I don't know about you ... but I have an absolute love/hate relationship with my bulletin boards.  I absolutely LOOVE thinking of things for the kids to create for our boards... but I DO NOT love the fact that it can take me hours to take them down and put them up.  A huge part probably has to do with the fact that I'm vertically challenged and have to use a step ladder to put anything up!

Even though it is time consuming, I love to change my bulletin boards at least once a month because both the students and their families take great pride in seeing the children's work up.  Plus, I am a huge advocate for creating a warm, friendly, positive learning environment and this is one way to achieve that!

One of the best things I've ever done was to plan out what I will have up on at least one bulletin board for every month before school even starts.  Having a "rough draft" ready to go in August always helps me organize and plan my lessons better.  PLUS it is a huge time saver and I'm not scrambling to think of what cute things to put up.

I do my best to have a bulletin board/wall space for every subject (student writer's wall, math wall, art and writing/social studies/science connection).  I think it is one of the best ways to show what the class is learning!

This month I will be putting up one of my all time favorite bulletin boards.

I really love this one because I'm able to touch upon so many standards and it's so stinkin' cute!  The kids are able to practice fine motor skills by threading yarn through the holes of the stockings.  I take pictures of the kids wearing cute hats/headbands and glue them on so that it becomes a great keepsake.  We also do some great interactive writing in small groups (I'll have to do another post about how I do small group interactive writing...but I digress) and ask Santa questions about what we have always wondered about him (kids are so used to telling Santa what they want that I wanted to emphasize the importance of getting to know Santa vs. just asking for material things from him).  Those writings are what I put on my bulletin board.  We also do individual letters and I "mail" those out in time for the kids to all get a response from Santa.

Here is another bulletin board I love to put up.

With everything going on in the world right now, I think this is an important topic to discuss even more so.  I love to read Todd Parr's "The Peace Book" as well as "What Does Peace Feel Like?" by Vladimir Radunsky.  In "What Does Peace Feel Like?" children from all over the world use their five sense to describe what they think would look, feel, smell, taste, and sound like.  It is always amazing what the children come up with.  I let them try to phonetically write what they want to say and then type it out correctly for the bulletin board.  How adorable and profound is it for a child to say "Peace is cats and dogs laying in a bed?!"  This is why I love teaching kindergarten and first grade!

Because I also talk about various holidays, I also like to put art work that reflects the different cultures we discuss at this time.  I like to read "The Legend of the Poinsettia" by Tomie Depaola and do this fun painting craft with my kids.  I can't remember who I got this idea from...it was way before pinterest but I do remember seeing it on someone's blog over 10 years ago!  I plan to do it again this year and I promise I will have better, updated photos to come!

Well...that pretty much sums up what I have planned for bulletin boards this month.  If I get to do something new...which is quite possible I'll be sure to blog about it soon!  Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

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Cherry

I absolutely love this time of year in Kindergarten.  I know it can seem crazy fitting in holiday performances, making parent gifts, doing fun crafts and of course sticking to your academic curriculum....but I just looooove it!

The kids have been in school a couple of months and the class is getting in a groove and it is just the perfect time to reinforce the concept of being "one family" that accepts and celebrates all of our diversity, cultures, and traditions.

Since Hanukkah is starting on December 6 this year, I thought I would blog about what I like to do in my class to introduce Hanukkah and how I do it in a way that still meets common core!

When we get back from Thanksgiving Break, here are the things that I will be doing in class.

1) Years ago, I stumbled upon an amazing book that reviews colors, numbers, counting and Hanukkah.  It is called "Sammy Spider's First Hanukkah."  You can find it on Amazon here.  I will be using this book as a Math Read Aloud to tie it into counting and cardinality and then doing a craftivity.  You can find the craftivity here at my tpt store.  I love doing the craft on 12 X 18 black construction paper.  The one below is on 9 X 12 for those of you who don't have access to 12 X 18 paper.  I just love how the colors pop against black!

I know this is a bad photo!  It's from over 10 years ago!  I'll definitely update with a better photo when we do this next week!

2)  I also love to teach the kids how to play the dreidel game which I'm sure many of you do as well.  This year, I decided to buy dreidels instead of making them.  The paper and pencil ones never spin very well and I found an awesome deal on amazon here.   I know 100 dreidels may seem like a lot but I thought it would be fun to have enough for the whole class to play during a lesson, as well as set it up as centers, and then have some left over to give as gifts.  When we play the game, we will be using a variety of things such as m & m's, plastic gold coins, marbles, gems, etc to play.  I know they aren't made of wood and are plastic but they spin really well, are colorful and bright, and are a great price!

