Well as you can see, it's been awhile since I've been active on this little blog. Each time I get really ambitious and plan to share something amazing, life gets in the way. :)
I had extremely high hopes of continuing to blog last year and was VERY surprised to find out I was pregnant again. So now I've got to littles 2 and under and am back in the classroom doing what I love.
I realized after taking a break, that I've never really explained the meaning behind my blog name. I thought since I was jumping back on after all of this time, it was a good segway into all the sharing I'm planning to do soon.
STEPPIN' UP TO FIRST GRADE....
Well back in 2010 (I KNOW, I can't believe it was really that long ago!!), I was a new teacher, eager to learn and implement as many good ideas as I could get my hands on. I became obsessed with Cara Carrol at the First Grade Parade and Abby Mullens from the Inspired Apple.I loved how they made learning fun, challenging and most of all I was so inspired by their passion and excellent teacher resources. I aspired to be just like them. So, I decided to start this little blog to document my teaching journey and capture the snapshots of successful learning moments.
As I was thinking about the name and racking my brain to come up with something original, an event that we participated in at our school kept coming to mind.
Each year, our school would do "Step Up Day." This was a fun way for the students in each grade to step up into the next grade level and "test it out". Since I started out teaching a kinder/first combo, in some ways it always felt like Step Up Day, thus the idea formed and my blog came into fruition.
Here's a little sneak peak into what "Step Up Day" looks like when preschoolers come "Step Up" into my kinder class.
Since none of the other classes participated in Step Up Day, my current kinders stayed with me and helped buddy up with the preschoolers and set an example for them. It was really sweet to see them trying so hard to do a good job. *We always do "Step Up Day" during our spring semester when my kinders have matured and can do a good job helping. :)
Depending on the amount of time we have and how large the group is, we may start with a brain break to get everyone's wiggles out before we sit still.
Last year, our preschool wanted to send me 20 kiddos {a big group}, so we decided to split our Step Up Day into two mornings.
The pre-k kiddos joined us for a little more than an hour.
I decided to read a story, color and trace letters then share a treat at the end of our time. *It's always a good idea with littles to give them something sweet to remember how fun your classroom is, this way they want to keep coming back. ;)
I choose the books "If You Give A Cat A Cupcake" and "If You Give A Dog A Doughnut" by Laura Numeroff, mostly because of how predictable the writing pattern is (which kids always love), but also because I could make treats that matched our theme.
So here is the schedule I followed:
11am- Read Story (after the story ask lots of questions)
11:10am- Model writing a letter C (or letter D for dog)- then explain how they were going to trace their letters on the page I'd provide.
11:20am-Get everyone settled at the tables working with their buddies. Tell the kinder to help the pre-k kiddos. When they finish tracing their letter C, give them a coloring page to accompany.
11:40am-When things are winding down, have everyone clean up and get ready for a treat. Pass out the cupcakes (or doughnuts) and ask the kids to share with their partner their favorite part of the story. Then ask them to raise their hand and share what their partner said.
11:50am-Start cleaning up and get ready to send the pre-k kiddos back to their classroom.
Feel Free To Grab a FREE coloring page HERE
