Back to School Shopping Spree

We will be heading back to school soon. Yesterday I spent the day with my mom, shopping for my new kindergarten classroom. My mom is a master teacher, who has taught 30 years. She owns her own preschool and currently teachers state funded pre-K. I love spending time with her; she always has so  many wonderful ideas and such great advice. Whenever I am  around her I am so excited to be in my own classroom. 

Our first stop was The School Box, our local school supply store. I was able to pick up a few cute bulletin board sets for my classroom.  Both of these sets were from Creative Teaching Press. 

   

Our next stop was IKEA. Can I just say that shopping at IKEA is so much fun. I picked up quite a few goodies for my dramatic play and blocks center. Here are a few of my favorite finds.

 I loved these children's cookware sets from the children's section. 

They were very affordable (between $3-7 a set)

 I was so excited to find this paper roller and paper. The set cost $10. 

Can't wait to see this in my Creation Center. 

I LOVE the IKEA Trofast storage options. My son has a few of these in his bedroom to organize his toys. They are wonderful and so heavy duty. This wall storage system will be great for my science center. I'm contemplating buying another Trofast storage system for my math workstations and my working with word stations. 

 Can't wait to use these train pieces in my block and building center.

What goodies have you bought for you classroom this summer?

Summer Linky Party- Classroom Management

With summer half way over for me (we go back to school on August 6^th-YIKES!!!), I’ve been thinking a lot about my classroom management plan for kindergarten. I am a firm believer in having a strong structure built on a framework of routines and procedures. In this post I thought I would share a few of the things that have helped my classroom run smoothly.

Procedure Game:  Like all teachers, I spend the first weeks teaching procedures. To help students verbalize the procedure, I have made a review game. I made a list of questions based on our procedures, printed them onto index cards, laminated, and then put them on a ring. Whenvever we have a few minutes throughout the day especially during the first few weeks, I will go over a few. Sometimes I will give a little treat (small piece of candy) but most of the time the reward is a high-5. We go over our review game whenever I think we need a little review (like after Christmas). I don’t have a picture of my review game (it’s stuck in my classroom), but I will post the review game in my TPT store within the week.

Tables:  I LOVE tables! I HATE desks! When students use desks, they become homes for all sorts of junk:  broken crayons, half eaten snacks, toys, trash… The list goes on and on. One of my favorite kiddos not only cluttered his own desk, but that of the person sitting next of him who was out sick. I was ecstatic when I was given the opportunity to use tables in my 2^nd and 3^rd grade classrooms. In order to keep my tables organized, I used a community supply crate that held pencils, highlighters, pens, and a mini stapler. I also had a bookshelf at the end of each table. The table held workbooks, journals, dry erase boards, glue, scissors, etc. All my textbooks were kept in my cubbies.  Each table had a table captain; this person collect and handed out materials and completed any table chores throughout the week. I changed my table captains weekly.

One of my favorite classroom management resources is this book, The Cornerstone:  Classroom Management That Makes Teaching More Effective, Efficient, and Enjoyable. Angela Powell Watson, author, makes so many wonderful points in this easy to read book. I reread it every summer before school starts. It is an AMAZING resource. Be sure to check it out. 

This is just a little peek into my classroom and the procedures that help my room run smoothly. I can’t wait to see how other people manage their kindergarten classroom. 

Made It Monday!

I'm linking up with 4th Grade Frolics today for Made It Monday! This summer I have been working hard making things for my kinder room. Let me start by saying that I LOVE My Cricut machine! I have made so many adorable things with it so far for my classroom. This year I am planning a bee themed classroom. 
First, I am planning for my classroom door to say, "Welcome to our hive - The best place to BEE." I made two of these big bees, one each for myself and my para-pro. I plan to put these on top of my door. 

Then I went to work on making my student bees. Each students will have one of these little cuties. I haven't decided yet how to put their  names on them. I think I may make little yellow cards to tape over them... still not sure. 

Then, I used my Create a Critter Cartridge to make these adorable hives, one for each month. I'm going to put these on a bulletin board that says, "Happy Bee-Day!" Then on the first day of school I will take group pictures by month. Once they are printed, I will add them to the correct month.  

So I haven't spent all my time making things for my kinders. I finally finished my baby boy's autograph scrapbook from our Disney trip. He reads it all the time, and every morning I find it in his bed. We can't wait to go back. I bought the book from Dixie Delights. Amanda has a fabulous blog and etsy store. The book had plenty of pages for autographs and memories. Be sure to check it out for your next Disney trip. Once we got home, we couldn't wait to get our pictures back. Eric chose his pictures for the book (he picked 300- we had a hard time weaning them down). Then, I had so much fun scrapbooking each page. Here are a few of Eric's favorite pages! 

I hope you have a fabulous Monday and a wonderful week! 

What do you like to make on your Cricut or Silhouette?  

Summer Randomness and a Freebie

Happy Sunday Everyone! I'm liking up with Fab-u-lous in First for the Sunday Smorgasbord~ A little bit of this, a dash of that, and a whole bunch of random. 

Did anyone else have major anxiety on July 1st??? When I realized that we only have one more month of summer, I started to panic. I have so much to do in my new kindergarten classroom. But... I am loving my time with my babies. I think I am going to go to my new classroom this week and start working on it. I definitely have a trip to IKEA in my near future. 

