A new year means new math games!

Hello everyone!

So, school year 2012/2013 has officially started with a bang.  I am teaching a new grade this year, but fortunately I have some experience in that I taught Kindergarten two years ago.  Even with the experience, it is a whole new world.  Last June, my firsties left me, and I could truly call them 2nd graders.  Fast forward to September 2012.  The kids coming into my classroom were about 2 years younger than my old class.  I knew I had my work cut out for me.  Although young, I have an amazing group of 22 Kindergartners.  We are currently working on rules and expectations, consequences and positive reinforcement.  With every new year, comes new and different motivators.  I have taken the requests of my new students and of other teachers, and I have been able to create a handful of "paper and pencil" math Roll and Colors.  So, as always promised.  Here they are for free.  Please feel free to download them and have your children or students enjoy these fun motivating number games.  These games were made for Kindergarten age students, but please use them with whoever you feel will benefit!

Parent Conferences and Sign Up Genius

Introducing SIGN UP GENIUS.  Rewind to 2011.  The last time parent-teacher conferences were coming around, I began to look for my sign up list.  After about 30 min, I started to panic.  I could not find my sign-up sheet anywhere!!!  I had no clue which parent was coming when.  I had no idea what time I was starting and ending.  I had every right to panic.  So, a couple days later, still no sign-up sheet.  I proceeded to email all of my parents, telling them how I have lost this very important document.  I asked them to email me back with the time they signed up for.  For the most part, parents kindly replied and helped me piece together my order.  There were a few however, who were depending on me to remind them what time they signed up for.  So... fast forward to year 2012.  Curriculum Night went flawless, and all the parents who attended, signed up for a conference.  As I cleaned up from the night, i told myself I would put this in such a special spot, that I could never loose it.  Knowing me, however, you know there is no such special spot for me!  So.. intro SIGN UP GENIUS!  This is a wonderful, free resource that lets you create a sign-up sheet. This is a link that is sent to the parents and they can go to my page and click on the time they would like to have a conference.  Knowing that most of my parents already signed up for a conference, I used this as a confirmation of their time.  For the 8 families that did not sign up, they could see the open times that were available, click, and sign up for a conference.  Such a GENIUS idea.  I couldn't possibly ever lose this sign-up!  Thank goodness for technology!

If you are a parent in my classroom and you have not signed up, or you want to confirm your time, please follow this link to my Sign-up Genius page!

Miss Zakar's Parent-Teacher Conference Sign Ups

THEY EARNED 10 DAZZLES!!!!

 CONGRATULATIONS!!! To all the boys and girls in room 8.  I use a whole group behavior management system called Dazzles.  In order to receive a Dazzle, the whole group must be caught doing something good.  This can be following rules or walking quietly in the hall, getting a compliment from another teacher, or showing awesome behavior in the classroom.  Every time I catch them doing the right thing, they receive a dazzle.  When they get 10 dazzles. they are able to have a Dazzle Vote.  Here they learn that majority rules and that if you don't get your choice, that it is no big deal and maybe we will choose your activity next time.  So, the Dazzle Vote took place on Thursday morning.  The votes were in!  They voted to have a movie day!  They were all really excited.  So, I rented The Lorax.  All the kids were super excited.  We watched half of it in the morning and then we were able to watch the rest in the afternoon.  The kids are moving and grooving with getting used to my classroom rules and expectations.  They are so amazing that they have already earned 2 more dazzles.  Now we only have 8 left in order to get another dazzle vote!  I'm confident we will be able to reach 10 dazzles very quickly!

All the children enjoyed the Lorax and we talked about why they were able to watch this movie and what types of behavior I saw that made me give them a dazzle.  We reviewed our rules and decided what we needed to work on as a group to earn more dazzles. 

Stay tuned to see how quickly the kids earn another 10 Dazzles!

A Snapshot of Kindergarten in Room 8

It was so nice to see those who attended Curriculum Night.  Those that did not attend Curriculum Night, it is totally understandable, so no worries.  I did not hand out anything during that night, so those who didn't make it to the presentation, don't count on anything coming home.  However, those who did not attend will need to sign up for a Conference.  I will be sending the open times to all the families who did not come to curriculum night, tomorrow.  Please email me back with your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd choice.  I will do my best to accomodate everyone.  I have gotten permission from all families except for 1 to post pictures of the children.  I will do my best to keep this child out of the pictures until i get full permission.  So, enjoy the pictures of your children working hard in Kindergarten.

