End of the Year Nautical Themed Party

Another year has come to an end!  I cannot believe I've finished my 12th year teaching.  One thing that has not changed is my excitement for the end of the year party.  I like to show my students some love by sending them away in style.  They worked so hard all year long, so the least I can do is celebrate their hard work and accomplishments.  This year's theme was: Sailing Away to First Grade.  Here are some pictures:

Learning about Motion

We have been learning in class about all the different ways things can move (zig zag, up and down, round and round, straight, etc).  We wrapped up our lesson on motion by designing roller coasters and marvel mazes.  We made sure our roller coasters showed different ways the marvels could move.  We had such a great time!

Our roller coasters:

Zig Zag Movement

Zig Zag and Straight

Spiral 

File Folder Maze

Apples, Apples, Apples

It is the beginning of my favorite time of year in school! I LOVE to celebrate the start of the fall season with our annual apple centers!

We started our week learning about Johnny Appleseed.  It was very cute seeing all my kindergarteners wearing their pan hats with pride. As you can see, even my wonderful student intern joined in the fun! We love Ms. Upham!

Ms. Upham and I made apple books to keep all our apple lessons in one place.  We talked about the parts of the apple, the apple life cycle, incorporated apples in our math and science lessons, and wrapped it all up by tasting a variety of apple products. It was a very fun and delicious learning experience for all of us! 

(this is a product I made for my students. If you like it, please go to  to my TPT store.

English:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Apple-Mini-lesson-and-Center-Ideas-2798766

Spanish:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Manzanas-2800328

At the end, we got to display our work of all the school to see! 

Student Intern

This week I met my newest student intern, and I couldn't be happier! She is a wonderful girl that will very soon become an outstanding educator.  Being a mentor and internship facilitator is very rewarding and gratifying.  It is also a huge responsibility because I am in charge of guiding, inspiring, and preparing our future colleagues. However, the best part is seeing the enthusiasm and passion of a new teacher!  That is wonderful and very contagious! It reminds me of the reason why I decided to become a teacher and how badly I wanted to have my own class and my name written all over!  I want my interns to always feel welcome into the profession, so I started a little gift ritual.

I make basket with little treats and each treat has a little messages:

Free Clip Art for Teachers!

I recently started a new website that provides FREE clip art for teachers to use with their TPT products!

http://owlstandinggraphics.com

It is a work in progress, but I am planning on adding new graphics often.  I hope you'll enjoy using the graphics! Please share with your teacher friends.

Best wishes,
Maria

A Party Here, A Party There, A Party Everywhere!

This year's theme for the end of the year party was Dr. Seuss! We had so much fun planning and executing the party. The kids loved it!

Here are some pictures:

We had game rotations - students rotated to different classrooms to play games. I had "Pin the Hat on the Cat"

This was the snack table.

This was the gift and dessert table.

Each kid got a Cat in the Hat water bottle, a beach ball for students to sign, and a beads necklace.

 This is how "Mrs. Okraska stole kindergarten!"

Some of the hallway decorations

Students' gifts: books, eraser, straw, pencil, kite, book marker, and bubbles.

In Search of Santa...A Holidays Around the World Activity

After teaching first grade for 9 years, I was asked to move to kindergarten.  I thought it was a wonderful opportunity because it was time for a change.  I was so excited and had imagined kindergarten being one of the best and easiest grade levels to teach.  Oh, how can it not be?!?...you are surrounded by oh-so-cute five year olds! On man, was I wrong! Kindergarten has been the hardest grade level I have taught thus far!

It took my until now to feel comfortable and adjusted.  That is why I have not been able to update my blog.  I have been in survival mode all this time! But now it is time for my first post of the 2015-2016 school year!

I am a kid at heart, and I believe on making everything magical for the students! If I could I would probably dress as a fairy and sprinkle glitter on everybody...that would probably get me into an asylum!

So, I decided to make the holidays as memorable and fun for my adorable kinders!  This year we went in Search of Santa! We packed our suitcases, passports, and traveling journals.  We got everything ready for our long journey around the world.  We visited many countries, but were unable to find Santa...that was until we got back to our classroom! Santa left us a note there inviting us to have milk and cookies with him! As you can probably imagine, that was the highlight of our trip.  It was so wonderful to see the excitement in my little ones' faces!

Here are some pictures:

English version: 

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/In-Search-of-Santa-A-Holidays-Around-the-World-Activity-2245879

Spanish version:

https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/En-busca-de-Papa-Noel-Celebraciones-alrededor-del-mundo-2255841

     

Now, we do have the coolest and sweetest principal! He does anything to make our students happy! I know this is not the nicest Santa suit, but next year we are going to purchase a better one. We are also going to decorate the stage and will have our office staff dress life elves! 

Happy Holidays!