Calendar Time

It’s been about a year since I posted my It’s Calendar Time daily calendar activities.

My kiddos were SO successful with math this year – even my lowest babies.  I was absolutely astonished EVERY day when they could add/subtract in their head and could make number combos to a certain  number like it was nobody’s business! Every day they knocked my socks off!

I always get a little stressed thinking about the beginning of the year, because there is always a learning curve in Kindergarten! But, I know that I wouldn’t change a thing with Calendar Time!

I started off the year with my Calendar Wall looking like this:

I had all the pieces of the calendar up and ready to go.  But, I’ve been doing my calendar on my Promethean board for 4 years.  So, I made the switch and had to do calendar on my board!

So, my Calendar wall turned into this:

I kept my calendar and date up and that was it :)

The children each have their own 1/2” white binder that I purchase from Sam’s.  I slip the monthly song in the front and any chants that we are doing on the back cover.  My binders usually last about 2 years. 

Unfortunately this year was the end of that two year cycle.  I’ve been contemplating using the poly 3 prong folders for my calendar book.  I would love to hear if anyone has experience with those…are they sturdy enough to use in their laps?

All of my calendar songs are available on my blog, but I’m working on a packet that will have them all available in one spot with different styles of the poem PLUS fun craftivities to do with each song!  Stay tuned!

At the very beginning of the year, there isn’t much in the binders…

We keep a pencil and some crayons in a pencil pocket.  This year I MIGHT try the ol’ duck tape baggie pencil pocket.  Any experience on how those hold up??

and then our calendar pages…

As the year progresses the skills get more difficult.  However, if I need to spend more time on a particular skill, I can do that daily page for another month, or just a few more weeks/days into the month.  The monthly headers are programmable so you can vary the month if you need to.

  

This is how the pages look on my IWB. I used the import PDF option on my software to import the pages and rearrange as necessary.  I link directly to the weather channel, songs, and so on to make a pretty smooth transition.  It usually takes about 20 minutes to get through the whole calendar. (Ask your school’s tech person to help you import to your IWB!)

Often I will have the children come up and complete the daily page.  They LOVE being the teacher, and I LOVE being SO proud just sitting back and watching them do their thing!

This calendar pack was truly a labor of love! I spent many, many hours on it – arranging, re-arranging and trying to fit SO many skills.  This calendar goes above and beyond the kindergarten common core! I realize that patterns and coins aren’t specifically on the care, but patterns help children to develop a strong sense of number, and learning to identify and count coins is FUN! Why not give them a jump start! Since Calendar time is a guided time, the children that are ready will jump on board, and you will be able to scaffold the kids that aren’t quite ready.

If you want to check out my calendar book, just click below!

If you’re interested in the components for your wall, you can find them in this pack:

or, together as a bundle:

Have you used my calendar set?  I would love to hear your results!!

Alphabet Fun!

I have been busy getting ready for my presentation in Las Vegas this summer, and made some fun new games to share with you!

The first one is called Monster Munch!  This is a great game for the beginning of the year to help our sweet little babies understand that there IS a difference between a number, letter, symbol and word :)

My 6 year old LOVES to play around with this game!!  She makes little munching noises when she feeds the monster the letters. SO fun!

There are two options included for making the game.  The photo on the left shows it made with a nut can! I just cut the mouth out and cut a mouth with an exacto knife out of the nut can. 

You can also use a regular old gift bag!

   

 

You can purchase Monster Munch at my TpT store.

The next game I have for you is a fast paced, super fun card game!

It’s called Bubble Pop!

I guarantee you your kiddos will LOVE this game!

 

My daughter and I played FOREVER! (My dog, on the other hand, was not as impressed!)

You get three sets of cards in the pack – upper and lower case and picture cards for letter sounds.  You can mix and match all three games or just focus on one of the three.

You can find Bubble Pop at my TpT store!

I would love for someone to win each of these games!  Leave a comment below!  The first THREE people to comment will win! Be sure to leave your e-mail address!!

Wow! You guys are fast! Keep commenting and I’ll pick three more random people!! 

Favorite Things–#2!

Sorry for the delay in my next favorite thing! That darn summer….. ;)

First up! The winner of my first favorite thing is….

Are you ready for favorite thing #2?? I use these every single day!

I would love to send you a set of Mr. Sketch markers for you to use next year!

Here is what you need to do:

1. Follow my Pinboards on Pinterest.

2. Come back to Growing Kinders and find something on my blog that you want to pin to one of your Pinboards.  I just installed the Pinterest hover tool, so it should be easy for you!

Remember to add the #growingkindersfavoritethings

3.  Finally, come back here and make your entry on the Rafflecopter. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Pin it to Win it Instructions….

