A Kentucky Classroom

Okay bloggie peeps, since Thursday I: contracted sun poisoning lost landline phone service (it will be a week before they can get a serviceman here) lost internet service (again, a week before help arrives) went out of town spent a total of 20 hours in a car drove through several severe storms drove through tornado warnings Once things get back to normal I can't wait to see what you have to say about the ending of D5.  Happy trails 'til then! -Robin (written while the neighbor's internet was working)

While cleaning out a desk this weekend I found this... And realized I'm a dinosaur. 

I had another post in mind-one that was lighthearted and would hopefully make you smile. But then James Holmes committed the unspeakable act of ambushing a theatre and these are the words my heart needs to express... As I learn more and more about the Colorado shootings, one life keeps tugging on my heart. It's that of the sweet six year old girl who was murdered in the midst of what was supposed to be entertainment.  This fall, a first grade classroom will have an empty seat due to those actions.  Maybe in eleven years her classmates will remember her at the graduation ceremony and leave a chair vacant in memory of her. Veronica Sullivan's life ended in the early black hours Friday.  I'm assuming she'd completed kindergarten a month or two earlier.  And as a teacher, I can't help but wonder what her teacher must be thinking right now.  Amidst the depravity of the act and how grossly unfair it was, I'm sure she's questioning: Did I make the y...

Hi Friends, Here's something I made for my parents at Back to School night.  It's called " The ABCs of Kindergarten ".  I thought you might be interested~and left it in Word form so you can add and delete.  Unfortunately, once I did that my cute font was gone.  If you would like to see its cuter, more elementary form, download the Cool Dots  and Toy Train fonts and re-open it.  Please let me know if you think I need to change anything! Happy Friday-we've made it to the weekend! Robin

Confession: Now that "The Closer" is down to the last few episodes, I'm not sure if I can focus on much else.  I have my suspicions about the leak and how the show will end and am awaiting to see if they're correct.  But since the show's on once a week, I need something to occupy my thoughts.  And what's better than ironing out how to use D5 in a classroom?  And reading how your fellow bloggers implement D5? Of all of the choices, Word Work is the most challenging to me.  Which is why I'm super psyched about seeing how the K crew is implementing it.  But here are my thoughts: Experimenting with words for learning and looking for a spelling pattern.   Since I'm new to kindergarten, I'm assuming there will probably be the widest range of abilities in this grade than any other.  (I should probably point out I've taught 1st-5th, so I've earned the right to make that assumption.)  I am expecting some to arrive with no letter-sound ...

Of the multitude of sins I commit every week, probably the most consequental is living 40 miles away from the nearest Target. I work in a county with not one, but two , Target stores.  And (sadly) I never seem to be able to make it to them.  So when I see the fabulous posts singing the praises of my favorite bull's eye, there is a fair amount of weeping and gnashing of teeth because I can't remember to ever stop there.  (True story: a student of mine gave me a gift card to Target in 2010.  Now, in the summer of '12, more than half the balance remains.) So for those of you who may live closer to a Walmart than a Target, this post is for you. Looky what I found for less than $1: Glue sticks for ten cents apiece?  Why, yes, I'll buy an entire class set!  Welcome postcards?  For 88 cents?  You better believe I'm getting these instead of the $5 ones at the parent-teacher store. More 88 cent finds: bookmarks and stickers.  You show me a teach...