Classroom Reveal!

Well!  Here it is!  

Actually these pictures are about a week old now, but I'm just having the chance to sit down and post them.  

My classroom is a revolving door this year with Intervention Specialists, Speech and Occupational Therapists, an Aide (Thank God) and eventually parent helpers.  I needed to set my room up in a way that whoever walks in or near our classroom could see what we were up to and pitch in and help out without me always having to tell them what to do.  

It all starts with my front door.  I kept seeing all of these focus walls but I needed something that was going to be quick, easy and to the point.  Therefore, I have my "We AARGH Learning About..." door.  I used cheap picture frames (one already broke so I kind of wish I bought more sturdy ones) and made a page titled with each of our subject areas or topics.  I put them in a frame and now can use a dry erase marker to write down what's happening in room #110!  Easy peasy!  Everyone knows what we're working on and I don't feel the need to change it every single day.

Here is what it looks like on the inside.

I'm digging my moveable word wall below the chalkboard.  Below each letter is a hook and a metal ring.  I've attached our Kindergarten words to the rings so far, but as the year continues, we'll add our new words.  When the children need a word, they'll just go find the ring and look for the word they need.  Eventually I can use the words on the rings to teach my friends how to put the words in alphabetical order.

See those 2 white shoe organizers?  They're history now because I have a brand new 30-section organizer in it's place.  I love that piece of furniture.  It's sturdy.  All of their extra supplies fit inside.  It has a smooth surface to write on and it's on wheels!  I'll share a picture of that with you in a future post.

Remember how I told you of all of the extra hands in my room this year?  Well, I wanted spaces where there were activities that anyone could pull from to work on with individual children or small groups.  Hence, my Math, Science and Social Studies shelves.  My Science and Social Studies shelves look a little bare right now, but they'll grow.  

The idea is to fill these shelves with items specific to what we're learning and/or interested in and let the children explore them on their own.

So...there it is!  My home away from home this year.  I'm pretty happy with it but I think it will look even better when it's been lived in for a few weeks.  I can't wait to get some art projects hanging up around the room to make it even better!

Hope you're all adjusting to your school routines!  I have some blog stalking to catch up on and since the weather isn't cooperating with me right now for a pool day, I think I'm going to make use of the time and catch up on what you've been doing!

Take care,

Ready for Open House!

Okay...to be honest...our Open House was almost a week ago now...no surprise, things have been crazy!  We're actually starting Day 3 today, but I wanted to post some pictures of our classroom....as it looked just before our Open House.

Why, yes....that IS a real live plant by the window that
 I'm going to try not to kill this year.  :)

So...there's a peek at my new home for the next 9 months or so!  I still think it's unfinished because there's no student work hanging up but we'll get there!  
Take care!

Let it Snow and Some Contraction Fun!

Not really...no snow yet but my mom came to school today to change my tree!  Here are the before and after pictures:

My kiddos seem to be having a hard time with contractions...maybe it's because our reading series throws plural nouns (just _s and _es), possessive nouns and contractions at us within a few weeks of each other....who was that genius?  :)  Before I know it, I'm seeing apostrophes all over the place and none of them in the proper place!  So, while reading What Santa Can't Do by Douglas Wood and Doug Cushman, I was inspired to create some VERY basic worksheets that would help my kids.  

So...TA! DA!  

Click here to download!

I know...I actually made time to create something!  Each page focuses on only one contraction at a time.  The children are to circle the two words that make up the contraction in the sentence and then rewrite the sentence using the contraction that just happens to be found at the top of the page...here's a peek:

I left the last sentence open ended on each page to allow my children to complete it on their own...as we're still working on sentence structure too!  If we have an extra few minutes I'm going to have the children illustrate their sentence(s) on the back.  I'm thinking it will make great classwork, seat work or even morning work once they get the hang of it!

I included the following contractions in this packet:  can't, don't, isn't won't, didn't, let's, it's, she's, he's, they're, and we're.

Hope it's something you can use!

The Leaves Have Changed!

I didn't do a very good job last year of showing off my tree as the seasons changed so I vowed to make sure I did it this year!

Here is my summer tree...

 Here's my fall tree...

As fall continues, leaves will very slowly start falling onto the shelves or the ground until the branches are bare and winter is here!

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  I kind of saved all of my school work for tonight...and it's a lot!  So I'm off!
Talk soon!

Ta-Da!!!!

My tree is finished!

I totally had to delegate the leaf making to my mom....I just had so many other things that I needed to work on to get ready for my kiddos.  I told her I wanted the leaves to be whimsical...but not like the palm tree from Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.  I purchased about 4 1/2 yards of two different shades of green felt and she brought her needle and thread and went to town.  The grass is just that "fake" grass carpet you can get at Home Depot.  I love it!  I think the kids are going to be totally pumped!  Here's a couple of close-up pictures:

Mom folded the felt in half so that we could cut two leaves at the same time.  
She then stitched "some texture" onto the fold.

The leaves were super easy to drape onto my funky branches.  She also made a leaf to fit around/on top of the trunk of the tree so it would look more realistic.

View from my door.

Gosh I love those limbs!

As I was cleaning and going through piles this week, I found a little STUFFED mouse that I thought would look cute on one of the branches.  I also found a caterpillar...he's in there somewhere too!

While mom was working on the tree, I was still organizing and labeling things.  Every time I turn around there's something else that needs a label!  I worked hard and consolidated my seven piles of piles into one pile!

One table of things to be laminated...

And one area full of storage containers...

Which reminds me...I went to the Family Dollar store and found these awesome wired baskets with handles FOR A DOLLAR!

I am totally in love with them!  I bought four white ones to store my cassette and CD players for the kiddos to use when they're listening to stories and I bought four red ones to store...well just about anything else!

I'd love to post pictures of the rest of my classroom but it's just not ready yet!  I'm aiming to have everything finished by Monday evening so that I can enjoy my last day of summer on Tuesday.  Our district and building staff days start on Wednesday!!!  Summer flew!  Oh!  And my final two principalship classes start on Wednesday too!  Busy week ahead!