A Peek Inside the Classroom...

I came into school this week to work on my classroom.  You see, I had shared a room last year with another teacher and since our enrollment went up, I was given my own classroom this year, Woo Hoo!!  Which is GREAT, but it comes with a lot of stuff to do!!!

 

I have an empty canvas!! 

 

 This is the view from the door as you walk in. It is a large room, but I'm bummed because my windows don't open.  I love fresh air and wind blowing through the windows... but, oh well.

All my furniture needed to be ordered, as well as curriculum supplies.  I had boxes of furniture in my room, but no curriculum stuff yet.  Hoping it will come before school starts.

 

 Here is the wall next to the door.  That is where my desk will be and that door leads to the bathroom.  It has the cutest little toilet!!

 

 I have this weird bump out on the next wall... It will hold my cabinets, water cooler, and fridge.  I inherited an awful fridge from our concession stand that is huge.  But, I need it to store lunch boxes so I will take what I can get :)

 

 That is one of my wonderful sons, who gave up his whole day to help me unpack boxes and get situated.  He was a real Godsend!!  Over on the wall is all our nap mats... they are brand new and smell like rubber, so we need to air them out.  I'm glad I remembered from last year.  Those large boxes are my new shelves and my desk. 

 

 Just another shot of the back wall...

 

 This wall will house my Smart Board and white boards.  I was thinking that it will take up a lot of wall space and I am worried I won't have any space for bulletin boards, kids art work, or some of my curriculum materials.  Oh the dilemma's!!

 

  

 Now we are back where we started... 

 

 

 I am losing sleep over trying to imagine in my head the best scenarios for where all my centers should be.  How do I utilize all the empty space and yet keep the flow of the room going.  You will have to stay tuned to see how the room progresses :) I will be going in on Monday, hopefully I will have some more of my ordered materials come in, and I can get things going .

 

 

 

 

I Teach K!!

 

Ok, I know that it has taken me a long time to get this blog post up, but man I have been busy!!  After the I Teach K! conference I was home for about 18hrs, when I packed up my boys and traveled to Long Island, NY to visit Grandpa!!  Then when I got back, I pretty much turned around and started getting my empty classroom in shape (photos to come)

I loved the I Teach K! conference!!  It was awesome.  Better than any other educational conference I have been to!!!  I met so many new friends, shared so many new ideas, and came home with to many ideas to even use.   My brain was, and is, swirling with ideas I want to implement in my classroom this year.  Yet, I know I cannot.  I need to pick 1 or 2 ideas that I can actually do, and will meet the needs of my kids this year. 

 

Before leaving for the conference, Tracy and I linked up with some fellow bloggers on Facebook who were going to the conference alone.  We made plans to meet up for dinner the first night and hopefully we would all hit it off and we would have people to "hang" with during the conference.  Well... it was great!!  I made friends for a lifetime!!  We all had so much in common and everyone was so easy going, it was easy to get a long.  I don't think we had breakfast, lunch, or dinner alone the whole time we were there.  We also were lucky to have at least one person to sit with in our workshops.  It was great.  They all have blogs, so pop on over and check them out!!

 

In the picture above...

Tracy - Tales of a Kindergarten Classroom, Me, Susan - Teaching Doodles, Cara, Holly - Mrs. Ehle's Kindergarten Connections, Amy - Teaching in Blue Jeans, and Elizabeth - Kickin It in Kindergarten

 

A highlight of the trip was meeting Debbie Clement.  Those of you who do not know this quirky, fun, and wonderfully talented person you need to pop on over to her blog, Rainbows Within Reach, and read up!!!  She is amazing and is one busy person!!!

Tracy, Susan and LC were lots of fun at the Blogger Meet Up!!  We had drink, snacks, and lots of give aways!!  What teacher doesn't like a give away!!!  Lcie is from Germany and her blog, The Beezy Teacher is great!!  



One of my favorite workshops was by this guy, Matt B Gomez!!  A kindergarten teacher in Texas, who is so tech savvy, I am jealous!!  I wish I could get some of his ideas off the ground. I went to his Virtual Field Trip workshop and WOW!!  I was blown away with what can be done in just a few minutes a day with the kids.  It opens up their world to so many things and that Smart Board won't collect to much dust!! 

 

There was so much going on that week... workshops, speakers (Ron Clark was wonderful by the way, but needs his own post!!), friends, and the exhibit hall (which I spent way to much time in!!)  We also got to do some sight seeing.  I loved it all, but while on Freemont Street we found this guy below...

 

He was really cool... I had to take a picture. Well, I don't know if you have ever been to Vegas, but he has this little sign, with a container, that says, I dance for tips!! or something like that.  Well, I didn't want to see him dance, I just wanted a photo.  So... I snapped away and as I started to walk away, he pointed at me and said, "You don't want me to come down there do you??" and then proceeded to point to his tip jar.  Come ON!!!  Really.  So I grabbed a couple quarters and walked away.  Interesting.  The Vegas Strip was mobbed with these type of people.  Girls in Show Girl attire taking photos and getting "tips", heck I even say an old Bert and Ernie, complete with Rubber Duckie... but11' man their costumes were mangy.  So, be aware if you go!!!  If you want a photo... be prepared to "tip!!"

 

Ok, this post is way to long now!! I really need to say goodbye!!!

A Fall Family Project

 I know that it is not Halloween, or even Fall right now, but I wanted to show off the amazing little pumpkin family project we did last year with our TK class.  I got the idea from my son's 2nd grade teacher, but he had to read the book, write a book report, and then make his "Character Pumpkin."  It was such a fun family project for us, I thought the TK families would enjoy the project too. 

