Tuesday Reading: "Pledge of Allegiance" Word Work

In my school district, all classes say "The Pledge of Allegiance" every day. I, for one, love this idea. However, the Pledge has a lot of fancy words for a five year old. It's important to me that my students not only remember the words, but also understand them. After thinking about the best way to convey the meaning of lots of "big words" to my students, I decided to spend some quality time working through the Pledge during our word work time in literacy block.

Starting the first week of school, I wrote the words "The Pledge of Allegiance" at the top of an anchor chart. I then announced to the class that we were going to learn to read the Pledge. While we were at the carpet together, I began writing, "I pledge." I stopped there and asked the students if anyone knew what the word "pledge" meant. Of course, they did not. I explained to them that a pledge is like making a big promise--even more important than a pinky promise! We stopped there until the next day, when we added allegiance. We went on adding one or two words at a time until we got all the way through the Pledge this week. Here's our finished anchor chart.

We'll spend a few days reading over the Pledge to practice the words and make sure we have it just right/ Then, to celebrate Constitution Day, we'll have a Pledge Party! Stay tuned for more details on that. If you're interested in going through the pledge this way, here is a list of my kindergarten-friendly definitions.

• I pledge--a big promise
• allegiance--always be loyal, just like a good friend
• to the flag--we are making our promise to the flag
• of the United States of America--lots of countries have flags, but our promise is only to our flag
• and to the republic--we get to have a say in what happens to us, just like voting for which brain break we'll do next
• for which it stands--the flag makes people think of America and freedom
• one nation--we all work together like one big team
• under God--America is important, but it's ok to put God first
• indivisible--no one can ever split up our team. We'll be together forever!
• with liberty--you get to decide what you like and what you want to do: it's freedom
• and justice--everything is fair, which means you get what you need when you need it (We had already discussed fair/equal about a week before, so we were able to connect the two lessons.)
• for all--you, me, and all the other people around us

Do you have any ideas for improving on this? Feel free to comment and share! And as always, keep it class-y, ya'll.

Monday Management: Patriot of the Day

In preparation for Constitution Day and Patriot Day (9-11), I have been working patriotic themes into our classroom through word work (just wait til tomorrow!), brain breaks, and fun read aloud books. I've noticed that my students have become fixated on the flag. Certainly not a bad problem to have, so I decided to run with it. (Please note that Bill O'Reilly may have provided some of the inspiration for this idea.)

My classroom now features a "Patriot of the Day". This privileged individual is chosen based on their behavior the day before. A kindergarten patriot is someone who listens, follows directions, shows kindness, helps others, and generally proves that they are going above and beyond to do their very best. The Patriot of the Day finds the small flag in their pencil pal in the morning, as well as seeing their name on the Patriot Sign.

The sign is laminated and attached to my whiteboard with magnets so I can easily change the name each day.

You may notice that I referred to the Patriot of the Day as a "privileged individual." Allow me to explain. One of our favorite brain breaks during the school day is listening to "You're a Grand Ole Flag" (follow this link for our favorite version) while marching around the room patriotically.

The Patriot of the Day has the esteemed honor of leading the line and carrying the flag. The kids eat this up! They're all trying their best each day to earn a turn as Patriot. I definitely recommend trying this in your classroom. Let me know what your students think! And as always, keep it class-y, ya'll.

Friday Surprise Day: A Pep Talk from Kid President

Your homework is this: What do you want to teach the world? Thanks for the pep talk, Kid President!

Thursday 'Rithmatic: Count Around

At this point in the school year, most of our math instruction happens during calendar time. However, it's fun to capture a few spare minutes (Rare, I know.) and spend them on a fun count around activity. Here's how it works.

Have all your students sit down in a circle on the carpet or in another group meeting area. Start by counting to ten. Each student says one number (The first student says one, the second student says two, and so on.) as they take turns going around the circle. When the number ten is reached, everyone jumps up, shouts "WOOHOO!", spins around in a circle, and sits back down. The next child then starts the process over with one. After counting to ten is mastered, build to 15, 20, 25, and higher. It's a great way for students to practice counting, counting on, and working together. I enjoy this activity because it takes very little time and it gets kids excited about numbers.

You can make adaptations for this game in your classroom by changing the response to reaching the goal number or saying the alphabet or spelling sight words instead of counting. Make it your own! In the meantime, keep it class-y, ya'll.

Wednesday Writing: Draw Your Sentence

Disclaimer: Until I take a picture of the anchor chart that corresponds with this lesson, this may make absolutely no sense. My apologies, friends.

