Vahl: Leggings

I just have to share my new favorite clothing website, The Vahl! I not only love the pieces they offer but I love that I am supporting a small business. As a kindergarten teacher and a mom to a 1 year old boy I need to be comfortable in my clothes because I am on the move all day everyday. 

(Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. This does not change the price you pay.)

Leggings! Leggings! Leggings!

My all time favorite thing is the leggings! 

Vahl is the home of "The Buttered Buns" and it is the truth. These are the softest leggings and I have a ton of leggings to compare them to. When I get up and choose my outfit for the day I will always reach for these leggings before any of my other brands. I have solids, patterns, capris, and full length. I have leggings for different holidays and different seasons. I might have too many leggings (nah that's not a real thing). 

Here is one of my favorite pair of fall leggings. You can check out the selection of leggings here. 

I wear a size 16/18 in jeans and I wear the plus size leggings. They also offer kids, misses, and extended plus sizes.

I hope that you will try these leggings and love them as much as I do. I will post some of my other Vahl favorites soon!

Mrs. Daleo

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My Favorite Things

I wanted to share some of my classroom's favorite things. We have been focusing on STEM in our school for a couple of years now and I am always on the look out for and trying new kinder friendly materials. 

(Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. This does not change the price you pay.)

1. Straws and Connectors

These are such a simple and open ended building material that makes it perfect for kindergarten! They require no explanation or modeling for the kids to be able to start using them. The only thing I occasionally have to say is please don't bend them, they aren't bendy straws :) 

2. Zoob BuilderZ

Zoobs are great for students to create "moving" designs such as people, animals, and cars. They are a great size for small kinder hands because they aren't super small like K'nex. Lots of my kids love to make necklaces, bracelets, and even belts out of these! 

3. TinkerToys

This is the absolutely hands down the most popular choice for the students in my class year after year.   They love to show me their unique butterflies, cars, animals, and more. This toy offers a variety of colors, shapes, and sizes in the pieces. Also the differences in the stick pieces where some are straight and some are bendable allow students to create a larger variety of designs. 

4. Gears

Gears are a great problem solving tool in my classroom. The kids are always working on find ways to make their towers taller or wider and to keep them turing properly. 

I hope you can find some wonderful was to use these materials in your classrooms to inspire your students engineering and creativity skills. Please share your favorite materials in the comments below!

Mrs. Daleo

Kindergarten Tips Linky Party

Hello! Sharing Kindergarten is hosting a fantastic linky party for Kindergarten teachers and I am so excited to be participating! I just finished my third year teaching K and I am so excited to be able to share some of the great things I have learned and read some of the other great tips that these amazing teachers have shared. 

Number 1

It is so very important to remember that YOU are the teacher. I really struggled with this my first year and it really showed in the way that the students treated me and in the way that they acted. It is important to have a clear classroom management plan in place and make sure that each student understands what is expected of them at all times. They also have to know what is going to happen if they are not doing what they are supposed to be doing. 

Sometimes changes in a classroom management plan are necessary and that is understandable just try to change it as few times as possible to help cut down on added chaos. 

Number 2

In addition to making sure you are in charge of the classroom you also need your students to feel safe and comfortable in your classroom. Sometimes our students have never been in school before and that can be one of the challenges in Kindergarten. Just be kind to them and offer them whatever support they need to feel safe at school. Maybe they need an undivided minute of your time in the morning to talk or maybe they need a hug as soon as they walk in the door. Take the time to show them kindness and make them feel happy to be at school. 

Number 3

Every year I have taught I have added more choice into my students day. In my experience the kids are WAY more likely to stay on task if they have chosen the activity they are completing. The great thing is that I am usually giving them the choices so I can still have some control over what they are doing, they just don't realize it! Haha ;)

Number 4

Schedule, Schedule, Schedule 

I try really hard to keep our schedule the same from day to day, which is really hard! However, it really cuts down on kids wondering and asking the same thing a thousand times like when is lunch, when is recess, when do we go home, when is math tubs, when are we going to the science lab, when is library... and on and on and on! Hahaha! 

In all seriousness even a routine cannot stop these questions but it will prevent at least some of them. There are so many benefits to having a routine and sticking to it that I cannot list them all just take my word for it!

Don't forget to head over to SHARING KINDERGARTEN for more great Kindergarten Tips!

Mrs. Daleo

Blog Hop and A Freebie!

As a teacher starting out in the blogging or Teachers Pay Teachers, and social media world you are constantly watching your followers and hoping they grow! Every one is a celebration! You celebrate each little milestone. That is what we are going to do here this week with a blog hop full of freebies and giveaways! My Teachers Pay Teachers store has reached a mini milestone of 100 followers!!!! And my FB page is right there too! So I decided to create a new freebie to share but what's better than ONE freebie?  ELEVEN freebies and giveaways too!

Ten other wonderful TPT sellers/bloggers have generously agreed to blog hop with me and offer up a freebie and in some cases a giveaway as well!

The way this works is you will hop from blog to blog to get each freebie! You can also click the raffle copter on ANY blog. Of course we would also love it if you would comment, share and leave us feedback! We are hoping this will grow us as bloggers and give you a chance to get to know us!

Here is a complete list of blogs participating in case you get lost!