We asked each family to choose a book, read it, and pick a character from it to make their pumpkin into.  We had such a great response.  We had children who wanted to complete the whole pumpkin on their own, and others that made it a family project.  They came out great!!

 

I think my favorite one was the mummy mini pumpkin!!  It was so simple, but the cutest little guy I had ever seen. 



I think this little batty guy was fun too!!

 

I'm trying to remember what book this little lady came from, but I can't remember.  Maybe a Pinkalicious book??

 

 

This is a view of all our great pumpkins!! 

 

 

I love themed projects and Halloween/Fall is a great time to do them with our families.  We also do our Star of the Week themed family project for each student.  Each student gets a large piece of poster board and they can decorate it anyway they'd like.  We have had some students just use crayons and stickers, and others who went all out with photos, writing, and magazine cut-outs of their favorite things.  It is a lot of fun looking at them and giving the students a chance to explain them to their classmates.  I can't wait until next school year and more family project!!

Great Deals!!!

I was out with my son today doing some errands when we decided to stop by a new Dollar General store in our area.  It was much bigger than the one we have closer to our house.  I was excited to see that they had some educational things there... all for a $1!!!! 

 

This photo is of all the loot together...

 

 

 

I was excited to get these cute number banners.  Not sure where any of it will go in my classroom just yet, but I was thinking in a math center on the wall or back of a cabinet?? 

 

 

They also had these "award" frames, I think that's what they were called.  You can put artwork, special homework or photos of the kids in them.   Again, hopefully I have a spot for them on the wall somewhere.  If not, I will use them at home with my own kids, for a $1 I couldn't pass them up.

 

I think my favorite one is this "I Spy" Spinner.  I work with 4 & 5 yr old TK students and this is a great beginning of the year game we can play.  I think that eventually, when they are comfortable playing it alone, I will put it in a center to be used whenever they want.

 

 

I love getting good deals.  Creating a whole new classroom isn't always easy on a teachers budget.  I have a lot of things from the daycare, but some of it is to young for this group.  I am excited to be setting off on this journey, I think it is going to be a great year.  Now, off to make some TPT copies for my Beginning of the Year Centers :)

A New Doll House

I am so excited!!!  I have been wanting to make a cardboard dollhouse for the peg dolls I have been making and I finally did it!!  I found one on Pinterest that I thought I could get done without to much time and effort, and I did it!!!  I went to Dollar General to pick up a few other things, but when I saw the tri-fold display poster board (you know, the kind you use for the science fair) I decided to bring it home and try it out.  It, of course, wasn't the exact measurements that every other tri-fold in a "real" store has, but I just fudged the measurements and did the best I could.  I think it came out great.  My board was 35.5" high, which I thought was way to tall for my peg dolls, so I cut the board in half and continued that way.

I am looking forward to decorating the walls, roof, adding windows, and making some furniture.  I think the kids will get a kick out of it next year.  I am interested in seeing how long it will take 12 4 and 5 year olds to destroy it. 

If you are interested in the tutorial that I used you can go to Jeannie Guzis Photography to get all the info.  She did a really great job detailing the directions and made it so easy to follow and even change up when I needed to change my measurements.  I LOVE Pinterest!!!

I will keep you posted as it comes together!!!

My Journey into TK Begins

(beginning of rock garden in our Outdoor Classroom)

 

 

(rock garden & beginning of container garden space in the background)

The end of the school year was bittersweet.  It is hard letting go of the wonders that these little ones have become in the 10 months that we have had them.  Yet, summer is here and we have been busy her at our house. 

Our first big trip this year was to Cooperstown Dreams Park, in Cooperstown, NY.  Wow, what a trip.  The boys loved it and they did a great job.  While I was gone, I found out that our school had enough interest in our TK program that they would be adding another TK.  Yeah, I was offered the job and I accepted.  How excited I am to be thinking of creating an amazing world of learning for these new little ones coming up.

I have scoured blog land, Pinterest, and the Internet looking for classroom design ideas, curriculum ideas, and how to incorporate the wonders of the outdoor classroom into our daily schedule.  You see, I am committed to sharing the outdoors with my kids as much as possible.  Last year we incorporated the outdoor classroom as much as we could and the kiddos absolutely loved it!!  They learned so much and you could see how they became so comfortable in the outdoor space.  I hope we can continue to bring more to the space. 

Until then... I will start separating my books into themes, gathering my science materials to create an unbelievable science area, figure out how to incorporate a writing space that will be enticing to 4 & 5 yr olds, and a housekeeping area that has both function and flare.  I can't get into my new space until August, but I will definitely be busy dreaming up ideas and when I get there... photos will follow.

The Unexpected

Here we are at the end of the school year.  We are reviewing everything we have been learning... alphabet, phonics, numbers, number words, adding, counting, planting, growing... but we could have never have planned a better lesson than the unplanned one that a parent presented us with recently.  She brought in 3 day old ducklings and said, "Here, would you like them for the day??" No warning, no time to think about food, water, what would I do with them.  I just looked at her and said, "You BET!!!"

We had such a wonderful day with them.  During the month of February we had 12 chicks in our room for 2 weeks, and this was a great way to compare the differences and similarities between the two birds.  We talked about their weight, the food they ate, how much they ate, we got to hold them and pet them and cuddle with them.  They fell asleep in the kids hands and it was the cutest thing to see.  The ducklings beaks are rounded, so when they peck at you it has no real feeling,  and even though the chicks didn't really hurt when they pecked at us, it was a little bit more of a prick then the ducklings.  The kids were able to make so many connections that they wouldn't have been able to do without this hands on experience.  The kids really loved it and I am proud to say that I am the kind of teacher that allowed them to have that experience!!  I didn't think twice about it, because sometimes the best learning comes in the unexpected!!!