Boo!

Did I scare you???

I mean, I haven't been around much lately... you would've thought I was a GHOST!

Well, I'm glad you found me today! I whipped up some quick patterns cards to mimic the great ones I found at PreKinders here (scroll down to the bottom).

So get out your Halloween erasers from Target to extend these patterns!

When Life Gives You Lemons...

make... a pumpkin patch?

So I'm at school on Sunday getting ready for our pumpkin unit when I get a phone call from one of my team members. We had a field trip scheduled today (a Monday!) and she was calling to tell me...

they CANCELLED on us!

We were heading to a community pumpkin patch and they didn't have any small pumpkins to sell the kiddos because their shipment didn't come in! We collected the money, got the permission forms signed, sack lunches were already deducted from the kid's accounts, BUSES were already reserved (so hard to come by in our district!)... What do we do?!

We made our OWN pumpkin patch.

No hay bales... no scarecrows... no wooden-cut-out-photo-ops... but A LOT of fun!

We have a very quick thinker on our team that ran to Lowe's during our planning and FILLED her suv with pumpkins. We unloaded them in the field by the playground we were having lunch at and viola! Makeshift pumpkin patch.

Haha! She couldn't see out the back! 

Best of all, we put our heads together and came up with some clever rotations so that each class would have a turn to choose a pumpkin.

Mrs. Yandell graphed what jack-o-latern face each class wants to carve (pictures soon).

I paraphrased Pumpkin Circle to talk about the plant cycle (it has such great photos of pumpkin flowers!)

Mrs. Baros helped the children choose a pumpkin and Ms. Alvarado helped them organize a pumpkin rolling race!

It was a complete success! I am so proud of my team for pulling it together.

Musical Monday: ...or not!

Sorry, no music here. But at least I committed to making a post, right? No?

Well, I just have to share some of my favorite stories that I *actually* remember:

Lil' Miss Sassy: "Teacher, are you married?"
Me: "No, I am not."
Lil' Miss Sassy: "WHAT?"
Me: "Yep. I don't want to be married!"
Lil' Miss Sassy: "Ah! That is SO sad!"

Other Lil' Sassies regularly like to draw Ms. Bueno with a baby in her belly, with high heels, and with fancy dresses (I guess I haven't worn a dress yet!)
Ha!

Pigtails: (makes noises with her mouth).
Me:" ____, we're not making noises right now."
Pigtails: "Oh! We're not making noises right now?"
Me: "No. We need to be quiet in the hall."
Pigtails: "So no noises right now?"
Me: "No noises. Please put a bubble in your mouth."
Pigtails: "Oh! I can make them at home?"
Me: "Yes, you can make noises at home. Right now we need to be quiet."
Pigtails: "Oh, ok. (Says to a friend) I can make noises at home."

While responding to The Three Little Pigs...

Me: "Who can raise their hand and tell me a main event from this story? Yes, ___?"
Ponytail: "The wolf should'a been a STAR."
(Smile, Take a deep breath, And Relax!!! Conscious Discipline working for ya, right here!)

Work It!

Am I the only one who actually likes coming in on the weekends? Hear me out! I can get so much done when no one else is around!
Today's post is dedicated to teachers who work 7 days a week and work with what they've got! I found new places for things and rediscovered things I had! Yes, even after unpacking my room just a couple months ago I forget what I have.

I finally put together a little paper organizer the teacher before me had left behind at the old campus. When I put it on a covered storage tub next to my *tiny* office area it made such a cute and organized space! I finally have everything together!

Can you spy Pete? I talk to him throughout the day... I'm not crazy, I swear.

We practiced this math game this week but I had to use little boxes for the jewels. I finally found my drawstring bags as I was cleaning today! It makes counting the jewels that much more fun!

They're a little hard to see, but I have 12 bags filled with different combinations of 5 jewels!

And then I found these and I thought you could help me... What do I do with them???

Versatile Blogger Award!

Wow! What a nice award to be passed around! Jennifer at Herding Kats in Kindergarten was kind enough to think of me when paying forward the feel-goodness of being recognized.

Have you seen her cute new blog design? I love the freebies tab up at the top for easy access! Here's a quick note to my blogging buckaroo:

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you so much for giving ME a pick-me-up in a slow blogging month. I so appreciate you taking the time to comment on my posts lately. Please know that your comments remind me that I DO have something to offer the blogging world and empower me to keep it up. I hope we can connect more in the future!

Now for the rules of this award:

1.  Thank the person/people that nominated you and provide a link back to their blog. 

2. Share 7 things about yourself.

3.  Pass this award along to 15 other blogs that you have discovered

Let's move on to the second rule then!

Seven Things About the Kinder Kid

1. I could eat spaghetti every day. With sauce, with lemon and butter, with vegetables, with chicken, with cheese... if I needed to choose a last meal it would be with my mom's meatballs.

2. I am a huge gourmet soda fan. Yes, gourmet. Not the big corporate brands- little bottlers and international sodas are more fun. I visited the coolest store called the Soda Pop Stop in Los Angeles and brought back two boxes of bubbly beverages on the plane! I even met the owner, John Nese, who is the sweetest guy.

3. I have a "See Them Live Before They Stop Touring"list. I saw Beck and  the Yeah Yeah Yeahs at ACL. Cake for New Years '10 was so. much. fun. I need to catch Modest Mouse, Gorrilaz, and OkGo soon! Their tour dates have never matched my schedule. :(

4. I have made some pretty neat pieces of jewelry in the past couple of years. I'm making this Dr. Who beaded scarf for a friend, wish me luck!

(This is just the example... I hope I can get it right!)

5. I have 5 pairs of Vans... The yucky looking green and blue pair are 8 years old! I can't seem to part with them! I want so badly to get some in my school's colors but I'm pretty sure they would be frowned upon as too casual :(

6. I have a few nerdy celebrity host crushes... Alton Brown from Good Eats, Adam Savage from Mythbusters and Anthony Bourdain from No Reservations are such charming, hilarious, and my-kind-of-cerebral guys! (I think my boyfriend has similar qualities, too, heh!)

7. I hate walking barefoot on tile, I love sleeping with two blankets swaddling me, and I find it really hard to drink enough water during the day.

Next rule! 15 blogs that I want to pay this forward to:

My fellow teaching newbs!

Teaching and Life: At the Beach

Intern Teacher Tales

And my new friends!

The Kinder Life

A Teacher's Touch

Kindergarten Katy

And my Texan friends!

And excellent blogs all around!

Thanks again, Jennifer! :)

4 and 5 Jives!

Wrapping up our 0-5 unit tomorrow. We definitely need some review on 4 and 5 before we move on to patterns. YouTube to the rescue!

Laura from Kinder Kraziness has been sharing some cute Sesame Street videos and I stumbled upon this one from a few years ago! I LOVE Feist! What a cute take on the song!

Then I went with trusty old TMBG for a 5 video!

Musical Monday: Why did I make this commitment for Mondays?

Feeling a little uninspired for today's Musical Monday... and blogging in general, for that matter! I have so much catching up to do here, but I still feel like I'm always running around, no time to sit down at the computer! I did get a tip from Jennifer at Herding Cats in Kindergarten about these quick handwriting videos:

I made a channel on YouTube to keep 'em all together! Not very musical, but it'll have to do for today.