Happy Father's Day!

Wishing all Grandpas & Dads a very HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

Father's Day came quick! Sometimes I wish the end of the school year wasn't so close to Father's Day. I can't seem to find enough time to dedicate to this event with the kiddos as much as I want (like Mother's Day). Maybe I should have gotten an earlier start? Less procrastination? Lol! Still...we were able to put together our Father's Day cards as well as sweet video messages for our WORLD'S BEST GRANDPAS & DADS!

Father's Day Card
Our grandpas and dads are our heroes! Superheroes even...as the kiddos would say! So what better way is there to let them know than to write about how we view and feel about them? Just a little something for our grandpas and dads to cherish forever!

Similar to the Mother's Day cards, we wrote letters and placed them inside a suit card. Each student decorated the suit (construction paper) and added a tie. Check out the cards made by the kiddos...

Father's Day Video Messages
Each student used "Chatterpix for kids" app on the iPad to take a photo and record the message - "I have the world's best dad/grandpa because _____."

I helped by turning those individual messages into a class video. Check out a little sample of the video...

End of the Year

"We have loved, laughed, played, learned, and enriched our lives together this year. We have grown close and became a family! I wish we had more time together, but I'm sure each of you will be moving on to first grade...being successful and ready! I'm grateful and feel privileged to have had the wonderful opportunity to get to know, teach, and learn from you. It's amazing to see your personality and growth unfold day by day..."

Wow! This year sure flew by fast! We just ended Kindergarten last Friday and it was definitely a bittersweet feeling. I had an amazing time with my kiddos this year! I would like to share some end-of-the-year gifts I made (with the help of the kiddos, of course).

Kindergarten Memory Page
This was a fun experience for the kiddos. They started by decorating one memory page each - "We came as strangers. We leave as friends!" After they were done, I shuffled all the memory pages and each of the kiddos got to pick one out that wasn't made by him/her. They then all went around to stamp their thumbs and sign their names on all their friends' memories pages.

I helped by adding their first day, 100th day, and last day of school photos on the back. In addition, I added a class photo and a little goodbye message. Of course, I also laminated each memory page! Teachers all love to laminate! :)

Kindergarten Memories - DVD
Creating an end-of-the-year video sure took some effort and time...
1. Record each student - What will you remember? What/Who will you miss?
2. Choose and add photos (This was super difficult as I loved taking photos of my kiddos. There were way too may to choose from!)
3. Add music (You've Got a Friend in Me, Friends Forever, We Are Family, We're All In This Together)
4. Thank you message to the parents
5. Review, review, and review! I must have listened and watched for mistakes a billion times!

This year, I took it a step further. Not only did I add the end-of-the-year video but I also included all their iPad projects too! miDVD Pro is great to use for combining multiple videos. It's extremely easy to use - just drop videos in and burn!

GOODBYE KINDERGARTEN 2014-2015!!!

After all this...I definitely needed LOTS of coffee the next day!! It was all worth it though. :)

All about Plants Digital Book

I guess I've neglected this little blog for a bit. End of the school year was crazy! It's officially summer vacation!! So...I'm going to try and share some activities we've completed before the school year ended!

I'm SUPER excited to share with you the amazing work my kiddos have produced! They collaborated on an end-of-the-unit digital book project as a final ending to our plants unit. We brainstormed ideas, discussed topics, typed/recorded our work, and published wonderful books for everyone to read!

The project started with the group planning process...

Next, the kiddos worked on their group pages on the iPads. This involved group discussions based on each question given. They had to do some critical thinking together! It's always fun and interesting to see how they share ideas with one another. As you can see from the photos, it was hard for me to get into the groups! They were super engaged!

They then separated and focused on their own topic. Each student drew, labeled, and wrote about the topic he/she chose - needs, parts of plants (plus how each part helps the plant), life cycle, and how to plant.

Book Creator on iPads - When everything is entered and typed into the book, they began the recording process. They took turns recording responses on the group pages as well as reading their own individual page. Creating books like this, I can see such a great progress and improvement in their reading! I think their favorite part of this particular book project was that they got to change the background and text color. They definitely made it their own!! Check out their amazing work...The books are officially published!

