Currently for February

Hello, caterpillar friends!  Glad you clicked here, if you even clicked, because I think I will literally be the LAST person to do a February Currently link up.  {Please read the following sentence with a stereotypical Texas twang} I just need to grab the saddle and mount back up on this here blog!  Ehem, Currently will be the perfect vehicle for my purpose, plus it's just a hoot! 

 

 

 Listening

 

I feel like the LAST person in the whole USA to have an i product.  It was time to upgrade recently and I was able to get an iPhone for free.  So far, so good and I love iTunes radio!

 

Loving

 

Ok, I feel like I'm surrounded by great women everywhere in my family, my job and my life!  At church, we have UMW circles where like-minded women get together and work for a purpose.  My circle is called Missionettes, because we all love to do mini-missions, but we are all working women with one exception.  I love that our group is diverse in ages and backgrounds.  We only meet once a month, but it's always great to get together.  This month, our mini-mission is to gather Crayola crayons for our adopted school.  Then at our meeting, we're going to make motivational posters for 3rd graders at that school. :)

 

At work, at our school and in our district,I get to rub shoulders with the BEST of the BEST!  Every teacher gives their all and just a dab more, it constantly pushes me to be a better teacher!  It's great to be surrounded by super stars!!  Here's a clip from one of the schools in our district, this school librarian was featured on ELLEN!  Warning, this video made me tear up, but in a happy way!{Click Here}

 

Thinking

 

Hey, I'm lesson planning right now...so it's understandable that I'm thinking about my friends.  I love challenging them!

 

Wanting

 

I'm going to search Craigslist and Garage Sales high and low for a daybed headboard for my office and something for my bedroom.  It's so college-esque in our bedroom...I'm going to decorate on the cheap, upcycled stuff for sure or basically free.  Wish me luck!

 

Needing

 

I'm going to make my students' learning visible and post some mini-stories on our classroom walls.  It's a Reggio thing, but in my old world they were bulletin boards.  However our school just umps it up a few hundred degrees.  I'll show you what I mean in my post tomorrow!

 

2 Truths and a Fib

 

1.  This is a completely true statement.   My husband was a member of Ver-Sa-Tyl, a Boyz II Men (before B2M) like group in the early 90's.  Their video was played on BET and he toured with LL Cool J and other hip/hop R&B peeps.  It was a long time ago and still I can't take him anywhere without people recognizing him!  LOL, just another day with my Moose!  Here's a clip if you to check it out, he's the guy talking to the girl on the stage at the beginning of the video.

 

 

2.  This is also a true statement and Aunt Phyllis is another one of the great women in my life.  She inspired me to work hard and do what I have a passion for, she worked for years in hotel management and the hospitality industry.  

 

Her ranch is on my mind because we are going to visit her this Spring Break! :) 

 

If you are ever in Amarillo, you HAVE to check out her ranch! http://cowgirlsandcowboysinthewest.com/

 

3. Although I admire architecture a great deal, I've always wanted to be a teacher.  I feel our profession is a calling.  We may not get equitable pay for the work we do, but our reward is surely in heaven with all the little people we influence everyday.  {Sigh}

 

 

Well, hey, this has been fun!  I'll be posting tomorrow for 5 for Friday, so ya'll come back now ya hear?--Sorry, spring break and the ranch are calling my name!

 

Yee-haw!

Christina

 



Another Snow Day--Monday Made It

 

Well, guess what?  It's another snow day here, so today I made several things for my classroom.  My friends think I on my days off, I do nothing. Ha!  I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics' Monday Made It! 

With all the snow hub bub, I know my little caterpillars are going to be interested in all things snow.  So, when I found this idea on Pinterest, I knew I had to make it happen!

{Source}

 

So tomorrow (when I get paid), I will purchase all 3 ingredients and make my play snow.

 

This weekend I cut out this 2 ton roll of lamination for flip books for the kiddos.  I'm almost done and will put them on rings tonight!

 



 Well, maybe I should be doing more, but I'm enjoying my snow days.  I've organized our bedroom closet and I'm moving on to the guest room!  Oh yeah!

 



 

I made a linky party with a rafflecopter giveaway!  I hope you enter, click on this post for details!  Make sure you use my graphic and link back to my page to qualify!

