Five For Friday: September 11th

Thank you Doodle Bugs Teaching for the wonderful Five for Friday and giving me a push to get off my lazy bum and actually blog! 

So, this happened this week. I don't even have a cool story to tell from it. I was walking... and this big mean hole jumped out and got in my way and BAM... broken foot. 

Crutches+Teaching Kindergarten=Olympic Training

 But, thanks to a sweet co-worker, I am borrowing a knee scooter, and it has made everything so much more do-able and pleasant!  

I am a HUGE fan and advocate for Whole Brain Teaching! If you do not know what it is. click the link, google it, youtube search it, and then do it. It will change your life! Part of WBT is the Scoreboard Game. Students receive happy points or frowny points in return for procedures executed correctly or poorly. In Kindergarten, I have found that the "Happy Face/Sad Face" model works for about 2 weeks, then they get bored. I have found that if I make it personal for them, then they really take more ownership of it. Each Monday I ask them what they want our Happy Side to be. This week, they chose Minions. It was too funny all week when I would say, "Minions get a point! One Second Dance Party!" I just kept picturing a group of minions having a dance party and cheering all at once. I love how creative the little Kinder brain can be :) 

This week was the first week we were INDEPENDENT on our Morning Work! HALLELUJAH! That 15 minutes to get the day started is precious, and actually getting to take advantage of it and prep and take care of folders and notes while they work independently is priceless! The Morning Work we are currently using is my Back to School Workbook you can find in my TPT store.

During Writer's Workshop this week our big focus was "Turtle Talking" or stretching out sounds of tricky words to spell them. This is by far my favorite Launching Writer's Workshop lesson for the unit! It is so fun to see them make the connection and build their own confidence and start spelling words they never thought they could. I use the Mentor Text: The Tortoise and the Hare to teach them how turtles move through life slowly and that is not a bad thing. Sometimes it can help us, especially when we are trying to write a story!

They crawl around the room like turtles and sound out different animal words that would normally be hard for them, and I write the letters they say they hear. I got a kick out of PANDU!

This verse has been my anthem this week. God has been throwing a lot at Jordan and I lately. The start of school, fertility treatments, finances, and this lovely broken foot of mine has got us really anxious lately. But, after this whole foot thing the Lord really showed himself to me with this verse. There is no reason we need to carry our anxieties and fears on our own, there is a God that is willing and waiting to carry them for me. And that is pretty cool.

God Bless Y'all! Have a WONDERFUL weekend! And don't forget to stop by Doodle Bugs Teaching to check out all of the other great 5 for Fridays!