Nonstandard Measurement

As promised, here is one of the ideas from the Ohio Kindergarten Conference I attended last week.  Kim Adsit suggested using old bulletin board border as a tool for nonstandard measurement.  To share this idea with our staff, I purchased two packs of bulletin board border at the Dollar Tree to give everyone a piece to try it out.  Children use the picture on the border to measure objects around the room.  One of the border packs I purchased has cupcakes around it; the other has smiley faces.  I created a recording sheet for these border packs.  You can get your copy of the recording sheets by clicking on the images below.

TpT Sale

Teachers Pay Teachers (TpT) is having a sale to celebrate Leap Year on Wednesday.  Many stores are featuring their products at 20% off.  You can also use the code L2P9Y to get an additional 10% off your purchase.  Click here to visit my new store.  Happy shopping!

Ohio Kindergarten Conference

I had the opportunity to attend the Ohio Kindergarten Conference today.  Since I started my blog stalking following this summer, I have learned so much.  I asked to attend the conference today to see Kim Adsit and was not disappointed.  I feverishly took notes as there were many great ideas shared.  I purchased some new leveled books for my students' book bags and some different types of dice that I'm sure my students will be thrilled with on Monday.  I also made a stop at Target inspired by the "Dollar Store Diva" session I attended.  Looking forward to trying out my new ideas (pictures to come)!

Valentine's Day

Today was our Valentine's Day Party.  Our district had an early dismissal today, so we took advantage of the short day and had our party today. 

We kicked off our celebration with some fruit kabobs for breakfast.  Kabobs were made with mini skewers each containing 2 banana slices, 2 strawberry slices and a heart-shaped marshmallow on top.  The kids loved them!

Our boxes were made using cereal boxes covered with bulletin board paper.  Decorations were foam shapes and stickers from the Target dollar bin collected over the past couple years.  I used address labels to put each child's name on his/her box.

I had a wonderful parent who planned our party. The photos below show some of her creative activities!

 Children rubbed the balloon on their heads to create static then picked up tissue paper hearts that were scattered on the carpet.  They also used a chopstick to keep their balloon up in the air.

Using materials donated by a parent from the Target dollar bin, students created foam hearts at one station.  

I think this was a favorite activity.  Pans of dish soap, glycerin and water were on the table covered with trash bags.  Students had 5-6 coffee stirrers each.  They blew bubbles by blowing through the coffee stirrers dipped in the solution to create "bubble monsters" by starting close to the table and trying to expand their monster outward and upward.  They LOVED it!

My New Blog!

I just returned from my first eTech conference (Ohio Technology Conference). It was a great experience both as a presenter and as a participant in two days worth of technology sessions.  I presented a session to share my experiences in blogging with my students.  I decided that if my kindergarten students could blog, than I could too!