IF YOU WANT TO CATCH A RABBIT...

Wood Smethurst (one of my favorite professors at Emory University) would always say, “If you want to catch a rabbit, you have to have a rabbit trap.” Some of our administrators need to remember this saying! If we expect children to master skills, then we need a “rabbit trap” (song, game, prop) to capture their attention and motivate them. My goal has always been to give you “rabbit traps” to get those little bunnies excited and engaged so that learning will be the natural result. 

You know “simple” and “inexpensive” are two of my other goals. Would you like a “sneak peek” of some of the projects I’ll be demonstrating in my workshops this summer?
Over the next few days I’ll show you how to use jumbo craft sticks, envelopes, and lunch bags as “rabbit traps” in your classroom. With all the time children spend in front of the big screen, it’s good to balance it with “hands on” activities like these.

P.S. If you’ve got any other ideas for sticks, bags, and envelopes I hope you’ll share them with me.

Let’s get started with jumbo craft sticks because they are cheap, made from a natural material, indestructible, easy to store, and, oh, so versatile…

Boom! Write letters, numbers, words, math facts, phrases, sentences, etc. on sticks. Write “BOOM!” on a few sticks. Place them in a Pringle’s can or cup. Pass the can around as children choose a stick and identify the information on it. If they choose a stick that says “BOOM!” they jump up and say, “BOOM!” *You can have them return their sticks to the can or just let them continue to play.

Lucky Sticks - Have each child write her name on a stick. Place the sticks in a cup on the teacher’s desk. When there is a special job to be done the teacher chooses a stick. After that child has had a turn, her stick goes in the teacher’s desk. When all sticks have been selected, they all go back in the cup for another turn. 

                                           
Punctuation Sticks - Draw a large period, question mark, and exclamation mark on the ends of three sticks. Write a sentence on the board. Put sticks one at a time at the end of the sentence for the children to read.
*Write the ABC’s or numbers on the board in sets of 3. Can children read these with appropriate expressions?
*Let children use the sticks as they read with a buddy.

Pointers - Glue a large googly eye to the end of a stick. Tell children to “keep their eye” on the word as they read and track a line of print.
*Can their “eye” find the capital letter at the beginning of the sentence? Punctuation at the end? A word wall word they can read? A noun?
*Fake jewels and other small objects can also be used to make pointers.

Question Sticks - Children write their name in the middle of a stick. Color one end green and one end red. Put the sticks in a can or cup with the green end up. The teacher asks a question, swirls the can around, and then chooses a stick. That child may answer the question or “phone a friend” for help. Place the stick in the can with the red end up after they’ve had a turn. When all the sticks are red on top, turn them over.

                                                     

MISS LUCI HAD A TURTLE

Well, you just never know what I’ll find when I look through old stuff. 45 years in early childhood means lots of “antiques” and “treasures.” My kindergarten children loved this song – especially when they got to blow the bubbles! 

Miss Luci
(Tune: “I Had a Little Turtle”)
Miss Luci had a turtle.
His name was Tiny Tim. (Cup hands.)
She put him in the bathtub (Pretend to place in a bathtub.)
To see if he could swim. (Stroke arms as if swimming.)

He drank up all the water. (Slurp!)
He ate up all the soap. (Pretend to put soap in mouth.)
And now he’s sick in bed
With bubbles in his throat. (Blow bubbles with lips.)

Miss Luci called the doctor. (Pretend to hold phone to your ear.)
Miss Luci called the nurse.
Miss Luci called the lady
With the alligator purse.

In came the doctor. (Make “come” motion with hand.)
In came the nurse.
In came the lady
With the alligator purse.

Measles said the doctor. (Point right index finger.)
Mumps said the nurse. (Point left index finger.)
Nothing said the lady (Shake head and hold palms open.)
With the alligator purse.

Pills said the doctor. (Point right index finger.)
A shot said the nurse. (Point left index finger.)
Pizza said the lady (Circle arms in front like a pizza.)
With the alligator purse.

Out went the doctor. (Thumb up and move backwards.)
Out went the nurse.
Out went the lady
With the alligator purse. 

                                      
Here’s a little turtle made out of a margarine tub.

You can also make a turtle out of a paper bowl. Tearing construction paper and gluing it on to make the shell is great for small motor skills.

Want to see a selfie of the first verse so you'll get the tune?

TAKE ME OUT TO THE BALL GAME

Hey!  I'm on my way to Detroit and Indianapolis, but I wanted to make sure you visited my website this month to get your free download of this classic song.  Can you believe there are some children (and probably teachers as well) who don't know this song?  Hope you enjoy it!

