My Students LOVE Seesaw (and so do I!)

 Have I mentioned how much I love Seesaw in the classroom?  My school returned in person back in August.  This whole year I have been teaching in person students as well as remote students on Zoom.  Blended sychronous learning has been a learning experience. I feel that (on day 148) things have been going really smoothly for a while now.  Utilizing Seesaw to work on literacy skills has been a life saver- no prepwork (other than assigning activities) and my remote students can do the same work as the in person students.  I've been changing my beloved literacy stations to Seesaw activities to stay on track with my curriculum map, and I've been adding these activities to TPT for you to use in your classroom!

Ten new summer themed activities

Buggy themed activities

I want to hear your thoughts! What do you think of Seesaw? 

Digital Literacy Activities Made Easy

 Wow! How has it been nearly five years since my last blog post?! 

Well, the world is definitely a different place now than it was back then.  Other than the obvious (quarantine, remote learning, life in general), what have I been up to? Well, I went back to school to earn a Master's degree in school administration. Between teaching kindergarten, moving rooms and schools several times, being a mom to two wonderful girls, and a wife to a supportive husband, I had little time to work on anything TPT or blog related while in grad school. 

My district has been in person since August. I had to rethink how to do EVERYTHING to maintain social distancing, teach using a blended sychonous learning platform (think: teaching in person AND on Zoom), all the while making kindergarten fun. It has taken three-quarters of the year, but I think we have come up with a pretty smooth routine that maintains safety and health while learning and having fun.  

I have always loved literacy stations while I work with a guided reading group.  However, my aide and I did not want to spend countless hours sanitizing materials or remaking materials so each student could have their own set.  There had to be a better way to implement literacy stations with targeted skills, all the while saying safe and socially distanced. And I found it! Seesaw.  It has been a life saver!  Less prep work for us, assignments going to my remote students AND in person students at the same time.  I started converting all of my literacy stations to Seesaw.  The newest update to Seesaw to add voice recordings to each slide and individual photos has been a game changer! I love that students can now hear me tell them the name of the picture on the app, rather than sitting with hands up or interrupting my guided reading groups.  

I recently added a 4th quarter literacy activity to Seesaw and TPT.  For a limited time, it will be on sale. Head over to TPT and check it out. As always, if you are happy with it, leaving a review on TPT would be greatly appreciated!  

Scrambled sentences are a great way to practice sight words, writing mechanics such as capital letter for the first word and punctuation, and reding fluency. (They can record themselves reading on Seesaw!) 

This activity works on identifying the beginning blends in words. 

Students move cards on the slides to make rhyming pairs. With the new updates to Seesaw, I was able to record the name of each picture. So, no more students interrupting my guided reading groups to ask what a picture is! Yay!

There are long vowel and a short vowel activities for students to listen for and identify the vowel sound in words. 

There are also CVC spelling, beginning, beginning/ending, and ending sounds activities.  

Well, I have to say, it feels good to be back after an extended break! 

Essential Oils in the Classroom

I was introduced to Doterra essential oils last fall when a friend made me a roller bottle blend of oils. I noticed a positive change in mood, attitude, and  well-being at home.

My daughters use an oil blend to calm down from a preschool-age meltdown. We use a confidence blend to calm our fears when we have to do something new or different. In addition to using oils for moods, we use oil blends to help relieve discomfort from headaches and allergies.  As a Doterra consultant, it is important for me to stay compliant. Oils can't prevent, cure, or treat diseases, but combined with a healthy lifestyle, they can soothe tense feelings, lift moods, and support healthy body functions. 

Our little roller bottles had such a positive effect on my family! I ordered diffusers for our bedrooms to use oils aromatically. 

I ordered my diffusers from Amazon.

Shortly after starting using oils aromatically in the home, I ordered another diffuser for my classroom. I started using a protective oil blend called OnGuard in my room during the months of running noses, absences, and the flu going around.  Maybe it was a strange coincidence, but I never missed a day of school last year from being sick!  Students commented on how good the room smelled- a blend of cinnamon, orange, and clove. 

Although the protective oil blend smelled good and promoted immunity, I felt that I wanted to experiment with oils to create an atmosphere of focus, motivation, and calming. Last year's class had the largest number of students with alternate behavior plans due to hyperactivity and inattention that I have ever had.