I must say, the Book Creator app is awesome! We use this app frequently and the kiddos absolutely LOVE it! They were just talking about how fun it was to create books on the iPads as one of their favorite Kindergarten memories.

All about Plants

Our plant unit is almost coming to an end!!!

We learned all about the needs, parts, and life cycle of a plant. We had a ton of fun planting and observing the growth of our own marigolds. We even turned ourselves into flowers! Exciting times! We are still waiting for our flowers to bloom and working on our final digital group book project. In the meantime, check out some of the unit activities we've done so far...

Planting time! We are responsible for our own plants!

Plant Journal - We created our own plant journal documenting the growth. In the journal, we also made a list of the plant's needs, labeled the parts, explained the steps to planting, and sequenced the life cycle.

Got this great resource from LittleAchievers on TPT. This is a freebie (also includes needs and life cycle of a plant posters)!!

Freebie from 1st Grade Hip Hip Hooray

We turned into flowers - See mini flower projects below to learn about us!

We used "Chatterpix for Kids" on the iPads to present our mini flower project. Hope you enjoy the presentations! :)

Can't wait to share our digital books soon...stay tuned!

The Best Part of Me

We draw, we write, and we dictate.

My kiddos and I have been working on opinion pieces. They are learning to state an opinion and provide reasons explaining their preference. For this particular activity, the kiddos were asked to identify what they think is the best part of them and give one or two reasons explaining why it's the best part.

Since we have been experimenting with iPads and turning in assignments on Canvas (Learning Management System), I figure why not let them record a video!! It was quite a wonderful experience for them! They absolutely enjoyed videotaping their responses. Getting to check themselves out while self recording was...a plus for these little kiddos! Lol!  And of course, it was awesome for me to see and hear what they have to say. I've got some pretty amazing and interesting ones! :)

Check out their thoughts...
The brain - "The best part of me is my brain because I can think with it and I can learn different stuff with it."

The hair - "The best part of me is my hair because it looks nice and my friends like it."

The stomach - "The best part of me is my stomach because without my stomach I can't eat anything."

The eyes - "The best part of me is my eyes because I could see with them; and if I did not have eyes, I would not see my friends."

The arms - "The best part of me are my arms because they help me play tennis."

The book that goes with this activity is called The Best Part of Me: Children Talk About their Bodies in Pictures and Words by Wendy Ewald.

Without iPads? No problem! I've come across some other versions of this topic. I've seen teachers who took photos of their students' best parts and had students write about them. Some drew, some painted, and some even made a sculpture out of clay. There are always LOTS of great ideas out there from super creative teachers! :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful Moms out there! 

This year, I decided to combine a few of my favorites together into one! The kiddos each created a thumbprint necklace and a card. In addition, we made a "Love Message" video for our awesome Moms. Check it out below...

Thumbprint necklaces made from air dry modeling clay. Love how fast it hardens!  I think their favorite part was probably designing and wrapping the necklaces by themselves.

Mother's Day card
Front cover: "A BIG HUG FOR THE WORLD'S BEST MOM!!!"

Inside: Picture of Mom & me, fingerprint flower, and a sweet letter to remind Mom just how special she is

Class video - "Love Messages" 
This was such a cute video! Each student used Chatterpix for Kids on the iPad to take a photo and record the message. They had a fun time adding little features to their video (filter, sticker). I then combined them all on iMovie and added some finishing touches (title page and music).

Turning individual Chatterpix videos into a class video - see below...

It was wonderful to see how hard all kiddos worked to show just how much they love their moms. I always remind them...put all your heart and love into it! Lol! You can definitely see and feel the love!

A New Journey

Hi everyone! I'm SUPER excited to be starting my blog...sharing my teaching journey!! There's so much for me to explore, learn, and share! Hope you will enjoy my posts...coming soon! :)

In the meantime, please click on the image and check out some of my adventures on Instagram: 

Hello Kinder