Back to School Event!

Hey blog friends! Hop on over to Miss Lovie's Back to School Event today! 

 

I'm guest blogging and you will want to go and grab tons (okay 4) apple themed freebies! 

Sneak preview: Adorable apple glasses. 

867-5309 ininine

Technically, I don't have any parents with that specific phone number. But that post title is a lot more exciting than "Parent Contact Log". Definitely. 

I have gone back and forth every year with exactly how I want to track my contact with parents. Last year I had an Excel spreadsheet with everyone listed. Problem? I was never right there in that document when I needed to be. So this year I'm trying the old dinosaur method - you know, paper and pencil? Just kidding, just kidding. 

I tried to make it as easy as possible - so this is what I came up with. I think keeping track of these types of items is all about what you are comfortable with - so if you like paper/pencil go with it. If you'd rather use a digital format, go for it! Again -whatever suits you. :) 

This year - this is what suits me...

I do so much on the computer that going back to paper seems a little strange, but I think it will be helpful to have the document accessible anywhere - I can take the binder, write myself a little note, whatever. 

 

First page includes pertinent student information and then a few spots to document parent contact.

2nd page and any page after is for more documentation! I put extra copies of the 2nd page in the back of the binder - that way they are on hand and ready to go when I need them!

Info Card close-up:

Contact documentation close-up:

For the type, I plan on circling whether it was phone, email, paper or in person (the little icons). The reason type is the same - circling/highlighting/grabbing whatever is handy and marking it! For the outcome, I am going to write down a little more information about what the reason was and the outcome. 

For example: 

September 4     Phone     Academic     Johnny knows all of his letters - talked to mom!

Want a copy of the binder cover? Click the picture below!
Thanks to Sassy Designs for the cute background paper!

Want a copy of the actual form? Click the picture below!

Hopefully this helps me this year! What do you do to document parent contact? Do you have to? 

Leave me some comment love and let me know!

Back to School Event

I am lucky to have a super amazing awesome supportive kind professional team. My teammates are truly incredible people - and I love that I get to work with them.

One of my fabulous teammates is Allie - aka Miss Lovie. If you haven't checked out her blog, please do so! She is major crafty - and has great projects and tutorials. Like this rocking chair redo...

Guess bloggers are participating in her back to school event - lots of craftivities and ideas!

Check it out!

I'll be guest blogging too - look for my post next week!

Nice straight line...on the 3rd day?!?

We are 3 days in - and my kiddos have done an awesome job! One thing we weren't so awesome at over the first two days? Lining up and staying in line. Mostly staying in line. I had about 6 lines on day 1 because my kiddos didn't understand the concept of a line. Not their fault - I just needed to teach and show them what it looked like!

Enter our trusted animal friends.

 I have lots of stuffed animals and puppets - and use them whenever I can. 

We used a turtle puppet the first day - and said our names to the turtle. It's amazing what kids will do when a stuffed animal or puppet is involved. 

Side note - I get a lot of my stuffed animals and puppets from the thrift store - throw them in the wash before taking to school and you're good to go! Super cheap way to build your collection. :)

I had students pick out animal friends and we put them on the carpet. We decided the animals weren't in line - so we needed to fix it! 

So we did. Sort of.

My kiddos could easily see that the Little Red Hen wasn't in line and that the tiger was going to follow her. 

So we fixed it. We talked about not having any spaces in line and staying together as a group. 

We also discussed what happens when animals don't watch the line. 

Animals run into each other! The kids thought this was hilarious by the way. 

So we fixed it. Again. :)

This visual lesson worked perfect for my kiddos - and each time we were in line I had something to reference that they could understand - whoohoo! They love getting in line just like our animal friends do! Oh the things we do as Kinder teachers. :)

What do you do to get your kinder kiddos in a nice line?

Room Reveal!

2 days in + 18 Kinderkiddos = 1 tired teacher! We've had 2 great days - and I am looking forward to using so many of the awesome lessons and projects I've seen over the summer on my current (and probably lifelong) obsession, Pinterest! :)

Over the last 2 weeks I don't even want to know how many hours I've spent in the classroom getting it ready (anyone else spend way tooooo much time in your classroom?!?).  I prefer to think about how happy it makes me to step into my room -makes it all worth it.

My theme=non-existent. If anything, I have a primary colors theme - and use the yellow/red/blue/green them throughout!

Do you have a favorite bulletin board border? I do. I seriously love this button border. My awesome Momma worked up the cute little button nametags with Publisher - and I labeled my cubbies and welcome board.

I wasn't done yet - I just had to carry it on - and made tags for the lockers too. Woot!

 1st day frame - had to have one after seeing them all over Pinterest!

 Pocket charts for "How we get home" organization. One of my fab teammates suggested using pictures for easy identification and reading. Awesome idea!

 

 Classroom library. Um, I love books. I'd say this is about 1/2 of them...

 Reading corner

 

 Framed book covers of favorite books and read alouds

Ten frames posters of 1-20

 

Amazing color posters for 88 cents from Wally-world (Wal-Mart)

 

Clip chart...hopefully we don't have to use much! 

 

Math Corner with math station bins

 

 Math tools

 Extra math storage

 My corner

 Yeah for binders!!!

 Writing table

 Carpet area

Calendar 

 

Word Wall with phonics dance picture cards

 

Guided reading corner (see...told you I love the button border!)

 

Snack and lunch bins - with markers in the container for easy labeling

 

Our bulletin board for this year!

Complete with mini-rulers!

Hope you enjoyed the tour! Check back in a few days for a Parent Contact Log freebie! 

School Year Calendar Freebie :)

Is it possible to have too many calendars? I have my cutesie calendar, my free calendar that I got at school, my desk calendar, my phone calendar...uh too bad I just made another one! My teammates and I use a calendar specifically for our K meetings, morning work, etc. It's what keeps me somewhat sane.

Side note - is that possible as a Kinder teacher?!? Haha.

And the calendar templates in Microsoft Word just don't cut it for me. Enter this year's calendar! I am loving polka dots - so when I found these backgrounds I needed to use them. Immediately. :)

Our kinder kiddos come Monday - so I am in full panic prep mode. We have 18 right now...and am crossing fingers that it stays that way!! How many kiddos do you have?

Grab your copy with a quick click on the pic!

August Math Journals

Starting to feel the pressure y’all! It’s T minus 3 days and counting…well technically that is when staff has to be back. But still. I’m nowhere near ready! All my summer projects, well, are still in the “starting” stage. Ehh. I’ll get it done…like working under pressure. :)

I did manage to get 2 projects done tonight – whoohoo and a gold star for me please. Do you know how hard it is to stay focused on writing appropriate questions for math journals when Breaking Bad is on in the background? Hard.



I made the math journals for August super easy – to build confidence and cover basic skills. The journals address pieces of Common Core Standards K.G.2 and K.G.5.
Click the picture above to grab your copy!

Project 2: This beauty. I’m sure you’ve seen them all over Pinterest – and I love the idea of having these items right at my fingertips.

 

 
I bought a school scrap paper kit at Michael’s today and went to town on my new purchase! I love the labels on the top of the drawers – nice clean look that sits well with my self-diagnosed OCD.

Kristen over at Ladybugs Teacher Files (go if you haven’t already!! Awesome blog/tips/all around site!) posted a free PowerPoint file if you want to put the words on the outside of your drawers. Check out that post here: Ladybugs Teacher Files



Now, I get to go to my second home and fill it all up. Which is currently in a being worked on stage. More pics to come after it’s all finished!