kinderdi

Our 100th Day...in review

2012-02-19T19:55:00.000-06:00

Hi! Seems to be the trend for me lately...posting about events after they happen!! Sorry about that...I had planned to let you in on our 100th day activities before the actual day, but that just didn't happen! It was a fun day, though! I found a few new ideas online this year, which is always exciting! Here's a recap of our day: We made hats that said "100 days smarter!" The children brought in their collection of 100 items and we wrote about what we'd want 100 of and what we would not want 100 of. We ate 100 items for snack (10 marshmallows, 10 pretzels, 10 gold fish....etc.) We read Miss Bindergarten Celebrates the 100th Day of Kindergarten. We estimated if there were 100 items in containers and then counted to check. We completed our Zero the Hero book and the children took them home. Here's a few pics:


100 Day hats and collections...

Using our 100 counting mats to check if there were 100 items in the container.

This was the recording sheet...the children estimated if there were 100 items in the container (yes or no), counted, and wrote the actual number.

And...if you look closely in this picture, you can see my AWESOME (if I do say so myself!) 100 Day shirt!! I ironed on some bling to celebrate the day! I got the shirt and iron-ons at Hobby Lobby. I will try to take a better pic of the shirt some day...but I loved it!!

Items I had planned but didn't have time for: Decorating Psalm 100 from the Bible and coloring the 100 mystery picture using the hundred chart. Hope you had a great weekend! Thanks for checking in!

Happy Valentine's Day....a day late!

2012-02-15T11:19:00.000-06:00

Where does the time go??? This is a busy week for us with Valentine's Day Tuesday and our 100th day this coming Friday! I have a few Valentine pictures to share with you...I had each child make their own valentine mailbox as a family project. I love the creativity of all of the different boxes. Here's just a small sample of what the children brought in:

(This little girl loves dalmations!!)

Aren't they awesome??!! We had a really nice day; Valentine's Day is one of may favorite days of the school year. Such a nice way to celebrate friendship. : ) Thanks for checking in; hope your day was sweet!

Quiet dice games

2012-02-12T12:35:00.001-06:00

Have you seen these at your local Dollar Tree??? They are erasers...but oh my, do they make dice games a lot more quiet!!! They are bright and colorful and the kids love 'em.

Valentine's Day

2012-02-11T21:12:00.002-06:00

February 14 is just a few days away! We made these tissue paper hearts with glue and water. They are decorating our classroom door.

We also made these cute sweetheart trees...another pinterest find

Next week will be busy for us....Valentine's Day and our 100th Day of Kindergarten in the same week!
Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

February Stamping Center

2012-02-02T12:42:00.000-06:00

It's hard to believe Valentine's Day is just around the corner! I put together this math center for February. I put an activity page, a red ink pad, and a couple of heart stamps into a container ( BTW...I bought 2 of these rectangular storage containers at a Dollar Tree this summer when we were on vacation. I wish I had bought more; they fit 8.5 x 11 paper perfectly. We never did get them at the Dollar Tree where I live.) The goal is to stamp and count hearts on the page, then write how many they stamped and counted. Simple but cute and fun.

Thanks for checking in! Have a super day!

More or fewer snowman project...

2012-02-01T12:35:00.002-06:00

Hello! Catching up on sharing one more winter activity we did last week. We made snowmen; each snowball had a letter of the children's name...(there are a few examples out there on pinterest of this project). Since we were working with more/fewer in math, the children compared their snowman to someone's who had more or fewer snowballs.

It was fun to see the different sizes of snowmen!

100 Day Counting Mats

2012-01-31T19:31:00.001-06:00

Hello! We have just 13 days until day 100! I've been finding such awesome ideas for celebrating the big event!! I pinned this picture quite a while ago; you can find the source here.

I decided to make counting mats similar to this for our 100th day. First, I printed out a BUNCH of colored circles like this....

Then I cut them out (all 90 of them!!!!) and glued them to black paper. I laminated them and they look AWESOME! Can't wait for the kids to use them to help them count 100 objects. : )

I made 9 mats; the children will work with a partner.

Aren't they beautiful??

Thanks for checking in!

Valentine Freebie

2012-01-29T10:01:00.002-06:00

Hello! I saw this bulletin board on Pinterest....loved it!! (I couldn't find the exact source; it said uploaded by user and did not link to the actual website. Sorry!) For those of us in Christian schools, it's so neat to find ideas like this! I decided to make a smaller version for my prayer table February. I used clip art from DJ Inkers and a DJ Inkers font: Fiddlesticks

Click on the link to download! Feel free to comment if you use this in your classroom! : ) Thanks for checking in!

Sign Language Sight Words

2012-01-28T12:46:00.003-06:00

Are you familiar with this font?

It's called Gallaudet and it is the letters of the alphabet in sign language. I printed out sight word cards with this font and had the children use a large sign language poster to help them figure out the word. Just another fun way to practice words! I let them do this with a partner.

They could also use the process of elimination...if the first two letters of the word were "th" they would know the word was "the" because that's the only word wall word that starts with those two letters. : )
Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Our Hot Chocolate Day!

