Leaving the Shadows of Kindergarten Behind

Mrs. Leverett found this fabulous idea online. She used her projector to trace the kids' silhouette onto black butcher paper using a white crayon. I absolutely love it!!!!  Sorry for the funny pictures, I used panorama to get it all in & it distorted some of it. But you get the idea. :) Going to miss these little ones next year!

Kindergarten Math Contest

Friday we separated the two kindergarten classes into two groups and they faced off against each other one on one to determine who is the best & the fastest in math skills! We had six categories: shapes, calendar, addition, subtraction, counting, and number recognition. It was INTENSE!!! Several students won more than one category. They got these adorable little trophies. It was so much fun. ABSOLUTELY amazing to see how strong they are in math skills!

This little girl absolutely blew my mind with the way she was able to count on. This is a hard skill to get kindergarteners to fully understand but she has mastered it!! She dominated addition and subtraction. Way to go!!!

Counting champ!

She won shapes and numbers!

Calendar Champ- he has beautiful handwriting & used his tools to spell Saturday correctly. Way to go!!!!

So proud of our kindergarteners!

Ipad Addition & Space Men

He is a whiz at this! Didn't even ask directions!

Here he is teaching another student.

I use a VGA cable to attach the Ipad to the projector. So unfortunately the smartboard is not functional with this but at least the partner who is waiting their turn can watch. Plus the other groups watch and learn and I only have to give directions once. :)

Here are our space men! We use these during writing to make us more conscious of good spacing in writiing.

I just used old clothespins (thank you again Carolyn Bloodworth!!!) and taped a space man found online to them. The gap at the bottom and the space man serve as a visual reminder to put good spaces. After a few minutes they realize they don't actually have to lay their space man on their paper to make spaces but develop the habit throughout the assignment. These are available to them at all times & they LOVE them! :) 

 Here is one of my little guys using his space man to make wonderful spaces when writing a list from Lori Rosenberg's writing menu. We read the book Cowboys and he is writing a list of things cowboys wear to protect them such as a hat to keep out rain & sun, a scarf to keep out dust, chaps to protect their legs, boots to protect their feet, and things they use such as a lasso for roping cows & a canteen for water. He did a great job!

Field Trip!

We went to the Museum of Texas Tech and the Planetarium today. Then we had pizza at Legacy Play Village. We had a lot of fun & a lot of sleepy kiddos on the way home! Thank you so much for all of our parents that came along. I know that makes a field trip so much more special for them to have a parent there. :) Plus we just have the best parents involved ever! They do everything for us without us even asking. AMAZING! Also thank you to Nancy, I swiped some of your FB pictures. :) 

HOW AWESOME IS THIS???? I THINK I LOVED IT AS MUCH AS THE KIDS DID!

AWESOME SPINNING THING!!