Monday Monday

I always dread going back to work after a break... Ok not always, but I think, man I enjoyed not worrying about getting this or that done, and I really enjoy wearing sweats or pjs or yoga pants. all.day.long.  However the second I saw my kiddos this morning, I had missed them!  It was lovely to see them and even better when they attack you with hugs.  There is nothing better.  I think the break did them good and I know it did good for me.  We had some great listeners today (YAY).  We wrote in our Monday Journals as we do every Monday, but instead of writing about our weekends, we wrote about what we did over break.  I am so amazed at how far my kinders have come.  I always forget that they came in, most could write their name, (a few couldn't) and now they are writing sentences. I love it!  We work on adding detail to our drawings as well as to our writing.  I love that my kinders are getting better at stretching out words and being able to read what they are writing (often without their help).  I didn't take pictures of it today, but it was great.

I have a unique situation in my school due to funding and such, in which some of my kiddos are half day students while others are full day.  This can be tricky and its always a juggling act of getting everything in.  One thing I do in the afternoon is centers. Oh.My.Goodness do my littles love centers.  Every so often we have centers in the morning too, and on special days I make sure to include the majority of stuff in the morning so everyone can participate.  Anyway, back to centers.  I often make my own centers (I have since I started teaching) but have also recently splurged a bit on TPT.  I don't know about your kinders, but boy do mine like using the dotters. There is something about those dotters that they just love.  Once activity I started last year is dotting and graphing.  I have a few varieties, but this week we are dotting sight words and graphing the amount of each.  When explaining centers I pulled this one out and you could hear the excitement and the "Yes!" coming from the kids. It was pretty cute. (click on the picture to get a copy for yourself).

I have recently created a reindeer version and a Christmas tree version (which I realize won't help now that it is January, but help yourself and tuck them away for December. :) )  Stay tuned for more versions (math and literacy), as I make them, I will share.