Even though the school year is just beginning, I'm ready to jump in and introduce my students to some early writing topics. It seems like every year I have a kiddo with a birthday in the first couple weeks of school. This gives me a ready-made writing topic. Buckle up and off we go!

I begin by telling my students that they already have the most important thing they need for writing: ideas. My job as their teacher will be to help their ideas travel from their brain to their pencils so all those important thoughts can be written. I suggest we begin with birthdays because every kid in kindergarten has a birthday! We count the number of words in our sentence (I usually tell the kids to start with 3-6 words in a sentence--no more words than years you are old!) and write that number at the top of our page. Then, we write down the sounds we hear in the words, leaving a 2 finger space to separate each word. Finally, the important part: drawing your sentence!

At the beginning of kindergarten, the majority of written communication takes place through drawing. I encourage my students to create one picture for each word in their sentence. For example, if I was drawing the sentence "I love birthdays," I would draw a picture of myself to represent the word I, a heart to represent love, and a cake with candles to represent birthdays. I promise to take a picture of this soon and add it to the post for clarity. For now, just smile and nod. :)

Share your writing ideas by commenting below! And as always, keep it class-y, ya'll!



This lesson relates to:
CCSS ELA-Literacy W.K.2 Use a combination of drawing, dictating, and writing to compose informative/explanatory texts in which they name what they are writing about and supply some information about the topic.

Tuesday Reading: I Can Be A Friend!

This year, my class includes the precious challenge of a handicapped student. He is mainstreamed for the duration of the school day, but spends a great deal of that time engaging in activities different from what the rest of the class is doing. We have done several lessons on different learners having different needs. This lesson, however, focuses on how we are all alike.

The book My Friend Isabelle by Eliza Woloson tells the story of Charlie and Isabelle. Isabelle is a child with Down Syndrome. Although Charlie doesn't have Down Syndrome, they are the best of friends and do many fun things together. The story is told from Charlie's perspective. He explains how he and Isabelle are alike and different and tells about their favorite things to do together.

After reading this story, we brainstormed about who likes being treated with kindness. We then created an anchor chart listing ideas of ways to be kind to others. Here's what my kiddos came up with:

I'm pretty proud of their ideas, especially for it being so early in the school year.

My Friend Isabelle is a precious book--I would recommend it for any early elementary classroom. Check it out! And as always, keep it class-y, ya'll!



This lesson relates to:
CCSS ELA-Literacy RL.K.10 Actively engage in group reading activities with purpose and understanding.

CCSS ELA-Literacy SL.K.1 Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups.

Monday Management: Bathroom Breaks

Our school district is taking part in a new teacher evaluation program. I'm going to (attempt to) wait to form an opinion until the end of the year to give these folks a fair chance. That being neither here nor there, let's cut to the chase. The evaluation crew has decreed that group bathroom breaks are going the way of the dodo bird, even for kindergarten. Welcome to the new normal, friends!

For this new potty plan to cause minimal damage, I came up with a few necessities to maintain sanity in my classroom.

1. Everyone goes to the bathroom (2 by 2, like getting on the ark) first thing in the morning, right before lunch, and right before special class.
2. Other than these trips, options for bathroom breaks must be limited. No taking off just because you don't love our current activity!
3. Carpet time and calendar math time are not times for restroom breaks. You'll just have to hold it. (See explanation on item 2).
4. Cleanliness is top priority, immediately followed by don't-you-dare-get in-trouble-in-the-hallway.

Since it's early in the school year, I decided to give my students three chances to use the restroom before a consequence takes effect. Later in the year, I may lower this to two chances or remove one of the built in bathroom breaks.

To put the new plan into effect, I began by writing each students name on a popsicle stick. (Thanks for saving those, Mom!) All of the popsicle sticks start the day in a cup labeled "0". The first time a student goes to the restroom, they must move their stick to the cup labeled "1". The second trip sends your stick to "2", the third to "3", and the fourth is a clip down on our behavior clip chart. So far, no one has gotten that far. Yay! Here's a look at the whole set up.

After a brief Pinterest session one evening, I discovered a perfect accessory to create bathroom break bliss in my classroom. Ladies and gentleman, I give you...the new and improved hall pass.

Please note that this is not an original idea. According to the link on Pinterest, it came from 3rd Grade Thoughts. I'll go ahead and explain it here for simplicity's sake. Decorate two bottles of hand sanitizer--one boy's, one girl's--to serve as "hall passes". When a student needs to use the restroom, he places the hall pass on his desk or table area. Once he returns, he uses the hand sanitizer and returns the bottle to its home with the bathroom sticks. Genius, right? 

I'll keep you posted on our restroom rodeo. In the meantime, keep it class-y, ya'll.