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Monday, August 22, 2011

A BIG Thank You!!!

A BIG thank you goes out to Julie from Thoughts of a Third Grade Teacher and 
Karen from Baffin Bags!! 

I won Julie's giveaway a few weeks ago and my things from Karen arrived today!!! 

I was very excited!! Here they are!
I got the fabric organizer
 and key fob!

Click on the pictures to go get them for yourself!!

Karen has lots of great things for you or to give as gifts!!!



Sunday, July 24, 2011

Pinterest Linky Party


Are you a member of Pinterest?   If you are, then you already know how awesome it is because it helps you organize all those wonderful ideas and inspirations that you find around the internet.  If not, then you MUST check it out!  You will not be disappointed!

Michelle's Math in the Middle is hosting a Pinterest linky party.  It's a great way to share ideas and pins.  So if you're already pinning, just add your link!  If not, then you will need an invite.  All I need is your email address, and I'll get you set up!  



Follow me on Pinterest too!

Thursday, June 23, 2011

Kindergarten Graduation

Here is the Kindergarten Graduation video slideshow I created using animoto.com.  This is my second year doing a video slideshow for graduation.  I really like how it turned out this year!  I added video clips of the students saying what they liked about kindergarten.  Their voices are a little quiet on some, so I added text before each clip so everyone will know what they are saying.  It was a hit at graduation on Tuesday!  


This was my last graduation as I am moving to a new district in the fall and will be teaching 2nd grade.  I am filled with so many emotions right now...happy, sad, excited, and nervous!  


If you have never created a video with animoto, you definitely should try it out!







Friday, June 10, 2011

Flag Day

Flag Day is June 14th.  To get ready to celebrate we begin by creating our own flags!  This is a one of my favorite projects we do each year.  

I give each student a piece of red, white or blue paper to start.  I then have squares, strips of paper and stars (small, medium, and large) at each table in red, white, and blue for them to create a flag!  Here are a few photos of the students creating the flags.  



Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Graduation

Our Kindergarten Graduation is less than a month away!  I can't believe how fast the year went!  I am looking for a new speech/poem to read at Graduation.  I always like to change it up a little each year :)  This is the letter I read to the parents/families last year.  I found it online last year, author unknown.  Does anyone have any suggestions?

Dear Parents,

We give you back your child, the same child you confidently entrusted to our care last fall. We give him back pounds heavier, inches taller, months wiser, more responsible, and more mature then he was then.

Although he would have attained his growth in spite of us, it has been my pleasure and privilege to watch his personality unfold day by day and marvel at this splendid miracle of development.

I give him back reluctantly, for having spent ten months together in the narrow confines of a crowded classroom, we have grown close, have become a part of each other, and we shall always retain a little of each other.

We have lived, loved, laughed, played, studied, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. We wish it could go on indefinitely, but give him back we must. Take care of him, for he is precious.

Remember that we shall always be interested in your child and his destiny, wherever he goes, whatever he does, whoever he becomes. His joys and sorrows we will always be happy to share.  We shall always be his friend.

Love,
Your Kindergarten Teachers

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Beat the Test

To inspire our students to do their best on the state ELA and Math tests, we had a Beat the Test Assembly.  We had a guest speaker along with numerous student acts to motivate the students to approach the tests with confidence after all their hard work preparing!  The concluding act was the teachers performing a dance to Beat It!  Check it out!  And yes, that is us singing too! 

Dynamite Dancers

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Lesson Plan Template

Always First Grade posted about her lesson plan template.  She would like to try something new!  I thought I would share mine also!  The template is from the Kindergarten teacher that I did my student teaching with.  I really liked it so I have used it since I started!  It is divided into 2 pages by morning and afternoon.  What do you use?

Lesson Template Morning 

Lesson Template Afternoon 

Friday, April 22, 2011

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Mother's Day Silhouettes

Every year for Mother's Day it has been our tradition to make a silhouette of each student to give to his/her mother.  A couple of years ago, a teacher on my team came up with an easy way to do them!  No more using the projector and having the student sit still while you trace around his/her head! 

Now all we do, is have the student stand in front of a wall/easel/Promethean board, and quickly snap his/her profile with a digital camera!  Check it to make sure it looks good, then print it, cut it on black paper and mount on a white piece of paper!  So simple!

We also have the students make something to go along with the silhouette since it is mostly teacher created.  The moms LOVE them!  I can't imagine not doing them!  I'm not from the area that I teach in, but my mom still has my Kindergarten silhouette!

Have you checked out Andrea's post at Stepping Into First Grade?  She has a really cute flower craft to make for mom!

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Weekly Newsletter

Ms. S from The Brand New Pencil is hosting a newsletter linky party so I thought I would join too!  

I send home my newsletter every Tuesday.  Our school has what we call "Communication Envelopes" that go home each Tuesday with information from the school and community.  In my newsletter I include what we are learning for the week, any important reminders for parents, and any special activities that are happening.  

I also send home my monthly class calendar, homework calendar and family project at the beginning of each month.  My team and I take turns creating the monthly homework calendars.  You can find the calenders and family projects on our school webpage.  My class calendar is under my name (Mrs. Giese).



Giveaway from Learning with Mrs. Parker

Learning with Mrs. Parker teamed up with Hadar from Outfitted and Inspired and is having a giveaway in honor of having 200 followers!!!  Head on over and check it out!!

Monday, April 18, 2011

Welcome to my blog!

I have been following so many great teacher blogs since Christmas break and now I am excited to jump into the blogging world with my very own blog!  I am very excited in this new endeavor and I'm sorry if it takes me a little while to get going.  I love teaching kindergarten and can't wait to share some ideas with you!