When you're done entering my giveaway, head over to Live Laugh I Love Kindergarten's giveaway!

 

Have a great week!

 

Later gators,

Christina

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Peek at My Week~Visual Plans

Hello, bloggy friends and visitors!  I have watched this visual lesson plan linky series for months.  I've always thought...I wish my lesson plans looked like Deedee's from Mrs. Wills Kindergarten Blog!  This week, I made it happen people!   

 

Click to see:  My Visual Plans

This week, I'm entering a giveaway from Mrs. Thompson from Adventures in Teaching blog.  Please click on the previous link (because I haven't learned how to do the pic/link cool bloggy trick).  Just by blogging about this giveaway, I increased my entries by 2.  I have several things on my wish list on TPT and have my eye on the $25 TPT gift certificate.  {Wish me luck!}

 Lesson Plan Activity Credits:  

LMR--Little Miss Reggio

FFL-Fantastic and Fun Learning

DB--Danya Banya

Hey, guess what another snow day was just announced for my school!  Who knows, maybe I'll do the following week's lesson plans tomorrow?

XOXO,

Mrs. Cowan

 

 

Where Did You Get That? Linky Party

So, we all have them.  The gloppy, painted clay ornaments that may seem ill formed to the outside observer.  However, be still my beating heart...these ornaments make me weepy eyed every year.  I know you guys have them, too.  So, I thought why not share these wonderful stories/ornaments with the world?  {Insert triumphant music here}  This my first created linky party and I'm calling it, "Where Did You Get That?"--I hope you join in! 

I'm not even sure if I have enough followers to pull this off, so I'm counting on all of you, yes that means you, to blog about your misaligned favorite ornaments and to encourage your bloggy friends to participate. :)  Thanks friends, I knew I could count on you!

My first precious ornament  has fingerprints with permenant marker reindeer embellishments.    I first blogged about this in this post and is what inspired this linky party.  Every year this ornament reminds me of the impact I create just by doing my job every day. 

 

When I pulled, this ornament out of storage this year I flashed back to the day the Girl Scouts pulled several girls out of my class including this little girl. (For the sake of the story and confidentiality, let's call her Josie.) Josie came back from Girl Scouts all excited and handed me this ornament she made with her fingerprints. Josie and I had bonded over the school year and her parents had yet to realize what a gift of a child she was. I exclaimed that her parents were going to love it and she said, "It's not for them, it's for you." I insisted she take it home and she said, "Why, no one cares about me at home like you care, Mrs. Cowan. Besides, if I give it to them, they will just throw it away." So, of course I kept it. Everytime I put up this ornament, I say a prayer for this student and her family. It always brings a tear to my eye. Remember teacher friends, what we do is important to every child...sometimes (whether it is true or not) that child, your Josie, believes we are the only one who cares for them.  

 

This second homemade ornament is one I made for my mom when I was about 8 years old.  We made it at church at an Advent workshop.  I'm close to 40 people and my mother still held onto it for me. 

It now hangs on my tree and it reminds me of how much the little things in life touch the hearts of the ones we love.

This third ornament is one of my sweet little girl when she still openly adored me.  I think she still does most of the time, but it's hidden under all that teen angst and "OMG, my mother is embarrassing me!" attitude.  She's still completely my little Squish, even if she would have me exterminated if I ever called her by her nickname at school.  Thank goodness she doesn't read my blog. :)  Everytime I see this ornament, I remember how sweet and wonderful she is and I look forward to each day with her. I am so very, very proud of the young lady she is becoming!

This fourth ornament is from a student I had when I was his toddler teacher at a mother's day out program at my church.  I still remember how timid and shy Jack was when he walked into my classroom.  I now see him at church and although he doesn't remember how shy he used to be, it still makes me think that I somehow helped him develop into the wonderful young man he is now.  It helps me remember that our time in our student's lives are so short, but our impact is sometimes only remembered by our student's parents.  A big part of our jobs are reaching not just our students, but their parents as well!  Teaching is such a partnership with families and I try to remember this each time I have to broach those sensitive topics with families.

