If I Could Do A Cartwheel I Would...Ha, ha

I just graded my November Writing Assessments.  I was so pleased with their independent writing samples.  At this time of the year, a score of at least a 2 is considered on target for the end of the year kindergarten writing.  I am happy to report that out of 22 students, 21 students scored a 2 or higher on the rubric.  I just typed up my note to parents and told them that I felt the November Writing results were from 2 key areas:

1.  Daily guided writing lessons
2.  Daily class and homework practice with segmenting

Here are some samples of the writings and the scores they were given.  Our topic was what you did on Thanksgiving. 

This writing sample was scored a 0 due to the fact that it contained a long string of letters.  The student wrote the back of the page, too which is the below picture.

This is still from the above writing sample.  I know it will eventually come.  This student is working really hard in my RTI group!

This student scored a 0 last month.  HUGE progress this month with his writing.  He even wrote the back of the paper which is the sample below.

I gave him a huge hug for his efforts this month.  Keeping my fingers crossed it continues into December.

This sample scored a 3 on our writing rubric.  Very short and sweet. 

Sample of a 4 writing on the writing rubric.  This student wrote both this front and the back which is in the below sample. 

We have been working hard on beginning sentences and ending sentences.  Yeah!!

Another sample of a 4 writing.  This student I felt added a lot of details to what he did on Thanksgiving with his family.  The rest of his paper is below.

Gotta love his ending sentence of  It was a blast!!  Made me smile!!

Next up, writing opinion papers.  Our December Writing packet: December Journal Topic For Kindergarten Level Guided Writing is filled with 4 weeks of opinion writings for only $2.00.  Check out this new packet on TPT which gives you ideas on opinion writing along with I Can Statements to post.    

 

Elf On The Shelf Unit Posted...Can't Wait

I am like a kid waiting for Christmas.  We just wrapped up designing our Elf On The Shelf unit.  My Elf has arrived, my book has arrived, our unit is complete, and I just laminated everything for Monday.  I think my kids are going to have soooooo much fun with this unit.  I have pinned so many creative ideas on Pinterest of what to do with our elf. 

We just today got our cutting and gluing done with an elf craftie that is in our unit.  The kids are so excited because tomorrow they get to add "embellishments" to their elf.  They are so excited about doing this tomorrow.  Here is a peek of what we worked on for today:

Waiting to start the last cutting out page!!

Concentrating on gluing those elf shoes out!

Cutting out the trim on the dress.

Last step of gluing is putting the elf hat together.

   
We are linking up with Mel D for her Elf On The Shelf linky party.

Freebie December Behavior Chart and TPT Sale Continues

Since this is the last full week of November, we have created our December Behavior Calendar for you to grab for free.  If you do not have a SCRIBD account, then you can also click here: December Behavior Chart to download if from our TPT store.  We have included 3 different calendars so hopefully one of them meets your school's vacation time for December.

I am trying to be good and not buy very much during the Cyber Monday TPT Sales.  But, shhhhhhh don't tell SueBeth that I am finding some adorable clipart that I can use in my units.  She seems to think that I have an addiction with fonts and cliparts, but some of these TPT sellers have stinkin' cute clipart!!  Can December last forever along with the TPT sale!!

Don't forget the Cyber Monday TPT Sale ends Tuesday at midnight EST.  We have uploaded some new Christmas Units that meet the Common Core Standards:  Here are just a few:

Christmas Word Lists and Word Wall Words 
Counting Christmas Centers 0-20
December Journal Topics For Kindergarten With A Focus On Opinion Writing
December Math Journals
Gumdrop Measurement


 
December Behavior Chart

TPT Sale, Back From Punta Cana, and Kindergarten Writing Rubrics

We are excited for the upcoming Cyber Monday and Tuesday Sale.  We are putting our entire store on sale for 20% off.  PLUS if you use the TPT Cyber Monday and Tuesday code you will get an additional savings to give you 28% off your entire purchases!!  If you are looking for some new Christmas items, we have many things that meet the common core standards in reading, writing, and math to use in your classroom.

Both of our kids were gone over Thanksgiving break, so my husband and I decided to take a trip to Punta Cana.  It was such a relaxing vacation in the sun.  The temperatures were 85 degrees or higher each day.  Makes it harder to face Ohio's colder weather!  So thankful for such a fun trip with my husband.  I even tricked him into taking me to Target on the way back home from the airport!  Now back to reality of laundry and school work to catch up on!!

Monday before I went on Thanksgiving break, I attended a 6 Traits of Writing Workshop.  Our district is looking to change some things on our current writing rubrics.  Just wondered what your district uses for kindergarten writing rubrics.  Ours uses one that the state of Ohio designed several years ago.   I like parts of ours.  I like the spelling and spacing and letter formation part.  I struggle at times with the directionality because most kids can score a 4 because even their scribbles are top to bottom and left to right.  And typically those children can also tell you that there writing really says The best part about Christmas is Santa Claus.  So, they stayed on topic with their content even though it is scribbling.  Here is a copy of ours.  Would love to hear and/or see other kindergarten writing rubrics that you use in kindergarten.
  Writing Rubric - Grade K

Elmer The Elephant and TPT Sale

Model Shapes In The World By Building Shapes From Components

SueBeth and I decided to divide our classes in half for the last 30 minutes of class.  In both of our rooms, we had a mixture of kindergarten students and second grade students.  We paired them up and together they created 3D solid shapes.  They were working on the KG5 standard:  Model Shapes In The World By Building Shapes From Components.  They built the cube, rectangular prism, pyramid, cylinder, sphere, and cone.  The kindergarten students get to "keep" them and take them home tomorrow.  They should be "hard" enough to transport home.  At the end, the kindergarten students shared the leftover marshmallows.  This fun activity can be found in our Solid 3D Shape Unit.  
Here are some pictures from our fun afternoon:

Synergizing makes it so much easier!

Working hard to make the base of their cube.

Playdoh rolling to make a sphere.

Making a cone out of Playdoh.

Working hard on wrapping up our pyramid.

There all complete!  What a fun way to meet standard KG5.  The smile tells it all on how "easy" it was to make these solid shapes with a partner!

 

3D Shape Unit Fun

We had so much fun last week with our 3D Solid shape unit.  The kids especially liked Shape Bingo.  It was good for them to listen to the shape color and shape name.  Then it was fun to watch them see where the shape was on their board.  Since I have a student teacher, I worked with a little boy who I "thought" might need some help.  Boy, was I was wrong.  He knew every color, listened to every shape being called, and even got to call out "Shape Bingo" twice.  So, he got something out of the treasure box 2 times. 

Student working on our 3D Shape Spinners and Graphing.

Students working with partners on our 3D Shape Spinners and Graphing activity.

 
Up this week, is our 3D Shape Hunt, Environmental 3D Shape Spinners/Graphing, Building Solid Shapes,  Does it Roll/Stack, Slide, and Counting 3D Shapes. 

Here are some samples of our 3D Shape Posters.  I decided to put mine into a booklet.  We like to discuss these shapes each day naming the shapes and telling how many vertices, edges, and faces.  It has really made this concept easy for the kids. 

  

Next week we will wrap up our 3D Shape Unit and head into sorting.  This 3D Shape Packet also has some fun sorting ideas that we are going to use.  More pictures will be coming this week of our 3D Shape Fun!!

Monday we are working with Veterans Day Activities.  We will then be wrapping up our Thanksgiving Heritage theme making a lot of "crafties".  

 If you are interested in our Solid 3D Shapes Posters and Solid 3D Shape Unit, click on the names of those units and it will take you directly to both of those units on our TPT store.