'Twas the Night Before Kindergarten

‘Twas the night before kindergarten, and all through the school, some pink furry unicorns were breaking the rules…..wait, what?!  Hahaha  Okay, so there were pinky furry unicorns, but we didn’t break any rules!  We were just running around school in our pajamas doing a read aloud!

Kindergarten is such an important and special year in a child’s life, but things are anything but normal right now.  With COVID still on the loose, we are starting school virtually in my school district, so I won’t get a traditional first day with my students.  I’ve tried to think of things to make it extra special and I hope I’ve done that for them this year!

I found this super cute book and ordered it.  I wasn’t sure if it was going to be “the book,” but once I received it, I decided it was perfect!  "The Night Before Kindergarten" talks about preparing for kindergarten, feeling a little scared, posing for pictures and all the other "normal" things one might experience on the first day.  They won't get that exact experience, so I thought it was a good idea to read and discuss how things are going to look a little different this year.  I grabbed the adorable and comfy unicorn pajamas I found at Walmart and got cozy in my classroom to do a special night before school read aloud for my students.  I felt so silly and wasn’t feeling very confident in myself, but once their parents shared their reactions, I knew it was worth it!

My Kinderbesties and I always like to have a really good time with lots of laughter.  So, of course, we had to go around the school for a mini photo shoot in our matching pajamas.  We have the best time and I’m glad they’re always on board with my silly ideas.  They never hesitate, but just dive right into whatever fun and exciting things we come up with.  I can’t wait to see what fun things we do next for our kiddos!

Hatching Baby Chicks!

One of the chicks that hatched this year! 🐥

Spring in my classroom is one of my favorite times of year!  It’s a time of new beginnings in nature and I love teaching my class about that.  One of my favorite activities is learning about the life cycle of a chicken and incubating our very own chicken eggs!  Of course, due to COVID-19, this has really thrown a wrench in things.  But, I didn’t miss a beat and decided to bring the classroom into my home!

 

I have the cage all set up in my garage for the chicks when they hatch!

I have been incubating and hatching chicken eggs for over 10 years in my classroom.  The first time I ever did this was during my student teaching and we actually hatched duck eggs then.  To be able to continue the tradition, I incubated and hatched chickens at home and each day I recorded the kids daily video updates!  It was definitely a different experience than what I typically have in my classroom.  I had to find a safe place at home where I didn’t have to worry about the eggs being disturbed……so they ended up in my bedroom!  I never thought I’d have chickens in my bedroom, but here we are! Haha

 

I have the incubator set up and ready to go on my nightstand!

The process of hatching chicken eggs take about 21 days.  I love teaching about the life cycle with fun activities and videos.  Once we learn all the basics, we place the eggs in the incubator.  I try to let the kids be as involved as possible in the process, especially since this is likely their first (and only) time experiencing this miracle of life!  We start counting each day until we get to 21 (sometimes the chickens may surprise us and we will have some early or late hatchers). 

This year, since we weren’t at school, I didn’t get as many eggs from a local farmer.  Usually, I will get around 40 eggs, which is enough to fill the incubator.  All the eggs aren’t fertilized, so they won’t all have a chicken growing inside to hatch.  This year, I only got 12 eggs and we had chickens hatch from two of them.  The hatch rate can vary, although we “candle” the eggs throughout the process so we can see how many chicks to be expecting.

We had two chicks that hatched out of the 12 eggs!  They really surprised me this year and the first one hatched on day 20 and the second one on day 21!

Hatching chicks is definitely one of the most exciting times of year in our classroom!  I hate that the students weren’t there to experience it all first hand, but I’m glad I was able to do this for them at home and do mini-lessons and video updates.  This is definitely something you can do in your own classroom and is an amazing opportunity for your students to experience the miracle of life!  Let me know if you need any help getting this started in your classroom and I’d be happy to answer all your questions!

Teacher Talk Tuesday

UPDATED ON APRIL 30, 2020 WITH NEW MURAL COLLAGE ART PICTURE.

There are so many things swirling through my mind that I could post about today.  But I think the biggest one at the forefront of our minds is this Pandemic and how it has affected not only us, but our students (aka “our kids”) as well.