2012-01-27T17:36:00.000-06:00

Whew! We made it to Friday! We had another fun and busy week. Today was our "Hot Chocolate Day." I like to do this the last Friday in January to bring closure to our winter activities. We answer the question: Do you like marshmallows in your hot chocolate? Yes or No. Last year I did a graph; this year the children just wrote their names on the appropriate side.

I saw this idea on pinterest and made my own version


(Clip art by DJ Inkers)

The children glued small white squares on the page instead of real marshmallows. Then we had hot chocolate to drink, with or without marshmallows...

...in REAL mugs! No plastic or paper here (except for the spoons!!). Yum! Yum! It was a lot of fun! Now I have 18 mugs sitting on my table to wash, but that's ok. : ) I borrowed them from the lunch room in case you are wondering.

I had a slight case of laryngitis this week...that always makes for interesting days, doesn't it??? Tuesday morning I told the class I needed to get a drink of water (we were at the circle doing calendar). I stepped over to my desk and could hear conversation going on...when I got back, the children had decided I should probably get my tonsils out. That would help my throat and it doesn't even hurt! You get "sleeping gas" and then your tonsils just disappear! Ha! Too cute! That's why I love kindergarten!! Thanks for checking in! Enjoy your day!

Counting by 10's Snowflakes

2012-01-26T06:19:00.000-06:00

Hi! Just a quick little post today to share our "Counting by 10's" snowflake activity....another center inspired by Mrs. Lee. The children put the snowflakes in order from 10-100, then colored and wrote the numbers in the correct order.

(Snowflake clip art by DJ Inkers)

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

A few pics from the week...

2012-01-22T17:28:00.000-06:00

Hello! It's been a busy week for us; we are the end of our semester...that means lots of assessments, report cards, and DIBELS coming next week. Here is a class book we did as part of our MLK activities this week. Each child traced and cut out a hand so we had a few of each color.

The title is Hand in Had with Martin Luther King. Blue is for loyalty, yellow is for peace, orange is for trust, brown is for brotherhood, white is for friendship, and red is for love.

We also did these coffee filter snowflakes to hang up in our classroom.

Thanks for checking in...hope you had a good weekend!

Mitten Glyph

2012-01-16T09:04:00.000-06:00

Hello! As promised, I have a picture of the mitten glyph we did this past week. I had a parent volunteer come in and she did this with the children. It's pretty simple; I photocopied a mitten on green and blue paper.

Here are the questions they answered for the glyph:

We practiced sight words with a roll and color game. I printed a snowman with sight words in each space (not my original idea!!) and the children had to read the word they rolled and color in the correct space. They did this with partners.

Did you know Kohls has these???

Have a great day! Thanks for checking today!

Snowman Measurement

2012-01-11T19:30:00.000-06:00

Hello! We've been working on measurement in math. We completed a couple of projects/centers I found online this week. I've always done a snowman, painted white on blue construction paper; this year I added the measuring component...I found this on Pinterest from Mrs. Lee's website:

Here is my version...

I love how these turned out; they are hanging in the hall outside of our classroom door.

We did the farm measurement center activity (our story for reading this week was about a farm) from Mrs. Kilburn's Kiddos. I tried to find the exact link to the printable, and couldn't find it! Sorry! If I find it, I will add it. The children used unifix cubes to measure the animals. We also used marshmallows to measure mittens...this activity is from Musings of Me. (I'm not sure if she is still posting her printables or not. I printed this one last winter.) I love being able to print items like this and have them all ready to use!!

We did our mitten glyphs today; tomorrow we are going to analyze the data. I will post pictures then, but this is the glyph:

It's pretty simple and easy; I had a parent volunteer come in and she did this with the class today. Thanks for checking in and have a good evening!

Snowflake Art

2012-01-10T18:38:00.000-06:00

Hello! I have a cute art idea to share with you....we did these last Friday...today we had record highs in MN in the 50's!!! I can't believe it! But, the forecast says changes are coming and cold weather is heading our way, so I am enjoying it while I can. I gave the children 3 strips of white paper and some (they chose how many they wanted to use) white squares. They could design a snowflake using the shapes, any way they wanted. (I've seen pictures of snowflakes made using pattern block shapes, similar to this on pinterest.)

As you can see, some designs were very simple; others a little more intricate. I thought they all turned out unique...just like real snowflakes!

(The blue paper is 12 x 12.)

Tomorrow we will be working on a mitten glyph. We painted snowmen and measured them...a Pinterest inspired project...I will share photos tomorrow. Thanks for checking in!

Thank You and Snowflake Writing...

2012-01-04T17:51:00.000-06:00

Hello! I hope everyone who is back at school this week is having a good one! It can always be a little challenging to get back into the swing of things after Christmas break! Before I tell you about our SNOWFLAKE writing center, I want to say a big thank you to everyone who started following my blog! I realize there are so many great teaching blogs out there...I am grateful to everyone who checks in just to see what's happening in my little corner of the kindergarten world. : ) My goal has been to post and share ideas that work for me, or share other great ideas/links I see online. I do not have a TpT store or sell items, but hopefully you still can find something here you can use!! We are all in this together and I believe the more we share and learn from each other, the more we can help our kids. Anyway...thanks again!