Speaking of my babies, I took Eric to the Ripley's Aquarium in Gatlinburg, Tennessee this past week. He is obsessed with all ocean animals, especially "killing whales". He had a blast! However, he thought that the aquarium was a pet store. All the penguins had  name tags. He pointed to one and when I told him that the penguin's name was Harry he quickly said, "I like him. Mommy  let's buy him". He also told every aquarium worker that he needed them to get Harry out of the tank for him. So I've been telling him we have to get our house ready before a penguin comes to our house to live. All we need is a pet penguin!

Caroline is walking everywhere! I found her yesterday in the hallway. She would stand up, take a few steps, and then fall. She kept getting back up though. She is a very determined little lady. If only we could get her sleeping ALL NIGHT in HER CRIB!!!! I'm one exhausted mommy. 

I hope you all have a super Sunday. I am leaving you with a freebie. Every year, I give my parents a postable schedule of our special classes and lunch times. This helps parents plan so we don't have kiddos showing up in flip flops for PE (Random Thought- I HATE flip flops on little people!!! They can't walk in them!). I print the document onto card stock, fill it out, laminate, and then put a magnet on it to make it refrigerator ready. Click this link to get the freebie. This freebie is a bee theme, but check back. I will be adding more themes in the coming days. 

Block Center Book

With my big move to kindergarten, I have been planning for my classroom centers. I am a huge believer in literacy in all aspects of learning, and am working hard to put literacy into all of my social centers. Here is a book that I made for my kiddos called I CAN Build IT! I plan to print and laminate the cards and then bind them into the book. The students can use the book to pick and building and then try to  make a model of it. Each card has a picture and and then the name of the building and location. I am selling the building packet for $3, but it will be on sale through July 4th (at midnight) for $2. Click on either one of the pictures to reach the link for my TPT site. 

Talking, Drawing, Writing: Chapter 5- Writing Words

As I tucked my four year old into bed two nights ago, he asked me to read one of our favorite stories, David Goes to School. As I read the story, I was drawn to the illustrations. The illustrator used ovals to make the characters just like our book study has discussed. I immediately tucked that information away for later; I can’t wait to show my kinders the oval drawing technique used in a famous picture book that many will be familiar with. 

Chapter five summarizes the process of encouraging our young writers to use written expression along with their drawings to give meaning to their reader. Children come to kindergarten with so many different experiences. Some come to us with a high literacy background. They have parents who have read to them consistently since birth. Most have attended a pre-K program, which has introduced them to the alphabet and phonemic awareness. Some children however come to use with a very low literacy background, having little knowledge of print concepts or alphabet knowledge. As teachers, we must bridge the gap and help all students build upon the framework that they come to us with. I love how the author encourages students to write a sentence, even if the sentence only includes the first sound of each work. For example…

A student may write, “M D W D M T the P”.

Dictated this sentence translates to, “My Dad was driving me to the park.”

In this example, the student was able to experiment with letters to form a sentence that had meaning while also using word that they already know. One thing that this book does so well is allow a teacher to differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all learners in his or her classroom. As students become more familiar with words (sight words and high frequency words), the teacher can encourage them to use the words in their writing. We want our students to be excited to write, and we want them to feel successful. The lessons outlined in this chapter provide every student with scaffolding to enable that success with writing.

Currently

Today I am linking up with Oh' Boy Fourth Grade for the July currently. 

Listening:  While trying to find something to watch on Netflix one night when my hubby was at work, I came across Grey's Anatomy reruns. I have a t.v. crush on McDreamy and McSteamy!

Loving:  I love everything about summer vacation. I love playing outside, cookouts, swimming, but most of all I love my morning snuggle time with my precious littles.Here are my two cuties on our recent Disney World trip. 

Thinking:  I have so much to do before I go back to school at the beginning of August. THAT IS ONLY ONE MONTH AWAY!!! I'm so excited about my big grade level move to kindergarten. I can't wait to get in my classroom to set up my new classroom. I see a trip to IKEA and The School Box in my very near future... I hope the hubby doesn't read this part!

Wanting:  My mother and I took the littles up to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee for a few days to our family chalet. It has been so much fun. Yesterday,  I found these adorable purple and gold TOMs, the school colors of my elementary school. Yes, I am a Georgia Bulldog fan and I think these were made for LSU, but I so need these for my school spirit wear. Plus, wouldn't they be adorable with my monogram on them? 

Needing: To get myself organized. A few years ago, my hubby and I finished out our basement. During the construction process, I had my husband build be a "teacher room". It is so nice. It has wall shelves with my books, resource books, bulletin board sets, and manipulatives. Now that I am going to kindergarten, I need to organize all my second and third grade items into my teacher room. I've got to get this done before August. If I am going to be doing all of this work, I have to have a Very Berry Hibiscus Refresher from Starbucks. I am addicted.

Tips, Tricks, and Hints:  Be Prepared and Be Organized! As I start my 8th year in the classroom, the most important advice I could give any teacher is to be prepared and be organized. It makes the day run so much smoother and makes students so much more successful in the learning environment. 

I hope you have a great July 1st! 

Be sure to link up for the July Currently Party. It is such a fabulous way to find new teacher blogs.