All I really need to know about how to live and what to do and how to be I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom is not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sand pile at school.
These are the things I learned:
Share everything.
Play fair.
Don't hit people.
Put things back where you found them.
Clean up your own mess.
Don't take things that aren't yours.
Say you're sorry when you hurt somebody.
Wash your hands before you eat.
Flush.
Warm cookies and milk are good for you.
Live a balanced life-learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and work everyday some.
Take a nap every afternoon.
When you go out in the world, watch for traffic, hold hands and stick together.
Be aware of wonder.
Everything you need to know is in there somewhere!
Poem by Robert Fulghum

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Wordle


At Wordle you can type any words that you want into the text box after you click in the "Create" link. Once all the words you want are typed in the text box, hit the "GO" button at the bottom left and your words will be beautifully arranged for you! But it gets better! You can also change the color, position and font of your words! K108 played with this today by typing in our sight words. We had a blast! Check it out for yourself!

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Teddy Bear Clinic


The teddy bear clinic was a great success! The children had a great time learning about taking care of themselves, how to call 911 in an emergency and that the doctor really isn't that scary. We did have some beat-up bears, though, and thank goodness for those kind nurses that helped us fix them right up!

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Honest Abes


Hahaha....I got such a chuckle out of this activity! We talked about Abraham Lincoln today in kindergarten and all the great things he did as President. We watched an animated Discovery UnitedStreaming video about him, did a slide puzzle of his face on our SmartBoard and made our own Abraham Lincoln masks! The kids enjoyed it so much that some of them insisted on eating snack while holding their mask up to their faces! Then at the end of the day we walked to the busses wearing our Abe Lincoln faces! We looked like a parade of Presidents! Check back soon for more about George Washington and our brand new president, Barack Obama. We are also going to talk about what we THINK a president does, what we KNOW a president does and then we are going to talk about what we would do as president. I am excited to hear what a 6-year-old has to say about this!

Happy Valentine's Day!


I thought that their mailboxes were so cute! I love how creative and different they all turned out! We had lots of fun at our Valentine's Day party on Friday. We passed out our Valentine's, played some online Valentine's Day games on our new SmartBoard, watched a Discovery UnitedStreaming video about the history and traditions of the holiday, made that nice poem Valentine for our moms and dads and began to make our Valenine's into a keepsake book. I made all my adorable Valentine's that the children gave me into a book, decorated it and am getting it laminated as we speak. After I get it back it will be in our class library to enjoy for years to come!

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Hip Hip Hooray! 100 Days of School Today!

BubbleShare: Share photos - Easy Photo Sharing

We have been waiting for this all year long and Thursday was finally the big day-the 100th day of kindergarten! Even with the two hour delay we still got some of our activities accomplished. We made 100 day glasses, made 100 handprints, shared our
100 day collection and glued it to a 100 piece grid!

Monday, February 2, 2009

Webinar with Robin Moore

BubbleShare: Share photos - Find great Clip Art Images.

Today we spent the morning listening to award-winning storyteller and author Robin Moore speak about the history and legends behind Groundhog's Day. We used Elluminate web conferencing software, the Internet, and our new projection system called a SmartBoard(which was graciously awarded to K108 by the Keystone Education Foundation for a grant I wrote this past November) to join the webinar along with over 100 other classrooms across the state. The webinar was sponsored the the PA Department of Education. I hope to find more age-appropriate Webinars for us to participate in, and we are all very excited about the endless ways that we can use our new SmartBoard in everyday instruction.
Robin Moore is an award-winning author and storyteller who grew up in and still lives in the mountains of Pennsylvania. He comes from a long line of storytellers. He has actually visited Keystone Elementary in the past to share his stories and books. As we all know, Phil did indeed see his shadow this morning so that means the dreaded SIX MORE WEEKS of this already loooooong winter. Think spring anyway!