Last and certainly not least is an icicle ornament from my mom.  She LOVES Christmas and always tried to make it special for us.  I didn't always appreciate it and still harbor some anxiety about Christmas from all her efforts to make it so perfect for us.  (Hey, we all send our kids to therapy for something we do. Even if what we do is pretty fantastic.)  This icicle is one of the oh so many ornaments she stored for me and my brothers.  It's a handblown glass ornament that she bought on one of her many after Christmas sales outings.  So, thanks mom!

 

Well, I look forward to reading every one of your posts about your 5 special ornaments!  Just click on the linky button below to join the "How Did You Get That?"  linky party. :)

 

It's also that time of the month where we post in Farley's Currently Linky Party. 

 

It's pretty early in the morning here, I'm all out of whack so I'm listening to the sweet sound of silence before I return to a classroom full of little people saying, "Exuse me, Mrs. Cowan" all day long.  Don't get me wrong, I love my sweet little students, but after a week of excitement I need to get my school game face on. :)

 

I loved Thanksgiving Break and I am counting down to some more time with my family/friends over winter break.  With Christmas fastly approaching, I need to remember to say no sometimes so I can focus on what little time I have with Alexandra before she's off to college. Speaking of which, I need to get her a coat.  It's an ordeal to go shopping for a coat, we've gone three times already.  I hope she's this picky when she decides on what college she decides on or what man she'll marry one day!

 

Our favorite holiday tradition is to look at Christmas lights.  We have a church here in the Tulsa area that really decks the halls.  The church is called Rhema and my parents used to joke that if you stand around too long at Rhema you might get covered in lights.  It's so beautiful and completely free!  So if your ever in the Tulsa area around Christmas, go check it out!

 

Ok, drumroll.....I'm hosting a giveaway for a $10 Target  gift card and $10 Starbucks gift card!  See the Rafflecopter below for details on how to get more entries!

 

 

 

 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sunday Funday!

Well, here it is Sunday and this is my second post this month!  Yay! 

 

 

Although my new district has teachers assess in a different way.  My district does assessments by watching children in their natural play.  However, I made an assessment for Pre-K to Kinder teachers for my teacher buddies that need to do hands on/one-on-one assessments.  I think it's pretty cool and my first bloggy friends that leave a comment get it for FREE!  What, what?  Yes, I did say FA-REE!  Here's a preview of some of the pages I created.  I have a page for all letters upper and lowercase.  I also have a student page for all the letters, colors, shapes and numerals to 25.  I also included a recording sheet for the teacher, so you can share progress at parent conferences. :)  All for the low price of $2.  If you aren't one of the lucky 5.  Here's the link to my TPT page.

 Well, yes I know it's Sunday, but heck I'm going to do five for Friday just because. 

Numero Uno:  I'm stoked for this blog I found from the Houston Independent School District.  They have a homework calendar for every month, which basically encourages parents interact with their child each day.  I like that most of the activities are play based.

 {Source: Houston ISD}

 

#2:  Like many of you, I'm scurrying around trying to find sweet, meaningful gifts for those I love.  I'm also failing miserably.  The problem is I have this nasty little thing called a budget.  I have grand ideas of what I'd like to get all my loved ones, but the reality is I don't get any more money in November and December than in any other month.  {Le sigh}  So I found this cute little book about making gifts in a jar.  Then {genius} I looked up the topic on Pinterest and found a ton of ideas!  I don't know if I will actually do this or if this is just a half-witted idea.  Have you ever done gifts in a jar or received one?  What did you think, honestly?

 

{Source:  Twin Tough Link}

 

 

#3 I'm currently in L-O-V-E with all manner of scarves.  I know it's the 80's child inside me screaming to be let out, but I just love scarves.  I have a particular love for infinity scarves, but know that my neck truly is too short to wear one right.  I'm strangely intrigued with making my own, but not worried that I can't sew.  (My daughter can!)

 

 

Here's a DIY link to make your own, in case you can actually sew.

 

 

 

#4 In case you haven't heard of it.  Songza.  It's awesome.  It's a lot like Pandora, but it asks you what mood you are in and finds songs to fit your moods.  Loving it!

 

#5  This week, I will do five loads of laundry.  The laundry room is getting out of control. :(  Where do all those clothes come from?

 

 

Have a happy short week!

 

See you soon racoon!

