Pictures of My Classroom

I am so embarrassed.  I was doing so well with posting on my blog at least once or twice a week this summer.  Then I am back in the classroom for just a couple of weeks, getting my room ready (not even teaching) and I can't manage to get one blog post in.  I'm so sorry and I will try to do better as the school year begins.

Onto my classroom, I have many pictures to share with you.  Last night was our Meet the Teacher/Ice Cream Social.  I met almost all of my students.  It is going to be one of my best years ever.  (I have 20 students and a full time aide.  I am a very lucky girl.)

The sign my daughter made to welcome my students.

My whole group area with the Phonics Dance cards on the wall.

My cubbies with new cubby clips.  An idea I found on the Organized Classroom blog.

I used name tags I found at JoAnne Fabrics, instead of printing ones (I already used a bunch of color ink in my printer and this seemed like a better idea for me).

This is my lunch board.  The students put up a magnet with their name on it to show if they are buying lunch or packed a lunch.  On the shelf, is everything I need to put together my G.O. (get organized) binders.  There is always something else to do, isn't there?

My library center.

The "smart cookies" that each student received after finishing his/her Lake Ontario Scavenger Hunt.  I found the idea on the Dilly Dabbles Doodles blog and adapted it to my classroom.

Thank you for sticking with my blog and coming back to visit me.  I will post pictures of my bulletin boards later this week.  (I promise.....)

My 3rd Monday Made It

Three weeks from tonight, I will be getting ready for my first day of school.  I went to school to really begin getting ready.  I had my daughter take pictures after we had begun moving stuff around.  (I am "picture-taking" challenged, so I have learned to have her take pictures.  And I forgot to take pictures when were first got there.)

Here are a few of the pictures:

This will be my calendar wall and my whole group carpet.

My library center is the white shelf in the corner.

This is my mess that still needs to be cleaned up.

But at least my furniture is where it needs to be (besides the tables).

Hopefully, I will be able to post pictures of my room looking done (or almost done) at the end of the week.  I need to get my room pretty much ready by next week, because I have the kindergartners comes in for beginning of year assessments next week.  I don't want to scare them with a crazy classroom.

I have also linked up with Monday Made It.

I know there are many Teacher Toolboxes all over Pinterest.  But I would like to add mine.  The teacher across the hall and I worked on them last Wednesday afternoon.  I think they came out looking very good.  The "toolboxes" we used had been used before and had sticky stuff on the front of the drawers.  So we laminated the signs on the front of the drawers and used velcro to attach them to the front of the drawers.

My Toolbox

Check out all the other wonderful things on Monday Made It.

Monday Made It

Thank you for looking at my classroom today.

My 1st Sale

I love to buy things on sale.  That might be why Kohl's is one of of my favorite stores.  I bought a cardigan, a pair of pants and a blouse for under $40 yesterday.  I save $109 according to my receipt (and the salesperson).  It really is like "getting paid to shop".  (Not that my husband ever looks like he really believes me when I tell him that.)

So since I love a sale, I have decided to join TpT sale that is taking place today and tomorrow.  I have 20% off all items in my store plus with the sale that TpT is having, that makes everything 28% off.

Click here to go to my sale.

I am going into my classroom tomorrow and trying to get furniture moved around and put where it belongs (with the help of my 2 teenagers).  So hopefully, I will be able to share some before and after pictures of my classroom with you next week.

Enjoy the sale!

What To Do With ALL Those Tiny Erasers?

If you are like me, you have difficulty not buying those packages of tiny erasers in the Dollar Spot at Target or the ones that are only 88 cents at Walmart.  I admit that I have a ton in my classroom.  And (shhh... don't tell my husband) I bought more of the ones at Walmart.  The ones for back to school are soooooo cute.  Who can resist?  And they were only 88 cents.

Here is a picture of the ones from Walmart and some of the ocean ones I have.

So to make me feel a little less guilty about buying something that maybe I didn't really need.  I made an activity to go with the erasers.  It is a paper for the students to sort the erasers on and write how many he/she has of each eraser.  To differentiate, you could have some of the students color in the circle of the largest number or the smallest number.  You could also laminate this worksheet and have the students write the numbers using dry eraser marker.  

I have made this a freebie for those of you who felt the "pull" from those cute little erasers and bought them.

Click {here} to get this freebie.

I have also linked up with Teaching Blog Addict's Freebie Friday.  Make sure you visit them and grab some other freebies.

Thank you for visiting my blog today.  Come back soon.

A Product Swap

Jessica at Mrs. Stanford's Class had an awesome idea.  She paired up teachers based on what grade they taught, how long they had been blogging and how many items were in their TpT store.  Then, each teacher (in the pair) chose an item from the other teacher's TpT store, made the item and wrote a review about the item.


I was paired with Danielle at Krazee 4 Kindergarten.  (You should visit her blog.  She has lots of awesome ideas.)

After much thought (who doesn't love shopping for free on TpT) I chose her Kindergarten Basic Mini Writing Office.  It has wonderful resources for my kinders to use while they are writing. (included are: an alphabet chart, a list of things to write about, a writing checklist, a list of color words, a list of number words, and many labels for the front of the mini office)  I will have to go over the resources at the beginning of the year so they will understand how use them.  But, I hope that the folder will help my students while they are writing, so there will be fewer questions.

Here is what the folder looks like when you follow the directions that Danielle has in the packet:

I usually have my students use a 2-pocket folder for writing.  So I thought I would try placing the mini office items on a 2-pocket folder.  

Here is what it looks like:

The Front

The Middle

The Back

I wasn't able to fit in the list of sight words when I placed everything on the 2-pocket folder but that didn't bother me because my students usually use the word wall when spelling sight words.

I have to say that I love this product.  First of all, had I tried to make it myself it would have taken me forever.  Danielle did a terrific job of illustrating everything, which is very important in kindergarten.  Also, the way all of the charts are on separate pages, you can individualize the folders for your classroom.

Thank you for visiting my blog.  Make sure you stop by Krazee 4 Kindergarten and Mrs. Stanford's Class today.