Onto our writing center...I die cut the word SNOWFLAKE and made an activity sheet for the children to write all of the words they could make out of the letters. When I introduced this activity, some of them immediately said, "I see 'no!' They also came up with "we, so, snow, and of." Here's a picture of the center:

I like the big letters because they can move them around and manipulate them to come up with words. I also set up a sight word play dough center. There are quite a few pics of centers like this on Pinterest. Here is my version:

I put letter cookie cutters in the basket with the activity sheet and a set of colored pencils for them to record the words they made. I also hung up two word lists for them to use. They are not limited to these words, but it is helpful for those who need it.

They can use the cookie cutters to cut out the words, or just stamp them into the play dough. Thanks for checking in and have a great evening!

MOA here I come!

2011-12-30T08:00:00.005-06:00

Hello! Today I am spending the day here:

And while the 3 boys/men in my life go to places like the Apple Store, Best Buy, and Game Stop, I will be perfectly content for hours browsing here:

at Archivers...looking at paper, stickers, stamps, ink and dies! Ahhhh! I am feeling the time crunch to START my son's high school scrapbook...he's a junior. I feel good about having the K-8 years scrapped for him...I'm just stuck on what to do for the high school book. I am debating whether or not to go with school colors as the theme to his book...or just school themed pages in general; and he's a runner (CC and track) and there are not many papers and stickers out there for those sports...so we'll see what today brings! Hope you have a great day, too, doing something you enjoy!

Classroom Update for January

2011-12-28T14:16:00.000-06:00

Hello! I went to my classroom for a few hours this morning to make the switch from December to January. There's always so much to get done....I didn't accomplish everything on my "to-do" list, but feel good about it none the less. (At least while I was working in my classroom, I wasn't snacking all morning...like I have been at home!!) Here are a few pictures of my room...

I have 6 of these pretty blue snowflakes hanging from the ceiling. I bought them at the Dollar Tree several years ago. Ironically, I live in southern MN and we don't have even one single flake of snow on the ground!! This was our first "brown" Christmas since 2006 and today it's in the 40's. But hey, I am not complaining, because even though I live here, I do not like the COLD!

I put these snowmen on the door for "Read the Room." Each one has just the item in the sentence colored. These were super simple to make. I also have a smaller version for the children to color the items and fill in the color words. They can choose their own colors; they do not have to match the posters.

Here is a fun activity designed to help children practice beginning sounds. The cute snowman hat box holds snowflakes with letters on them. The children take turns choosing a snowflake. If they have a matching picture that begins with that sound on their mat, they cover the snowman with the snowflake. I love using cute containers so the kids will find it inviting and fun!

I also made a "label the snowman" activity for my writing center...I saw this in December done with a Santa picture and thought it'd be great for January done with a snowman.

I have this one hanging up for the children to use as a model and blank pages in the writing area.

I have seen SO MANY great literacy ideas on Pinterest...like this:

and this:

I've been working to create similar activities, but adapted them to meet my students' needs...so I am not going to share something that isn't my own idea; these teachers deserve the credit!! Thought you might be inspired by them, too. I just LOVE all of the creativity and inspiration out there!! Thanks for checking in. Enjoy your day!

Cute January Pins

2011-12-26T15:59:00.000-06:00

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and can relax over the next few days before heading back to school. My family and I had a wonderful holiday, blessed with lots of family time and good food. : ) I am taking a break from school things...at least I did for a bit...by baking and scrapbooking. I have, however, been Pinning some awesome ideas for January. Here are a few winter projects I am looking forward to doing...

Gotta love Pinterest!!! I've been working on a couple of winter printables of my own...here is an activity sheet I made to help my class practice printing lowercase letters.

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

How many cookies tall are you?

2011-12-21T21:21:00.000-06:00

We did a few fun gingerbread activities over the past couple of weeks. We read The Gingerbread Boy and Gingerfriends (Jan Brett). Here a few pictures of our activities:


Beginning sounds practice: Mrs. Lee style!!


Math activity: add the correct number of buttons

How many gingerbread cookies tall are you?

The children could measure "how many gingerbread cookies tall" they were (with help from a friend) and then complete the response sheet by coloring in the correct number of cookies and filling in their name. I printed out pictures of them to glue on the sheet, too.

ONE more day!

2011-12-20T19:29:00.000-06:00

Good evening! Whew...just one more day until Christmas break. I am looking forward to it and I know many of you can relate!! We had our Christmas program today and it was beautiful; we do 2 performances for parents/families...one at 9 a.m. and the other at 1:30 p.m. So, basically, we don't do much else on program day!!! Yesterday we finished our calendar gifts. They turned out great! We wrapped them and they went home in backpacks. Hopefully, they are safe and sound under everyone's Christmas tree. Here are photos of each month and the cover:


The cover and January (children filled in their last name on the blank line.)