I’ve had some feedback that some are having trouble seeing the Punchtab widget to enter.  It looks like this….

If you are having trouble viewing the widget, you may need to update your browser.

I used this widget because I could not get Rafflecopter to work for me the other day.  I will go back to it next week!  Sorry for the confusion!

I’ll go over again how to enter the contest!

1. You need a Pinterest account to play. If you don’t have one, then sign up here:

2.  Next follow my Pinboards on Pinterest.

3. Come back to Growing Kinders and find something on my blog that you want to pin to one of your Pinboards.  I just installed the Pinterest hover tool, so it should be easy for you!

4.  Finally, find this widget at the bottom of

THIS PAGE (<---click there) and enter via e-mail or through Facebook. 

Once you log in, you’ll see a Facebook banner pop up – it says you can earn additional entries by sharing on your FB. This is something that PunchTab does (that I didn’t know about).  You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to!

But, click the little blue arrow below that and you’ll see this screen:

Click on “go there” to make sure you are following my Pinboards. Then you will be entered!  You can use the arrows to see how you’ve entered the contest.

Remember to use the #growingkindersfavoritethings on the picture that you pin from my blog.

Like this:

I hope this tutorial helps! Sorry for the confusion!

Now, go back to this page and enter!

Favorite things Day 1!

Ooooh! Are you excited?!  Sorry I didn’t get this up earlier today, but I dropped off my 11 year old at language camp for 2 weeks today!  This is her 4th year at the camp, and her 2nd year going for 2 weeks.  If you want your child to learn a language, this is the place to do it! The kids have a BLAST!

If you are a frequent visitor to my blog, you won’t be surprised by my Favorite thing #1!

I LOVE these roll and learn pocket dice! I use them all.the.time.  In fact, I have multiple sets – I probably have about 8 of these babies.  They are great to have on hand for centers, and when I have to be out and don’t want to run centers.  I’ll prepare a roll and write activity and each table group will have their own dice.
You want a set?  Well, you could order them at Amazon.  OR, I can send you a set. 
Here is what you need to do:

This contest will be open for ONE WEEK.  I will close the contest on Midnight on Sunday June 16th.  I will post a NEW favorite thing on Monday June 17th with another contest!

Have fun pinning! Good luck!

My Favorite Things…

So, I thought it would be fun this summer to give away some of my favorite things to my wonderful blog readers!  You all have been so supportive to me over the past 2 1/2 years (almost 3 – gasp!) that I thought I would spread the love!

So, starting TOMORROW (Monday), my first favorite thing will be up for grabs! (This time it is an item you can use in your classroom!)

So, be watching the blog tomorrow – I have to take my girl to camp tomorrow, so I’m not sure when my post will go up.  You will need a Pinterest account to enter, so if you don’t have one – go sign up! It will rock your world! 

You will also need to follow  my Pinterest boards, so if you aren’t doing that yet go to my page and follow my boards for another head start!

See you tomorrow!!

Whole Brain Teaching–Learn Along with Me!

I have been slightly intrigued by the Whole Brain Teaching phenomenon over this past year.  Like most of us, I don’t have a lot of free time during the school year to read professional books. But, once summer comes, I LOVE to get my hands on professional books.  I decided that my #1 read was going to be this book:

The “challenging kids” part is what caught my attention.  I’m sure you’re all thinking of a few challenging kids you’ve had over the years in your head, right?

I’ve watched a few YouTube videos, read a few blogs and have a BASIC understanding, but really wanted to dig deeper and learn for myself from the creator of the Whole Brain Teaching program (Chris Biffle).

So, if you’re interested, you can follow along on my little learning adventure!

First up, Chapter 1.

Here are a few things that I highlighted!

Yes! Of course they do!  Whole Brain Teaching is FUN – they make their program fun to follow so children will WANT to be part of the classroom environment in a POSITIVE way.  Children learn to work together to make their teacher happy and because they love to play the teacher and teach their friends.

Biffle says the program is more like a GAME that all students want to participate in.  There are penalties and rewards when “playing” the game. 

I am very excited about this part!  Learning about how the brain works in learning to read has been another item on my list of “to-do’s”.  Chapter 5 goes into greater detail on how Whole Brain Teaching uses all parts of the brain.

I hope that you join me on this WBT journey! If you want to jump ahead, go ahead and order the book from Amazon, or go to their website.  What is amazing about this program is that there is so much information on their website that is absolutely FREE!

  I would love to hear your thoughts – leave a comment below! Do you use WBT?  Are you intrigued?  Keep checking back this summer for more WBT posts!