3) And of course....I always love finding an excuse to eat!  We will be doing a taste test to decide which Hanukkah food we like the most.  I'll have the kids try latkes (from trader joe's) with sour cream, with apple sauce, and plain and see which one they like the best.  As soon as I finish making the survey sheet for this activity I will post it here as a freebie!

4) Some great read alouds that I always enjoy reading for Hanukkah are listed below:

Well I hope you all enjoy the rest of this Thanksgiving break!  Be sure to come back and check my blog to see if I can really do what I have planned which is to celebrate holiday traditions in the United States (Kwanzaa and Christmas), Mexico (Las Posadas), Sweden (Santa Lucia), and the Philippines (the country that celebrates Christmas the longest!).  I know...I'm crazy!  But like I said...I just love this time of year!!!!

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Cherry

Hey all!

Where does the weekend go?  It seems impossible to fit it all in!  I'm trying really hard to find a balance with everything that is important to me and somehow...it just never seems like I can get that balance right?!  I saw some people posting on instagram about how Ron Clark says something about if you try to juggle 3 plates and they fall...well then they fall...and you just gotta move on.  That pretty much sums up how I'm always feeling lol

Anyway, I haven't done a great job with keeping up with my posts but I wanted to give a little thank you to all of you who do come and check out what I'm up to.   It isn't much but in case you'd like it...here are some freebies for a couple things I made up this week for my class.  I just haven't had enough time to create for tpt lately...or to even blog about all the crazy things I'm doing in class but here are a few things I've managed to make.  Hope you all like it!

Have a great week everyone!  Here's to hoping Monday isn't so "Manic" and that we are all able to balance things a bit better in our lives this week!

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Cherry

Every year I dread teaching in the 90 to 100 degree weather that August, September, and October usually bring to Southern California!  This year..I thought...I might as well take advantage of the heat and teach my kinders about solar energy!

Since NGSS is rolling out in my district this year, I've been thinking of ways to incorporate them into what I'm already teaching and BAM!  It hit me!  I can incorporate NGSS K-PS3-1 (make observations to determine the effect of sunlight on the Earth's surface) into my Colors unit.  You see...I thought I'd introduce the concept of solar energy by teaching the kids how light absorption and heat absorption work with colors.

Here's what I did to introduce the idea of solar energy:

1) We watched a youtube video about light absorption and reflection.  I only showed the part about the lights and gummy bears.
2)  Then, I discussed how light reflects off of white and how it gets absorbed by black.  I used the terms reflects/bounces and absorbed/sucked into to make it easier for my kinders to get.  I also made sure to illustrate what happens with drawings.  I also linked it to why you feel more hot when you where dark colored vs. light colored clothing.
3) Last, I had the kids test out the information we just learned.  We predicted what would happen if we put a chocolate chip on a white piece of paper and what would happen if we put it on a black piece of paper.  Of course...I didn't have time to make a cook graph to chart our predictions or to make a paper for us to record our predictions...but I will def do this next year!  After we discussed what we thought and why, I had them work in partners.  One partner had a white square paper.  The second partner had a black square paper.  We went outside and tested out our predictions.  It was awesome to see the kids get so excited when the chocolate chip melted faster on the black paper vs the white paper.
4) And of course....we recorded what happened!

I love how my students really understood the concept of how light reflects and gets absorbed by doing something as simple as melting chocolate on paper!  

And of course...what better way to learn how people use this to help them create solar energy than to make solar ovens!  The kids were able to apply what they learned to make some awesome solar ovens!

I loved how I was able to incorporate NGSS and STEM with this activity.  What made it even more fun was having our 4th/5th grade buddies help the kids design their solar ovens.  The students all had a blast and couldn't believe how much solar heat the ovens were able to trap and create!  And of course...who wouldn't love getting to eat a S'MORE at school!

Here's how we were able to do these at school:

1) I sent out a sign up sheet through bloomz to get graham crackers, marshmallows, mini chocolate hershey candy bars, plastic wrap, and foil.  And of course parent volunteers.  Keep in mind though...I only had one parent come so this is totally do-able without the parent help.  I would just precut the openings to the boxes so that you don't have to run around cutting boxes during the activity.