February and March


April and May


June and July


August and September


October and November


December

That's a lot of hand prints! I like this calendar because it was simple; everything was on one page and there was no extra gluing involved. I created a different cover, but all of the originals can be found here. I am so grateful for teachers who share!! This made our project pretty stress free...although if I do it again next year, I may get an earlier start. We started when we got back after Thanksgiving break. That can be cutting it a little close, especially if you have children who are sick and need to make up pages. I hope the families like them. : ) Thanks for checking in and if you have one or two more days of school this week...hang in there!

Hope I am doing this right...

2011-12-18T07:50:00.000-06:00

Happy Sunday! So...being rather new to all of this...I hope I am doing this right. I was nominated for this award by Ms. Lopez from Coloring Outside the Lines. This award is for newbies, and its goal is to spotlight up-and-coming blogs with less than 200 followers. If awarded, you must:

♥ copy and paste the award on your blog

♥ thank the giver and link back to them

♥ reveal YOUR top five picks and leave a comment letting them know

THANK YOU, Ms. Lopez, for nominating my blog!

Here are my picks :

Miss Chamblee's Kinderfriends

The Kindergarten Chick

Krazy in Kindergarten

Crayons & Curls

Mrs. Bremer's Kindergarten

What a fun way to visit new sites and get to know what other teachers are doing...I love seeing all of the creativity out there!!

Rudolph...

2011-12-15T20:46:00.000-06:00

Hello! I couldn't resist using the "grow a Rudolph" this month. We put it in water on Monday...he's actually grown quite a bit since then...and the children are very excited to check his progress every morning. I can't help but feel a little guilty looking at him...he looks like he's trapped in the jar of water!!! : ) Thanks for checking in...hope your days before Christmas are going well.

Candy cane writing

2011-12-13T20:59:00.002-06:00

Hello! It's been a busy week...and it's only Tuesday!! Ha!! I'm sure many of you feel the same way! We have school through Dec. 21st...so about one more week to go until Christmas break. Last week we focused on the sound of letter "c." We did descriptive writing about candy canes and made candy canes out of circles. We are working on patterning in math, so this fit together perfectly.

We also did this pattern activity; the children had to color 3 different patterns on the candy canes.

The Christmas spirit is alive and well in our classroom. : ) These cute Christmas trees are hanging from our ceiling.

We made Christmas stockings to decorate our lockers...

I feel fortunate to be able to celebrate and share the true meaning of Christmas with my students; here are pictures of our door and our prayer table.

Each week of Advent we are focusing on a different aspect of waiting...week one was about waiting patiently. Week 2 focused on working hard while we are waiting. This week we are working on letting our light shine by being kind and helpful. We are coloring an Advent calendar (the number on the calendar matches the date) each morning as part of our calendar activities.

(clip art by DJ Inkers)

The children will be able to take the Advent calendar home next Wednesday and finish coloring it at home. They are excited to color Baby Jesus on his birthday!! One of my students told me today she is going to draw a smile on Baby Jesus, too! I thought that was so sweet! We are working on this hand print calendar as a parent gift. I will post pics of it when we finish! Thanks for checking in!

December Center Ideas

2011-12-04T08:57:00.000-06:00

Hello! I thought I'd share a few fun December center ideas with you. Here is the writing center I shared in my last post, all set and ready for the students to use.

This is a fun math idea....I bought this Christmas jar filler last year at Hobby Lobby and have been waiting to use it! I printed some Christmas trees and punched holes in them. The children have to roll a die and put the number of decorations on the tree. The holes help the little balls stay in place.

The last one is a memory game I downloaded from Musings of Me...she has such wonderful stuff on her site! This week's she's posting a bunch of free holiday games to go along with the alphabet. I put the game in t his cute Christmas container....just to make it more fun! Thanks for looking and have a great day!

December Writing Center Idea

2011-11-28T19:27:00.002-06:00

Hello! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break! Today, we hit the ground running...until Christmas break. : ) I have a December writing center idea to share with you. I found the original idea for this activity with fall pictures on Musings of Me. My kids LOVED this! I knew I wanted to keep their enthusiasm for writing going, so I made 12 cards using DJ Inkers clip art and have 2 writing response sheets to go along with them.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-23T14:42:00.000-06:00

Here are a few more projects....

Pinterest Inspired Fish

2011-11-21T19:49:00.001-06:00

Hello! Last week we worked with the sound of letter "Ff." I saw this project on Pinterest:

Click on picture for source.

We made the fish, glued on eyes and added a sentence: "I am a _____(insert color word) fish."

We just made eyes out of paper; the wiggly eyes in the original project are much cuter! We have school tomorrow; our last day before Thanksgiving break. I plan on posting all of our Thanksgiving projects. Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Nativity Puppets

2011-11-13T08:00:00.003-06:00

It's hard to believe December is just around the corner! I've had the idea of making Nativity puppets for my classroom for a long time, just had not gotten around to doing it (you know how that goes!). Someone donated a box of felt to our school a couple of weeks ago, so I seized the moment and brought some home. I found this great pattern and started sewing. These are the puppets I have done so far:

I adapted them a little bit, as you can see. I made the sheep a little different. I sewed the "glove" part first, then embellished them. That's the fun part! I just used white thread to sew all of them to save time, instead of changing colors for each puppet. You could match the thread if you wanted a professional look. I don't think the kids will care if they are sewed with white thread or not! I hope they have fun re-telling the story of the first Christmas. Thanks for looking!

