A Peek at My Week - a little late!

Sorry to be late but here is a Peek at my {Nursery Rhyme (Part 1)} Week.   I'm linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten  and Mrs. Laffin's Laughings.
We are learning about nursery rhymes this week and next.  My kids are doing a really nice job in their centers and are blowing me away during our math time.  If you aren't doing Math Work Stations (Debbie Diller's philosophy) then you need to start ASAP!!!!

You can click any of these pictures to get a look at my plans in the PDF from Google Drive.  There are links to the math journals and writing unit.  Sorry to not have other pictures for the activities.  I'll try to share some more this week too!
Today we had an amazing time during whole group math.  We have been talking about number sense and how to represent numbers in multiple ways.  They are really beginning to get the hang of this whole idea.  I am super impressed that we are only 1 quarter of the way in to this school year and they are so far along already! YAY!!!  I'll take some pictures tomorrow to share of the posters that they made.  I was overall VERY pleased with their thinking and how they represented their number.  We will hang these posters in the classroom to reference for the months to come.
Now go check out what everyone else is doing this week!


So, have a great rest of the week. I hope to be back before Friday to share some other ideas from our class!!  Toodles!

A Peek at my Week {10-21-13}

Hi!  I hope you have had a fabulous weekend and are recuperated and ready for you littles tomorrow!  I'm here to share with you my plans for this week.   It's APPLE time!  I love teaching about the life cycle of the apple tree and most importantly....I LOVE MAKING APPLE PIES!!!  The kids absolutely love being able to measure ingredients, mix, wait all day and then finally eat the delicious pies that we made!  The excitement will happen this Friday in our room.   I can't wait!! So here's a peek.  You can click any picture to download the plans from Google Drive.  Be sure to check back throughout the week as I will hopefully post lots of pictures of our apple learning.  

I will also try to get together some freebies this week that I am using in my math stations.  Like the brightlinks station and graphing station.  They are both very simple and were easy to make (no big details) but I know that it's hard to find that time to sit down and do it.   And again, I have included pictures of my students working at the math stations since some of the things I have either created and can't share or I'm not sure where I got them from.  If it's you....please let me know so I can give proper credit.   As for the other main lesson plans, I included the links for the 2 products that I use daily (Math Journals and Writer's Workshop).  Be sure to check them out.  They are amazing!!  So if you see something else that you like in the plans, I'm terribly sorry that I can't share it.   Ok...enough from me...head over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten and check out what everyone else will be doing this week!  Have a wonderful week!!

I'm on Teachers Notebook!!!

Hi friends!  I'm here to introduce you to my store on Teachers Notebook and tell you a little more about the site.  I have only been selling my products on Teachers Pay Teachers and have been very pleased with the progress and response to purchases.  I ventured out to a giveaway that was happening on Teachers Notebook and when I got there I had to create a name.  So why not upload my products and see if any would sell.  

Well, the first night I uploaded my Fall Math Stations and by the morning, I had sold one!!!  So I thought...why not upload other products and see how it goes.   With all of that said, I'm here to tell you that my store is now open and has 3 products (that are also in my TpT store) for sale.  I'd love to begin having some followers on Teachers Notebook as well.  Please check out my store and leave some feedback if you like what you see/purchase!

I also wanted to put a plug in for the extremely talented graphic artists that are selling things on Teachers Notebook.  I was interested to see if it would be the same or similar ones that sell on TpT.  Some of them are, but a lot were new to me.  I was very pleased and have already purchased some clip art to use! 

The font is from Kimberly Geswein.  You can click her name for her direct website or click {HERE} to find this font on Teachers Notebook for personal use.
 So...check out my new store and stay tuned for new products and updates!!  I'll be back tomorrow for a Peek at my {APPLES} Week!

Five for Friday {10-18}

This week was Pumpkin Week!!!  We had Monday off for Columbus Day and Tuesday we went to the pumpkin patch!  Check out the rest in the pictures below!

1.   Here are our pumpkin patch pictures!!  You can't tell here, but it had just rained for several days so it was MUDDY!!!  A tractor got stuck!

 

2.  We are practicing recognizing and spelling our color words.  Here are a few things we did this week.

Sorry for the sideways photo.  I will try to fix that and re-post!

3.  I put up my Math Word Wall!  If you don't have one of these in your classroom - - GET ONE!!!!

This is where I put ONLY math vocabulary words that we are learning about.  I encourage my kids to use these words in their math talk during stations.  This is a great resource for them when writing too!!
4.  Here is what I have settled on for Literacy Stations! Again, sorry for the sideways picture.  I'll try to update!

This is my old school rotation schedule and as they always say, "why re-create the wheel!"  But I really wanted to give the true Literacy Stations a try.  I just couldn't find a way for it to work for me and my thoughts on how I wanted my reading time to go.  Here, each group spends about 15 minutes at each center and when the timer goes off, we rotate.  Usually "Meet with Teacher" is one of the centers.  I will begin my true guided reading group instruction next week!!!

5.  This chart was made this week during our mini-lessons for writing workshop.  I have purchased Mrs. Deedee Wills and Deanna Jump's pack for writer's workshop.  It is amazing!!!  We are on day 8 and I love every day of mini lessons, "try it out" time and share time.  My kids are making some great strides and are really stepping outside of their comfort zone to write!!

