Elmer the Elephant (elephants are hard to draw!)

Elmer is such an adorable book, and it is always a crowd pleaser with the little ones.  We are going on a zoo field trip in a couple of weeks, so I am trying to squeeze in as many zoo animals as I can before we go!  Today was elephant day in the lovely world of Kindergarten.  

The kids really wanted to make an Elmer craft, but I didn't have any time to...

A.  Make the craft

B. Prep the craft

C.  Actually do the craft

So instead, I googled "directed drawing of an elephant" and we went to town on drawing one and writing sentences.  I lead the class, shape by shape, of how to draw an elephant.  Once we finished, they traced their pencil lines with a marker.  Then I asked them to draw vertical and horizontal lines to make the patchwork, to then color in.

Once they colored Elmer in, they wrote a couple of sentences to accompany their drawing.

I think this little guy is adorable!  Look how cute he turned out...

Sometimes kids can get overwhelmed when you ask them to draw something specific (aka, an elephant...) so I took the directed drawing route to practice listening and following directions, AND to make them all feel successful in their drawing ability.  

For My Mom

So it was Mother's Day this weekend, and I was in San Francisco for a wedding.  My mom reads my blog once a week, and kindly texts me with typos or weird sentences. (is this one of those weird sentences?).  She is the sweetest thing ever, and I want to write a little about my mommy...she will read this and find a little surprise!

 

Some things about my mother...  she is seriously one if the silliest people I know.  She has the best attitude on life and has the best sense of humor (like measuring plant leaves...).  Have you ever had a year that gave you so many twists and turns, that you didn't know how you would survive it?  That was my past year, and I couldn't have succeeded without my mom's love and support.  Love you mom. :)

 

Here is what we made for the mommies in our classroom...a Cupcake Mother's Day Card...

 

Thanks so much to the moms out there!

#FiveForFriday

I am so excited for Friday to get here because I am going to San Fran for a weekend wedding!  My favorite linky party hosted by Doodle Bugs, is here today too!  We are posting five pictures from our week!

#MrsMcNosh  #SillyThingsToHang  #TheKidsWereSoEngaged

#MiniTaco  #MonthlyTeacherLunch

#SpoiledForTeacherAppreciationWeek

#Adding

#Mother'sDayCupcake 

 

I would love if you left me a #hashtagcomment

Teacher Appreciation SALE! and a Feedback Linky...

Teachers Pay Teachers is having a Teacher Appreciation Sale May 7th and 8th!  My store is 20% off...and if you enter the Coupon Code: TAD13... you will get an extra 8% off... so that's 28% total...wow, that's a lot of numbers... ;)

Thank you Hadar for the adorable button!

I also want to link up with Bunting, Books, and Bainbridge to say thank you to all of the shoppers that leave nice feedback! :)

Here is some lovely feedback from "teachertonyak"... if that's you, email me for a free treat from my TpT Store! (applesandabcs@gmail.com).

Here is the Base 10 Math Unit:

Here are some other favorites of mine to check out for the TpT Sale!

{Click on the images to view in my store}

Happy Shopping!  Here are some other bloggers having sales...

Instagram 101

I'm pretty excited about the Instagram craze that is going on in the teaching world right now!  Last Tuesday was the first #teachertalktuesday, and I really hope you post another picture this Tuesday of anything teachery!  (I think I just made up a word...)  What The Teacher Wants and myself decided to do a little post on "Instagram 101" for those of us that are just starting to use Instagram.  Just like any new type of social media, it can see overwhelming and confusing, so here are some tips that I have figured out along the way...

Ok, above is a picture of my profile page, and I added letters and arrows to take you on a little tour and show you some details:

A:  This is a little space where you can write a couple of sentences about yourself.  There is also a spot for you to post a link to your blog.  This is the only spot on Instagram that you can put a live link.  I have tried to post a picture of a product and put the link to my TpT Store, but it isn't click-able for people to travel to.  If someone really wants your product, they will have to click on your homepage, go to your blog, and find your TpT Store.  I am assuming this is something that will eventually be upgraded on Instagram, but for now, this is were you want to have the link to your blog or store.

B:  This is your home button.  It will send you to the news of all the people you follow.  Just like on facebook, you can scroll down and see pictures of people that you are following.  

C:  This is the explore button.  When you click on it, you can search people or hashtags (see below for a hashtag description).  

D:  Camera button.  Click on it to take a picture, or to the right you can access your photo album on your phone.

E:  Notification button.  This will send you to information on who liked your photo, left you a comment, or who started following you.  You can click on two buttons on the top.  One shows what people are interacting with YOU, and the other shows what activity is happening on other people's photos (click on it and you will see what I am talking about...)

F: This takes you your profile page, just like the one seen above.

G:  This is where you can edit your profile, change your name or password, and make it so your photos are private.  I keep mine to the public because this is the Instagram for my blog, my personal one is private.  I think you can have up to 5 different accounts to each phone.  