Shapes!

2011-11-12T08:11:00.003-06:00

Hello! We started working on our shapes unit this week. We made shape hats (forgot to take pics!) and did this "roll and trace" activity. I saw this idea ( I think...when I tried to find it again, I couldn't!) on Mrs. Lee's sight a while back....I made a cube with shape stickers on it for the children to roll, then trace and color the shape. They had fun doing this with a partner....I love partner work!

Click here to download.

I think next time I will make a spinner and call it "spin and trace" simply because of storage. Flat spinners are easier to store. : )

There are some great shape video links here on Kindergarten Works.

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Capture a Bubble!

2011-11-01T19:57:00.002-05:00

Hi! We did bubble prints this week....love doing these! The kids literally capture a bubble on paper. I do these with my class every year.

It can be a little bit messy...

But when they are done...WOW!

I've added the poem as a free download...it's on 2 pages; I just stapled them close together on the bulletin board. Have a great day!

Wear blue Fridays in November for diabetes awareness! If you've helped a type 1child in your classroom...Thank You!

Word Family Printable

2011-10-30T10:42:00.004-05:00

Hello! I am always looking for fun and new ideas for teaching word families. I saw this idea awhile ago...I am not sure exactly where I found it (sorry!), but it was a word family book, with houses for each word family. It also had lines under the house for the children to write sentences. I think it was originally on a first grade blog. I adapted it a little for my kindergarten class. This week we will be working on the "-at" family, so I put a cat on the roof of the house as a visual for them. They will fill in "at" on the blank line (in the roof) and then fill in each row of the house with words like fat, cat, hat, sat, etc. I eliminated the lines for sentences at this point; I may add them later in the year.

Do you eat Lays potato chips??

2011-10-28T20:13:00.002-05:00

Ha! Thought that title might get your attention...if you're like me and just have time to grab a quick yogurt for lunch, potato chips sound pretty good right now!! Anyway...here's the reason for the title...a few years ago, my boys started eating the Lays potato chips in the blue can...the ones similar to Pringles, but a little bit cheaper! So, being a teacher, I knew I could find a use for those cool plastic containers. I saved a few of them and use them to store learning games like this:

And this...

Here are the details...I have a couple of "Zap" games ( or Bang, Buzz, etc.) The children choose a card from the can. (This one has sight words.) If they can read the word, they get to keep it. If not, it goes back in the can. The "Zap" card means they have to put all of their cards back into the can. The cute bear that says "Free" is just a freebie...so everyone has the chance to keep a card, even those who may struggle with the sight words. = )

I have a beginning sounds "Zap" game, too. The children have to name the letter the picture starts with.

This game is for matching upper and lowercase letters. Each game board has different upper case letters on it. The children (2 players) take turns choosing a lowercase letter from the can. If they have the matching upper case on their board, they keep it; if not, it goes back into the can.

I made these game boards a l o n g time ago on my original turquoise iMac...before OS X for Mac! I know I am dating myself here....but I have always loved using clip art to make stuff...back then I think it was called Appleworks!! Yikes! We've progressed a lot since those days!! Anyway...I don't have the originals for these anymore, but they are still in pretty good shape. I typed up the directions and taped them around the can using packing tape and they've held up great, too. The cans are the perfect size for children to get their hands in and out without any problems. The next time you grocery shop, you may need to get some Lays in the blue can (and this is not a paid advertisement for them)!! Thanks for checking in and have a good day!

Calendar Routine

2011-10-12T19:28:00.004-05:00

The first time each child is the calendar helper/line leader, we look at his/her name, name the letters, and add the name to the word wall. This year I have 17 students; so it took us 17 days to complete the names on the word wall. On the second rotation through, each child cheers his/her name. The next time through, the child does the name cheer and we clap the syllables. We do that for a few rotations, comparing "claps" before adding last names to the name cheer and clapping all of the syllables in both first and last names. We do all of this before the helper even starts giving us the information (day, month, etc etc) for the day. I think it's a fun self-esteem builder, plus the children are learning about letters and sounds as well. Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Literacy center

2011-10-07T20:57:00.003-05:00

(I love the cute look of Kim Adsit and Megan's blog...thought I'd give it a try!!)

Pinterest Inspiration

2011-10-07T19:34:00.000-05:00

Hello!It has been another busy week, but I feel like my class has come a long way in just 24 days of school. We have parent teacher conferences in about 10 days; that's earlier than usual for us. After reading several other blogs, I noticed other schools are doing them around this time of year, too. Usually we have our fall conference in November, closer to Thanksgiving. My kids were DIBELed this week and I will be completing our first unit test in reading next week, so I have good information to share with parents. I have a couple of ideas to share with you...I saw these number poems on Pinterest....linked to this post by Debbie Diller. I printed each of the poems and posted them above my math focus wall.