Take Me Out to the Ball Game
Take me out to the ball game. (Pretend to throw a baseball.)
Take me out to the crowd. (Pretend to bat a ball.)
Buy me some peanuts and Cracker Jacks. (Hold up right hand and then left.)
I don’t care if we never get back, (Shake head NO.)
For I’ll root, root, root for the home team. (Fist in the air.)
If they don’t win it’s a shame. (Hold open palms and shrug shoulders.)
For it’s one, two, three strikes (Hold up 3 fingers one at a time.)
You’re out (Thumb over shoulder.)
At the old ball game.

*This is a great opportunity to expand children’s vocabulary. What does it mean to “root”? What’s a “shame”? Let children who play baseball explain to their classmates what a diamond, base, umpire, and other terms mean. 

How about a summer activity calendar or a "fun shine" can of things children can do with their families over the summer?

READING CALENDAR GETS A+

Lindsey Gates (K Teacher, Crittenden - Mt. Zion Elementary) told me about her reading calendar at a recent workshop.  I thought it was a BRILLIANT way to organize skills and reinforce standards each day.  The results in her classroom have been amazing!  If anybody borrows or harvests (adapts) Lindsey's idea, you need to give her credit because she should win a prize for sharing this activity!

Here is a picture of my reading calendar. Since I started this part way through the school year it will look a little different to start the year and transition as the students learn new skills and as the teacher realizes what skills the kiddos most need to work on. I have set aside about 20-30 minutes for this every morning, but it doesn't always take us that long.

1- Beginning sounds
I show 4 pictures with 2 of the 4 starting with the same sound. On the first day we identify the sound at the beginning and decide which 2 start the same. On the second day we come up with other words that begin the same. On the third and fourth days the kiddos come up with words that begin like the other two pictures. On the fifth day I give them a word and they have to decide which picture it sounds like at the beginning.

2- Ending sounds
I have a list of five pictures and the beginning and middle sounds written next to them. Each day we do one picture. We decide what sound we hear at the end by catching it and then coming up with a few words that end like that as well.

3- Word families
I give the class the word family and they come up with some. If they have trouble I will give them options between a few words to decide which one belongs.

4- Phoneme substitution
I give them a starting word and they help me spell it. I pick a sound to change and they tell me the new word. This is basically a word ladder without the ladder.

5- Onset and rimes
I give them an onset and a rime and have them tell me my word. Then we take away the onset and they tell me what is left and then we do the same thing with the rime and then we put it all together again.

6- Syllables
Kiddos put their hands under their chin and count the number of times their chin hits their hand to count the syllables. We sort the pictures by the number of syllables they have.

7- Medial vowel sound
We sort the pictures by their medial vowel sound. I use baggies so that the kiddos can still see the pictures if they need help.

8- High frequency words/ sight words
I have all 100 of our sight words in the blue container and we go through about 10 or 15 everyday.

9- Fix-a-sentence
I write a sentence incorrectly and the students have to tell me how to fix it. I start with a lower case letter, leave out spaces, spell things incorrectly, use the wrong form of the word and leave off end punctuation.

10- Nursery rhymes
We start off with them repeating it after me, we pat out the rhythm, make up motions and by the end of the week they have it memorized and can act it out on their own. (We sometimes do a finger play with this too!)

11- Rhyming
I show them 6 pictures and they help me organize them into rhyming sets. During the week we come up with other words that could also go in each group and I give them words to decide if they belong or don't belong.

If you have any questions please let me know. I found all of the pictures online using Bing or Google. I am planning ways to make this more appropriate for my kiddos at the start of the year and I will send that your way once I decide the most appropriate things to focus on. Everything can be done without pictures, but so many of my kids are visual learners and seeing the pictures helps them focus on the sound and not trying to remember what word I said. Another teacher does the same skills but does not have it up in her room. I am more visual as well.

MOTHER MAY I?

May I give you an idea or two for Mother's Day on May 11th?

A Box for Mommy – (Tune: "Polly Wolly Doodle" - HAPPY EVERYTHING CD)
I wish I had a little box (Pretend to hold a box in your hands.)
To put my mommy in. (Pretend to put something in the box.)
I’d take her out and go (Take something out of the box
(kiss, kiss, kiss) and kiss in the air.)
And put her back again.

If my mommy were in my box
Were in my box, then she would always know.
School or play, night or day,
How I love her so! (Cross arms over chest.)

I made this box for mother’s day, (Pretend to hold a box.)
It’s full of love for you.
When we’re apart, hold it to your heart, (Put hands over heart.)
And know I’m thinking of you.

