Exit Tickets

We've been doing a lot with FIP (Formative Instructional Practices) in our district.  One of the ideas presented many times during our last PD day was exit tickets.  My students have been self-evaluating all year on different skills/tasks, but I've never actually tried an exit ticket with them.  Back in my third grade days, its been 8 years, I would have used exit tickets in a second, but I didn't really think to try them in kindergarten.

I knew that if I had something visual, I would be more likely to use them.  I purchased some fun library pockets, numbered them, and passed them off to my student teacher to create a display.

Today we tried them with author's purpose.  Students got a small sheet of paper (made with a 2x4 shipping label template then cut on the paper cutter) marked with an E (to entertain), I (to inform) and a P (persuade).  My student teacher read a story and after discussion features of the text, students had to complete the exit ticket by circling the author's purpose for the story before going to their centers.  After completing the exit ticket, each student put it in his/her library pocket.  I put a little line on the exit ticket for them to write the number in case they put it in the wrong pocket.  This is the first time they have been assigned a number, but if you already use the numbering system in your room, this could easily be left off.

While students do not yet have the author's purpose concept down, they seem to really want the purpose to be "to persuade", they did an awesome job with the exit tickets.  I loved the opportunity for them to show what they know in an informal way.

Do you use exit tickets in your room?  How do they work for you?

Wednesday WOW {February 19}

I'm linking up with Curious Firsties for Wednesday WOW.

I was watching some of my kiddos read into the iPad tonight.  We've been doing this every two weeks for since before Winter Break.  I love that I can watch the kiddos and really focus on them (from the comfort of my house) instead of trying to listen to them, take notes and monitor 22 other kids.

I was floored by some of my kids tonight!  They use strategies when they are with me, and I know they know many things to try, but I was in awe of what they could do independently.  When they read to the iPad, it is not a cold read.  These are the books they have in their independent book bags.

I have what I call "the great divide" in my room.  Those who are well above where our curriculum thinks kids should be reading at this point, those who are "on level" and those who are below the expectations.  My "above" kids blew me away.  Reading for meaning, self-correcting for visual and meaning, and some awesome expression.

I can't wait to share my excitement with them tomorrow!  Only half my class read today, so I'm looking forward listening to the other half tomorrow night.

Will You Be My Valentine?

We survived our Valentine's Day (which if you visited yesterday, you know came immediately after the 100th day). This girl is tuckered out; no more parties for a while!

We went pretty low-key for the Valentine's Day party as well.  There were 4 stations: snack (cookie to decorate and juice/milk), craft, table games, and floor game.

Not good unless loaded with sprinkles :)

I gave them a variety of sizes of hearts and basically let them have at it!

Suck a marshmallow up using a straw and transfer it from the plate to the cup.  They also stacked conversation hearts to see how tall of a tower they could make.  The tallest stack was 16 hearts high.

There were foam cupcake shapes on the floor in a circle.  Students walked around the carpet stepping on the cupcakes while the music played.  When the music stopped, they had to pick up the cupcake they were standing on and read the sight word.  They thought this game was awesome and played for 20 minutes!

I consider the party a success since no one said "I'm bored" or my personal favorite "When is the party?" I'm off to warmer weather for the weekend!  Have a great weekend!

Celebrating 100 Days!

We made it (well, almost...our building decided to celebrate today because we didn't want to change it anymore after all the snow day craziness!).  Are your kiddos crazy?!?  This week, our first full one since winter break, has been difficult for many classrooms in our building of Pre-K and Kinders.  The kiddos were quite pumped today that it was the 100th day.  They were invited to dress like they were 100.  Not many took us up on the idea, but glasses on a chain and pearls were popular.

We had a relatively low-key day with a few activities this afternoon.  Students went to 3 stations: building with 100 cups, headbands/roll to 100, and a 100 snack.  It was great to see their enthusiasm for these activities and fun to see their creations.  They sure have grown since we started 100 (99) days ago!