I printed the numbers at 200% so they would be big!

These poems are catchy and easy for the children to memorize. I hear them chanting them throughout the day!!

I also saw this idea and thought it would make a good center activity for the children to practice abc order with lowercase letters.


Here is the original idea...

Here is my version

They love to use the bingo markers!! Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Fall Leaves

2011-10-02T11:15:00.002-05:00

Hello! We are fortunate to live in an area of the United States where we can enjoy four distinct seasons (except I can't say that I really enjoy winter!). My class went on a fall walk to observe leaves this week and we saw this beauty!

We have a beautiful campus. We have another tree outside of our window that we can use to observe seasonal changes as well. The children collected leaves on our walk and we completed leaf rubbings when we returned to the classroom. We did this as a cooperative group projects; each table glued their leaves (vein side up) on to a large piece of paper. I taped another large piece of white paper or top of that, and then they colored...it's hard to get them to color gently...but they were happy with the results! (This is an idea I found on Pinterest last week. It worked really well to glue the leaves down first.)

There have been a lot of great science ideas shared this week on several blogs. I thought I'd share some photos of our BUG BOX. This is in my science area, for the children to use during free time. They can explore bugs using the items in the box.

There are several books about insects in the box, a magnifying jar, some stuffed bugs, and this activity, originally found here: The children match the word and the bug (from Dollar Tree) to the correct picture. I included a tweezers for picking up the bugs, for those children who may not like to touch them!

Since I LOVE to sew, I made a bug vest for the children to wear while they are exploring...I only have one vest, but so far it has never been an issue...it also promotes sharing and taking turns. : )

There is also a jar with pictures of bugs the children can graph. I plan on adding some cute sorting activities I found, but have not had time to put together yet. This poster is from Scholastic. The children have to identify the largest bug, smallest bug, one with the most legs, etc. Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Can be overwhelming...right??

2011-09-25T12:49:00.000-05:00

Hello! I've been so inspired again this week by all of the great ideas shared on teaching blogs...how about you? In fact, I spent a couple of hours this morning pinning science ideas. I have a few activities and ideas I am going to try to do with my class... I love this idea of doing a collage of leaf rubbings with each table. Have you visited Little Miss Hypothesis? Talk about science inspiration!! I love reading her posts!

Off the science topic...how about those Kindergals, Kim and Megan!! Awesome ideas for writing in this post. I downloaded the freebies from their site and used them this week. WOW! My kids did a great job! We just did the favorite things; Monday we are going to work on favorite things to do. I am going to add these sheets to their writing offices, which we are building little by little. I love all of the great writing ideas out there...you know how you feel after you've been to a great conference or workshop and just want to get back to your room and try all the stuff you learned???? That's how I feel after reading some of these great posts and seeing ideas all over Pinterest!!!

We celebrated our first Zero the Hero day this week and are working on the Kinderlit booklet again this year; love it! Here's our first project:

We also used the Smart Pals for the first time for number writing practice. These are great for practicing any concept...I plan to use them a lot this year. They are new and we got them to go along with our Singapore Math series.

Another great inspirational site: Kindertastic. I ABSOLUTELY love how she has her writing and word work centers organized.

You can read more about her activities here.

I have ~~hundreds~~ several ideas floating around in my head of projects to complete and centers to organize. We could work 24/7 on school stuff, couldn't we??? Hence, the title of this post!! I guess that's what makes our profession so great...sharing ideas to help kids learn. = ) We all want them to succeed. Thanks for checking in and have a great Sunday!

Magnetic Letters Center Freebie

2011-09-18T08:29:00.000-05:00

I have several magnetic letters in my room. Some of them are sorted by letter in a small tool caddy. I also have 2 buckets of letters: one for uppercase and one for lowercase. The children can use the letters to build words, but this early in the year, many are not quite ready to that. I made this sign to give them ideas (and some structure!) of how to use the letters. I've downloaded so many awesome printables from great blogs, I thought I'd share this. = )

Week 2!

2011-09-16T22:09:00.000-05:00

Hello! I have a few pictures to share from our second week of school! We read Chica Chica Boom Boom! and did the "letters in my name" activity from Deanna Jump's site. Here's our version:


We painted the palm tree with watercolor paints.

We used our watercolors to paint a picture for our "Ready for Kindergarten" booklet. Don't you just love the comments you hear while children use their watercolors....the "oohs" and "ahhs" of watching the water change...LOVE it!

We made a poster of things God made...this goes with the first unit in our Religion book. They cut pictures out of magazines. We sorted and labeled the pictures on a big poster.

We started our "growing brain" experiment!! I know...it's not the best pic, but they do love checking the brain each day to see if it grew!!

Other fun things going on this week included: using big books with pointers...

And playing the ABC Popcorn game...

Hope your week was fun and exciting, too! Thanks for checking in!

First Week!

