The Best Part of Me

So I saw a bulletin board on Pinterest of a teacher that used Wendy Ewald's book "The Best Part of Me" to create a collage of her students' body parts that they thought were their best parts. I decided to do it with my Kinders.  The students loved this and had some sweet and funny answers. I loved how they turned out!

Classroom Reveal 2015-2016!

I've moved to a new classroom, so I thought a new color scheme was in order! Hope my Kinders like it- I Love it!

More classroom projects

First project - I'm sure that many of you have seen this trick and are thinking duh, but humor me anyway. I hate the wall hangings that have the double hooks and I remembered seeing a trick to use so that you don't have to measure or level. It worked great! Tear off a piece of painters tape that is exactly the length you need from one hook to the next. Then place that piece of tape on the wall. Stick your command hooks right on each end and voila!

Second project - I've been using this version of Whole Brain Teaching scoreboard for 2 years now and LOVE it! I needed some new gems for my points. Just hot glued some magnets to the backs of these and ready to go. Make sure your magnets are strong enough to hold them on your ten frame. My ten frames are card stock and thick laminate and some of the magnets would tend to slide.

Third Project - I've already shown you the board, but didn't really address the technique used for the border. It's super cheap (FREE! You know that roll of paper all workrooms have) and super easy. Simply cut your strips of paper into whatever size you want. I think mine were around 4-5 inches wide. I accordion folded them. (Make sure you fold several together at one time to save a lot of time!) Next, simply wad up like you're going to throw it away. Unwad (is that a word) it and start scrunching and stapling. 

CAFE board

This is my new CAFE board for my Kinders. I love how this one fits the Kindergarten standards and provides them with the fun beanie babies reading strategies that are so effective. Each skill is represented with a visual which helps the students understand what the objective is.

You can find the printables for this board HERE!

I've moved!

So, I've moved into a new room at my school and I LOVE IT! First of all, it's bigger! Secondly, it has a bathroom. Thirdly, I'm now with my other Kinder teachers (adios 2nd graders!) Lastly, it's red! Well, of course all of my blue tubs and decor will not match. It's been so fun finding and creating all new red and black things. I've kind of fallen in love with ladybugs too! Here's a picture of my room- the blank slate!

I have a fun idea for my classroom library, but for now I've just made the letters that will hang in it. I found these wooden letters at Wal-Mart. My husband painted them for me and I found some bling stickers (Dollar Tree) to fancy them up! 

My other project was some wicker basket sets that I bought used from a teacher online site. Once again, the lovely husband painted them for me. I added some polka dot duct tape trim and some ribbon. I love how it turned out!

I have several other projects going, so I'll be blogging again very soon! Have a fun, yet restful summer!!!

"Wild About Learning" and a FREEBIE

First week of school is just about complete! I LOVE my Kinders, but WOW, I always forget how simple you must begin. My two favorite examples from the week....."What does clean up mean?" and, after showing students how to choose the "shapes" tool on the Smart board, I had some students trying it out. Well, he forgot to click on the shapes icon first and I said, pointing to the icon "Remember, we have to tell it we want to make a shape first." He leaned in close to the board and said "I want to make a shape." LOL (CONCRETE THINKERS)

It's also been so fun having a school-wide theme. Our theme is "Wild About Learning". I thought it would be fun to go around the school, snapping pics of all the fun decor.

Now on to the FREEBIE!

I have loved using this template for my math tub planning and word work planning. I'll let you download my first few weeks that I've completed. Just delete out my pages if you want. There are blank templates at the end.  Hopefully, some of you can find it useful! Enjoy!

Click HERE for Math Tub Planning Sheets.

Click HERE for Word Work Planning Sheets.

CLASSROOM REVEAL!

So my decor is what I call hodge podge haven. It's a little chevron, some polka dot, some "wild" print because of our school-wide theme and a lot of my favorite color - BLUE! I know, it's way too many patterns, but I think it works just fine for me.

I'll give the tour in a complete 360 around the room, starting at my computer area. Sit back for a moment, there's A LOT of pictures with descriptions! I hope you like....

Hope you enjoyed!