What I Wish My Future Students Were Learning Right Now!

Can you imagine getting 26 perfect students that listened, were independent, and were strong academically?  Well, don't hold your breath, because this is not a perfect world, and if they came in knowing all of that, your classroom would be a boring place.  As I think about the very basic skills I would like all of my students to know, I would say there are 3 basic things.  

The first thing I would want my students to have is listening skills.  I want them to be "present" in my classroom, because I pack a lot of learning into one school day.  I want them to have the drive to learn.  If a student does not want to learn, there is only so much that I can do on my end.  I want them to do what I ask them to do.  It saves so much instructional time when everyone listens the first time.

I would also like for the kids to have strong number and letter recognition.  We spend a lot of time with number recognition at the beginning of the year, so we can build a strong number sense.  It would be helpful if the kiddos could recognize the numbers 0-9.  Letter recognition is an important skill at my school.  We use the Spalding Method for Language Arts, which means we start teaching phonograms the first week of school.  We don't spend a lot of time on letter names because we start on letter sounds right away.

I'm going to throw a fourth skill in there because I feel it is extremely important.  The kids need to be independent.  I can't button and/or unbutton your child's pants when he/she needs to use the restroom.  I am not going to complete your child's "morning jobs" (homework folder in the back, lunchbox in the hallway, two sharp pencils, etc.) because your child is very capable of handling that themselves.  As I tell my parents at the beginning of the year, you need to show your child that you believe in his/her capabilities.  

Kindergarten is the most amazing year for your child.  I truly believe it's a year of maturation, self-esteem building, and outstanding academic growth.  Even halfway through this year, I am amazed at how far my students have come.  Help make your kindergarten teacher's job easier by believing in your child, and working on these basic academic skills.

Speaking of academic skills, there is a great bundle on Educents right now that will help build your child's letter and number recognition.  It's 10% off this weekend using the code "sale10", so check it out!

  

Picturing the Past

I am linking up with Brenda at Primary Inspired to talk about one of my favorite teaching resources.  Teaching little learners about people from the past is sometimes tricky.  Long biographies are boring, and filled with too much information to digest.  Two things have made my life so much easier: my little books, and Brain Pop Jr.!

Have you ever heard about Brain Pop Jr.?  It is a subscription video service that has videos on all kinds of different concepts.  Brain Pop Jr. is geared toward K-3 classrooms.  The videos feature a girl named Annie and a silly robot named Moby.  The videos are just the right amount of facts, learning, and fun.

I usually watch a Brain Pop Jr. to introduce the person we are learning about, and then make the little book.  My little books are currently part of a bundle on Educents.  The bundle is AMAZING!  It really is jam packed with great activities to celebrate America and the wonderful people that helped shape our country.

There are so many great products in this bundle.  Plus, there is a great variety of grades and subjects in case you ever move grades.  Hooray!

Enjoy your day off!

I LOVE books! Plus a little "What does the kindergarten teacher want?"!

Oh, my word.  What is my favorite part of teaching kindergarten?  The read alouds!!!  I love books.  My classroom library is very large.  I spend WAY too much money on books, but I love them.  I even love the smell of the Scholastic catalogs.  I'm weird, and that's ok with me.

I had a parent e-mail me and ask me for some book recommendations.  It is so hard to pick my faves, but here are a few books I can't live without.

I swear by the Pete the Cat series.  The free songs are so catchy that my students BEG for them.  James Dean recently added a new line of easy readers.  My students LOVE those, too!  

I also adore Mo Willems.  Oh, my word!  All of his books are absolutely hilarious!  The Elephant and Piggie books are my favorite.  I use them to teach my students about using picture clues for voice inflection.  Elephant and Piggie have the most expressive faces, which makes reading the books so much fun!

The last author I cannot live without is Robert Munsch.  If you have never read his books, you are missing out!  I like to read We Share Everything the first week of school.  The book pokes fun at how you need to share everything in kindergarten.  My class and I laugh so hard.

Speaking of the first week of kindergarten...

I am so lucky to work at a school that is in high demand.  We are a public school, but we have an accelerated curriculum (we teach kindergarten and first grade math in kindergarten), we have uniforms, and we have extremely high expectations.  Now, don't judge us... we still have a TON of fun!

Last week, we had open enrollment for our school, which means that parents can wait in line to (hopefully) be called to enroll their child at our school.  Open enrollment happened on Monday morning at 7:30, and we had a parent in line on Friday at 7:45 am.  I felt like it was Black Friday again, and we had the best deal on a big screen TV.  We had about ten people in line and an RV parked by the end of school on Friday.  We were on two channels for the local news and a national radio station called to talk to our principal.  Again, I am SO super lucky to work at my school.

We have kindergarten readiness testing in the spring, so we can see where our new kiddos are at, which allows us to make balanced classes.  I am weird, and I love those two days.  First of all, I'm not sure there is anything more cute than a little peanut that is a bit nervous at first, but after ten minutes is ready to tell you his life story, and his mom's age, his sister's favorite color, and how he ate waffles for breakfast.  I love that age!  Anyway, this testing allows us to see if there are gaps in the fundamentals needed to be successful in kindergarten.  But what do kids need to know to be successful in kindergarten?!