1. The Krafty Teacher - start here to go in order

2. Carol's Garden - Comment for Giveaway

3. Heart2Heart Teaching

4. Queen of the Jungle

5. The Mad Mather

6. Our Elementary Lives 

7. Momma with a Teaching Mission

8. Nalla Bella

9. Rosie's Resources Comment for Giveaway

10. Mrs. Daleo at Kindergarten STEM

11. Glitter in Third

a Rafflecopter giveaway

These past couple of weeks in my classroom we have been hard at work taking care of our chicken eggs and finally our baby chicks. I created this Freebie so that my kiddos could document the process of hatching baby chicks and they could practice their how to writing at the same time. This would be great if you have an incubator in your classroom or if you are just learning about the life cycle of chickens. 

Check it out HERE in my TPT store!

Click on the link below to go to the next stop on the blog hop...

Glitter In Third

Thanks so much to The Krafty Teacher for hosting this awesome Blog Hop and congratulations for reaching 100 followers!

Have a Great Week!

Mrs. Daleo

Sharin' a Little Sunshine: Spring is in the Air!

I am linking up with Hello Sunshine for a blog post about SPRING! We have had quite the long cold winter here in Indiana and I am so glad to finally have some warmer temperatures :) Plus only 26 more days of school (not that I'm counting or anything). 

We spent the last week talking about earth day and planting our very own seeds. We had previously planted seeds for a science experiment and my kiddos were very disappointed that they were not going to be able to take those plants home. So I surprised them on Friday by letting each of them plant a seed that they will get to take home for Mother's Day :) They were ecstatic! 

We will also be spending some time talking about weather. They are very interested in the temperature these days since I explained to them that the temperature determines whether we can go outside for recess or not. Haha! 

Earlier in the year we did an experiment about creating a cloud in a jar. We talked about the water cycle and where rain comes from. I am kind of wishing we would have saved that experiment for spring because it would fit perfectly with all the rainy weather we have been having lately. 

Check out my post about making a cloud in a jar here. 

Head over to my TPT Store to see my other spring resources. 

Have a Great Day :)

Mrs. Daleo

Countless Smart Cookies Giveaway

I am participating in a giveaway in celebration of Countless Smart Cookies 500th follower on TPT. Sign up for the giveaway below and head on over to her blog to sign up for the other giveaways she is hosting.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mrs. Daleo

Build A House

As a STEM school even the kindergarteners get to spend time learning about engineering, which is so much fun! This year my kids got to learn about engineering while we were learning about Fairy Tales. We spent 3 weeks learning about The Three Little Pigs and the different types of houses they built.

Week 1

Each student got to work with a partner to build a house of straw. We definitely made a mess but it was well worth it! Before we got started each student worked with their partner to draw a picture in their science notebook of what they wanted their house of straw to look like and what materials they were going to use. Obviously they all used straw but they got to choose if they wanted to use tape, glue, or both. They recorded their materials in their science notebook and then we got started on our experiment. I gave them about 15 minutes to work with their partner before the Big Bad Wolf showed up. We made sure everyone had their pig in their house and we took turns seeing if the Big Bad Wolf (Blow Dryer) could blow down their house. Amazingly I had a group build a house that did not blow down even on the highest setting of my blow dryer! They used SO much tape and the kids all thought it was so awesome :) 

Week 2

This week it was time for us to build stick houses. I would love to use real twigs next time I try this experiment but for the sake of time I just used popsicle stick. Once again the students designed their houses in their science notebooks. They also had a choice of materials again. They could once again choose tape, glue, or both and they had to record their choice in their science notebook. We really talked about what the structure of a house looks like this time. (It is kind of hard for 5yr olds to build a true structure out of straw. It mostly turned out like big piles last week! haha) We talked about a roof and how it doesn't touch our heads so we had to make sure our pigs would fit inside our houses. We talked about building walls and what would work best to hold it all together. Once again they had about 15 minutes to work on their houses and then we all took turns blowing down the houses. This time there were a couple of houses that stood but even if the house stayed standing most of the pigs blew away.

Week 3

Lastly it was time to build brick houses. This one was definitely the most interesting experience for me. Before we started building we talked about bricks and we looked up some pictures online. We talked about people using mortar to hold brick together when they build things. We talked about the pattern that bricks are in when we look at the outside of a house. I also reminded them of what we had talked about last week with the structure of a house. The students once again worked with their partner to draw their design in their science notebooks. They did not have a choice materials this week because everyone was using clay and rocks. These houses mostly turned out in the shape of an igloo but they stood up to the Big Bad Wolf very well. The only problem the kids had was that if they didn't build up all the walls the blow dryer would just blow the pigs out of the house. 

I hope you decide to try this experiment and enjoy it as much as we did! I have created a TPT Product  that includes the pages we use in our science notebooks for this experiment. It also includes an emergent reader and some math, writing, and literacy activities. Please check it out if you decide to give this experiment a try! 

The Three Little Pigs Unit

Material List

Note: Some of the links in this list are affiliate links. Read my disclosure here.

Science Notebook

Bale of Hay

Foil Trays

Little Pigs

Blow Dryer

Popsicle Sticks

Clay

Rocks

Have A Great Day :)

Mrs. Daleo

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