Groovy Educator

I just love linking up with DoodleBugsTeaching for this Linky party! What a week, what a week... (If you read only one of these five things, please read #5.) 1.  I have been sick since Saturday!  Yes that's right... A WHOLE week!  I still do not feel a hundred percent. :(  I had to miss THREE days of school this week due to the fever. :(  This is a nasty virus (sore throat, fever, cough, headache, stomache ache, etc).  BUT it afforded me the time to start not one but TWO LINKY PARTIES! 2.  We had our Egg Hunt at school and the kids were so sweet.  They had a BLAST! I just love my class.  They all brought in stuffed eggs earlier this week.  I counted them all up and checked them last night.  Some parents came to help me hide the eggs while the little darlings were at P.E.  Each kid had to find fifteen eggs and then sit on the bench until everyone was done.  They were not allowed to open the eggs until we got...

Several years ago when I was teaching Kindergarten, I had an idea in the night.  I used to keep a notebook next to my bed to jot down these ideas... I need to start doing that again!  It was an idea that I quickly implemented and loved.  For some reason I fell away from it but I plan on reinstating it this year.  What might it be?   Musical transitions! Now you may have heard about singing chants to transition from one subject to the next.  I love to do that too but this is different. The musical transitions I am referring to are designed for literacy stations or centers. In the classroom music helps manage volume.  If you play soft background music, the children learn to keep their voices low.  Being able to hear the music helps them self regulate their volume.  (You have to explicitly teach this of course!)  It is also soothing and peaceful.  Couple these two notions with transitioning from center to center and you h...