Confetti: I Just Couldn't Wait!

I was planning on waiting until next week to start blogging about letter of the week activities because this week is “Z” and next week we are starting up with the letter “A.” I thought with would be a good idea to start at the very beginning (because as Buttons mentioned in her last post, it’s a very good place to start). But I was so proud of my W, X, Y, and Z challenge! So I thought maybe I should post some highlights from those now since I don’t want to wait a whole year to post them (we do two weeks of each letter).

So here it goes…

W:

Walrus Puppets!!! Look at these!

Before I made the puppets with the kids I showed my (incredibly creative and brilliant) boyfriend the sample and he said “it’s too bad you don’t have watermelon seeds for the nose…” I thought it was the best idea ever and guess what I actually did have in my supply closet? YEP! Watermelon seeds (pretty impressive, I thought)! So here are some walrus puppets with whiskers, wood tusks, and watermelon seed noses!!!

X:

OK, I promise I do things other than puppets, but I do a different puppet every week and I loved the walrus and I love this one. X week is quite the challenge for puppets but check out this guy! This is Xavier the Pirate and he says “ARRRG, X marks the spot.”

This was a little bit tedious because I was planning for about 30 but it wasn’t too bad. I pre-cut all the pieces and put them in the bags before the program so as children came up I could just give them a bag and they could assemble them. Certain things they could do themselves like I brought yarn for hair and sequins for jewelry out if they wanted to get extra creative.

Not going to lie, Xavier may be one of the proudest moments in my paper bag puppet career!

Y:

Yo-yo painting…I LOVE this. I got the idea from http://thesnailstrail.blogspot.com/. I went out and bought several pair of those knee high pantyhose that come in the eggs for something like 33 cents a pair (keep those eggs, they are great for storing things like, well, watermelon seeds for example). Fill the toe with dry beans and make a knot. I taped a big piece of butcher paper (although I found it exhausting if you use paper that’s too big) to the floor and put a couple colors of washable tempera paint on paper plates. Dip the bean-filled pantyhose toe into the paint and then bounce it up and down (like a yo-yo) on the butcher paper.

It looked SO COOL!

We are going to be doing this activity again around Christmas time to make wrapping paper...Buttons, get ready, your Christmas gift will probably be wrapped in it! J

Z:

Zoom! Zebra! Painting. Honestly, by "Z" week, I am about over the hard letter and ready to get to A! But here's something fun for Z week. I just printed out a big letter "Z" (I put our logo on it hence the weird spot), had the children cut it out and glue it to a sheet of black construction paper and then we "zoomed" our toy cars through black and white paint and all over our paper. It would have looked cooler if my toy cars had different tires, but it was pretty fun!

Buttons: First Days of School

Ok so all of you educators and people of the education world probably thought the same thing I did when I read what I wrote as my subject: Harry Wong. Or possibly not haha. Harry Wong's book, "First Days of School" has come in handy during my first days as a Kindergarten teacher this past week. There is so much on my brain that I can't even think straight! However, I will start at the beginnning (it is a very fine place to start-so I'm told).

Let me start by saying that I graduated with my degree in Elementary Education, with a Spanish concentration (I love how that rhymes! :) ) in May of 2010 from IU [the best school known to man-well, that's what i tell my husband, who went to Purdue hehe]. Last year, I was an instructional aid in grades 3 & 4 from August-October, then transferred to being a teaching assistant in one 3rd grade classroom at a private school in November through the end of the school year.

Like every other recent college graduate, i have interviewed for countless positions and have been rejected so many times that it almost doesn't phase me anymore. As of a few weeks ago, I was still planning on returning to my position at the private school. Then one night, I received a phone call from a principal in my town about a maternity leave in Kindergarten for the first 9 weeks of school and one in 1st grade the third 9 weeks of school. I jumped at the opportunity to be in control of my "own" classroom, and it happened to be at the school I student taught at as well!

The entire school was off-limits to all teachers until 1 week before school started due to an HVAC construction project that took place all summer. I went in last Monday and met with the teacher I am filling in for and got the "run down". Tuesday was my first "official" day, for the teacher in-service days. Wednesday was the corporation-wide meeting and our second in-service work day. I spent those 3 days prepping as much as I could, but there is no way to prepare for the first day of school!

