Where have I been?

Greetings!
It has indeed been a loooong while since my last post and I have no real excuse for it.  We all lead busy lives and I should and I must make time for blog posts.  Why?  Cause I love my blog and I love talking about children's books.

So I finally sat down at this computer and said to myself...girl lets get it together and publish a post.  In the weeks since school has begun I have been working extensively with my kiddies on vocabulary.  I have a pocket chart at my morning meeting area and I put vocabulary of the day cards in them...usually simple themes such as colors, weather words, fall, etc.  I laminate a picture of a character from a book  they love like Pete the cat, Junie B. Jones, Moose (from Moose a Muffin) and I hide the character behind one of the picture cards.  The class has to find the character.  The only rule is that they must speak in complete sentences.  So something like...."I think Pete the cat is behind the cornstalk".  I play the tune from jeopardy and we look under the cards until he is found.  Simple I know but the kiddies love it.  I love that they are speaking in complete sentences and learning vocabulary at the same time.   I have quite a few ELL's in my room so it has helped them tremendously.

We have started ReadyGen in NYC and I will leave my opinion (or at least try to) out of it.  It is a very scripted program but I still think its important to instill a love of reading great literature into our little learners, so I make sure to read a great book each day.  They lovelovelove anything Pete the cat.  We must have read The Little Old Lady Who Wasn't Afraid of Anything 642 times.  We read most of the Numeroff circular stories and they loved those as well.  So as I look through my books, I can't help but think of all the great Halloween books I must read to them. There are so many of them.  One of my absolute favorite ones and its not Halloween but more monster is ............(drumroll)...........

I love this book....so cute and clever!  We usually make a class book on how to take care of our class monster.  I know the kids will love this book and here are few others I must put in my school bag for this week.

All these books are CLASSIC Halloween stories so if you don't have them....get them!!!  They are fun read alouds with great illustrations.

Well I did it.  I wrote a post after being away for so long!  I will be sure to never let that happen again.

Hurray for 3 day weekends!

Until the next time people.

I made it through the first week!!!

The first week of kindergarten is tough!  Its exhausting to get them used to the routines, to lining up in a straight line, to not calling out, to sharing, to understanding what an indoor voice is, to taking out their supplies and hanging book bags in the cubby with their name on it.....wait...can you recognize your name?  Please, please don't cry cause trust me, believe me, I promise you that lady you call mom is coming back.

So I am tired..exhausted really.  So happy to be at home in my pjs with my coffee and the sweet thought of slumber past my alarm time.  Such happiness really!!

But in all seriousness....getting to know the little people in your class is a serious task.  You want to know what they like and don't like.  You want to know how they retain, solve, comprehend, learn...I mean you want to learn as much as you possibly can about each of them so that you can be an effective teacher.  But there is a part of this that is bigger than all of that.  You want your kids to have a relationship with you. Students do not learn from non-care and any teacher can tell you that it is very difficult to teach a broken child.  I want my kids to trust me and my intentions.  I want each and everyone of them to build a process of thinking that will carry them into adulthood.  I want them all to love great literature...to use a great book to escape from the difficulties of life.  I want each of them to feel the freedom of knowledge and education.  I want a lot I know, but I do believe that if I make that energy present in my class, my kids will be better for it.  Today I came across this video that puts into words all that I was trying to say here.  Being a teacher is not easy and it seems to be getting progressively harder, but the rewards of doing it with great positive intention is indescribable.

Until next time!

Can no longer ignore the truth....Happy Labor Day!

Teachers in New York City know that Labor Day is the final toll bell to our vacation.  We can no longer ignore it.  The end is here.  Come the Tuesday after Labor Day, teachers from NYC will officially be back at work.  

As I sit here and contemplate my summer, I have to admit that I had a great vacation.  I got to spend great time with my family, I created some great resources (if I say so myself) and most importantly I started my blog.  It is quite gratifying to see that I still like my profession.  I reread my posts and it makes me happy that after 10 years and all the changes education has and is going through, my enthusiasm for teaching and children's literature is apparent.  I look through my library and I see a book I haven't seen in a while and I get excited like its a present I forgot to open.  Sounds silly I know but I do believe that at the core of any quality education is great quality literature.  So here is a book I did stumble upon today:

There are not many words in the pages of this book.  Wow! Tunnel! Wow people! Wow! Well you get the idea.  It is the illustrations.  I love them because they are huge!  Its what you imagine you would feel looking at say NYC when you were say 3.

