Bono el Mono

About 1-2 years ago, as part of my BTSA induction, I observed an AWESOME dual immersion kinder teacher in Southern California. I'm at a loss for her name right now, but she introduced me to Bono el Mono (Bono the monkey). I had never heard of him before but now I can't spend a year without him! I am on to my 3rd Bono now. That story later.

I found it for sale here. View the pages (in Spanish) here.

This is the story of Bono el Mono. I don't know who the author is. If you do please share.

Bono goes to school, but breaks all the rules because he doesn't know them. He swings from the lamps, doesn't share, runs in the classroom, etc. In the end he learns the rules and follows them and his classmates are very happy with him. I believe he gets a gold star from the teacher, but in my version I think I'm missing that page :(

We have Bono in our classroom and he hangs on the easel during the day, although I think he might begin to sit with students this year. At the end of the day Bono "tells" me which student behaved the BESTEST that day so that he can go home with them. Bono goes home with that student in a bag with a journal with directions for parents to write about everything that they do together. Click here to get the directions.

The first year I had no problems with Bono returning to school, but the 2nd year . . . . . Bono was stolen :( The family he went home with went to the store. The student tried on shoes and another little boy asked to see Bono. While my student tried on his shoes the other boy (with his mother . . .  hmmmm) "disappeared" so mom brought us another Bono.

Last summer I went to the zoo and saw our current Bono and had to buy it. He was almost lost last year as well because my student took him to the store and was playing with him by throwing him up in the air. He threw him so high he got stuck on a fan. Luckily, they got him down.

Bono has had many adventures. Of course, once in a while (every month) Bono goes home with me to "take a bath" and I take pictures of what we do together. The kids love this! Those with the resources to do this also take pictures and paste them to the page. This makes it so much more real.

Bono helping me grade writing assessments.

 

Bono getting ready to eat like my baby :)

 Bono listening to the sermon.

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Bono singing hymns at church on Sabbath.

I read Bono el Mono to the kids every day for a month! Some get sick of it, but they sure do memorize it. Having the chance to take Bono home really helps kids be on their best behavior. Some students think it's not real and that I just rotate who takes Bono home, but I've sent Bono home with the same student many days in a row. Some poor souls don't get to take Bono home for months! But oh when they do . . .  yay!!!! We ALL make a big deal out of it and it helps turn their behavior around for the best.

Simple solution. Red means do not disturb.

While reading through a great blog I saw a great solution to another problem I faced last year - when I'm testing DO NOT DISTURB! Since kinder testing is mostly 1:1 I have a lot of trouble teaching students how and when not to disturbe the teacher. 

When I did my student teaching my master teacher wore special hats. When the hat was on - do not distrub. Hat off - you are welcome.

Then I saw this cute idea of using a little lantern (It's a little purple one with a face but I can't remember where I saw it. If I saw it on your blog PLEASE let me know so I can give you credit). When the light is on - do not disturb.

Then I went to the dollar tree . . . dun-dun-dun . . . and I found a really cute little palm tree lantern and had it in my basket but then . . . .

I SAW THIS!!! It's only a couple of inches tall and the wording is not what I care about (since it's in English it's kind of pointless for a Spanish class). Its the fact that I can easily move it around, I don't have to worry about batteries, and I chose red because it means STOP! I'm hoping I will be successful at training the kids so that when this is in front of me - DO NOT DISTURB :)

Oldie but a goodie. Pencils? CHECK!

When I went to school this morning (OH! SIDE NOTE! I live about 40 miles away from my school so you can just imagine) I found the fat kinder pencils in my mailbox! Yay! I finally completed my first back to school task! Labeling my pencils! I know . . nothing new, but for me it actually is. I place the pencils in these cups (from the dollar spot) and they fit very nicely into one of the small sections of the supply box (also from the dollar spot, the one with a handle and 3 compartments). Obviously, my partner and I (I team teach) have 3 groups by color, rojo, amarillo, y verde (red, yellow, and green). Last year I didn't label the pencils. BIG MISTAKE! I spent the entire year mediating whose group that pencil belonged to. It drove me crazy. So I'm going this route this year. Found these colored dots that I love at the dollar tree :) Had to buy 2 packs though because one didn't have the green. Crossing my fingers. Let's hope it works.It's at least gotta be better than last year.

The mess!! The before pictures.

So I finally went in to see my classroom today since summer school finished last week. Unfortunately, it is pretty much still the way I left it . . .  a disaster. You see, wahahappen is that I didn't finish packing things up when I should have.

My school is not picky about walls, just things on the floor. My classroom was to be waxed over the summer, but it is always near the end of the summer. So . . . . since I got my check off list signed off I decided that I would return the following Monday after the last day of school and finish packing everything up. Well, to my surprise when I arrived everything had been removed from my classroom because they were waxing that day!!!!

