This is the face of a girl being brave.

This is the face of a girl who is scared of crabs.

It is the face of a girl who 
decided that she was not going to let her fears
get in the way of what she wanted to do.
One of the things on my summer bucket list was to make a fairy garden.  (I made fairy small world/sensory bins at school - but never a fairy garden for my garden fairies.)

Check!

I had a barrel ready and waiting.  Just one clematis climbing the fence and providing a lovely backdrop for fairy frolics.

Mo Willems does it again

(The man is brilliant.)

A new book. 

Not Pigeon. Not Piggie and Elephant.  Not Knuffle Bunny.

A wily fox, a plump goose and baby goslings. 


That Is Not a Good Idea
creative genius: Mo Willems
published by Balzer + Bray 
April 23, 2013
ages  4 - 8

summary
Inspired by the evil villains and innocent damsels of silent movies, Willems tells the tale of a hungry fox who invites a plump goose to dinner.  - book description from Amazon.com
Along with Picasso, I believe that all my kids are artists.  

While I would LOVE to have a studio for them filled with natural light, inspiring art, quality art materials and an atelierista to inspire and support them,  we have a regular classroom, standard art supplies and me.  

I dreaded Friday afternoon art when I was at school; I always felt so totally unartistic and uncreative.  Nothing looked the way that it "should".

I  don't want my students to see themselves that way.  I want they to see themselves as artists.  

So, one of my tasks is to provide inspiration and materials.

Sometimes that rolls into one.


Time for a little Public Service Announcement.

Inspired by Grade ONEderful's Poetry Slam

and the amazing, wonderful, blue sky, rarely a cloud weather we are enjoying. 


Remember to 
slip
slop
slap
seek 
and slide

slip on a shirt
slop on some sunscreen
slap on a hat 
(with a brim that covers your face, neck and ears)
seek shade
slide on sunglasses

The Aussies have have had it figured out for a while. 

Sid the Seagull has  a good-on-ya-mate jingle to help us remember to be safe in the sun.

                                             

Now the Poetry Slam.

On the increasingly rare occasion that we have a sunscreen June
we read this poem together.

I only had it on chart paper for group reading.
So, I made some individual reading versions. 

black and white with pictures
colour with pictures
all words

Lots of white space and simple illustrations, so the kids can focus on the words.
Double spaces between words making it easier to track for beginning readers.
Friendly, easy to read font. 

Click on which ever version your heart fancies for a free download.




happy summer!









 
chatper 7: I Thought I Knew How to Teach Reading - but Whoa!

I was really hoping that this chapter would give me the magic ticket to teach reading. 

A list of to dos: turn three times clockwise under a silver moon, clap 3 syllable words twice a week, read a Dr Seuss book once a month,  use deliciously descriptive language, always keep the printing pencils sharp, sprinkle with fairy dust - and ta da - they read!

Well, yes.  And no.

Johnson and Keier definitely have a list of things to do.  

But the ta da - how they fit everything together to make meaning from lines on a page -  moment for each child is different - and that is where teaching is an art.

expectations
I love what they said about expectations. High expectations.  Of myself as a teacher, and of my students' learning. (p. 110)
• Expect that the lowest-achieving students can learn to read and write. 
• Support children as they learn how to learn
• Believe that you are the one who will teach this child to read and write. 

If I don't expect it, it is very unlikely to happen.  

I need to define my expectation. 

I expect that all my students will enjoy looking at books for pleasure and for information.  I expect that  all my students will look forward to and enjoy story time.  I expect that all my students will develop the skills and strategies necessary to become fluent and comprehending readers.  

Then it becomes an intention.  Teaching with intention is powerful.   
Love this book.
names 
I loved all the ideas using the kids' names to help them learn to read.  On a post that Kimberly wrote about her classroom decor, a reader commented that names are the first gift that a parent gives their child.  Their name is usually the first word that a child learns to recognize.  Let's use that natural connection to build reader confidence and connection to print. 

One of the songs that we sing (phonemic awareness) at the beginning of the year is Willoughby Walloby Woo.  It's fun, it uses the kids' names, and teaches rhyming.   

I made a class book page to go with the song.  The plan is to take a picture of each child lying on their stomach with an-elephant-is-sitting-on-me face.  Click on the elephant to download a copy. 

no pain
Last week I learned about physical literacy at a kindergarten summer institute.  One of the things the instructor kept reiterating was "no pain, no pain".  If kids learn to flinch when a ball is coming their way, they will likely never unlearn it. 

The same is true for reading.  

Johnson and Keier write: Make learning to read easy. (p. 129)

They quote Frank Smith: The main thing we learn when we struggle to learn is that learning is a struggle. (p. 129) 

I guess that is when we use our magic fairy dust.  The art of teaching. 



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I got two letters in the mail yesterday.

My name on the front, stamps: Old School Mail.




And not just any mail.


Letters from 2 fabulous 5 year old boys.




A crab to remember the fun that we had on Beach Day.  This friend is an expert beach explorer.  On one of our beach trips, he was organizing a group of older children getting crabs out of water between 2 big rocks.  I will always remember his happy confidence exploring crabs, and his curiosity about science stuff- "you do remember that I like to read non-fiction, don't you Ms Sandi?" and the fabulous creations that he made with bits and pieces that he found in the classroom.  


A love letter.  My friend hopes I am having a good summer and will see me soon.  I love him too. 


************
At the end of the school year, I send a note home with my address and the promise that if the kid lets write me a letter, I will send one back.

A real reason to write.


Now that I have finished bragging about getting TWO letters from TWO handsome young men (who each own a bit of my heart), I need to get letter writing.



