KinderKay of Love Those Kinders, Innovative Teacher-Author and Back to School Freebie!

Learn a little bit about this fabulous teacher-author-blogger!! 

Welcome, KinderKay!

Classroom Experience:

I have been teaching for 24 years! Wow! It is hard to believe that many years have gone by! I taught second grade for 7 years and thought that was the perfect grade for me. Then my children came along and I became a stay at home Mom which I thought I would be doing for the rest of my life. But this was not to be the case! One evening as I was finishing up the dishes, I received a phone call from our priest. He told me that he wanted to start a kindergarten and that he wanted ME to be the first teacher. Now get this.... It was June and he wanted it going by August! There was nothing - no books, no table, no chairs, not even a classroom! He had ordered a portable classroom that hadn't even arrived yet! Yikes! Only a crazy person would take this job, right?? Well, I took it and here I am.... 18 years later and LOVING it! Since then, we have built a new wing for our kindergarten and I now reside in what the rest of the school calls "the palace!"

Valuable info learned...beneficial to teachers/teacher-authors, bloggers: Oh gosh, since joining TPT in June of 2011, my whole teaching life has been transformed! Before becoming a part of TPT, I thought I was a good teacher, but I didn't realize how sheltered I had become. Some of it, of course, was from teaching in a private school. But much of it was from the fact that the only teachers in which I shared experiences with were from our local area. I am not saying that I did not grow as a teacher, but being able to bounce ideas off of other teachers from around the country (and other countries) has enabled me to become more focused on the changing needs of my students. When I started a blog in January of 2012, I found even more of an opportunity to improve myself as a professional. For example, I participated in a book study this summer with other kindergarten teachers as we explored how to implement the Daily 5 into our literacy curriculum. My blog gave me the opportunity to learn this new skill and now my students will benefit from the knowledge that I have gained!

Advice for a beginning or veteran teacher?
Be flexible and accept the fact that your students may know more than you know! Instead of getting upset about this, rejoice in it! As teachers it is our job to inspire and guide, but after we have done that, we have to let our students turn our lesson into something that becomes their own!


Great ideas, lessons, or pieces of advice learned from other blog(s): I have learned so much from SO MANY blogs! There are so many really, really GOOD teaching blogs around! I guess the thing that I have learned the most from all of them is how to organize my classroom. Being able to find materials when needed has always been a weakness of mine, so reading blogs that show how to organize a classroom have been so helpful. The biggest help I have received, I think, are the classroom library bin labels. I am presently re-designing my library and these labels will come in SO handy!

A Freebie KinderKay Has Chosen to Share! 
I have quite a few freebies to offer! I really believe in sharing and also love FREE things myself!Here is one for Back to School...

KinderKay's Online store---Check it Out!
Teachers Pay Teachers

Helpful Hints for Classroom:

Hmmm... This is hard, but I think the thing that makes me unique is how I try to bring Art into our everyday curriculum. I truly believe that children learn by doing and with all the curriculum changes that are occurring in our nation, the arts have slowly been replaced. So in order to give my students a taste of the world around them, I encourage them to use pencils, crayons, scissors, glue, and paint in their daily activities. For example, instead of giving them a printed worksheet of a plant to color and label, I show them how to DRAW the flower and then label its parts. Instead of giving them a pattern to trace and color, I show them how to create their picture using simple shapes and step-by-step illustrations. When children create their own illustrations, learning becomes real for them and they feel some ownership in their school journey.

Something cool, weird, funny about you, OUTSIDE the classroom: Let's see...My husband thinks I am weird because I like to eat sweet pickles wrapped in cheese and I put ketchup on my scrambled eggs! I take water aerobics classes and love lakes and boating even though I am petrified of water! I am afraid of cows even though my husband is a farmer and has a herd of them! I can sit hours watching the birds in my bird feeder! I love to use drawing and cutting in many of my lessons. I would so much rather sew, paint, draw, cut, or work in my garden than do household chores - yuck! :) My favorite vacation is spending a few days enjoying Lake Michigan!

Connect with KinderKay...

I just started a Facebook page in June and have no idea how to use it yet! But, This is what keeps our brain active, correct? Learning new things!

Visit KinderKay on Facebook! 

Here is my Pinterest link! 

I love Pinterest! 

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I would like to say THANKS to Cindy, for sharing her ideas and freebie with us!  Be sure to swing by her blog, Love Those Kinders, and/or her store to see all of the other teaching resources she has! Please leave a comment below to let her know you stopped by and picked up some helpful info and her awesome free download! Show some love! 
Oh, I must also admit, I love Pinterest TOO, just like KinderKay!!!

Do you have a favorite idea, tip, or activity that you've found on another blog? Share it below!! We love to find and share new ideas, so give us one--maybe the blog name if you remember too!

The Best Education Blog Award Mystery!

I love it that some go the extra mile to let you know when you are doing a great job. I feel special to have received this great new badge to proudly add to my blog from an outstanding educator, author, teacher, blogger, and.....That is all I can tell you, folks! The rest is to remain a mystery!!
No passing the award to a list of peeps with rules or anything...I'm just posting about it and bragging on this new badge I received! 
I want to THANK a very special, outstanding "secret someone" for such a lovely gesture!!!
Toodles,  Everyone!!! Have a LOVELY Sunday night and great week!

Students Back Full Force, and a Humorous Read!

So, it seems like I was just freaking out that school was about to start! Now, we are full force with lessons, daily activities, etc.!
This past week we spent some time reviewing the parts of speech. Well, okay, so we've been working for a week and a half and will continue with this next week! :) Gotta learn those parts of speech, ya know???
Anyway, I wanted to share what we did Friday. I do not know where the idea came from. Had I invented it myself, it would be a freebie I'd share with you. However, I'm sure many language arts teachers have done something similar!

Parts of Speech Poem:
1st: Give the students the Parts of Speech Poem Framework they will use to compose their own poems.

2nd: Provide an example. Here's one for you if you want to use it...

3rd: Let their imaginations create some creative poems that follow the framework given.

4th: Of course, encourage them to make it visually creative! That's always a nice addition and it takes away from the humdrum of a parts of speech practice. Plus, creatively displayed poems make for perfect wall hangings....you know you want to plaster their awesome work on your walls!
I'll have to share the results with you come next week!
I searched and searched for my poems from last year that I kept for samples!! What do ya know...I can't find them! And, to top it off, one sample featured my Alma mater's  mascot that one of my boys did! Go Dawgs!! Gotta find them. Until then, hope you can incorporate this into your parts of speech lessons/reviews.


Now, for a little something funny...for the teacher! Not the student! :)
Cheryl Thurston's Hide You Ex-Lax Under the Wheaties: Poems about schools, teachers, kids, and education---Check it out, you might like it!

What's a funny moment you can recall? We ALL have them! Tell us a quick and funny moment that's perfect for adding to your own book about teachers, students, etc.


Happy Saturday!