I hope everyone is having a great school year!  We are entering week number 7 here in Hawaii.  We started school on August 8th.  I have an energetic group of kindergarteners.  I have 21 friends in my class there...3 more than last year.  But the 3 extra sure makes a difference.
This year I have a few friends who are dealing with some emotional and social issues.  We've been working on building a fun and safe classroom.  A dear friend gifted me 10 Simple Lessons for Better Behavior in the Classroom by Dan St.Romain.  It has picture cards with activities and suggested children's literature that you can read to help present the social skills to students.  It also has cute catchy phrases for the students to remember what the social skill is when you point to the picture.  Click on the link above and it will take you to his products.

I wish you all a wonderful 2017-2018 school  year!!

Happy Thanksgiving

I have a lot  to be thankful for this holiday season.  I've lost 2 dear friends from work this past year.  Both very unexpected and a huge loss for our school.  I'm thankful that they were a part of my life and were 2 wonderful friends to have.
I am thankful for my family and their good health.  My mom is doing well after her surgery and radiation treatments.  Her spirits are high and we try to help her stay positive.  My dad has adjusted to life using an oxygen tank.  We also try to help him stay positive and busy.  They both celebrated with a trip to Las Vegas back in October.  I am blessed to have such loving and supportive parents and I am thankful to call them mom and dad.
I am thankful to have a fun. loving, energetic bunch of kindergarteners and very supportive families.  They are the reason I get up every morning and to be the best teacher that I could be for them.
I enjoy doing directed drawings with my students...it's fun to see each of their personalities come through in their drawings.  I found a cute one from Proud to be PRIMARY.  I didn't use watercolors, but they still came out adorable.  Stop by her blog to get this fun and cute project.

Enjoy your family and friends and be thankful for all that you have.   Have a happy Thanksgiving...I have 3 days next week and then a short break.  

New School Year

I hope everyone has had a great start to the new school year.  It's been difficult adjusting to the fact that Sheri no longer with me physically at school.  I do know that she's with me in spirit and there are times that I feel her standing by and supporting me.  I am reminded of her with a sign in our learning garden that was dedicated to her in her memory.  It's located right outside my classroom door.

It's also been an adjustment and learning curve with our administration changes at school too. Change is good, although at times it can be difficult.

My class of 20 kindergarten students is going well.  They are an eager, energetic, fun, and inquisitive group of 5 & 6 year olds.  A few more than I had last year, but it's been fun so far.  They are still learning the rules and routines of our classroom, but we are getting along well with one another.  We spent the first week discussing and learning all about being a bucket filler rather than a bucket dipper...I am so happy that my sister introduced me to this book a few years ago.  It's a great beginning of the year story to read.  You can find a copy on Amazon "Have You Filled A Bucket Today?"

Well, tomorrow is day off for me, but unfortunately I am a little under the weather...sore throat, sniffles, and a cough.  Guess, I will be resting all day .

Can't Believe it's May...

Where has the time gone?!?  I can't believe that another school year will be done in just a few weeks.  I have been lucky to have a great class this year and will truly miss my students and families.  It's been a rough 3 weeks with the sudden passing of my dear friend, co-author, and kindergarten colleague...I miss her so much...school just isn't the same.  I am hoping that with summer around the corner that I can heal myself and figure out what school will be like without her there.  There definitely is a big void at school.  One thing that I have learned from this tragedy is that I need to tell the people in my life how important they are and how much I appreciate and love them...tomorrow is never promised.

I hope everyone has a fabulous summer and recharge yourselves for a fun and exciting new school year next Fall.

Love to you all,

Julie

PS...if you can, please help her young family and donate.

gofundme.com/sfn37yc

Thank you so much XOXO

With A Heavy Heart...

Dear Friends,
I apologize for being MIA for the past few months.  I am trying to find balance between work, family and finding ideas to blog about.

It's been a difficult week thus far because I need to let you all know that my dear friend and co-author of our blog has tragically passed away.  Sheri was an innovative teacher who always looked outside of the box to create meaningful activities for her students.  She was also a supportive and encouraging colleague for myself and the other teachers at our school.  She helped many of us create projects for DonorChoose and create fun activities for our students.  She is missed by all of us and her shoes will be very difficult to fill.  She has touched so many lives with her kind spirit.

I would like to thank all of you for welcoming us into the blogging world.  It's been a fun adventure that Sheri and I have started.  Thank you for visiting our kindergarten classrooms and supporting our projects.  I am unsure where I will go with our blog...I hope to continue on this adventure and I hope you will join me too.

But until then,  A Hui Hou and Aloha Oe...Until we meet again, Sheri.  I love you and miss you tons.


PLEASE help us support her family during this tragic loss.   http://www.gofundme.com/sfn37yc  Please share the link too.


Love,
Julie

Who Will Help Me?

This week we explored different versions of The Little Red Hen... we finished off the week by making bread.  I used the bread in a bag recipe from http:// www.yourhomebasedmom.com/bread-bag

          

         

We had a great time!

 

Snowman Fun…

After returning from maternity leave, I felt like I needed to work on building community in my classroom.  We don’t have snow in Hawaii, but we have newspaper! The challenge was to work as a group and build a snowman, using newspaper and masking tape (some friends were a little excited about their snowmen and wanted to add decorating during free time).  The objective was simple… I thought… build a snowman with your group, it must be able to stand on its own.  I was hoping for teamwork and collaborating.  Two teams were unable to produce a product, they enjoyed playing in the newspaper, another group spend their time reading ads, one group ended up with several snowballs, but lacked the communication to actually assemble a snowman, and two groups were very successful.  HOWEVER everyone had fun. I wish I had pictures of them in action, but like I said one group was clearly playing in the paper, and other groups needed help peeling the masking tape… Great activity, if you do it with your class I would recommend prepping masking tape by sticking 4-5 inch strips around the tables in the classroom, as my friends had a hard time peeling the tape.