Thursday was the first day of school, and I was super excited and anxious! (There was no back-to-school night due to construction delays). To summarize, I was expecting 25 students, but2 never showed up, 1 transferred, and 1 was still on vacation (I mean, who cares about your 1st day of school ever?! [note the sarcasm] ), so I had 21 on the first day-6 of which were half day-2 of which were retained. [I will explain the full day vs half day thing in another post]. I had about 5 criers, and parents that looked at me like, "This little girl is my child's teacher?". I look fairly young for my age and our "lovely" back-to-school presents from the principal were matching t-shirts, and mine was too big-awesome! [sarcasm again]

BUT... the most memorable and eventful part of my 1st day as a Kindergarten teacher was not enriching the lives of young children, or making a difference in their lives, or any of that wonderful stuff. Nope! It was going over to a crying child at the end of recess, sitting under the monkey bars, and asking her if she had fallen and seeing if she was okay--only to realize her elbow was completely in the wrong spot! I had to do a double take because it didn't look like it was real. It was as if someone had just taken her forearm and just snapped it out of socket and shoved it back an inch or two. In hind sight, I should have had the nurse come out to her, but no. I gently lifted her up, so as not to move her arm and walked over to get the other teachers' attention. One teacher got one look of her arm and I was on my around to the nurses office, avoiding walking by the other children. The nurse gasped and her eyes popped when I brought her in! And the kicker? She had just gotten a cast off of the other arm for the exact same thing!

So needless to say it was kind of crazy, but I love it! Now, I will say it has affirmed my thoughts that I never want to be a Kindergarten teacher. I am capable of doing it, but I cannot stand the constant telling of what and how to do things. Again, I will save some of my gems of stories for another post. :)

There will surely be more stories to come, as well as educational findings along the way--hopefully! ;)

Confetti: Literacy Training and S Week

This is my first "real" post...I feel like I need to introduce myself, but Buttons knows me, so I guess I don't. :)

So this past Monday all of the museum staff did a literacy training with our local public broadcasting station. It was great! They have a whole department focusing on early literacy education and our museum has teamed up with them. Note: public broadcasting (at least ours) is more than just tv, they have lots of great resources for anyone, or any educator, to use--check out your local PBS' website or call to ask what types of resources they have!

At our museum we have a story time every day, one of the things we talked about at training was how to read aloud most effectively. To me, and probably to most people who have spent a lot of time working with children, a lot of things seem pretty obvious, but I have realized and observed that not every parent realizes these things. Actually, until recently, I never thought to list these things.

Anyway, here is a list of tips for reading aloud that I put together using a lot of the points they made at the training:

· Read the book to yourself before sharing it with your children. Think about where you could pause to ask questions or explain something that your children may not understand.

· Talk about the book cover. Point out the title, author, and illustrator and what they do. Look at and talk about the art.

· Create a context. Look at the pictures and theme. Maybe the character looks sad; do you ever get sad? Why do you think this character is sad? Maybe the book is set on a farm; have you ever been to a farm? What was it like there? The love of books is related to the ability to put yourself in the story, creating a context helps bring the story to life.

· Read slowly so children can understand and enjoy the rhythm of the words and explore the pictures. Hold the book so everyone can see it.

· Add drama. Use different voices, facial expressions, and gestures. You can even incorporate props! Don’t be afraid to act silly or dramatic!

· Invite children to join in. Many books repeat phrases; after a couple times children will start to know what to expect—“Let’s all say it together!” You can also ask children to help with sound effects.

· Point out the illustrations. Many times the illustrations will help clarify unfamiliar words.

· Ask open ended questions. After reading help children to think about, remember, and discuss the story they just read. Encourage them to connect the story to their own lives. Remember to pause to give the children time to think about their answer.

· Read the book several times. You may grow tired of that story after one or two times, but remember, your child doesn’t have the same comprehension or memory for detail that you do. Reading the same book many times will help your child understand.

Also, S week was a long time ago, but here are my friends from S week:

SuperStick has super strength and never gets scared, and SuperSpoon soars through the sky to save the day!

Buttons, HAVE A GREAT FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TOMORROW!!!!

Love ya,

Confetti

Introducing: Buttons and Confetti

We are Buttons and Confetti.

We are second generation best friends.  Our mom's are best friends and co-directors of a daycare.  Now that we're grown-ups (sort of) we are still best friends and like our moms, we both work with children.  Confetti works at a children's museum and Buttons is an elementary school teacher.

Anyway, we think our lives are pretty interesting so we decided to start a blog together where we could share ideas, resources, and stories from our professional and personal lives with each other. While we're at it, we might as well share with anyone else who's interested. :)