Five For Friday- Ready or Not!

It is Thursday night as I am writing this, and thinking back over the week Monday seems like months ago!  Most of my week was spent pulling my room together, and I am happy to say it is ready for our Open House tomorrow!  (Just don't look in the closets...) :) 

But first, before school stuff, it's been a pretty rainy and humid week.  I think this rainbow ended right in our field.  Can you see the double one behind it??? 

Do the trips to Walmart ever end???  My new school is 10 minutes from one, and that has already proved to be pretty dangerous.  

Here are some of my favorite little details in the room...

My ribbon curtain project was successful!  Although, I am not sure it was cost-effective.  It took about 6 or 7 rolls of ribbon in different sizes. 

My classroom library survived the move nicely.  Here are the first few bins I put out, along with my Laura Numeroff book friends purchased over the summer from Kohls!

My desk at the front entrance of the classroom.  I know it is kind of ridiculous to spend this much time on the teacher desk, but I figured if I was keeping it I might as well dress it up.  It added so much character to the room! (I played around with the idea of getting rid of the desk, but I'm going to work off of it this year and maybe take the plunge next year.) 

Thank you Kinder Craze for this cute idea!  They were so easy and are ready for Open House.  The glow sticks are from Dollar Tree...four in a pack and the ribbon comes with it! 

Snack of choice the past few days.  I am happy to report that chocolate is readily available in my new school.  :)  It has been showing up on my desk in one form or another all week!

I am so excited to meet my students tomorrow and get the school year started on Monday!  

A Perfectly Imperfect Classroom and Other Thoughts From The Week

I was not good about taking pictures this week, so this is not a Five for Friday, but I've got a lot of thoughts so I'm still going to reflect on the week.  

I have worked for only three days and I am already exhausted from taking in information from my new district and school and working in my classroom.  I have such a love/hate relationship with the whole classroom setup process.  I have to admit, I stopped looking at "classroom reveals" and reading blog posts because they are making me feel so overwhelmed.  My classroom will not be picture perfect this year but that is okay.  It's in a formerly open school, so one whole side of my room is a makeshift "wall" made up of a jumble of cabinets and bookshelves lined to separate my room from the hallway.  And the cabinets are stuffed full, so all of my stuff is currently sitting in the middle of the floor and covering every open table space.  Maybe one year I will get to stay in the same space and work out of organized cabinets.  I realized I was incredibly spoiled last year in a huge room with two large windows, two locking doors, and lots of bulletin board, wall and storage space.  This room will be different, but if I tackle the organization process in little pieces, eventually it will be fine, too.  

I've been catching a few of Sheila Jane Teaching's Periscopes once in a while.  Today (maybe yesterday?) she made a really sweet point about having an imperfect classroom.  I'm paraphrasing, but she said to remember what is on the inside that makes you a great teacher.  If you put me in a room with no color scheme or cute decorations on the wall, could I still be a great teacher?  I love having an organized, visually appealing, put-together room, and do strive for that (and boy does it make my job easier!).  However, I was hired to do this job because I'm a great teacher, not because I had a gorgeous classroom.  I think it is worthwhile for all teachers during this stressful time of year to stop and remember why we are great teachers!  It's setting an "infrastructure" of an ordered day and our personal connection with our students that truly matters. 

With that being said, there are a few positives and fun things I have been working on.  

1.  I have a tiny window in my room.  (One of the things I love about my new room is that it has an outside door that opens to a sweet little fenced in playground!  We can step right outside into it!) I am working on making a ribbon curtain for the window.  If it turns out I'll share a picture soon! 

2.  I looked at Sit Spots last year and ordered a sample but they didn't work on my area rug.  (I did end up using the sample for a little one who used it as a visual reminder of where to sit, even though it didn't stick to the floor.)  This year I have wall-to-wall carpeting and no rug, so I decided to get the Sit Spots.  I ordered apples to go with my theme.  I wish they were not so expensive however...$1.99 for a shape times twenty-ish students is a lot.  Additionally, I ordered 10 feet of the strips, which were cheaper.  I plan on cutting these apart to show students where to put their feet to stand in a line.  I learned last year that a huge part of kindergarten is managing spatial awareness!  If I can get them in a decent line before they even leave my room, our hallway behavior is much better. 

