Category Archives: Favorite Things

Marathon, Meetings, Data, and a Film Crew!

I feel like I’ve been neglecting my little blog lately, but I’ve had so many things going on, that I just kept forgetting to post something! Here’s what’s been keeping me away…

I participated in my first Mini Marathon yesterday with my hubby and some friends of ours. 13.1 LOOOONNNGGG miles! 2.5 of them were around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. One of the hardest things I’ve ever done in my life! I was able to finish 10.5 miles of the marathon, but my body just gave up! My hubby was able to finish while I rode the struggle bus to the end! I was able to get off the bus and cross the finish line and was able to get my medal–I might try again next year…not sure yet! 🙂 It was perfect walking weather–in the low 60’s with total cloud cover and low humidity! I’m happy to still have all my toenails and no blisters!

At school, I’ve been giving the DRA to all my little kiddos to see how much their reading skills have improved this year! 🙂

I’ve also had so many meetings that I can’t even begin to list them all, with even more to come!! 17 days of school left, so there are many to attend. 🙂 I’ve been keeping track of them on my new calendar/life planner:

I got it from Erin Condren.com (click the planner above to go there). I love that it’s 9 x 7 ish and that each month is tabbed and there are lots of extra wonderful goodies added in. 🙂

Last Monday and Tuesday, I had a film crew in my room to capture us during a science lesson. I am a trainer for the Indiana Science Initiative and they needed a Kindergarten teacher to film to show what the science kits look like in a Kindergarten classroom. I’ll admit, I was really nervous about the whole thing, but everything went well (if you don’t count me spilling water on a student’s science notebook and the fire drill!!). The 50 minutes of film will be edited down to about 5-10 minutes to share with other ISI teachers as they receive PD this summer. 🙂

I’m off to write a few more posts about other things we’ve been up to! 🙂

Kristen 🙂

Posted in Calendar, DRA, Favorite Things, Inquiry Based Science

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A few of my favorite things….

Feb 7

Posted by Kristen Poindexter

I don’t usually do this, but I thought I would share a few of my favorite things that I can’t get through the day without! 🙂

My blogging friend Greg (at Kindergarten Smorgasboard) shared about his favorite pens about a month ago and I saw them on sale at Target, buy one, get one for $1. The packs I got each had 18 pens each, so I got 36 pens total. 4 of each of the colors you see above. I like pens that write in different colors, but I was skeptical about ball point pens being great. I. LOVE. THESE. I keep one set on my desk and one set at my small group table. I can color code things easily now and don’t have to worry about these not working. You know how when you get new pens you have to scribble on paper with them to get them going–not these beauties! They work right out of the package. My total cost for 36 pens was $4! 🙂

My Purple Cows laminator!! LOVE IT!! I bought it with my first Tpt check and I’m pretty sure I run it at least 4 days a week. I keep it at home and I love how thick the laminating pockets are with it! I get everything ready to laminate, then sit and run everything through. Quick and easy and it takes up almost no space. I love that it heats up quickly and cools down quickly. I really like that I can use any brand of laminating pouches with them, but the purple cows brand are my favorite so far! 🙂

I love my Greenroom blank journal. These are similar to the one I have (mine has a spiral binding down the left side, but the same size). I love that it’s recycled paper and it’s the perfect size to take everywhere! I use it for notes in workshops and staff meetings, but I also use it to sketch out things I want to make for Tpt and other ideas for my classroom. I take it everywhere I go! 🙂

I LOVE my Canon EOS Rebel T3i!! It’s something else I always take with me. I have a 16GB memory card which can hold close to 1,000 pictures at any given time. I have the zoom lens that goes with this camera and I love it almost as much as the regular lens that comes with it. It takes great action shots (those happen in my classroom a lot!) and beautiful still and posed pictures. My kids are so used to seeing this bad boy, that when I click the shutter, they usually don’t look up now! 🙂

I love Avery’s binders. I love them even more now that they have the one touch open lever in them. No more pinched fingers! I use a one inch binder in this awesome green color for my lesson plan book, so that I can find it no matter where I put it down! 🙂 It holds my entire year’s worth of lessons and the tiered pockets in the front and back are great at helping me keep track of things small and large, so they don’t get lost behind each other! I also like that I can personalize the front and sides of the binder with my own images and when sliding things in, they don’t get stuck like they used to in my older binders. I have every size binder I can think of, all the way up to 4 inches and I think I love them all!