2011-09-10T09:00:00.004-05:00

Whew! We've completed the first week (which was really only 4 days with Labor Day on Monday) of school! It was busy but fun! I did the Peacemaker/Peacebreaker activity; that fit in beautifully since we say a Peace Promise everyday. The children decorated our Peace Promise after the activity.


(I teach in a Catholic School, so prayer is a huge part of our day!)

I LOVE having the children's work on display...we all know that despite all of the decorating we do before school starts, their work completes the room. When my class came for orientation days last week, they each colored a picture of a person with his/her name on it. I hung these from the ceiling to display their work.

I always do the "Who lives in your house?" glyph (found on Shari Sloane's website) the first week of school. They are displayed in our classroom.

We read Miss Bindergarten Gets Ready for Kindergarten and completed a graph with the question, "How do you feel about starting school? Excited or Nervous?"

Overall, the week went well! We are working on rules and procedures...you what I mean, I'm sure!!

I want to share a couple of CUTE pics my sister sent. She teaches Kindergarten, too, so when we get together watch out! It's a lot of teacher talk!!! Too bad she lives 6 hours away!! She has a popcorn themed classroom this year. She bought containers from Dollar Tree to store books in her reading center. Isn't it cute???

I keep telling her she needs to start a blog, but she says she's not "techy" enough!! I thought this was too cute not to share! Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Writing Center Update

2011-09-05T09:21:00.000-05:00

Writing Center

2011-08-27T08:16:00.001-05:00

Here is my writing center...it has crayons, markers, colored pencils, stencils, letter stamps, beginning sound stamps...and all kinds of fun paper for the children to use. There is a shelf to the right of this table that holds quite a few of the supplies. I also added my scissor stand...an idea I originally found on Pinterest.

This is how I store stamps for the children to use for beginning sound stamping...I found this tool caddy at the thrift store. The drawers have dividers, so I have two letter sounds per drawer. These stamps are just the "picture" stamps. I have all of the letters in another tool caddy on the shelf to the right.

I made a cute label for the top of the container!

To begin the year, I put my ABC bottle and a popcorn bottle with the children's names in it. They color the letter or the name when they find it in the bottle. It's an easy activity for them and it's a good way to introduce them to the center. They can, of course, also do "free" writing there if they want to.

Thanks for looking and have a super day!

Classroom Tour 2011

2011-08-26T14:32:00.000-05:00

Hello! Well, school starts Monday...and I think my room is ready. There is always something to work on...we could be there 24/7 doing school work! But, I am pleased with my room and excited to meet my new class. Here are a few more photos:

This is the view as you enter my classroom. To the very left is my writing center (you can just see the chairs and part of the table in this picture.) I have a very small classroom and need to be efficient about using my space.

This the view from the opposite corner.

This is my computer center. I have 3 MacBooks for student use. I use iTunes for my listening center at this table as well.

This is a picture of my "games" center. I have board games as well as handmade learning games.

Right next to that is my ABC center. Right now it has letter matching activities, alphabet puzzles, letter magnets, and an old computer keyboard to practice letter recognition. I made those "munchers" a few years ago, but they are still in great shape and the kids love using them.

I have my helpers chart hanging on the back of my file cabinet, next to my desk. I change helpers every Monday.

This is the shelf that holds puzzles and to the right of that are the "building" toys like legos, lincoln logs, and Knex.

I have a few more photos to share, but it seems to be taking a long time right now, so I'll be back soon with another post on a couple of writing center activities. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

"Listening" Bulletin Board

2011-08-13T07:53:00.000-05:00

Hello! I've been working in my classroom a little bit. Most of my bulletin boards are done. Here's a picture of my "Listening" bulletin board. I originally saw this idea on Pinterest. Here is my version. I think it's a great way to encourage children to use empathy and treat each other with kindness.

I also made some polka dot pillows for my reading area.

This is my Reading Focus Wall. The pocket charts are set up for rhyming words and letter focus. The smaller alphabet will the word wall for class names. I printed the vowel cards from Mrs. Lemon's site.

The last picture is the board where I will display the children's "Masterpieces." I know....it looks a little busy, but I think it will be ok if mat their work with black construction paper. : )

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Beginning Sound Gems

2011-08-09T10:15:00.000-05:00

Hello! I have a FUN idea to share with you!! I saw this idea on Pinterest using large "gems" from the dollar store. It's a great way to practice sight words, so I thought why not use this same technique for other skills??? I printed small clip art pictures and letters and made beginning sound matching gems. I love the way they turned out! I still have to make a cute bag to put them in. I can just see all of the possibilities for these gems...can't you??? Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Binder Easel Cover

2011-08-02T10:38:00.000-05:00

Hello! Since I can't get into my classroom quite yet, I have been working on projects at home. Have you seen the cool binder easel on Little Miss Kindergarten??? I found a binder and have started collecting poems and songs to put inside. I made a cover for my binder so it looks cute when it's closed. Here it is if you are interested in printing it. I used DJ Inkers clip art.

Here is a picture of the completed binder. I added a piece of scrapbook paper behind the cover... it goes along with my polka dot theme. : ) Thanks for looking!

