Saturday Snapshots...:)

I don't know about you, but I have been so swamped trying to keep up with everything at school this year. It is almost impossible! I barely have time to breathe it seems! I wanted to share just a few pix from the week though, so I'm linking up with Miss Nelson for Saturday Snapshots! 

Yesterday, I had my students draw themselves following a rule and breaking a rule. We have been talking about rules and why it is so important to follow them. I thought this would be a good activity for kinder. I asked them to try to write about their drawings too. Some of them did (although you really can't read it...lol). 

This one drew such cute pictures of her raising her and her friends sitting nicely on the rug for following the rules and her standing on the table for breaking a rule...lol!

I love this one....he wrote clean up for following the rules and hit a friend for breaking the rules.

This little sweetie just wrote about how she loves me...:) She is always bringing me things from home that she colors for me and they always say I luv Mrs. Vicky. So sweet...:) Looks like she was writing my name pyramid style too...LOL! Not too sure what the broken rule was.

I finally got two of my center rotation wheels made. The red and blue one is for reading centers, and the green and yellow is for imaginative play centers or fun centers as my kids call them. I still want to make one for math centers but I haven't started math centers yet. I still need to make headers for them too.

I placed them near my small group table so I can turn it at the end of each rotation.

I am also sharing the "book boxes" I made for my tables. These sturdy black cardboard boxes used to hold science materials with our National Geographic series. One of my team was throwing the boxes away and I rescued these boxes. I taped 4 together and voila...instant book boxes. A roll of duct tape was the only cost involved in making these. I am going to put the kids names on the sides of the boxes with velcro tabs soon. That way, I can move the name and leave the box since they are taped together.

Here is what they look like from the end. I think they are pretty nifty...especially for a freebie! I hope to share something more next week. 

So, today I had the best time with my family. My daughter, Miranda, came home to celebrate her birthday which is next week. We enjoyed our day together, along with my hubby, her boyfriend, my mom and dad, and my sister and her kids. My son already had plans to go to the Florida State game so he wasn't with us, but we still had a great day! Here are a few pix from the day!

So relaxing and so much fun! I was beyond ready for the weekend and so far it's been a great one...:)

Until next time, have a blessed Sunday and a wonderful new week!

Currently & Classroom Updates!

 Happy Monday! Can you believe it's already time for September Currently? This year is flying by! I am excited to be linking up with Farley today and see what is currently going on in some of your lives!

Here's mine.....

I am listening to Cops....the hubs loves that show! He would totally go back to school to become a cop if he were younger. 

I am loving the yummy steak dinner we had to celebrate Labor Day. The hubs grilled them perfectly!

I am thinking I am so happy I made myself go work in my classroom for a few hours earlier. I got a LOT of stuff done and now my week will go much more smoothly!

I am totally wanting to start another home remodeling project. I really want to do my master bath and have everything picked out and planned....if only some $$$ would fall in my lap! LOL

I am needing to finish laundry, but totally not wanting to! It's my least favorite chore!

And last but not least....I love this part Farley added!

1. I am going to try very hard to start walking again. I haven't been walking because of the dreadful Florida heat, humidity, and bugs, but I am going to try walking on the treadmill.

2. I am going to try very hard to break my Pepsi addiction.....again!

3. I also want to take time to be creative and crafty. I have so many ideas for an ETSY shop and really want to get it started!

 Now...on to a few classroom updates!

I have my WBT rules in place. My kinders are doing so well at memorizing them! They aren't doing so well at following them all yet though....especially #'s 2 & 3...lol! I got these awesome free posters here!

I also managed to print my schedule cards and get them up!

I shared my helper area before, but here it is in use. The little bird on the limb is the helper for the day and then they move to the green chart until everyone has had a turn. The kids love it!

I decided to try using hand gestures this year and it is going great. The kids remember it better than me!

Just a general shot across the room....lovin' all the bright and happy colors everywhere!

I am excited to finally have my crayon drawers labeled and filled. I found these great labels here.

In the words of Phil (from Duck Dynasty) this just makes me happy, happy, happy!

I spent lots of time earlier sorting books that I inherited when I moved in my new room. They were all mixed up!!! Now I know this doesn't look perfect, but it is a vast improvement. I still have to figure out how I am going to label them, but at least they are sorted! 

This is one shelf.....

And here is the other one....

I got two new chairs for the library area too and I need to go back and get the green one too! I didn't think I would have room for it, but I do...:)

Here's the top of the biggest bookshelf. You can see my corner in the background. My desk is behind the shelf. 

I got my hall display ready to hang student work...finally! I had trouble finding the 12 x 12 scrapbook page protector sheets. I finally found them. The green background is supposed to look like a football field....our hall is football themed. Our school has a different hall theme for every grade level. This year it was a 2 color theme and my team had chosen orange and blue (this was before I transferred back). They went with a Florida Gator football theme. You can see a couple of the Gator themed icons above the green field. 

My kiddos colored their names on their first day of school.

Here's the whole thing. Nothing fancy, but it works!

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Classroom Reveal.....Finally!

Hi everyone! I am happy to report that I can finally share my kindergarten classroom. It is 95% complete, so that's good enough! Several of you wanted to see it so, here you go!

Here is the whiteboard in the front of my room. The big blue pocket charts are from Lakeshore and will be used during calendar and math time. My room is very small so I have nowhere else to put the pocket charts. I hate not to use them because they are so costly, but I may end up taking down the Circle Time one and just using the components in small groups. The little colorful Target pocket charts under the ledge will be used for my word wall.