 
I hope you had a good week too!  Have over to Doodle Bugs Teaching and link up or just check out everyone else's week!
Happy Weekend!

PDF printing question!!

Hi! I have had this problem in the past and just don't seem to understand what is happening. When I go to print products that are PDF format, the fonts do not always print the correct way. HELP!!! What is happening?? And what can I do to fix it??? Thanks!

Teachers Inspire Teachers Linky

So I just posted my Peek at my Week and how appropriate to then check BlogLovin and find this amazing teacher blogger who has started her first linky party. 

 It is appropriate because my biggest inspiration for beginning this blogging/selling/TpT journey was Mrs. Deedee Wills herself.  I have followed her along with a few other collegues ritually for the past several years.  Since I have bounced between grade levels for so long, I have been disappointed to not be able to use all of her ideas!  But here I am hopefully in kindergarten to stay and am L-O-V-I-N-G her ideas and products!  You can check out her TpT store {HERE}.
Deedee has some amazing ideas to use in the classroom but has also created some fantastic products that I have purchased and gotten for free.  
I have this whole set of math journals.  This is what my kiddos do for their morning work.  Usually, it is enough to keep them busy but not too much to where they don't finish.  They are excited each morning to see what they have to do.  It's on sale until midnight tonight too.  Click the picture to check it out!
I also have this unit and Unit 2 that Deedee Wills has co-authored with Deanna Jump (that's a different post too!)  But I love using this unit with my kids right now.  The lesson plan is practically scripted so there isn't much planning for me.  I only have to look at what materials are needed and be prepared that way.  
She was also very open to giving me advice when I first had this thought of blogging last April.  I have been creating and selling products on TpT for almost a year but didn't start my blog until the following spring.  So to have her input - and her to be so willing to respond to a strangers email - is very rewarding!
I encourage you to not only follow her blog and stores but be sure to check back often for her amazing ideas!!!
A huge thanks to Heather at The Busy Busy Hive for stepping out of her comfort zone and hosting this Linky Party.  I can't wait to see what other teacher bloggers have to share!!!! So hop on over and let's hear it!

Peek at my Week - it's only 3 days!

I'm linking up with Mrs. Wills Kindergarten for a Peek at my Week!

Well, we have tomorrow off for Columbus Day.  Last week, our county had an extended day on Thursday to work on our goal setting for the year so the trade off is having Monday off.  Tuesday the kindergarten classes will go to the pumpkin patch.  I'm so excited!  This is my first time going with a group of kinders!  They are excited and I know will have so much fun.  So take a look at my 3 instructional days for the week below.  You can click the pictures to download the PDF and get to my Fall Math Stations link on TpT.  It's on sale through Tuesday.

And of course, be sure to go to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten to check out all the other plans for the week!

Happy Sunday!

Flash Sale!

My store is included (click the sale picture above to go to my store)!  It's 20% off until Monday!  And you can get an extra 10% off Saturday and Sunday...be sure to enter the code FB100K  - the 00 are both zeros.  
Happy shopping!!!

HELP!!! Literacy Center/Stations Problems

Hi everyone!  I'm really struggling with my reading centers this year.  It has been great trying out the "Literacy Stations" concept where my kids go to 2 centers a day, visit with me and the computer.  They work in partners at their 2 centers but travel as a group of 4 or 5 to the computer and to meet with teacher.  It is great because they work so much quieter!  However, here is my problem.  I can only have 5 in a group because I only have 5 computers in my classroom.    In the past, I have had 4 centers a day and they go to each center 4, 5, or 6 in a group.  This worked great but it can sometimes get loud and without an aide in my room to help manage, it makes it difficult.      How do you do it?!!?!?  Please help me!!!!!    You can leave your comment below or send me an email (shiftingteacherk2 at gmail dot com).    

Peek at my Week {10-7}

I'm linking up with Deedee Wills for a Peek at my Week.  I'm new to the visual lesson plans so bare with me as I attempt to share my ideas! :)

This week we have an extended day on Thursday for professional development.  So the students leave 2 hours early and we have to stay until 6:30.  This is why my plans might look a little bare or not filled in all the way.  

Here are my plans for this week.  I use a lot of things I have made (and don't sell or I don't know where I got them) so I just decided to take pictures of my actual stations (Literacy and Math) so you could see a bit of what the kids do.  I hope this link to Google Drive works.  If not, please let me know.  I do have the links for the couple of TpT products in my plans.  

And speaking of products....Here is my latest.  I have been stuck in a little rut as I am figuring out the best way to do things at my new school and in a new classroom space.  So here are some other math games you could add to your collection.  These have a fall theme.  Please leave me some feedback!  I'd love to hear what you think!!

I'd like to give this product away to 2 of my followers.  Let me know if you'd be able to use it and what you think.  Here are some additional pictures: 

 I'll pick 2 people tomorrow!!  Now it's  your turn...hop over to Mrs. Wills Kindergarten and link up your plans for the week.  Not planned yet?  No biggie! Hop over and see what everyone else is doing!

Here's to a good week!!!