Tomorrow is our Valentine's Day party and an early dismissal for PD in the afternoon, off Monday for Presidents Day, then hopefully some "normal" weeks!

Have you celebrated the 100th day?  I'm always on the lookout for new ideas for next year!  

Wednesday WOW {Pottery Fun}

I'm linking up with the Curious Firsties for Wednesday WOW.

Last night, my class had the opportunity to meet me at Hot Pots, a paint your own pottery studio.  This activity was funded through DonorsChoose.org.  Families were invited to join me for an evening of fun and creativity.

We painted these cuties!

Each student had the opportunity to paint one of the little guys above.  We finished a unit on penguins about 6 weeks ago, and the kids were excited to share the penguin facts they know with the staff at Hot Pots.  They did not paint their penguins to look like real penguins!  These were super cute, and the kids loved them because they come with a tealight, so they are a little night light.  The penguins had to stay so they can be glazed and fired, but they'll be ready to be picked up in about a week.  

It was great to see the kids chat with each other and have fun outside of school.  Their parents also had the opportunity to talk.  Fresh popped popcorn was provided by the studio, and I brought juice boxes for students.  

It was a great night!

Making Use of Snow Days {Freebie Included!}

This is snow day number three in a row.  I was kind of planning to be off today as the extended forecast has looked cold for today since it came out.  Friday and Monday were surprising.  Tomorrow is a teacher work day, so when all is said and done, my students will have missed 4 school days (plus a weekend) in a row.  Thursday will be difficult...

I have been trying to be productive on these days off.  I'm currently listening to the dryer working on my towels (sheets are up next).  I've booked my flight to Vegas for I Teach K! (super excited about that one) and the hotel.  Today is my dad's birthday so when laundry is done, a cake will be going into the oven.  I also did a little bit of creating. The Target Dollar Spot is my inspiration for this little creation to build some fact fluency.

I picked up some of these mailboxes.  My Dollar Spot didn't have enough of these little plastic guys, so I'm sending my teammates on a mission to the Target near them.

You could also use these mailboxes, also found in the Dollar Spot.  I created a center last year (click to read post about a literacy activity) using these, and kind of wanted the plastic ones so my students wouldn't mix the boxes at different centers.

You can use these mailboxes or any other container you desire to have students sort the envelopes in the packet by math fact. You need 6 containers (0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5), one for each answer.

You can also find another little math creation for Valentine's Day here. This covers sorting, graphing, measurement, addition and greater than/less than.  While you're there, check out my store!

What do you do to engage your kiddos at centers?

Get the Brain Going

I'm linking up with Brenda at Primary Inspired for Movies to Get Brains Going.  I saw the post in my BlogLovin' account a few days ago and knew I would want to take time to read all about it.  I'm playing catch up today and thought I'd share some of my kiddos' favorites.

1.  My kiddos L-O-V-E HeidiSongs. "Miss Heidi" is seriously the best thing since sliced bread in my room.  We sing her sight word songs daily.  We used the number and shape songs until the majority of us knew them, and we pull pieces and parts from her math DVD as we learn new skills.  I own the majority of her DVDs and my kids can't get enough of them on the SMARTboard.  If you've never used her songs, here is a YouTube link to sample.  You might want to watch the cuties below sing the "love song". This was my class last year.

2.  Counting to 100:  This is the song we sing daily to help us count to 100. As we get to each group of 10, we put 1 finger up.  For example: when we get to 10, 1 finger goes up; 20, 2 fingers go up, etc.  This really helps with the confusion of what comes after 29, 39, etc.

3.  Have you used Keepvid.com ?  You can copy and paste a YouTube link into the box and download the video on your desktop.  Very helpful on those days when the internet is down (our wifi has issues at times).


Now that your students' brains are activated, they will be ready to work!  Christina over at Sugar and Spice has an awesome new writing packet out.  It is on sale ($3 off!) through tomorrow.  Head over to TpT and check it out!