Another view with one of the fabric buntings I made above the screen. Excuse the phone on the floor....I hadn't hooked it up yet.

This is my clip chart behavior system that I got from A Cupcake for the Teacher. I used this system when I taught first grade and loved it! The students will have a clothespin with their name on it and will all begin each day with their clip on Ready to Learn. They can move up or down on the chart depending on their behavior. I am also using her Hall of Fame idea. If the students move all the way to the top, they get a special jewel on their clip and when they have earned 5 jewels, they will move their clip to the hall of fame and receive a new clip. I am also implementing the Sweet Rewards idea I used last year to reward the whole class. If nobody moves down each day, the students will earn a cupcake to place on the tray. When they have earned 12 cupcakes, I will bake them cupcakes to reward them for their great behavior...thus the name Sweet Rewards.

 

Here is a close up view of the book jacket banner and cupcake liner twinkle lights I made hanging in my windows.

Here are a few puppets that will be used when we are learning how to read...:)

This is my birthday board. All the students names and birthdays will be placed on the cupcakes soon! I made this banner last year. The fabric has sprinkles on it...:)

This is my Helper of the Day area. The students names will be written on the birds and when it is their day to be the helper, their bird will leave the nest and "fly" up to the limb above. 

After their turn is over, the bird will move to the green pocket chart next to it.

Not sure what I will use the small bulletin board for, but it's ready to go!  And , here's another bunting!

This area still needs a lot of work. Student work will be displayed in the polka dot area. I will be adding a few things to this wall. The two tables on this wall will be used during center time.

Here's a photo I took today after I put the Awesome Work header up. 

Here is the rainbow I made for my dolch word display. Student names will be written on the clouds and each time they master a color level, they will earn a raindrop of the same color under their cloud...:) I still need to put a header up!

I love the glitter on the rainbow!

I was tickled earlier this week when the local Rotary Club brought us all teacher goodie bags! 

Here are all the germ busting products and school supplies that were in the bag!

They even included these sweet signs to place in the restroom after we teach the kinders the importance of hand washing.

Here are the sweet little treat bags I gave my sweet students came for Meet Your Teacher yesterday! I got these adorable labels from Emily at I Love My Classroom. They were a big hit with the kiddos!

Here is the view from the hall door. The area in the corner is my office and storage area. Unfortunately this room doesn't have a closet.

Here is the view from my outside door. The door in the far left corner is the bathroom.

This is the cubby area at the entrance to the room. The grey cubbies are for backpacks and the black ones are their mailboxes. I have two more grey cubby carts to the left in this photo. If I have more than 18 students I have the green and red crates to use for cubbies as well.

Here's a close-up of the top of the mailboxes.

A different view of the front of the room. I still have to organize the black cart in the corner. I am hoping to get rid of that big tv! That corner will be tweaked some more. I am still trying to find the perfect spot for everything in this small room!

My library area and reading instruction area and easel. 

The black shelf in the background holds some of the Journey's reading materials. There is so much with this series! I don't know where to house it all. I'm also getting brand new math curriculum that I have to find a home for. The black crate under the chair is my toy jail. I have to find a home for it!

I still have to sort through books and place them in baskets according to the reading level, author, picture books, etc. Hoping to work on that next week. Out kindergarten stagger starts and we don't have any students Monday since it is an early release day. I will have 3-5 students per day the rest of the week, so I should have some time to work on it after they leave each day. You can see a little of my cute rug I bought at Sam's Club in this photo! I have a Reading Takes You Places theme in the library with the map rug and globes.

This is my D.O.T. folder....the kiddos will take this home each night. I put a mustache over the student name on this one for confidentiality. I created it on MS Word. I am dying to purchase some backgrounds and graphics to start making some cute stuff like most of you already do! I already spend enough time on my laptop and am afraid I might get addicted!

This is the area outside my door to welcome the kids. Again, I have blacked out last names...:)

Here's my messy desk. Sorry I didn't clean it up more, but I was just ready to go home and didn't get to it!

This is to the right of my desk. The bulletin board I made as well as the pocket chart. My printer is on a cart below the bulletin board.

 I made the pocket chart last year to hold a variety of things. You'll never guess what it's made with!

Home Depot nail aprons!!! They are less that $1 each and made from very sturdy canvas. Only problem is the logo on the front as you can see below. I simply made labels to put over mine, but you could also sew patches on it or hot glue something over it. It would be great in a craft room or home office as well...:)

This is the counter and cabinets behind my desk. There's a sink to the right of the pencil sharpener. 

Here's the other half of my bulletin board that's divided into 2 parts. I showed the birthday board earlier in the post, and the other half will be used for my rules. I am planning to use Whole Brain this year! I just love the crayon border I bought at the Dollar Tree...too cute! I layers it with a yellow and white stripe. This is my only large bulletin board and is to the right over the cubbies when you enter the hall door.

Here's a closer look at the lettering. I made it using MS Word Art. The letters match the fabrics that my curtains were made with. This idea just popped in my head the other night, so I tried it and love how they turned out! I ordered my fabric online so I was able to save the sample photos and insert them into the lettering using Word Art.

Here's the fabric. I also added a yellow polka dot to the mix above like I used on my bulletin board near my desk. 

I have tables instead of desks. I found these adhesive name plates to use this year. I hope they hold up well!

Well, I hope you enjoyed your tour of my little room! I will share again after we have "lived" in it for a while! I love to display student work and artwork and hope to have lots of cute things to hang up soon! Have a blessed weekend....I am happy it's here! I desperately need some rest!

Until next time.....

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