Mr. Neubecker has written a few Wow books -  Wow! America! Wow! Ocean! and Wow! School!  The illustrations are phenomenal and just as wonderful as the ones above.  A must for your library.  

Ok here's to enjoying these last free days of summer.  I got my coffee and I am going to sit on my front steps with my triplets.  Happy Labor Day!

 Until next time!

Just a quick addendum

OMG people!  I just did a quick search of the book The Donut Chef by Bob Staake and look what I got!!!!

 

Donuts from donutchef.com.  Bob Staake's website.  Oh the things you find when you search.  The littlest things really do bring joy! LOL!!!

Until next time for real!

Summer is officially O V A!

People,
I have been so busy just getting it all ready for the new school year.  I think all educators would agree that September should be the start of the new year.  We should wear hats, party blowers in hand, and scream HAPPY NEW YEAR!! on the first day of school.  There is a feeling that is hard to explain but it is shared by parents, kids and teachers alike.  Its a mix of excitement, sadness (summer is gone), anxiety, and hope.  Its a new start to teach differently, to try something new or improve upon what worked the year before.  There is also a bit of teacher anxiety, how many of those"trying" ones will be in your class?(you know at least one).  How long before they learn the rules and routines?  Will I like the new curriculum being implemented this year across NYC?  Monday I go in for some lovely professional development (hope you got a taste of the sarcasm), so my summer is officially ova not over but O V A!  I went in on Thursday to move furniture and get an idea of where I want things to go (I am in a new room this year).

My goal is always to be more organized.  It is a struggle for me.  I am organized in certain areas of my life but teaching can be quite messy!  My plan book looks good.  Updated my data binder for the year.  Got my centers together.  Classroom decor is pretty much done too so I decided to look at my files of teacher created materials and clip art and freebies and really try to put those little zip drive thingys in order.  I didn't get far before I decided to Pinterest instead but I did come across a nice little freebie that I created for one of my many favorite read alouds.  Here is the book:

Oh what a great story, its rhyme is sure to keep your kids attention and its just a fun book!  There are two donut shops competing for customers.  They will stop at nothing to beat out the competition.  Here are my favorite words from the story:

"It wasn't long before the sweets

Looked not at all like donut treats.

They'd lost their taste.  They'd lost their soul

They'd even lost their donut hole!"

It takes the cute Debbie Sue to teach the donut chef and the whole town really that less is really more and simple is best.  I love this book so much so  that I created a mini unit in my TPT store and its a freebie.  This book needs to be in every elementary teacher's library.  I read it every year.  Click below to get my freebie.

Donut Chef Mini Unit Freebie

Until next time!

We are in Business! Children's Books about Economics and Business.

People!
I am a mother of a college age son!  Lawd!  I still cannot believe that he is in his dorm.  I look over at the love seat where he usually sits and its empty.  I miss him so!  And even crazier is how profound the feeling is when I eat or feed the triplets.  Did my first born eat?  Did he eat a good meal?  Did he drink his coffee?  He's probably not snacking as much.  It is a turn in the road for me as a mom and the transition is not easy.  The part of life I gave him isn't mine and my boy is out there in the world living his life.  I am no longer his major lifeline...he is but I am his biggest supporter and that will never change.  Ok there I go again, enough already Lena lets move on to BOOKS.

So I just finished my unit on literacy and economics.  Every year my class works on this unit.  We become business owners of imaginary eateries.  We learn about alliteration and menus, money, business plans, saving, spending, banks, checks, donations, accounts, storefronts, customers, advertising, bosses, employees/workers, customers, weekly specials, coupons, etc.  We always have a great time and it teaches great life skills, business/economic concepts and vocabulary.  We set up shop and student partners patronize each other's imaginary eateries using guest checks, menus and coupons.  If you are interested, you can look at my unit in my TPT store.  Here is the link:

We are Open for Business!!!