2) Instead of using pizza boxes, I just collected old shoe boxes and my many amazon boxes and had the kids make one solar oven for every 4 students (two kinders and two 4th/5th grade students).  That way, I only needed about 12 boxes for my 24 students.  I wanted to provide a variety of boxes for the kids so that they could really think about how they wanted to design their ovens.  It wouldn't really be a STEM lesson if I told them exactly how to make the solar ovens now would it?

4)  Before I sent the kids out to build, I showed them pictures of various solar ovens so that they could see they come in all shapes and sizes.  I also reviewed the concepts that would help them with their designs.  (Things like black gets hotter than white, foil reflects heat, the plastic wrap can help trap in the heat, etc.)

5) I laid out the materials in one area so that the kids could come up and get what they needed as they were designing the ovens.

6) I saved the food items for last and made sure to have an adult pass out what they needed.  I wanted to make sure all the kids had enough supplies and we all know how tempting it is to sneak in an extra chocolate here and there :)

7) The kids set the ovens outside on benches (to avoid ants) and we let them stay out there for 3 hours.  The kinders checked on them once every hour and were amazed how quickly the chocolate melted!

8) While we waited for our buddies to come and eat s'mores, I had the kids draw a picture of their solar oven design and what they observed happening in their ovens.  Then, they could either draw or write (using their phonetic spelling) what they learned about solar energy.

9) Right before lunch, the 4th/5th graders came back and we all ate our s'mores!  

10) Lastly, I let the older kids take the solar ovens home and they were soooooo excited!  I never thought I'd see so many older kids excited to take home chocolate covered boxes with wrinkled foil and saran wrap!

One of the many solar ovens the kids designed!  I let the kids decide if they wanted their chocolate on top or under the marshmallows.  It was interesting to see what they did!

Even though I got a lot of different answers like "The sun creates heat, we can cook food with the sun, we can trap heat, etc." almost all the kids wrote the sentence we did together.  But I'm not complaining!  I'm just so happy the kids enjoyed the lesson and got to do some hands on learning!

Next up....designing something that will reduce how hot it gets when we are outside! NGSS K-PS3-2!!!  Now that we know what happens when we trap/absorb the heat and we know how to do that...I think it will be easier to figure out how to design something that will reduce/reflect the heat.  I can't believe I'm saying this but I'm kinda glad it will be 90-100 degrees next week!  

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Cherry

Every June I seem to end the year completely drained and ready to forget all things related to school!  And then about one week into summer break and I'm already thinking of how I can make things better...do more...and basically be the "super hero teacher" I've always wanted to be but never quite get it right.

It's funny isn't it?  How no matter how hard we work and or how much we sacrifice we always feel like it's never enough?!

I had a goal to really invest in my blog, social media, and TpT store and I'm finding it all a little bit overwhelming.  Are any of you in the same boat?

Come Friday...all I want to do is spend time with my daughter and husband and yet....at midnight...I find myself sneaking away to FINALLY make a new blog post!!!

I'm sorry I don't have any cool pictures of what I've been doing the last two weeks but I promise I'll have something up by the end of the month!

For now, I hope you all are surviving these first couple of months back at school.  Especially all of my kindertribe!  These first two months are brutal aren't they?  Well...who am I kidding...it isn't until January that Kinders start to get in the groove...but boy is it worth it!

Anyway...here is a little freebie for you all!  I revamped my color survey I've used for years and wanted to share it with all of you!  I also have a free RED resource at my tpt store if you need something new for your color unit!

Take care all of my fellow awesome and exhausted teachers out there!   Let's enjoy this much needed weekend!

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Cherry

I don't know why I'm not used to how quickly August rolls around...you would think after a decade of summers doing this I'd be used to it by now!

I don't know about you but I know it's time to get back to work when I start stalking Target and waiting for the sterilite pencil boxes to go on sale for $0.50.  I'm getting a little nervous and have told myself I'll give it one more week and then I'm gonna bite the bullet and just pay for them full price.  Eeeek!!!

And now that I've been slowly restocking on pencil boxes, writing folders, fadeless butcher paper, etc. I am also starting to redo a lot of the activities I've done for years in my classroom.  I've already done two so far and wanted to share them with you.  I promise I will have better posts that talk in detail about how I do these activities once I am back in the classroom with the kiddos.  For now, I just have these resources on TpT for you to get for free if you like!  I'm all about sharing and collaborating so as I redo/make/create...I'll be sure to share them with you all!