Also, please remember that tomorrow, Monday, is the last day to place orders on my scholastic website.  The directions on how to do this are in the post previous to this one.  Check it out!  Great books for great prices and I will be able to get more books for our library with all the bonus points.

Lastly, I have put together a page of kid friendly websites.  These sites are perfect for Kindergarten age children.  They are both academic and fun.  If your child is looking for an interesting site, bring up this page I am about to share and they can choose from a dozen sites.  Click on the web address provided below!

http://www.tizmos.com/sara.e.zakar

Here are some pics to give you an idea of what is going on in my classroom.  ENJOY!

Scholastic Book Order Information

SCHOLASTIC BOOK ORDERS

CLICK HERE FOR BOOK ORDERS! 

They also have best picks per grade and the book wizard to find 

books that are just right for your child!

HERE ARE DIRECTIONS FROM THE SCHOLASTIC SITE

Online Ordering Information
Web address: scholastic.com/bookclubs
Class Activation Code: HD64Z
Please place your order by: 
Monday, September 24th 

Dear Parent,

Please take some time to explore the flyer with your child. Make your selections and return the order form to me, along with your payment.

Or, give online ordering a try!

It’s fast, easy, and you get instant access to thousands of additional titles plus online-only specials and discounts. Best of all, we earn a FREE book for the classroom library every time a parent places an order online.*

Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs and log in using your user name and password.

If it’s your first time ordering online, use the Class Activation Code shown above to get started.

Online ordering offers you several advantages:

• Larger selection: Choose from thousands of titles, and more detailed product information than in the printed flyer.
  
• Exclusive online-only offers: Enjoy discounts available only on our Web site.
  
  
• Easy payment: Use your credit card! No need to worry about printed forms or sending checks to school.

Go to www.scholastic.com/bookclubs now to get started.


Thank you,

A great start to a new year~

Hello everyone,

    Welcome to my blog for the school year 2012-2013.  Although my web address is still talesfromak-1classroom.blogspot.com.  I am no longer a k-1 looping teacher.  I am now a Full Day Kindergarten teacher.  This year has started with a bang.  Thank you to all parents who attended Curriculum Night.  I hope that you enjoyed my presentation, and I hope to find a way to put my presentation on this blog.  We have been very busy in room 8 this past week.  We are getting to know each other, learning each others name, and learning the rules and expectations of my classroom.  This is something we will work on for the next couple of weeks.  The children are all very excited to earn "Dazzles"  This is a while group positive reinforcement system that I use to shape our classroom behavior.  The children earn dazzles when I catch the entire class doing the right thing,  The other day, one of my students asked me how they could loose a "Dazzle"?  I told him, "I will NEVER take a dazzle away!"  "We all make mistakes and we are learning to make good choices, so when we are doing the right thing, I will recognize our class by giving us a Dazzle."  This made them very excited.  As of right now, we have earned 7 dazzles.  We only need 3 more dazzles to earn our "Dazzle Vote"  This is where the kids vote to get a special surprise.  Some of the past choices were; pajama day, crazy hair day, movie day, stuffed animal day, board game day, etc.  The kids are very excited to earn their last three Dazzles.  I am sure we will be able to achieve this during the week.

     I have many pictures of the children during the first week.  However, I need each parent's permission to show their child on my site.  I am planning on sending an email out asking permission.  I will ask you to email me back saying Yes! or No!.  I do have some pictures of the classroom that I would love to post.  Those parents who were not able to attend curriculum night, this is a sneak peak of the classroom.  I also want to let you know that those who didn't attend,  have to sign up for conference.  I will be sending home the open times this week!

     So, I hope you enjoy these pictures of our classroom and I can't wait to see all of you at conferences.  Oh, and one last thing;  During the classroom visits, I had a Play Dough sign up!  This meant that the parent would make home made play dough.  I still have NOT received September dough.  I am positive that a parent has signed up for this.  So, if you signed up, please send in this play dough as soon as possible.  The kids would be so appreciative.  I hope everyone had a nice weekend, and stay tuned for more pictures of your children learning!  Happy New Year!  L'Shana Tova!