There are so many wonderful children's books about business and economics.  Books that are great read-alouds that kids love listening to over and over.  Here is a list of the books that I use in conjunction with the unit above.

Ok I am off to watch TV, laminate and look over at my empty love seat missing my boy!

Until next time.

ROAR......Great Dinosaur Picture Books!

Hello People,
I have been busy getting ready for my new class.  Here in NYC the kids do not actually come back until September but teachers are slowly finding their way back to their school for lovely PDs and classroom set-ups.  I have laminated my heart away and am now velcroing (is that a word?) my last vacation days away. But who am I to complain?  It is a blessing to spend my summer with my own kids.  They are growing so quickly.  My first born is actually going away to college this Saturday and I know that I will be one H O T M E S S!!! He is not even leaving the state but leaving our home is enough for my heart to feel as if the boy is going to another continent.  

Okay lets get to easier more enjoyable topics.....BOOKS!  I was once again looking through my books and came across my box of dinosaur books. There are so many fantastic children's books about dinosaurs, both nonfiction and fiction.  Below are just some of the dinosaur books out there for children. These are most of the read alouds I use in my thematic unit.

As a teacher, I am big on words and vocabulary and the dinosaur theme has such great vocabulary that is continuously supported throughout the unit.  It is so gratifying when your kinders are using such complex words such as: paleontologist, carnivore, herbivore, omnivore, prehistoric, fossils, biped, quadruped, feeder, classify, etc.  Dinosaurs are one of my favorite themes.  I love it so much I created a literacy unit that you can find here in my TPT store.  Check it out and tell me what you think!  The first one to leave a comment and an email can have it for free.  (I just started this blog so I may just be my only follower but hey you just never know!)

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Dino-Discoveries-A-Literacy-Unit-Your-Students-Will-Dig-823428


Well until next time, I feel the need to go make sure my son has enough socks and underwear and shampoo and toothpaste before he leaves for dorm life!

Printing, Laminating and Cutting....oh my!

Summer is winding down and its time for this teacher to get it together so I have printed my new center stuff and after 10 years of teaching I did something incredible, fantastic, stupendous, phenomenal.  I ORDERED MY VERY OWN LAMINATOR!!!  Did you get that?  Do you understand?  Do you comprehend the depth of what this means?   This means that I laminate while I am in front of the TV.  I laminate as soon as I create and print.  I am an official laminator!  Exciting stuff people....exciting stuff.

A midst my printing and ordering a laminator I also ordered a book I needed to add to my library which reminded me about the other wonderful books written by the same author.  I think Dyanne Disalvo-Ryan is a wonderful author.  Her books are infused with community and responsibility and the core belief that one person can ignite change.  I absolutely love all the books I have read by her.  My favorite is Grandpa's Corner Store.

Lucy is worried that the mega stores are going to put her grandpa out of business.  This story is a wonderful depiction of the importance of community. It takes a village to build a life. Lucy is able to pull the neighborhood together to save her Grandpa's corner store.  There is a great map at the end that will also lend to so many great lessons in your classroom.

Another great read aloud by this author is City Green.

The city condemns and demolishes a building in Marcy's neighborhood.  Marcy is so upset but sets to clean and plant seeds in the vacant lot.  As she works, Ms. Rose, her neighbor is right along side her cleaning and planting.  Their energy is infectious and before long we see the other neighbors volunteer their time, supplies and resources to turn that ugly lot into a beautiful community garden.  Again is Ms. Disalvo-Ryan's theme of community and volunteerism.  It takes a village to build a life.

One other great book, that again depicts the importance of volunteerism is Uncle Willie and the Soup Kitchen.

Uncle Willie brings Andy to the soup kitchen he comes to serve everyday.  He considers the folks he helps as guests and works to make it a warm inviting place for all who come to get a meal.  You feel Uncle Willie's compassion and it shows kids that there are many ways to help in your community.  It is heartwarming.

Lastly, I just ordered this book yesterday.  I have never read the book in its entirety but from what I see it infuses important themes of community as well.  It is Castle on Viola Street.  