#Kinderblog has a summer blogging challenge.  
Each week a different word to inspire a post.
Last week the word was brag.



Pete has his school shoes on and he's heading to school.

This time he's not walking.


No siree.


No strawberries.  No blueberries.  No puddles.

Not that that would faze him.


This time he has wheels.

Those wheels go round and round.


And it's all good.


Pete drives the school bus; the horn goes toot-toot-toot, the wipers go swish-swish-swish, the engine goes zoom-zoom-zoom, the door goes open-and-shut and the cats shout let's-rock-out.  

It's the wheels on the bus with a bit of a Pete twist.  And in a Pete-zen sort of way, the journey is more important than the destination.  Don't know where that bus is going, it just keeps driving.  

Pete's Wheels on the Bus joins other versions of the classic song. 


My kindergarten kidlets know and love Raffi's version (who doesn't love Raffi?), the Maryann Kovalski version (bottom left corner - she has illustrated a number of well known songs - always adding a second story through the illustrations).  Their favourite is The Seals on the Bus.  Making the animal noises is just too much fun!

I will be interested to see how Pete and his wheels stack up to these established favourites. 

After we read Pete and some other wheels on the bus books, it will be time for a school bus activity. 

Perfect for the beginning of the school year. 

Scissor use, using glue sticks, spatial awareness, following directions - lots to assess -  and practice.


We start with 2 yellow rectangles 3"x4" and  1.5"x2", and 2 black squares 1.5" square.

Cutting "curvy corners" and gluing - makes a school bus.

A school bus  - all ready for an adaptation of the traditional song. Click on the graphic to download a copy for yourself. 


The kidlets either draw a picture of themselves to peek out the bus window, or we we use a photograph.  

Some name printing practice.  

Add Pete's page at the end.  Click the graphic to download a copy. 


A class book for some class reading - or singing!

Pete, would say it's all good.  He just keeps driving along, singing his (new) song. 




                                                                                   

            

I believe that every one of my kidlets is an artist.
I believe that they are creators - that their process is more important than the final product.  
I believe that we can all learn about art from the Masters. 

Sometimes we create in the style of some pretty well known artists.


Last fall, when the sunflowers were tall and glorious, we painted sunflowers like Mr. Van Gogh.  In honour of Throwback Thursday - Sunflowers: Mr Van Gogh Style.



****************** originally posted September 4, 2012****************** 

Last week I had my last-year's-kindergarten-class back for a week until new class lists were settled.

Kids who are already friends with some artists - Mr. Van Gogh, Mr. Picasso, (met him twice)  Mr. Kandinsky and Miss O'Keeffe.  

Kids who have already heard about Mr. Van Gogh painting sunflowers.

Kids who create amazing art work.


So, we painted our own class version of Mr. Van Gogh's Sunflowers.


We looked at Mr. Van Gogh's painting of sunflowers as well as some real sunflowers.




I was hoping to read the kidlets the book Camille and the Sunflowers by Laurence Arnholt but was not organized enough to order it from the library in time.  



But that all worked out, since it forced me to look online, where I found a fabulous ipad app  - Van Gogh and the Sunflowers.  Fun Educational Apps calls Van Gogh and the Sunflowers "a chef d'oeuvre that will engage, educate and entertain your kids to discover world famous painter Van Gogh."  I concur; the graphics were beautiful and engaging (we viewed as a class through apple tv), the games were fun but did not distract from the essential message and tone of the story, and the kidlets had fun exploring further on the ipads. 



Painting time - each child was asked to paint one flower to add to the vase.  There were trays of a couple shades of  yellow, an orange-y colour and brown paint.  No brushes, no fingers - small sponges and q-tips.  

Mr. Van Gogh's painting and a vase of sunflowers was available for the kidlets to study and be inspired by. (Flowers currently a little bedraggled - I took the picture a few days after we painted.)



And inspired they were.  I was so delighted how each child really studied the flower that they chose to paint.  They thoughtfully chose which colour paint to use and how to paint their flower.  


Our Mr. Van Gogh sunflowers are amazing.  I love the individuality in each flower.  (Two of the kidlets looked at our copy of Mr. Van Gogh's painting and decided to paint "round" flowers like he did - fabulous!)  I love that the whole is so much more than the sum of its parts.  I love the way that creating makes us look at our world.


I just burst with pride when I stand back and let the marvel of my little kidlets sink in.  Not because I have anything to do with it, but because i got to spend a year of growing with them. 

Now it is time for those little fledglings to leave my nest and move on to their grade one lives.  And I will welcome my new little marvels with an open heart. 





            

I got an email that made me grin from ear to ear a couple days ago.

It was from my most recent student teacher.  A student teacher, who, over the months that she spent with us in kindergarten, really got the value of play.  And learning through play.


She became quite entranced with our sensory bins.  Every day, before she went home, she would make sure that they looked fabulously enticing for the kidlets to play with when they came in in the morning. Each day she would set up  the bin differently than the day before.  The kids loved the bins she got ready for them.  And they loved her.


When the practicum (sadly) came to an end, I knew the prefect we-love-you gift.  As always, the traditional book that we love signed by all the kids - and a starter kit for a sensory bin.  I was hoping that it would be the nudge to make her own bins.


The email was to tell me that she and her mom bought some more bits and pieces and had a wonderful time putting together a jungle bin.




Doesn't that make you want to go and find out what is in the bin?

Check out what is hiding under the leaves?


See what animals are lurking in corners and behind rocks.
  

I think she did a fabulous job with this bin.  

The news got better.  Student teachers at her university have to do an inquiry project.  She is doing her's on the value of sensory play.  

Woot!




            

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