The week after we received a large donation of office chairs which our director decided to store in my classroom, of course, so they wouldn't be damaged by the sun outside. AND it seems that the poor kids actually had 3 weeks of summer school in this mess. Sorry kids :(

HENCE:   this is what my classroom looked like today.

The beautiful view from the entrance.



My only white board on the wall.  I pretty much only use it to award group stars.

My teaching wall, my fridge, and a projector without a working bulb. But waiting for my ELMO and projector!!!! :) 

My new little desk. The door to the electrical room of the school. People are constantly coming in and out. 

Sorry for the dark pic. Our computers. I found 1 headphone broken. 

Some of the donated office chairs and student cubbies. BTW: many of my walls are that beautifully wonderful brick (yeah right), so I do my best to stick stuff in front of them. 

More of the mess. This is a little nook right at the entrance to my classroom. It's been hard to place something useful because I can't see it from most places in the classroom. It used to hold my library (that's another mess . . . summer project for sure!) but I think I'm moving it this year. 

1 of only 2 storage places in the actual classroom, but it's huuuuuge. I'm thinking of sticking it in my office and bringing out the smaller bookshelves from there. But I really like it because it's double sided. Here is also the door to our basement . . . one day to be the school library . . . You can imagine the constant traffic here too. 

Finally, the writing wall . . . still set for next year :) And the door to my office on the left (was a godsend while I was pumping for my daughter!) and the door to boys and girls restrooms.

My goal is to go in once a week to fix something up so that the week back doesn't overwhelm me. We'll see.

What's for lunch?

Whatever your "first day back to school lunch" will be, wouldn't you love to take it in this cute tote!? Well,  From Kindergarten with Love is hosting their first giveaway, celebrating 31 followers, so check it out!

Camping or woodland animal theme?

If you have a theme in your classroom and it's camping or woodland creatures I found some really cute camping chairs @ Target for $12-$13. Thought they would make a great addition to library seating or alternative seating. Although this doesn't apply to my classroom as I've yet to ever do a theme . . . maybe one day . . . I knew I had to share it with you all. Hope someone finds this useful. If you do please leave me a comment :)

Less than a day left for this giveaway!!

The Apple Basket Teacher is having a giveaway but it's almost over! You could win an adorable stamp set and $20 gift card to the Dollar Tree! A teacher's best friend.

Hoppy Kindergarten's Giveaway!

Hoppy Kindergarten is having an awesome giveaway! Who doesn't love freebies? Hop on over to her blog to receive any free item from her TPT store. I'm going to ask for her Froggy Writing game. It's so cute and the kids are going to love it while practicing at the same time :) Hurry though because it ends tomorrow, July 26th, at noon!

Tickle me ELMO?

I have to admit (one of those duh moments) that the first time I heard of an ELMO for school use I was completely at a loss as to what it was. I honestly started believing that they were talking about some educational use for the tickle me ELMO. Of course, I never bothered to ask.

Fast forward a couple of years later and I will be receiving an ELMO with a projector this upcoming year! Hip hip hooray!!!

Whyte Water is hosting a linking party about what we use our ELMOs for. So . . . .

1.  In kinder we have a number of days where we cook and only the students actually adding ingredients or mixing can really see what is going on. So I plan on using it this year to display the cooking process to the entire class. That way EVERYONE can see what is going on. It's going to be soooo cool. My partner actually had one last year and used it for this purpose.

2.  Also, students present their family trees and farm animal projects and at times they are small enough so that not everyone can see. I also plan on projecting these images for their presentations when necessary.

3.  Also, I used to make overhead transparencies in order to show students what number we were on, where to put their finger, etc., on assessments, but with the ELMO I will be able to simply project it onto the screen. Upper grade teachers are very excited to use them for standardized test prep. Not sure how, but I assume in the same way I will use it for regular assessments.

4.  Since I will also have a projector I will finally be able to use my phonics blending powerpoint presentations with the entire class by connecting it to my laptop. I also love showing video clips related to things we are reading as well as powerpoint presentations for special holiday topics.

New Free Template!!!

I loooove my new template! Thanks to Blogaholic Designs for providing me with it. I will actually look forward to working on my blog even more because of the beautiful and bright design.

Want $25 for free??!!

Hop on over to Adventures in Kindergarten and enter the fabulous giveaway!

First prize: $25 gift card to Amazon!

Second prize: A back to school book: 1 of 4 choices! Hurry, ends on Sunday!

Michael's . . . the new Dollar Spot???

Well, maybe not, but I had no idea it had so many things for $1! Here was my score yesterday (while baby slept in her car seat for like 20 minutes - even better!). Sorry for the dark/blurry picture. Trying to write my blogs @ night while baby sleeps. We don't have the best lighting.

The sticks were $4.99 but 300 should last me a couple of years. I heard so much about Mod Podge that I finally bought some. Can't wait to use it. The BIG mistakes eraser and passes were $1 each!

 I don't provide my students with erasers @ the beginning of the year so that they won't dwell on perfection and will write, but once we start focusing on neat printing I pop out "mi amigo" (my friend) who goes around looking for "ugly" printing. The kids love it! And they try their best to print neatly.

