What do you teach first?

What a great summer I have had!  I am hoping that all of you did as well.  After the year I had last year, I am looking forward to this year.  I know that God has many blessings coming my way!  I was so happy that I was able to go to the National Kindergarten Conf. in Las Vegas this summer.  What a blast!  I can not wait to put these ideas to use.  Every year (this is my 8th year) i wonder how everyone starts the year.   What do you teach first?  Does anyone have a calendar that shows how they teach letters words etc?  Our kindergarten has one, but you know sometimes you need a change....... Thanks in advance :)

Dinosaurs and Underwear Oh My!

Are they not the cutest dinosaurs ever!  We also wrote some facts about dinosaurs to hang up with these cuties.  Later this week pictures will be up of our egg hunt.......

Oh Say Can You Say Dinosaur?

OMG we are having a blast learning about dinosaurs this week!  So far we have read many stories about dinosaurs, but our favorite was Dinosaurs Love Underpants.  You know anything about underwear is way to funny for these kiddos.  Anywho, we are making the cutest dang dinosaurs you ever did see to go along with the story, and then we are writing our favorite part of the story.  Shhhhh our dinosaur eggs are about ready to hatch!  I can not wait for the children to crack their eggs open and then find their baby dinosaur.  :) Pictures will follow later this week!  In the meantime here is the recipe to make dinosaur eggs.  Have a great rest of the day!
  What You Need:  2 1/2 cups of Flour
                              2 1/2 cups of dirt (I use red dirt)
                              1 Cup of Sand
                              1 1/2 cups of salt
                              water
                              small plastic toy dinosaurs
                              Hammer ( I don't use a hammer we crack them open on sidewalk)

What You Do: 
1.  Mix all the dry ingredients together. (flour, dirt, salt, sand)
2.  Gradually stir in enough water so the mix holds together.
3.  Shape the dough around the plastic dinosaurs in the form of an egg.
4.  Give the eggs up to 4 days to dry.
5.  Let the kids find them and crack them open. :)
6.  I rotate mine around so they dry on all sides.

A Fresh New Start

Ok I'm back!  Happy to say that my life has finally smoothed out.  Thank goodness.  For those of you that keep up with me, I lost my step-daddy to cancer back in October.  He was such a great man and it was very tough watching the disease slowly take him from us.  I also am recently divorced. It was a very tough year for me in 2011, but 2012 has brought nothing but blessings.  God has a plan for each of us and I am watching his special plan for me unfold one chapter at a time. 

Now, SCHOOL!!  We have been so busy!  Guided reading groups are going strong, and centers have never been so organized and easy for the children to manipulate thanks to Julie Lee!  I absolutely love her center activities and I can't wait for the new ones. 

We are learning about dinosaurs next week.  I will be posting pictures of our dinosaur eggs and other projects very soon! 

Hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Thanks for sharing all your great ideas as well! :)

Wow!  It has been too long away from here!  I have been struggling through life, but the Lord has picked up my burdens and he now carries them for me.  I am so excited to say that a very dear friend to me has joined my kindergarten team.  She and I are gonna be working to get some great center packets ready for sale in our TPT store!!  I will also be posting some classroom pictures very soon!