA, so life has been nothing but busy.  With two girls in dance, and an active middle schooler,  I’m rarely home.   It was nice to have a little quality family time together! Here’s a little glimpse into our day:

 

  

Have a great week!!!

Lesson Plans–October 21-25

Better late, than never right? I didn’t include the “visual” part of the lesson plans this week.  But, I will post links below of which units I am using!

I will also post pictures of my centers from LAST week this week!

Here are the units that we are working from:

         

 

I posted this article on my Facebook page a while ago, but I know many of us are feeling a bit overwhelmed with the pressures and demands of teaching, standards, testing, and home life.  If you have a minute or two, click on over and read it….

Sometimes, I think that we are trying to get SO MUCH done just to feel like we are “keeping up.”  We are all human, and we are all doing our best. :)  Get done what you can with the time that you have, cherish every day with those sweet littles, and if you desk isn’t clean at the end of the day, or your bulletin boards aren’t perfect, don’t fret.  Do what’s best for you :)

Happy Wednesday eve :)

PS – Thanks for all the support on my last post.  It’s so nice to read all of your encouraging comments.

Better Late than Never, Right?

Sorry for the delay on my lesson plans this week! 

I have been loving this lately…

The days are cooler and shorter, and I love the crisp smell in the air! But…in the back of my mind, I know that this is right around the corner…

So, I’ll enjoy fall while it lasts with some fun fall centers and lots of time outside!

Most of my activities for the next couple of weeks are coming from these two packs.  Just click on the images if you’re interested!

We also play a lot of the pocket chart games in this pack – the kids go nuts over them!

Here are my plans for the week!  As always, plans may change! I don’t always get to everything in my plans and some things I just decide not to do!  We have to be flexible as Kindergarten teachers, right?!  I would love to hear your thoughts about these plans – are they helpful to you? Or do they not make any sense at all?!

Have a great remainder of the week.  I’m not sure how my internet access will be over the next few days, so be patient with me if you have any questions!!