They have other really cute big erasers but for $2.

The wood figures were 59 cents each! I plan on using them as a sorting game. After we begin learning about syllables they will be able to sort the figures by initial sounds because we will have gone through the entire alphabet by then. I'll post it when I create the activity sheet to go with it.

I also couldn't help but buy the bubble gum scented lip balm after hearing about the smellies idea. $1 was a bit much for me but I have to give it a try in September :). I think the owner of Michael's went to that conference in Las Vegas!

More Target Finds

The Target bug bit me big time this summer and I have a few more things to share. I'll try and post the pic of the containers I bought (they're in the garage at the moment), but I love the magazine file types because I use them to store the students' writing journals.

My partner and I place students in 3 groups for centers: red, yellow, and green. Thankfully I found the red and yellow, but still missing the green. Since I teach only SLA to all 50 students (we switch classes) I bought 2 of each container. It worked out great last year.

I will use the flat containers for students to turn in their work after each center. My system last year (NO SYSTEM) didn't work so well and I was always frustrated.

I use the compartment containers to store community materials for each group. In one small compartment I place a tall cup with the pencils. In the larger one I plan on finding shorter cups and placing 2 with the crayons. If that's not enough I'll use 3.

The new purchase is the puzzles from the Dollar Spot. One is of presidents and the other of community workers. Peace, Love, and Kindergarten posted a great idea about using a 100 piece puzzle to celebrate the 100th day so I thought I could use these puzzles to build up the themes of presidents in Feb. and community workers in Mar. in the same manner, placing a few pieces per day.

The cups are to hold pencils, the baskets, boxes, and bags to house reading activities (still to come up with or "borrow" from other teachers :), some very needed labels, and the glue gun, which was about $5, but I reeeeeallly needed it, round out the rest.

I looooove Target! 

Cool art giveaway!!!!

Megan over at Kindergarten Teacher Tales is having a giveaway of personalized initial art for having reached 101 followers!

With those colorful crayons it's perfect for kinder teachers. I think it would look really cute in my daughter's bedroom as well. I'm crossing my fingers. Follow the link and enter!

Target!Target!Target!

Here is my beautiful 9 month old buried in all of my great Target stuff! She wasn't so happy by the end of our shopping spree because she was actually asleep when we arrived but as soon as we walked in (after mommy spent like 10 minutes trying to place the car seat on the top part of the cart) she woke up. Inspired by all of the great finds on other blogs I decided to drop my local Target (actually 2-3 by the end of the week). Here is the great stuff that I bought:

The blue composition books were in the baaaack of the store with the back to school stuff. I will use them as the take home journals for part of my behavior management system using Bono el Mono. If you don't know about Bono he's been a great addition to our class. I'll talk about him at a later time. The great writing strips will be used for small group writing lessons. These hall and restroom passes are so cute, I just have to figure out a way to not ruin the cuteness when I translate them. EVERYTHING I use must be in Spanish which makes things a lot harder for me but I love it. The small cubes will be used when we begin sound segmentation and I'm planning on changing the letter coasters so that I have 2 sets of all the letters and turning it into an independent letter matching activity where students can place them on top of matching letters on a plain bedsheet. When I make it I'll post it.

Sorry, don't know how to flip it around. Trust me I tried. I'm so happy I found these alphabet stamps. I'm pretty sure I found the last 5 in the store. I'll use them with the baskets and ink stamps probably on some type of matching worksheet at the beginning of the year and to create HFWs and 2 syllable words later on in the year. The crayon accents I'll use as nametags on bulletin boards.

And finally, I couldn't resist the Dr. Seuss stuff since I know it won't be there in March. I'm not sure how to use the bags yet but by March I will. The trays will be used for rhyming games, the erasers for writing during that week and the stickers and sillybands for incentives. Actually, I got the silly bands because baby wanted them and started throwing a fit when I took them away. So because she sucked on the bag throughout Target I had to buy them :).

Bienvenida para mi!

Welcome to me! I am soooo excited, while at the same time morbidly terrified, to begin this blog! I have been following all of the WONDERFUL teaching blogs out there and have been inspired. However, I am not one of the super organized teachers that I long to be, although I have made great improvements over the last three years (just ask my aide - she's soooo great). It really helps to have stayed in the same grade level for more than one year. Prior to working in kinder I had been hopping around k-2 for 4 years as a part time and long term sub, but have been stable for the last three yeara in k in a dual immersion school. Pretty much any material I might share will be in Spanish because I spend 90% of my day teaching SLA (spanish language arts) but the ideas are basically the same. I hope to apply much of what I have learned through lots of blog reading to my classroom this year, but especially organization which is my TOTAL WEAKNESS. So, wish me luck. I just went to Target this week so I'll post my great stash hopefully tomorrow if I can figure out how to put up pictures. Buenas noches.