Five for Friday, January 27, 2017

.
Sorry I will try this again.   Somehow I messed up and lost this post.  Frustration.....
Thank you Doodle Bugs, Kasey, for this link time.

1. It's in the air......and on their hands.....everywhere.....

I am stocking up on my sick supplies.  My kids at school are coughing and sneezing.  Not many are absent so they are really spreading it around.  
After it is through the classroom and my home, I'm sure to get it.
Wash, wash, wash,...oh yeah, and my washing machine just died...It is over 30 years old, I guess it gave its best....

2.  Cover your sneeze!

When I first started teaching kindergarten, we used a program called Letter People.  Since I save everything, I pulled out the Little Miss A story, picture card and coloring page.  We also made faces with hair and eyes.  Glued a tissue where the nose and mouth would be.  Traced our hands and cut them out and glued them over the tissue.  Little Miss A would remind us her sound by saying, "A - a - a -choo!"
I also like the Crawford the Cat videos.  He has a video called "Sneezer pleaser."

3.  Learning More Sight Words

Here are some ideas I'm using to help the children practice their sight words.  The High Five cards are placed by the door so whenever we enter or exit our room, the children can 'tap' and say the word.

During my morning opening, I have written a word with a white crayon and asked them to read our sight word.  Of course they said, "there's nothing there!".  So with a watercolor marker they chanted as I drew a line "from left to right" starting at the top to bottom.  Each marker line would reveal part of the word.  It's those little things that can get them so excited.  So then they had a chance to write and undercover their hidden sight words.

I am lucky to have a girls' and a boys' bathroom in my classroom.  Since some seem to spend so much time in there, (avoidance or out of necessity that it just takes a while..) I decided to put the words of the day on the wall to give them something to look at.

After doing a sight word check, students receive a visor with a word they don't know and they become that word-'visor' for the day.  Their responsibility is to use a clipboard and read the word (also written on the top of the page) to at least 10 others. They say and point to the word on the top, "This is the word ____."  The listener then signs their sheet.  It is a very official job!

4.  Parent Visit Day
Each year we invite our parents to come the last hour of one day.  The children become the teacher.  A task card is given to each child to complete the activities WITH their parent.  Tasks vary year to year but include "Your turn, my turn" writing letter pairs on dry erase boards, writing numbers to 100, writing an entry in their journal, a sight word job (this year it was a hidden mystery word that they just learned), a math job (green bean story of 6), read a story, etc.  
This is an active participation opportunity so the parents do the work with their child.  It is a great PR event and quality time spent is the bonus!
If a child does not have a parent who can attend, then the others are encouraged to share their parent.  We conclude with singing a few of our daily songs.  The last song is my favorite, "Four Hugs a Day."  The last line says "don't forget you've got to GIVE four hugs a day."  At that line, the children go give their parent a hug!  Awwww...  

The parents take the completion of the work very seriously. They can do the jobs in any order.

The first task on the list is always to sit down and practice tying.  Sometimes a captive audience gets the job done!

An extra treat for me, is when former students return as the parent!  Especially when it is the fathers, that warms my heart.

 5.  White Trash

So after a stressful, busy and exhausting week, I treat myself to ......snacking!  Oh well,....but isn't pretzels, rice chex cereal and peanuts kind of healthy?

Janet