Excuse Me... Are you Kindergarten Crayons?

This was the B*E*S*T part of the conference! I met, in person, these 3 wonderful women and it was so much fun for me. I actually sat down with Amber and had lunch and we chatted away like old friends with her partner Lou Ann and my wonderful friend Valentina. Anyone watching us would have thought we were life-long friends.
Amber, I hope you see this post because you are the best and so much more beautiful in person. Thank you for making such a wonderful connection! Later the following day I met Ms. Lopez and found out she lives in the district I teach in! Seriously, what a small world. It was so much fun to chat with her and we have so much in common. She was sitting right next to me in one of the sessions! I got an email from Mary Ann who told me she was not leaving the conference until we met each other and gave me a time and place (smart lady). She was adorable and could be my BFF. You better start that blog ' cause I'll be watching you! Can you imagine how  special this was for me?  I hope all these amazing kinder teachers stay in my life  forever! Teachers referred to me as Kindergarten Crayons during the whole week which I thought that was hilarious. Now I am my blog.

Dice from Vegas

Lots of bloggers wanted to know where I got the dice and I finally found the flyer in a bag. It pays to unpack your suitcase and look for stuff. So now you can have the spinning tops because I love them and will have the kids spin them in a shallow box top that I "fancy up" for them. The color dots are pretty fabulous too. Wait, I love all of them.

Sing It and They Will Listen... Maybe

My friend Hadar (she teaches up the street from where I live and I almost died when I found out) is having a linky party about songs you use in your classroom. I am going over to her site (Miss Kindergarten to print out all the songs since I am so sick of mine!) What songs do you love to use. Be sure to link up with her and share! If you want this song you can download it here.

Dr Jean has many different transitional songs you might like. Try them!

Fill Your Day With Fun and Songs!

How does she do this so well? Listen to this song and I know it will quickly become a favorite in your classroom along with all the others. Picture 1,500 teachers doing this and having a blast. It was so hilarious and reminded us all to just have FUN! Breathe. Smile. Love the kids.

If you are not using her Cheers yet, you might want to add them to your repertoire because kids adore them.
Scroll down and check out her cheer cards. They are so clever.

They Take Dice Seriously In Vegas

Okay, who loves to use dice in their classroom? The vendors at I Teach K were selling all kinds of dice and I went a little crazy over the possibilities and my friend Val was not helping as she piled more into my basket!
Now what to do with them? Well here is one idea.

So a student rolls the die with the colored dot and another one with dots (1-6) and the child finds the matching numeral and makes it the color of the dot on the die. Easy-right?  I need easy.

Pocket Chart Pete

Did you buy a million little pocket charts in the Target Dollar Spot? I have been purchasing them for several years now and I love using them for a variety of purposes. Our kids love to play "teacher" and this provides an opportunity to do just that. I create "mini" sentence strips for them to build sentences that we have practiced whole group. They can read these with a pointer (bet you bought those too) to a partner in a soft voice. This also goes with other pieces in the big packet I have on TpT. I love how this teaches them concepts of print and ending a sentence with a period. I will be posting other ideas for those mini pocket charts soon because I love them so much. Don't you? Here is a free download of this activity.Click here and check out the other freebies!

A Week To Remember: I Teach K

I am back from the conference in Vegas and ready to share some of the highlights (and there were millions) of this fantastic week. First off, can you image being with 1200 kindergarten teachers? These women (a few men) come from all walks of life and from all over the country. Most of them came on their own dollar and were thrilled to be at this conference. Their generosity and kindness overwhelmed me in general since it was crowded and noisy. I made so many friends and although I am glad to be home I will never forget this week. I know how lucky I was to have this opportunity and I filled  an entire notebook with ideas.

Day #1: The keynote speaker at this conference was Dr. Jean Feldman and she was everything I had hoped for.
She was inspirational, silly, funny, and very aware of what teaching kindergarten in 2011 was like. She reminded us of the huge responsibility we had as educators of young children and begged us not to let anyone take the fun out of our classrooms. Honestly, she had us up and dancing every fifteen minutes and as my eyes scanned the room I got a lump in my throat. Everyone participated fully. We all turned and made a new friend and loved being a part of something so much bigger than our district problems, our crowded classrooms, or the pressure of meeting standards with 5 year olds. It made me stop and appreciate how lucky I was to be a kindergarten teacher surrounded by loving educators. Talk about a moment in time...

My friend and I walked over to just hug Dr. Jean and this kind lady (she is a little, bitty lady) suggested we take a picture and I almost died! She never rushed us through but gave us all the time in the world and then told me how much she loved my sandals! If you never meet another presenter in your lifetime- she is your person. She is a true kindergarten teacher who loved her job and cares deeply about the children in our care. Thanks Dr. Jean for making me laugh so hard, hug another teacher , and "Tooty Ta" till I dropped! If you do not know her website please leave mine and check it out: http://www.drjean.org and her blog is www.drjeanandfriends.blogspot.com
You can really appreciate her when you watch her You Tube Videos! I am putting her on my blogroll today as a favorite.

Dr. Jean reminded us of these Cheer Cards that celebrate children and good thinking. She suggested that you run them off, laminate them, and put them on a ring to remind yourself to change them up often. Kids love these but I need to mix it up more often! I am a big fan of "Kiss your brain" but the best is when a student says it to another child in the room! If you want these cards click here and go to her site.

I Am Back and My Brain Is Full of Kindergarten

I am back at my home in California tonight and my head is buzzing with all the things that I learned at this conference. I will tell you about it tomorrow. I learned that kindergarten teachers are the best people on this earth and they never stop loving the lives they touch. I am blessed to be part of this community and I need some sleep. I can't wait to share tomorrow. Good Night. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Vegas...Making All Kinds of New Friends

I am sending a quick note today from Vegas to let you now that this conference is fabulous and I have made new friends from all over the country. I had my picture taken with Dr. Jean and my heart was pounding just being so close to her and she turned to me and said, "Can you help me with a problem I'm having with my blog?" I almost died! I have met her many times but the power of this little blonde lady never deminishes for me! I will share lots of activities at the end of the week but so far the highlight for me was meeting another blogger and I went crazy when she told me who she was. I will post an adorable picture when I get home. So she says, "I can't believe you're kindergarten crayons!" and five more people turn around to see who I am. I was so embarrased but everyone was so sweet and there was a lot of hugging and chatting.
I took a blogging class the next morning and she shoots my blog up on her screen! Seriously, I could not believe it and I finally had the guts to tell her that was my blog. Today is Wednesday and I am going to meet Kim Adsit and listen to her presentation. I can't wait! So I will post photos when I get home...promise.
Miss being a part of Blog Land but I can't wait to share.
Fran

Change It Up!

Your students will enjoy doing an innovation on this story and drawing a picture of what Pete might have stepped in. A class book is always fun to make and usually ends up being  a class favorite that is read often. On the last page you can have the children sign their names as the authors! This is easy to create and we all need easy-right?

When I put all the pages together I just bind it with a strip of folded construction paper at the top. This is a cute way to practice reading and writing color words. For the kids that are not ready to write color words just use a yellow highlighter, write the word in the space and encourage the child to trace it with a pencil. Feel free to click here for this class book.