Our official school closing began March 16^th.  It seemed sudden and nobody really had any idea what was coming.  We hugged the kids as they left school Friday, March 13^th.  Told them we loved them.  We will see you in a few weeks.  They got on the bus, we waved goodbye, and the halls felt so empty!  It was surreal.  Everything felt out of place.  It was empty like they left for the summer, but we knew it wasn’t time.  So many things were left undone.  So many projects left behind (my classroom is still full of leprechaun traps we didn’t get to “set” the following Monday).  School supplies in their desk.  It’s sooooo sad. 😢

We started Non-Traditional Instruction Days (NTI Days) on the following Monday, March 16^th.  We had no idea what was coming in the days and weeks ahead.  I felt so lost and confused that first week.  My NTI Days were already planned and scheduled to post on Google Classroom daily, so what was I to do with all that time?!  Mostly I wandered around my house lost and confused and unsure of what to do with my extra time.  I felt empty.  Of course, I had to answer the occasional parent question about logging in and such, but for the most part, they knew what to do.  I was so unsettled that I couldn’t even sit down and enjoy a good Netflix binge session! 😂

Luckily, I made it through that first week and got myself in gear.  I made some personal goals for myself and that helped get me motivated.  Then, I started thinking…..what else can I do for my class?  If I’m feeling this way, I’m sure all the kids are feeling this way.  How can I make this better for them?  And teacher mode kicked in.  I ordered a ring light from Amazon and started recording daily stories for them.  Although I was staying in contact with the parents through phone and messaging, I wanted to actually reach out to my students.  So, I started sending snail mail (such a lost art that they have thoroughly enjoyed these last few weeks!), video chats, Show and Tell on Zoom and Google Meet….anything to interact with them!  My school staff even pulled together and made an awesome YouTube video for our students, which you can watch here if you are ready for some TikTok entertainment!

I do not have all the best answers during this trying time.  Kentucky schools (that's where I am) are still "in session" and we are participating in Non-Traditional Instruction (NTI) Days, which is basically Distance Learning, until May 14^th (for my school district).  I have seen you guys doing so many amazing things out there and I commend you for that!  Those of you who are still being required to teaching actual lessons to kindergarteners (and all other grades) on Zoom and being observed and try to do virtual assemblies—you are truly amazing and I’m thankful I’m not in your shoes!  This hasn’t been easy on any of us.

On a positive note, I would like to share some of things that I have been doing that may help you out and give you some ideas to continue your student's learning.

1)   The Kinder Life on TPT has saved me!  I felt like the NTI (Non-Traditional Instruction) work I was assigning my students was becoming monotonous.  I knew they had to be getting bored and restless of the same things everyday!  I discovered this amazing FREEBIE from The Kinder Life-Amy McDonald on TPT and it changed everything.  My students were actually doing work!  It gave them some variety and fun activities to do with their families.  They were staying engaged.  I added a sheet of my own to give them some direction in the activities and some goals to work toward that would get them ready for 1^st grade, but overall it made the NTI work a little more exciting and fun for them so they didn’t feel like they were being tortured at home.  Here is a link to that FREEBIE so you can check it out and see how you can use it for your own class.  I will also include an image of what I sent home with my students so you can see the work they actually did each day.

2)   Everyone loves receiving mail, so I started coming up with some fun projects to include in SNAIL MAIL!  I found some amazing mural art projects on Art Projects for Kids that could be divided into several pieces (like a puzzle) and printed them.  I mailed one piece to each student, they colored it and mailed it back to me, and then I could piece together our masterpiece!  I finally got the pieces back to update the picture, so here is what ours looks like!  So far, I've gotten all positive feedback and it has been so much fun!  Getting fun projects like this has my students so excited about getting mail that they are now writing letters and drawing pictures to each other!  So, it's a bonus to have them work on those writing skills!  Here is a link to the collage pictures so you can check them out.  There are some FREEBIES on this site as well.

3)   My most favorite project that I have sent home during this trying time is the Flat Teacher Project!  I’m sure most of you have read “Flat Stanley” and maybe even participated in your own project with Flat Stanley.  Well, I put a little spin on it and made a Flat Teacher that looks just like me! My students LOVED receiving it in the mail and doing activities at home “with me,” then sharing them on social media for the world to see!  I created a FREEBIE on TPT if you’d like to try this super fun project with your class!

It's so exciting to see all the adventures that my students and their siblings took Flat Mrs. Cassady on! 

I know today’s post was a long one and I have so much more I could say, but I'll save that for another day.  If you want to share some of your ideas that you have been doing with your class during the Coronavirus Pandemic, please go check out my Facebook page and comment in the thread.  It’s a great way for us to work together and share ideas!  Stay in and stay healthy!  We don’t want to spread the 'rona!