Andy and his family live in a cramped apartment.  They are given the opportunity to help build a home for a family (think habitat for humanity) and eventually build a house for their own family.  I can't wait to get it in the mail!

If you do not have any of her books, they are a must for your library.

Until the next time.

If I Had a Robot...

it would clean and cook for me everyday for sure.  It would bathe my dog Gandolf once weekly too! But I digress If I Had a Robot by Dan Yaccarino is a great read aloud.  If this little boy had a robot, it would do any and everything the boy did not want to do.  The robot would take his bath, eat his lima beans and even help him be the master of the universe!  This book gives the kiddies a chance to use their imagination.  

I have used this book in my class for many years.  My kiddies create their own robots out of art materials.  They write about their robots.  We talk about machines and levers and buttons and ......well you get the point!  Its a great book to teach so many concepts and the kids just love it.  What bunch of kinders wouldn't love anything robots? Here is link to grab my robot writing pages freebie for the book or for any robot book you may already have.  

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Robot-Writing-Freebie-809893

I hope you and your kiddies enjoy it!

Until the next time!

Life in its most precious and difficult times!

Hello People,
Please forgive my absence, I had to attend a funeral out of town. Death always makes you take a step back from your life and the people in it and just simply BE. BE grateful. BE present. BE human. 

I have a dear college friend; he is my amigo, my comrade, my brother and has been for the last 22 years!  Amigo was always the guy that hmmm.... lets just say didn't want to commit.  It eventually happened, he met the one.  The one that changed it all and he gladly committed.  He proposed and in the process of planning their 2012 wedding, she was diagnosed with breast cancer.  My amigo was her champion and took care of her and loved her through it all.  A year later, May of this year they got married.  It was a glorious day full of love and gratefulness and more love. They were happy and peaceful and grateful.  Sadly, upon return from their honeymoon, they found that her cancer returned with a vengeance.  She died just shy of their two month wedding anniversary. 

All I could think about was how is my amigo going to come back from this?  How will he keep his heart open after this tragedy?  How can he live his life without the person he planned to live it with?

Yesterday he said two things to me that touched my soul.  "She taught me how to love." and  "She adored me, it felt good to be loved like that."  Those two sentences took my breath away.  My dear friend had transformed before my eyes.  I am so proud of the man he became, of the husband he was to her.  He is better for her time in his life and she was better for his time in hers. 

I am proud of my boy.  My heart breaks for him, I cry sporadically during the day for the sadness but also for the beauty she left in this man.  It will take a long time for him to feel ok enough but I know that it is only possible because of her.

I share this story to say please do monthly self-check breast exams and if you are of age to get a mammogram....get it.  Life is truly precious and we only have one go at it...make it your best. 

Until next time.

Back from Vacation!

Hello People,
I spent a glorious 7 days with my wonderful fantastic and incredible parents in South Carolina.  I actually went down to pick up my triplets.  Yes I have triplets!  It still shocks me some times and they are 10.  My folks took them down right after school and I went to go get my tribe.  It was great to see my folks but the best part of my trip was stopping in Virginia and spending the night in a hotel all by myself!

I got into town by 1:00 and went to Wal-mart for some early school shopping.  Was  a bit disappointed by what they had.  Last year I picked up many great $1 deals but I bought new scissors and pencils and folders and crayons and well you get the idea!  My next stop was a thrift store and what did I pick up?  What was the find of the day?!?!?  OMG!.....I hear the drums rolling in my head!

yes my people a Dooney & Bourke crossbody bag for $7!!!!  I was trying to keep my cool and not run over and snatch it.  I forced myself to saunter over, casually pick it up and stroll to the register.  Once it was safely in my hands I ran out of there like I just robbed a bank!  Ooooooweeeee!!! But to top it all off there was a bookstore right next store!  Now only fellow educators can understand the excitement that bubbles in your belly when you see a bookstore.  All you can think of is all the children's books that are housed in there!