Box Necklace – You can collect small boxes that jewelry come in or use matchboxes for this project. Spray paint the boxes and then let the children decorate them with stickers, glitter pens, etc. Glue a small picture of the child inside the box. Punch a hole and attach a ribbon so it can be worn around the neck. Teach children the song and let them present their necklaces at a Mother’s Day tea, or send the boxes home with the words to the song.

My Mom Can – Let each child make a predictable book about all the things their mom can do.  

                                          
Hats for Moms – These are adorable hats from paper plates that children can make for their mothers. Cut the inner section out of the plate. Decorate the outer rim with markers. Cut 4” squares out of tissue paper and wad up and glue on the rim to look like flowers. Punch a hole in each side and tie on a 16” piece of string or ribbon. Place the hat on your head and tie under the chin.


My webmaster has created a special "package" for Mother's Day with the song and reproducible books. Here's the link if you're interested:
http://bit.ly/13Quh8J

                                             

BOOKFEST - THE BEST!

Last weekend I was invited to be a part of the Kids' Book Fest in Owego, New York. It was like the movie “Field of Dreams”…if you build it they will come. Host a book fest and hundreds of children, parents, grandparents, teachers, and caring people will come! Kristin Barton put the event together with a “little help from her friends” and it was such a happy time for all. The children sang, danced, made books, listened to stories, played and had a love of reading planted in their hearts! (I think the grown ups had
 just as much fun watching the children’s joy.) These trips are always a little bittersweet for me. “Sweet” because I meet such amazing people, but “bitter” because I have to say good-bye.


One of my new BFF’s has a blog that you will definitely want to check out. Someone once said, “Teachers don’t steal ideas…they harvest ideas.” Carolyn Kisloski reminded me of that with her fantastic ideas. She says she borrowed them from my blog, but she really made the better!

The ideas that I borrowed from your blog are the Quiet Spray, which I made into the “Sh Spray” since we were working on that sh blend. I add magic glitter to the water, shake it up, and give a spray down the line once the children are lined up for the hall.

I also used your Self Control Lotion idea as My Favorite Things lotion. I wrote about it here http://ckisloski.blogspot.com/2013/04/my-favorite-things.html but basically the children bring in their favorite thing to share with the class. We write a book about it, and we learn the song “My Favorite Things.” That is when I introduce the lotion. If a child needs some thinking time, they can get a little magic My Favorite Things lotion and as they rub it into their hands, they think of their favorite things that make them happy. I told you that I had one little guy who used it a LOT. It was sort of like a "truth lotion" for him. He just started telling me things as he rubbed that lotion into his hands. Poor sweetheart.

What I remember loving about your post where you wrote about the Self Control Lotion- or one post about different ways to help with behavior - was when you talked about having a sock that a child could tie into a knot and untie. You said that someone said, "What if everybody wants a sock?" and you said, "So what! Give everybody a sock!" I LOVED that! :)
I could weep when I hear stories about what some of you are going through, and then I meet teachers who are passionate about children and who have learned to SHUT THE DOOR. I don’t want my blog to turn into a whining and complaining blog, but I hope when you hear these stories you realize that you are not alone, and you are inspired to use your “powers of good” like Kathleen (kidpeopleclassroom.com)!

I was having a horrible day – testing-- standardized, computerized testing for FIVE year olds.. it makes me so sad, and so MAD! They had to drag me down the hall kicking and screaming! How can we stop this??

…We made some adorable hats! The more I have to do horrible stuff like this testing, the more I go back to my roots to do fun stuff like hats! Using my powers for good to counter the evil- HA :)

IF MOMMA AIN'T HAPPY!

My sister used to have a sign on her refrigerator that said, “If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” Well, if you’re not happy as a teacher, you’ll have a difficult time making a classroom of children happy and excited about learning. I’m going to be all over the United States this summer and my primary goal is to give you some great ideas to make you HAPPY when the school year starts.

June 19-20 Common Core and MORE! -Charleston, SC 

 ecsummit.cofc.edu

June 23-24 Summer Camp - 
Tampa, FL sde.com



June 25 Reading, Writing, Math & More - 
New Orleans sde.com

July 10 ITK - I Teach Kindergarten - 
Las Vegas, NV sde.com

July 14-15 Summer Camp - 
St. Louis, MO sde.com

July 23 Singing and Dancing with the Common Core Standards                                         

Naperville, IL illinoisascd.org 

August 6-7 Summer Camp - Dallas, TX sde.com
                                         
And do you know what today is? It’s May 1st and that means you’ve got one more week to get a 10% discount from SDE on all three of my summer camps. Just type in DrJean14 as the VIP discount code. But hurry, the special ends May 8th.

We’re going to hold hands and sing, dance, learn, and have a GREAT summer!