3.  Today's whole project was organizing my classroom library.  I love, love, love my classroom library.  It packed up nicely and survived the moving process in organized fashion.  I was able to add lots of quality titles to it today as I was sorting through what was already in the classroom.  

4. So far I love my new district and school!  

5.  Not school related...but I just finished reading Jennifer Fulwiler's book "Something Other Than God: How I Passionately Sought Happiness and Accidentally Found It".  It had me in tears by the end of the book.  I'm happy that I was able to do lots of summer reading this year!  I have to remember to keep some good titles on hand to help keep some balance this year.  I used to read "Freedom Writers" to start off every school year when I worked with high schoolers.  This year I'm thinking about re-reading "Educating Esme" since I'm considered (and feel like) a new teacher again.  Any other fun (not necessarily PD related) teacher reading suggestions??? 

I'm off to celebrate a family wedding out of state this weekend, and will return refreshed to my classroom on Monday! 

Classroom Library- Part 1

Here are a few pictures from the beginnings of my classroom library...I was incredibly lucky to inherit many books from the former occupant of the room, but they were not organized or accessible to the children. I had a shelf functioning as the math and puzzles center, but it was not getting used, collecting dust, and was frankly an eyesore in the room. Yuck.

I happen to be taking a Children's Literature course online as I work towards my master's degree.  One of the major projects is to implement a reading and writing center.  Perfect.  I can work on a project for my class that ALSO benefits my classroom in a very needed way. 

So Thursday I announced that the puzzle center was closed, and on Friday I stayed after and transformed it to this:

I agonized for a while over the best labels and bins to use.  I mean, they can make a huge difference, right?  I am happy to say that I am so, so so pleased over how these turned out.  (Pay no attention to the random old puzzle rack thingy in the corner that I haven't found a home for yet, or the dividers that I need to figure out how to remove.  Thanks.) 

I looked around for free labels to print.  I finally decided on this collection and I am very happy with them.  Thank you Keen on Kindergarten for sharing!  They are clear and easy to read, did not require a lot of ink, and covered the major types of books I wanted to have out.   This is by no means the complete collection.  I just put a very small sampling out so that I can teach my kinders to use our library appropriately this week.  (More on that little lesson later!)  

I printed and laminated the labels, but decided to attach them to the bins with Velcro circles.  That way, if I decide to use the bins for something else or rearrange one day, I can easily switch out the labels without losing them.  I think I will do the same with my upcoming math manipulative organization project...we'll see. 

I found the perfect sized bins in Dollar Tree, but I was sad because there were only 5 in purple.  I got them anyway and decided to keep searching Dollar Trees to add to my collection.  I was so excited when I went back this week to pick up some Valentine goodies and saw 25 matching blue bins!  Yes, I got them all.  They seem very sturdy and are a nice size for the shelf and for most books.

This was our old "library."  There was pretty much just room to display some current seasonal and themed favorites and I switched them out every month or so.  I decided to keep this area seasonal.  One of my kiddos broke the bottom shelf, but we decided that was okay because now we have space to put our big books, too.  :)  I will be switching these out as we read new ones. 

So here's our entire space as it is now.  Still lots of work to do, but it's a start!  I can't wait to introduce it to my class! 

DIY Dry Erase Boards

I can't take credit for this great idea...I attended a PD where they were shared by Kathy Baumgartner, who is one of the contributing authors to our reading curriculum.  A trip to the Dollar Tree, $8, and less than an hour later, I have 20 "single serve" dry erase boards for my class! 

1. Punch a hole in the top of a plastic plate. Mine came 8 in a pack for $1. I have to confess I was skeptical as to whether these would wipe clean, but they do!

**Update:  Use name-brand markers.  The cheap ones do NOT wipe off so well.  :)  I would also recommend putting two plates together, or purchase heavier ones to make them sturdier on the kiddos' laps.  Our plates often bend, which does not make for pretty writing.  :) All in all, after several weeks of almost daily use, they are still working well!

2. Cut a small hole on the top of a sock. I purchased kids athletic socks, 4 in a pack. 

3. Tie a piece of yarn to the plate and sock.  (This was the most tedious part!)  

The marker goes inside the sock when students are finished. So (hopefully) there's no more lost lids all over the room!

My kids love them and they are now able to use them as response boards as we are working on the carpet with letter sounds, writing words, and practicing our math facts. They like having everything right there and it has made our lessons so much more interactive!