Now just to remind you, I have just purchased a great bag (see pic above as a reminder) and now a bookstore.  I found some wonderful books to add to my collection but this book is one of my new favorites.  Okay sorry I am ranting but I was always slightly concerned that technology...computers, laptops, ipods, ipads, kindles, etc. will dilute the magnificence of books.  Wasn't it Carrie Bradshaw that said she loves the smell of old books?  Well so do I, I refuse to buy an ereader.  I need a book in my hand, I need to turn those pages and yes I need the smell of books.  I digressed yet again but I promise I have a point.  Here's the book:

Now this book has received some controversy because at the end Mr. Smith used the word "jackass".  Its funny but inappropriate for our young scholars.  But it is still a necessity for your own personal library and most certainly could be read to upper grades into high school.  This book is an ode to print in this massive digital age.  The donkey asks the monkey can it (book) text, tweet, wifi until he reads it and is engrossed for hours in the story.  This book reminds me of another great book. An eccentric aunt saves a town who forgets how to read because of the invasion of the television.

 

 

Books will never go out of style, they will never lose their importance no matter how massive our digital world becomes.  I believe that but I felt better when I read this:

 



Until next time. :)

A is for salad? P is for roller skates? W is for birthday cake? What is going on?!?

I came across yet another fantastic ABC book!  This one is so silly and funny that my kiddies always look at me like....what are you talking about teacher?!?  It takes them a while to catch on but once they do its with great enthusiasm.

A is for Salad by Mike Lester.  Mr. Lester has quite an impressive imagination.  The illustrations are hilarious and the kids really get a chance to sit back and enjoy a great book.

J is for hats?  No silly!  J is for the jellyfish wearing the hats!

 

And L is for that miserable lion using the hair dryer!

 

 

 

This is usually one of the classes' favorite read alouds and we repeat read quite often.  A teacher's library must!

 

 

As always, I love sharing my favorites with you and I hope you can add a great book to your classroom library.

 

 

Until the next time.

 

ONE OF MY MANY MANY FAVORITE BOOKS AND A FREEBIE!

Hello People,
I was looking through some of my books today and I came across one of my favorite ABC books of all time.  I love this book.  My kids love this book.  The whole world should love this book.  Okay enough this is not a paid endorsement really its not.  Here it is:

This book deserves a hug.  The illustrations, the alliteration, the comic book feel keeps girls and boys enthralled. I love to ask them to predict what could be the name of the next superhero and what could the superhero do that begins with the same letter.   After the read we make a class superhero ABC book.  I read this book every year and I have never come across a class that does not love this book.  The enthusiasm that this book generates is a great school year starter. 

I made simple alphabet sheets that go with the book. 

 

Super A! I love his mask - its a great disguise!

 

Please follow this link to my TPT store to pick up your free copy and please leave me feedback!

 

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Superhero-ABCs-Free-Alphabet-pages-767454

 
I don't know about you but that post wore me out.  I must get back to my place on the couch and watch some really bad reality TV!

Until the next time!

Bloglovin?

Now that I finally get a blog, I hear that I may need to get a new RSS feed?  Huh? What you say?  So confusing but I am going with the flow.  So I am pasting this link.  I want my blog to follow all the rules.

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/9824221/?claim=3dmajxx94kx">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I will blog about the things I love later but I needed to handle my blog's business.

Until next time.

UP AND RUNNING!!

I have a blog!  Hello! I am Lena and I am a teacher from Brooklyn, New York.  I am a native New Yorker so I couldn't see myself teaching anywhere else.
I just completed my 10th year of teaching! 10 years! Time most certainly flies.  I have spent most of my teaching years in kindergarten and first grade.  This last school year I taught Prek and that was a real eye opener.  I also did one year in 3rd grade (no bueno!). So here I am. 

I hope you find something useful in my blog.  I will post my everyday life as an educator in a Title I school.  I will give away freebies and share with you my love of children's books.  I have over 3,000 books and I am always looking for new ones.  I loved children's books way before I became a teacher.  I mean, you can never have enough books right? 

Well, I officially did it.  I wrote my first blog entry.  Aside from going out to get my dog's food, I would say this teacher had an accomplished summer's day wouldn't you?

Until the next time.