H:  This shows who is following you and who you are following.  This is a great way to find other teachers.  For instance, you can go to someone's page and see who they follow, and then you can follow them too!  It is ok to follow anyone.  You don't have to be friends with them in real life to follow them.  :)

I:  Settings button.

What is a Hashtag?!?!!?!

Ok, I know this whole hashtag thing is confusing.  Let me do my best to make it as simple as possible.  To make a hashtag you need the # sign, followed by words without spaces.  I think it started with Twitter, and now is used on Instagram too.  I will explain how it is used on Instagram.  

The hashtags are a way to organize pictures, to make the photos easy to search.  So if you post a picture of a doughnut, you can write hashtags that would describe a doughnut, such as:

#doughnut

#breakfast

#yummy

#pastry

People have also started using hashtags as a joke to be funny.  Here would be some examples of a hashtag for a doughnut that are sarcastic:

#nowineedtoworkout

#illstartthediettomorrow

Look below to see some hashtags I used to describe my octopus pointer (found at the Paper Source).

The hashtags show up blue, you can click on the link, and it takes you to all of the photos that were given that same hashtag.  Some of my favorite hashtags to browse:

#teacherlife

#bulletinboard

#teacherstyle

#kindergarten

The reason we decided to start Teacher Talk Tuesday, is to use the hashtag #teachertalktuesday so we could all find the teachers out there, and create a community of people sharing the same passion.  :)

How do you talk to someone on Instagram?

Have you seen people leaving comments and using the @ sign?  This is a way to talk to someone else on Instagram, and it will notify them when you left a comment directed at them.  Look at my example below...

You can see in the caption I wrote about the picture and then said @crayonsandwhimsy.  This was to shout out to my sweet new friend about a photo I took in her classroom.  You can @ someone in your caption or in a comment on anyone's photo! 

I'll be back next week to more about "Instagram 101!" 

Come find me @applesandabcs on Instagram! :)

Head over to What The Teacher Wants to see more tips!

Ocean and Summer Fun

The summer is almost here and I am pumped on doing an ocean theme with my Kindergarten!  I want to transform the room into an underwater extravaganza!  Before that happens, I am starting with introducing my students to these Ocean Centers.  Here are some pictures from my Diving into Language Arts and Math Unit...

First up are some simple vocabulary cards for the kids to place in ABC order and use as an "Ocean Write the Room Activity."  My students love playing with the vocabulary cards in the pocket chart during center time.  They get the pointers and practice reading the words and writing them on white boards.

Here is a rhyming word center.  The students takes a "rhyming words mat" and then places two rhyming word pictures in the circle.  You can pair them in partners, have one child choose the first card, and their partner can find the picture that rhymes.

We use the JiJi penguin "mind math" computer game and they have already been introduced to greater and less than signs.  Here is a center where the player chooses two sets of fish and place them on either side of the circle.  Then they need to choose a sign to place in the middle to make the statement true.

This simple math center has the students record the numbers that come before and after the number in the fish bowl.  There are two different sets, so you can use the teens or numbers in the 20's.

My favorite is this "Fish Bowl Sounds" center.  This is a 4-in-1 activity.  They can match the picture with the word, isolate the beginning, medial, or ending sound.  I love this because you can prep it once, but use it four different ways!

Here is an addition sort.  The students add the fish on the cards and sort the cards according to the sums.

For this "Fishy Addition" center the students create their own addition sentence and write the number sentence on the recording sheet!

This Ocean Unit is aligned to the Common Core Standards!  Woot woot!  Gotta love that!  :)

The first three people to leave their email AND pin a picture from this post, will get the packet emailed to them for free! ;)

End of the Year Bulletin Board Ideas

It is almost Open House, and I am strategically planning all of my bulletin boards for the big event!  I couldn't decide if I was going to do my whole room in one theme, or have it all random.  I couldn't seem to stick with the idea of a theme for Open House, so random it is!

I just finished my spaceship bulletin board today, titled: "Kindergarten Was A BLAST!"  This goes with my end of the year space themed writing responses that you can see HERE.

I also decided that I want to display my Watermelon Language Arts and Math Craftivity down low on my cupboards.  I never know how to use that space, and I think it will be cute if I make it look like they are on a vine!

Here is an idea for an open house bulletin board for an ocean theme...."Diving into Summer" with a Submarine Craftivity. :)

Last year I taught summer school, and made this Sandal Craft with my kids to get ready for summer!  They can't wear flip flops during the school day, so this was an exciting craft for them.

I am obsessed with owls, and my classroom is owl themed.  Here is a pack of end of the year writing, and a craft for the bulletin board, "This Year Was a Hoot!" 

I would love to hear how you decorate for Open House.  Do you do a theme or all random?

Also, tomorrow is our first #teachertalktuesday...so post a picture on your Instagram and in the comment write: #teachertalktuesday

That will turn into a link and we can see all of the photos that have that phrase in the caption!