 

Christina

 

Linky Link Ups: 

http://www.iworeyogapants.com/

http://doodlebugsteaching.blogspot.com/

 



 



If You're Wondering..

In case you're wondering, I am still alive!  I fell into that teacher swamp land where I seem to live every fall.  I thought this year, I may not visit the teacher swamp land since I'm teaching Pre-K.  Now wait, don't jump down my throat...I know Pre-K is work!  Third grade was work and worry, but a lot of time was spent grading.  Grading homework, classwork and inputting grades.  I thought with this portion of my work essentially removed from my life...that I could have some time to myself to see my friends or blog.  Well, I was wrong!  :)

 

So sorry for hiatus, now let's move on to Doodle Bug's Five for Friday Linky Party.

 

 

1.  This week has been truly fabulous!  I feel so connected with my team and my class.  Here's a picture of us earlier this year.

 

2.  My class is absolutely engaged in our new investigation of our school dog, Kenna.  Here's a copy of our Today We.  (Our school uses Today We's as a way to communicate with families about what's happening in our classrooms.)

 

 



3.  This weekend we are putting up the Christmas tree.  Now, before you start with the old discussion of it's too early.  Let me 'splain my thought process.  If I wait until after Thanksgiving, the tree and all the decorations only stay up for 4 weeks and then I have put all the stuff back up.  So we are going to enjoy the pretty decorations a little longer!  Besides, Christmas is my daughter's favorite holiday, so how can I deny her?

 

4.  I'm so excited to go to professional development at Riverfield   they are bringing a teacher from Reggio Emilia to talk about the philosophy.  I'm so lucky our school has such great professional development opportunities!

 

Isn't this beautiful, this isn't a picture from Riverfield.  You're not allowed to take pictures there. 

{Source}

 

5.  I get to relax on my new couch!

 

Now, all I need are some new lamps!  It's a little dark in here. :)

 

Hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Classroom Tour!

 

Hello, all! I'm happy to report that my classroom is officially set up and my home computer is fixed! {insert standing ovation to my computer expert, Kevin} I really thought my computer and all my pics were gone forever! But thankfully, my computer just had some corrupt memory cards. :)

This week, I'm joining Swimming into Second's linky party,show off your space and Flying High in First Grade's Classroom Tour Linky.  If you have a blog, check out these fabulous bloggers, their respective linky parties and join us!

Whew!
Loads of stuff!

My almost classroom

Now, for my new readers out there. I taught 3rd grade last year, but I asked my principal if I could move to Pre-k the following school year. So at the end of the school year, I moved all of my personal belongings into the Pre-K trailer. Then I was offered an amazing opportunity with a new district.  This is what I arrived to when I saw my classroom full of ALL of the Pre-K materials.  We have four Pre-K classrooms in a brand new wing of the existing building. 

So after sorting through all the materials, I began arranging my room.My daughter and husband helped me several days.  Inspired by my roomie teacher to use an old chest of drawers, my daughter painted the door pulls black which instantly gave this little beaut a make-over.  Then I turned it into our parent sign in area.  Every morning, our students' parents need to walk them into their classroom and sign them in.  This lets me talk to almost every parent at the beginning and end of class. 



Old Block Center

I made changes the third day of school (we are on our second week now) because the students needed more room in the block center.  Well, you know how it is with room arrangement. You move one center and then you need to move everything else to make it work.  Yeah, it was like that!  So here is our old block area which sounds weird considering that we've only been in school for 2 weeks now. Part of the issue was that hot mess of blocks after clean up.  My students helped brain storm what would make our block area easier to clean.

1. We needed a bigger block area.



New Block Center

2. We needed to move the train and doll house (which you can't see from this angle) to a separate area.

3. We needed to label where everything goes!

So...drumroll please.  Here is a pic of my students enjoying the rearranged block center.  As you can see, they are enjoying a variety of non-traditional materials, right along side those trustie unifix cubes (I swear, those unifix cubes breed in my teacher cabinet). 

When I moved the block area by the front door of my classroom, some of art materials were stored on the back of the block cabinet.  Thus, when I moved the block area, I had to move the art materials.  On the back of that block cabinet, I put the light table materials which I will talk about in a few. 