I started diffusing a mix of wild orange, cedarwood, and a Doterra balance blend. Within a week, I noticed a decrease of talking out of turn, increased focus during independent practice, and an overall happier mood.  Some mornings I would forget to start the diffuser. Those mornings were usually a little noisier and less focused. Wow!  I am not claiming that the diffuser with the oils was a cure-all for misbehavior and inattention, but I definitely noticed a positive change in my class. I plan on using my diffuser again in the classroom when school starts!



I recently came across this article on the Doterra blog. A student did her own study on the effects of essential oils in the classroom. It's a good read!

First Grade Homework Packets

Last year I had the privilege of having my daughter in my kindergarten class! At first, I was asked if it would be weird, difficult to balance being mom and the teacher, and how my principal would allow it. I heard from other teachers who have taught their own children that it can be hard to balance not being too tough on your child while also not being to lenient. I found that having my daughter in my class was a great experience!  She was a great helper before and after school in my classroom. My husband was the main homework helper since I knew what she was doing during the school day; normally I would be the parent to help with homework, but it was a positive learning experience for my husband to sit down with her during homework time so he could see what we were doing in the classroom. The other day she was reading a book and my heart swelled with pride that she can read so well- and it was her teacher (ME!) who taught I her!  :)

Between the hectic summer schedule of riding and swimming lessons, weddings, and just allowing time for my kids to be kids on summer vacation, I put together a First Grade Monthly Homework Packet for her to practice the skills she'll learn NEXT MONTH in first grade. (4th of July always seems like the beginning of the end of summer.)

 

 My Kindergarten Monthly Homework Packet was a big success in my classroom last year. Parents appreciated how the activities reinforced what their child was learning in school.  The weekly homework activities are standards-based skills in reading and math. Each week includes a reading activity that gets parents to talk about the book with their child while practicing comprehension skills and strategies.

The First Grade Monthly Homework Packet follows the same layout with weekly activities to reinforce the skills taught in first grade. I am planning on using the First Grade homework in kindergarten during the 2016-17 school year for differentiating homework. On the other hand, first grade teachers can use the kindergarten homework for differentiating in their classrooms! 

8 days away!

We have been in kindergarten for 92 days. That means 8 more days until 100th Day! My class is very excited to make it to this major milestone! We will dress like we're 100 years old and do lots of fun 100th Day activities.

In the past, a favorite activity was making cupcakes with 100 sprinkles. Click here for the freebie.

 

To keep the day moving and organized, I make 100th Day booklets with lots of fun activities.  Check it out in my TPT store! 

Homework Packets and Back to School Sale

As I went for my evening run tonight, I thought about the first day of school- it's tomorrow! I'm looking forward to meeting the 24 kinders in my class. One of the 24 is my daughter, which makes tomorrow even more special! She is just as excited as I am to start kindergarten!  Then my thoughts moved to making homework packets for September (that's when I start sending home homework) which made me think of my Common Core Aligned Monthly Homework Packets. 

This has been one of my best selling products on TPT! I made it super easy- just run a month off back to back and staple! Easy peasy!  I send home the packet on Monday and collect it Friday. The homework is not too time consuming and really reinforces what we are learning in the classroom. The skills correlate with our standards-based report card. I also included skills such as tying shoes, saying address, phone number and birthday, and getting outer gear on.

I keep the monthly packet stapled together. It's just easier that way and you have less individual papers to keep track of!


                                                   

Tomorrow is a one day TPT sale. Visit my store and stock up on any last minute products to get your year started off right! :)

Back to School

I go back to school in two weeks. Back in June I told myself not to do anything school related until August 1. That lasted until mid-July. I was busy creating monthly homework packets and planning for the first few weeks of school. I'm looking forward to tomorrow- the TPT Back to School sale! I'll get the items on my wishlist in time for school to begin!

My Monthly Homework Packets have four activities per week, both academic (practicing math, reading, writing, and phonics skills we will work on at school) and non-academic (such as tying shoes, saying phone number and address).

Don't forget to use the promo code to get 28% off in my TPT store! :)