The first project I redid was my Gingerbread Man scavenger Hunt.  I LOOOOVE THE GINGERBREAD MAN STORIES and got hooked by my mentor teacher years ago.  When I took over her classroom she had this as her theme and I couldn't resist using the same gingerbread theme in my room.  Now granted, I'm not talented in classroom decor like many teachers out there but I do like to incorporate the gingerbread theme as best as I can in my room.  I start, of course, by introducing this character on the first day of school.  In September, I'll post in more detail about my gingerbread theme and the activities I do but for now....here is the link to my scavenger hunt clues!

Next, I started to redo my calendar worksheets.  I know many of you do something similar but I thought I'd post it as a freebie on TpT for anyone who hasn't had the time to make these or wanted a different version than the one they are currently using.  I looove to use these calendars as a quick assessment on how my students are doing in terms of writing their numbers, recognizing them, putting them in correct order, etc.  It's also a great activity to have a substitute do!  I like to make copies of the calendars before I send them home to keep for conferences to show the progress students are making in writing their numbers.  Sometimes I feel like we get so busy doing all of the other rigor that we forget to focus on things as simple as writing numbers correctly so this is a quick and easy activity to incorporate into your busy day that is also a great assessment for numeral writing!  Anyway, I'll be working on the other months and posting them soon.  I plan on doing an art activity with each this year and will add that as soon as I can :)  Hope you enjoy this freebie too!  I can't believe school is just around the corner!  eeeeek!!!!

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Cherry

When I started teaching over 10 years ago...there wasn't much selection as far as clipart goes.  The one very popular source for fonts and clipart was djinkers.com.  I remember being introduced to her adorable graphics and fonts from my master teacher.

Once I saw what you could create with her clipart I was hooked!  Those first few years of teaching I bought MANY of her CD's and started creating away.  I probably have over $500 worth of clipart from djinkers alone.  I know...I've got serious problems!

Fast forward 12 years later and not only do new teachers have djinkers...but they also have adorable clipart available from amazing artists like Whimsy Clips, Melonheadz, Creative Clips, Graphics from the Pond...the list goes on and on and on.

Now more than ever...it is easy to buy new clipart and make adorable resources for the classroom BUT....WHAT HAPPENS TO ALL THE OLD CLIPART WE'VE COLLECTED???

Like I said before...I have purchased a ton of djinkers clipart and several of my cd's are outdated.  I wanted to cry when I realized a few years ago that the newer computers wouldn't let me "view" my different graphics.

Here was my problem: My clipart was old.  They were created before jpeg and png.  As a result, new computers would not let me see the actual images of my clipart.  They would only let me see the name of the file.  You can imagine the pain of trying to choose the right graphic for my lessons if I had three different images all named apple and I didn't know which was green, yellow, or red???  I know it may sound silly but I really wanted those thumbnail images!!!

All I have to say is thank goodness for google!  I knew there had to be a way for me to salvage my clipart.  I couldn't let hundreds of dollars go to waste!  I didn't have the money to purchase the upgraded versions so I discovered a way for me to convert my clipart images into jpegs or pngs!!!

I learned I could use free software like XnView to convert all my images and still keep my original images.

If you are like me and have older clipart that you still want to use...I highly recommend using something like XnView (free program you download to your computer) or cloudconvert (free online app through google chrome).

In fact...I'm converting images as we speak!!!!

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Cherry

Eeek!  I'm super excited to join this linky party to get to know other Kinder Teachers out there!  I'm completely new to the blogging world, instagram, and TpT...so please forgive my bare bones blog...and possibly my lack of techy skills when it comes to "linking up" and all that!!  I'm going to use the excuse of "mommy brain" and say that having an almost 3 year old has made me a little less tech savy then I used to be :)  Anyway...please click the button below to check out kindertribe and join the linky party!!! If I can figure out how to do this...you definitely can! I'm so excited to get to know you all!

I was fortunate enough to start my teaching career in Kindergarten.  I took over a kinder classroom for a FABULOUS teacher named Jan'nette Torrance during my first year teaching.  SHE IS AMAZING and is now teaching in Arkansas.  I owe so much to her and that is why I'm so excited to be connecting with all of you!!  I believe there isn't ever a time when a teacher "knows it all" and doesn't have room to grow!!  Two years ago, I took time off to stay at home with my baby girl and this past school year was my first year back teaching full time.  Right before I had my daughter, I had been teaching first grade for 3 years and even though I loved that grade ... there is just something so special about kinder!  I'm glad to be back in kinderland :)

Ever since starting my family...my priorities have definitely changed.  I still love teaching but I couldn't imagine going a day without seeing my husband or daughter.  AND...I GOTTA HAVE MY TRADER JOE'S FIX EVERY WEEK!  I LOOOOVE THAT PLACE!!!  And I may be guilty of buying treats for my students there every week too!  

