Symbols and Celebrations!

Lately in my Kindergarten class we have been studying "symbols and celebrations". It's our latest science/social studies unit that is mainly about US and Tennessee state symbols. But, I love the title because there are symbols all over! And since punctuation is a HUGE K standard, I came up with a cute way of getting my kids to understand the 3 main punctuation symbols- period, exclamation mark and question mark. Here it is!


I really wish I had taken a picture of the kids' work instead of my example, but you get the idea. It's a super cute flip book that turned out great! They got to draw their understanding of the symbol and add some writing to it. It has really helped them understand the 3 punctuation symbols that we use.

If you would like to do this in your classroom, feel free! Just take a piece of paper (I used construction paper bc it's a little thicker than plain copy paper) and do a "hot dog" fold. Then draw 2 lines to separate it into 3 areas. Open the fold and cut to the middle of the paper. Re-fold and there you go! I use these kind of flip books ALL the time and my kids love them! The best part is that now they can make them by themselves so I don't have to go and fold and cut 16 pieces of paper. The joys of independence!!

What's the problem?

Sometimes I wish I could say more on this blog than I can. But for privacy purposes, I never reveal students' names, my school name, etc. That being said, I have a situation I want to share with you.

"M" is a student who is extremely hyper-active. Not just, "wow, that kid has a lot of energy." But "WOW, that kid NEVER stops!" He's super cute, adorable and very bright, but has a very hard time getting any work done because he is so wound up.

I would never wish a problem upon a student. However, if knowing about that problem leads to a solution, then I'm all about identifying the problem. I'm sharing this because I'd love for you to just think about this student and if you are a prayerful person, keep him in your thoughts. No kid should have to live with a "label", but labeling this kid could get him the help that he (and I) so desperately need for him to succeed. I want the best for all of my students, no matter what it takes to get the best.

That being said, I got some test scores back on my kiddos today and they are doing GREAT! Several of them have already surpassed the end-of-year benchmarks for Kindergarten and the others are not far behind. Looks like I'm doing something right!!