In the original atelier, I had a table by the art materials which I envisioned students sitting and creating collages with the natural materials provided. 

The wooden stools are for students to sit and paint on the stand up easels.  Of course, they could still choose to stand as well.

 So now the students can do collage, paint and create all in the same area.  As you can see, our big easel needs some repair. 

Next area of our class is the light table.  With the old arrangement, the light table was on the right.

This is side view of the white cabinet by the light table.  Now, here's what that area looks like.

 What you see behind my students is the back of the block cabinet, where I store all the light table materials. 

As you can see, this light table is more inviting!  During our first week, we read "Butterfly Alphabet" and my wonderful assistant brought in a butterfly for students to find letters in the wings.  In the picture above, the students are looking for letters in the wings of the butterfly.

 

 

Well, friends, I will post more later this week...I am just worn out tonight!  Please leave a comment or any questions below. :) I <3 comments!!

 

 

See you soon,

 

Christina



Monday Made It~Baa Baa Color Sheep & Blog Signature

I'm joining another linky party called Monday Made It.  For my readers out there, that are like...hmm Cowan does a lot of linky parties.  I do them for two reasons.  One, I get to peek into other teachers' classrooms, ideas and prep work.  Two, I might get some new followers to my blog. (Yay, me!)

This time, I'm linking with 4th Grade Frolics for her infamous linky party Monday Made It.  I love seeing everyone's craftiness and it inspires me every week, but this is my first contribution.

I'm starting at a new school this year as a Pre-K teacher in a Reggio inspired school.  This has created a conundrum for me in that all the things I've done to prep for school, like bulletin boards and the like are not required at Reggio school.  In fact, I think they are strongly discouraged.  No worries, I was never a huge Carson Delosa fan myself.  In fact, my college professors told us, "You are doing something wrong if it looks like Carson Delosa threw up in your classroom." 

So, I made a class book in preparation for our first week {eek--did I just say that, where did our summer go?}.  I made a book that I modeled off a teacher I worked with over 10 years ago when we both worked in daycare.  I've found this book is helpful to teach colors and the classic nursery rhyme, "Baa Baa Black Sheep".  On each page, I write "Baa, baa, {insert color word here} have you any wool.  Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full."  Now, I'd love to show you a completed laminated book, but my printer was not cooperating with me this evening.  So, you get to see my work in progress.

I like to alternate their faces and make different ones each time.  When I read/sing this book with students, they LOVE it!  It's generally the most popular book in the library, because the little pre-k guys can "read" every page. 

Have you ever heard of Mrs. Stanford?  Well, let me tell you about my new favorite you tube channel.  Mrs. Stanford has all kinds of how-to videos up about how to bling your blog.  Today, I made my own signature that you should see at the end of my page down there...If you'd like to make your own blog signature, check out her how-to video on youtube. She also has a happening blog at Mrs. Stanford's Class, so check that out too! 

What did you make for your classroom today?



Saturday Snapshots

I'm joining Run! Miss Nelson's Got the Camera blog for her installment of:  Saturday Snapshots. 

I don't know about you, but I'm constantly taking pictures of everything.  I think this is in part that I'm a visually learner and after I leave a workshop/classroom I can't quite put it right in my head unless I have a picture.  Do you do this too or am I the only weirdo out there snapping pics at Wal-Mart and teacher conferences?

Anyway, back on topic...so I was happy to participate in this linky party!  Saturday was great because it was tax free weekend!  Alexandra and I were on the search for uniform skirts and shirts.  She has some from last year that still fit and work, but I like to have 7 tops and 7 bottoms for her.  So we were on the look out for 2 more tops and bottoms.  We finally found 2 tops that she deemed cool enough to wear to school (Did I mention she's a teenager?) only to discover the top she wanted was 5 times more expensive than the polos that our budget allows.  So after a brief conversation, she decided to spend her own money to get the shirt she wanted.

Then after a brief nap, we went to my parents house and did a little swimming!  I'm on weight watchers and I'm trying to do a little exercise everyday.  I ran in the pool for 20 minutes and then Alexandra and I had free style races. 

I'd like to say I did some work on something for my classroom, but I plan on finishing up a color recognition book for Monday Made It tomorrow.

What did you do this last weekend before school? 

Christina