As for school supplies...I honestly love them all!  It might sound lame but there's nothing I love more than going down the school supplies aisle :)  BUT the magic eraser is amazing and will seriously erase just about any mark that our darling kinders leave behind on the desks...chairs...floors...even on the promethean/smart boards!!!   

I think I love books just about as much as I love bags and shoes...which explains why it took me much longer to buy a house than it did to build a massive classroom library.  I always say I spent what should have been my down payment on a house on my library!  But it is so worth it when I see my kids immersed in books!  And seriously...if you need a good read aloud...just email me and ask me...I'll probably know a good title!  It's a little sad but true...just look at my answer above...I obviously couldn't name just one book. 

As for the blogs...I really can't name just one.  I love reading everyone's blogs and learning from you all.  Everyone has such amazing ideas, tips, tricks, advice, etc.  I hope that even with my bare bones blog I'll be able to contribute as well.  I'm still debating on spending the money to get a blog design but honestly...that will have to wait...my daughter's bday is coming up and if I have to choose between a cute blog design or my kid...well...you already know what the choice will be! :)  

And as for kindergarten....I think I fell in love with this grade when I was student teaching and a little boy came up to me with a gift in his hand and said, "Miss Bondoc...this is for you...It's a diarrhea (diary)!!!"  Classic!!!  Each day in Kinder is always fun...whether its an adventure or misadventure...there is never a dull moment and I love it!  Thank goodness for our kinders!  AND THANK GOODNESS FOR OUR KINDER TEACHERS!  Thanks for taking the time to get to know me!

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Cherry

Three years ago, I had just begun looking into blogging and teachers pay teachers when BAM! I found out I was pregnant and my whole world changed.  Aside from the terrible morning sickness that lasted almost 5 months, I was completely and utterly burnt out as a teacher.  I had given myself wholeheartedly to my students for almost 10 years and I was exhausted.  So, when my beautiful baby arrived I was in much need of a break from the teaching world.  My priorities shifted and I decided to stay home for 2 years with my baby.  Granted, the 2nd year I job shared and taught in a kindergarten class 1 day a week but my mind and heart still wasn't fully committed to being back in the classroom.

This past school year was definitely a big wake up call for me.  3 years ago...I felt like I was on top of my game and up to date with technology.  I "thought" I was pretty good at creating resources on my computer and for years, my colleagues would tell me I should sell my lesson plans, bulletin board ideas, and worksheets but at that time...there was no teachers pay teachers and barely anyone was blogging.  3 years later...and boy what a different story!  TpT has become a household name (at least in the teaching world) and social media has enabled all of us teachers to really collaborate, share, create, and inspire in ways that weren't even possible 3 years ago.  

Which brings me back to my title for my post.  After months of checking out blogs, getting new and fresh ideas, scoping out TpT...I am ready to start collaborating with all the awesome teachers out there!!  BUT IT HAS BEEN A HUGE LEARNING CURVE AND MY BRAIN FEELS LIKE IT'S GOING TO EXPLODE!! LOL! 

After almost a week of tinkering, experimenting, and trying to figure out how to secure a PDF!!!!   I finally have my first product on teachers pay teachers.  I wasn't even planning to have a teachers pay teachers account but as I started to think of what I'll be teaching in September ... I thought why not??? What better way to repay all of the wonderful teachers out there that I have gotten ideas from then to put some of my own out there as well.  

I'm sure I'll never be as awesome as the amazing Mrs. Jump or as funny and creative as Greg Smedley (gotta love those glue sponges!)....but who knows?  Maybe one of my ideas will help out a teacher out there in need of some new ideas.

So here's to me...and this crazy journey I'm about to take!  Let's hope this learning curve narrows a bit because man...my head hurts :) 

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Cherry

Ever since I started teaching (11 years ago), I’ve always LOVED sharing ideas with other teachers.  Now, I’m excited that I’ll finally be able to do it at a global level!  I love that social media, the internet, technology, etc have created opportunities for all of us to learn and grow from one another.  More importantly, it’s given us an outlet to express all the joys and heartaches that teaching brings us each and every day we are in the classroom.

I hope that by blogging about my many adventures and misadventures in teaching that I will be able to grow and learn as an educator as well as inspire, comfort, and connect with all of you awesome teachers out there!

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Cherry