This is where one of my favorite products comes into play.  My team and I wracked our brains to think of the skills a child should have in order to be successful in kindergarten.  Together, we have close to forty years of experience teaching kindergarten.  We asked ourselves what skills and knowledge was necessary (in any kindergarten classroom... not just our accelerated classrooms) for a kindergartner to know when they begin the year.

At testing, we collect all parent e-mails and send them our "Getting Ready for Kindergarten" packet.  This packet contains printables to work on shapes, colors, numbers, letters, and first sound.  It also contains clickable links that take you to videos, printables, informative articles, and more.  We used the packet for this year's kinders, and boy, were they ready for kindergarten!  Our beginning of year DIBELS scores were higher than last year.  In my opinion, the higher scores were due to the fact the kids knew how to say a first sound.  I LOVE this pack!

And, you are in luck!  This pack is part of an Educents bundle.  I have teamed up with 17 other amazing sellers to load your classrooms with 19 resources!  

For a limited time it is $29.99 from Educents which is over 70% off!  It also includes these other great products so there is sure to things you love!  (They even have $10 off for first time customers… so it can be even cheaper if you have never bought anything from Educents!)

Parents are always asking how they can help their child be ready for kindergarten.  Here is your answer!  A whole slew of resources is just a click away!

Click here to go to Educents to check out all of the amazing products! 

This bundle is FULL of great products!  Take a look below to check out some other blogs and their awesome contributions to this bundle.  :)

George Washington had Bad Teeth (and more!)

If you stopped by on Friday, you heard about the AMAZING Educents bundle that is on sale right now.  I have downloaded these products, and they will be SUPER helpful in your classroom.  They really are great products.

I have two products in the bundle.

  

The U.S. Symbols pack has everything you need to teach and write about seven U.S. Symbols, including the American flag, White House, Capitol Building, bald eagle, Mount Rushmore, Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty.  Check out Tuesday's post for more information.

This file includes fifteen easy readers about important people in American history.

Today's freebie is an entire writing unit!  WHAT?!  I LOVE teaching about George Washington.  Perhaps it is because there are some awesome books that were written about him (Have you ever read George Washington's Teeth?).  The craft comes out SUPER cute, and the kids have a BLAST learning about our nation's first president.

You must be a fan of Nurturing Noggins on Facebook to download this product, so click here and check out my other "Fan Only Freebies" by clicking the picture of the search lights near the top of the page after clicking the "like" button.

If you like this unit, I have another for Abraham Lincoln in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

I Love History!

If you stopped by on Tuesday, you heard about the AMAZING Educents bundle that is on sale right now.  I have downloaded these products, and they will be SUPER helpful in your classroom.  They really are great products.

I have two products in the bundle.

  

The U.S. Symbols pack has everything you need to teach and write about seven U.S. Symbols, including the American flag, White House, Capitol Building, bald eagle, Mount Rushmore, Liberty Bell, and the Statue of Liberty.  Check out Tuesday's post for more information.

This file includes fifteen easy readers about important people in American history.

Today's freebie is an Abraham Lincoln easy reader.  The easy readers are so easy to put together.  Two readers take two double sided copies and two staples.  I can whip up a class set in about 10-15 minutes.  The kids LOVE illustrating them, and I love the fact that we can have class discussions about the person while we are drawing and coloring.  We talk about each page as we go along, which is much more interactive than just reading a biography on a famous person.  We have SO much fun (even though I hear, "Mrs. McCleary, you are trying your best" when I am drawing)!

I'll have a few more freebies coming within the next week, so check back to see what is new!

Are you thinking ahead to February?

I have a confession.  I am a super planner.  I have my science and social studies planned for the entire year.  I like to be prepared.  :)

So, I am already thinking ahead to February.  To tell you the truth, US Symbols and Presidents are my two favorite social studies subjects.  Since I teach kindergarten, this is the first time most of them are learning about the subjects.

I have teamed up with some AMAZING teacher authors for this amazing bundle with Educents!  It is 21 instant downloads with over 1100 pages of materials for your learners!  

I actually have two products in this bundle, and I know your students will LOVE them!  My two products alone would be $17, so this bundle is an AWESOME deal.  

My U.S. Symbols pack contains 92 pages of fun that will teach your students about the White House, Liberty Bell, bald eagle, Mount Rushmore, the Capitol Building, the American flag, and the Statue of Liberty.

 

 My second product is one of my favorites! 

I teach kindergarten, and sometimes biographies are a little long and boring for my little kiddos.  So, I made little readers that we read and illustrate.  We complete the activity whole group, and we stop and talk about each page.  This gives me a chance to add in additional information, and really make sure my kiddos understand how this person was important to our country.  I draw my picture under the document camera to give them an idea how to illustrate each page, but I let them know they are more than welcome to draw a picture that makes sense to them.  We read the book all week, and the kids are supposed to go home and read the book to their parents on Friday.  My students LOVE them!

There are fifteen easy readers to help teach about important Americans. 

I have only talked about two of the products in this bundle.  The bundle is seriously packed full of awesome products!  For a limited time it is $30 from Educents which is over 75% off!  It also includes these other great products so there is sure to things you love!  (They even have $10 off for first time customers… so it can be even cheaper if you have never bought anything from Educents!)

As an "I'm so excited to be part of this bundle" gift, I am giving you the White House easy reader from the US Symbols pack.

Click here to download your freebie!

Also, check back later in the week for more freebies!