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Friday, April 11, 2014

The First Step


“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”   
-Lao Tzu

That’s how I feel about this blog. First, it is a journey and second, I only have to take a single step to begin.

So here it is…that single step…

Two years ago, the internet began changing my teaching – for the better. So…I thought I’d share with you a few of the small ideas I discovered that have had a BIG impact in my classroom.
  
IDEA #1 – In the summer of 2012, I took a professional growth class in my district on Pinterest.  Yes folks, you read that correctly – a professional growth class on Pinning.  It was a huge hit in the district and has been offered every summer since. I had no idea what I was doing, but I’ learned quickly. During my maiden pinning voyage, I came across a pin for classroom trash buckets from Tara West at Little Minds at Work. You can find it here. Tara even has the labels as a freebie on the blog post.
trash buckets
Let me tell you, when a classroom full of 5-year-olds dives into a craftivity, these buckets make a world of difference in the mess created.  I cannot tell you how many other teachers have come in my room and said, “Oh, my gosh, these are awesome!” $4.00 folks – that is all these mess-savers cost me.

IDEA #2 – A former teaching partner introduced me to blog stalking – the act of checking frequently for new posts by your favorite bloggers. Luckily, I discovered Google Drive (and now Bloglovin’) to help me manage my new addiction, which has allowed me to stalk to my hearts content. Sorry, I digress. While searching for new blogs to stalk, I came across a blog called Smedley’s Smorgasboard of Kindergarten. He is a kindergarten teacher in Nashville, Tennessee. One of his posts was about glue sponges. And once you go glue sponges, you will never go back – to glue sticks that is.
glue sponges
I despise glue sticks when mixed with Kindergarteners. The clumps, the waste, the lost caps. Glue sponges are inexpensive and easy for kindergarteners to use and…what they glue together actually stays together instead of drying out and falling apart. I have only used a total of 8 bottles of white glue this entire school year – and it is April! My new blogger friend, Greg Smedley, has a great video that shows you how to make 4 glue sponges for about $6.00.  Watch it here.

IDEA #3 – Now sometimes, I try to give my blog stalks a purpose – you know, to justify the amount of time I’m spending doing it.  Well, differentiation was a hot topic awhile back (and really still is) and I was trying to figure out ways to differentiate/tier my centers, yet still allow my kinders to be independent. Marsha McGuire, of A Differentiated Kindergarten, had just the blog post I was looking for. She gave a great explanation of how she differentiates her Math Centers and even has diagrams that walk you through it.  Read it here. She does a similar set up for her beginning of the year literacy centers.
differentiated center
I tweaked her set-up a little to make it work in my room.  Here is an example of a differentiated center in my classroom. I just realized that it also has one of Marsha’s great differentiated I-Spy TPT products ready to go for tomorrow, which my kinders LOVE.

Whew! This first blog post has wiped me out. I am hoping and praying that all my hyperlinks work correctly.  Please forgive this newbie if they don’t.

And please, stop by again.  I will be sharing many other ideas from my classroom that I hope you find useful.