Counting Sounds in Words

The ability to break up a word into individual sounds can be challenging at first for many kindergarteners.  Example: Tell me all the sounds you hear in the word tag. The student should respond by saying each individual sound or phoneme /t/- /a/-/g/  This skill is very important as students begin to learn to write using inventive spelling. Many school systems use DIBELS, and there is a phonemic segmentation section students are asked to do in the Winter and Spring. I have developed this fun activity to help students count phonemes as they say words slowly and listen for sounds. Students will begin to notice that not all words have the same amount of letters as there are sounds. An example of this would be the word egg. It has three letters but only two sounds. This activity is great to do during RTI or Literacy Center Time. http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Circus-Peanuts-Count-the-Phonemes-or-Sounds-in-Words

or  http://www.teachersnotebook.com/shop/123kteach

I Can Write a Sentence.

Kindergarteners can write sentences.

     My students are exposed to sentence writing at the beginning of the year. Students quickly learn through lots of modeling  how sentences are written. The children do their best with inventive spelling, and their knowledge of the high frequency words introduced. As the school year progresses, students learn to write sentences using an uppercase letter, use finger spaces between words, use correct ending marks and use their very best handwriting. I display these "I can" posters in my classroom above their best work. You can find this product at my TPT store. You will receive the "I can" statements and writing paper with a check box list for students to self edit their work. This packet includes two different types of paper for differentiated instruction. The first paper is just one sided with a check box list for self editing. The second set of papers run off two sided for more advanced writers with the check box list on the back.
      By the spring, most of my students are proudly writing several sentences about a given topic. It is quite amazing to see the transformation the students make from the beginning of the year. Most students go from writing only a string of letters at their first attempts of writing a sentence at the beginning of the year to writing stories at the end of the year. When I show students their writing samples from the beginning of the year, they are in shock and can't believe that they used to write like that. 
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/I-can-statements-Write-a-sentence-and-writing-paper


http://www.teachersnotebook.com/product/123kteach/i-can-statements-write-a-sentence

Bunny Hop Number Line

Students Enjoying the Bunny Hop Number Line Activity

My students loved hopping along on the bunny line as they solved addition and subtraction problems. Simply place the bunnies on the floor for students to hop to the right to solve addition problems or hop to the left to solve subtraction problems. This was a great gross motor activity to do prior to working at the tables to complete the worksheets. Students use the number lines on the sheets next to each simple addition and subtraction sentence to solve problems.  You can find this activity at my TPT store. You will receive four addition and four subtraction worksheets in this package, as well as two mixed operation worksheets. You will also receive bunny cards 0-20 for you to place on the floor. This activity was my best seller for the month of March.  I decided to also make a Frog Hop Number Line Addition and Subtraction to add to my store.  Kids really do become motivated anytime you can get them moving while learning something new.
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Bunny-Hop-Number-Line-Addition-Subtraction

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Number-Line-Addition-Subtraction-Frog-Hop-KOA2

Classroom Management

Stop Signs/Classroom Management  I use these cute little stop signs in my classroom and I love them. I like the idea of not having to use my words and keep on teaching while giving the students gentle reminders to stop what they are doing and make a better choice.  

     Stop what your doing, walk over to a child instead of yelling across the room. I found this on Pinterest. Best of all, you can print these out for free just by following the link above. 

Sending thoughts and prayers to the city of Boston

     Love will eventually conquer hate. My thoughts and prayers go out to Boston, the city we all love, and especially to the victims and families who have been affected by this senseless act.
     Life is a gift. Please take a moment to appreciate all that you have.

About Me

     Thank you for visiting my blog. I am excited to be here. I have been teaching for 20 years and I find it so rewarding. I love what I do and want to pass on all that I have learned over the years to fellow teachers and students.

     I have a wonderful husband who supports me and understands the many hours I put into my classroom. He is a physical education teacher who spends many hours coaching and devoting his time to helping me raise our three handsome boys. My oldest son just graduated from college as a computer engineer. I am so proud of him and thrilled that he found a job in his field.  I have one son who is now a freshman in college. My youngest son is a junior in high school who plans on going to college. We will be faced with a lot of bills, but a college education is well worth it in bringing my boys success in life. All three of my boys love playing sports, and we spend lots of time attending their games. They are quite athletic and I just love watching them play. We are their biggest fans.   

    This is my 11th year of teaching kindergarten for the Fairhaven Public Schools in Massachusetts. I am fortunate to work with a fabulous staff. Kindergarten marks an important milestone in a child's life. I am proud of being part of that journey as I help navigate students into a lifelong commitment of learning.

     My classroom is a fun-filled, very busy learning atmosphere loaded with many hands on activities. I like to see my students engaged in high quality learning experiences that they are excited about. My favorite part of the day is during Literacy Center Time. During this time, the students have the opportunity to work in small groups and get plenty of practice of all the skills taught. I pride myself on the fact that most of my students leave kindergarten with the ability to read books independently and write a few sentences about a given topic using inventive spelling. The most rewarding thing ever is watching the students progress throughout the year and the HUGE smiles on their faces makes it all worthwhile.

     Teaching kindergarten is a rewarding experience. I may not have any official honors, but I feel that each day I am blessed with several sparkling moments as I watch the students continue to grow and change. It is truly an honor to be a teacher and watch the amazing progress students achieve. I just discovered TPT last year, and I am in awe of all the fabulous activities teachers are willing to share. I am just getting started with sharing some of my ideas and activities with others on TPT.