Another Pinterest Idea!

2011-08-02T09:39:00.000-05:00

Hello! I have another idea I found on Pinterest to share with you today....it's the scissor holder made from a mug tree. I painted mine red (like the original one I saw). I am going to put it in my classroom to hold extra scissors and the "fancy" scissors the kids can use. Thanks for looking!

Polka Dot Organization!

2011-07-31T13:53:00.000-05:00

Hello! There are so many blog ideas for classroom themes; it's amazing! I decided to go with a polka dot theme after viewing many ideas...especially the ones on The Polka Dot Patch. With that theme in mind... along with ~~hundreds~~ several ideas I've seen on Pinterest... I put together this organizer. I am going to file daily items/activities for easy access. I purchased the polka dot folders at the Dollar Tree and they are plastic, so I am hoping they will be somewhat durable. There are several versions of this organizer out there; I will put pens and pencils in the utensil holder. I will begin my classroom set up soon and will post more polka dot pictures. Thanks for looking!

Crayons for Students

2011-07-01T09:49:00.000-05:00

Hello! Like many other teachers out there, I am already thinking about "back to school!" I do enjoy the extra time in the summer to be creative with cards, scrapbooks, and craft projects. I used old crayon pieces to make happy face crayons to give my students when they come to our August parent teacher confernces.

I used my candle warmer to melt broken pieces of crayons. While one was melting, I had another color on deck, ready to go. The most time-consuming part of this project was peeling the crayons!

I poured the melted crayons into a happy face candy mold. It only takes about 15 minutes for them to cool enough to pop out. I teach in a Catholic school, so I thought I do something along the "Jesus loves you" theme. I will probably add some cuteness like coloring or a ribbon and a personal note to the students from me. I just put this one together quick to give you an idea. Thanks for looking and have a super day!

Looking back on fun projects...

2011-06-28T21:19:00.000-05:00

Bubble Prints

Painted noodle necklaces


Turkey patterns


Monarch Headbands...our state butterfly.

Thought I'd share a few projects I did with my class this past year. Thanks for looking! = )

Fall Leaf Math Center

2011-06-28T16:11:00.001-05:00

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Mrs. Lee's awesome center ideas. I created a fall leaf center based on some of her ideas. I printed out leaves on colored card stock. I added stickers for the children to count. The goal for this center is for the children to count the stickers and print the correct number.

I also made this corresponding activity sheet; the children color the leaf to match the one they chose, then write the correct number in the square.

This is just a snapshot of the document, not a download... : )

Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Sports Bag Letter

2011-06-28T13:23:00.001-05:00

Just trying this to see if I can get it to work. I am sharing a picture of the letter for my sports bag. I originally wrote about some of my homework bags quite awhile ago, and would like to share some of the pages I have made. Thanks for looking! Here is a screen shot of the document:

What we've been working on...

2010-10-23T09:49:00.001-05:00

Hello! I thought I'd share a few classroom photos of things we've been working on in the past month or so. Of course, we've been working on all kinds of patterns.

I am using the "Zero the Hero" packet from Kinder Lit. Here are a few of our first few "Zero" projects:

We did M&M graphing.

And we made a scarecrow glyph.

I also have some fun October games and activities available for the children to use during free time; we made this candy corn art project. They look really cute hanging from our ceiling.

Hope you enjoyed a glimpse into my classroom. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Classroom Party!

2010-09-12T16:23:00.000-05:00

Hi! I thought it'd be fun to link to this party at Kindergarten...Kindergarten! I've had so much fun looking at all of the creative classrooms out there. Teachers are great at sharing! Here a few photos of my room:

This is our "build a word center." I have magnetic letters in the container on the shelf, sorted by letter.

This shelf holds our math manipulatives, math books, and file folder games/activities related to math.

A picture of our birthday graph....

Here are some of my classroom pointers for the children to use for Read the Room. Right now I have the children's names in the pocket chart.

This is our reading area...I also have some pillows and reading buddies for the children to use.
This is a suitcase in our dramatic play area...it holds dress up clothes. I have a very small classroom. Our elementary students moved into the high school building, so I just have an average size classroom...no sink or bathroom, although they are close by. My dramatic play area is kind of small, so the suitcase helps me keep everything in a small area.

Thanks for looking! Hope you enjoyed seeing a little bit of my classroom. Feel free to browse around my blog for other classroom ideas! Have a great day!

DJ Inkers and a few more pics...

2010-09-12T16:14:00.000-05:00

Hello! I entered a contest at DJ Inkers a few weeks ago. I LOVE their clip art!! I didn't win the contest, but thought I'd share a pic of my entry:

I made cards for the pocket chart that show our "special" classes for the day, like Music and P.E. That way the children can see what we have when they come in the morning. I laminated the sentence strips so I can use a dry erase marker to fill in the time of the classes. You will find all kind of fun ideas if you visit the DJ Inkers website!

Classroom organization

2010-08-17T14:56:00.000-05:00

I am participating in ABC and 123's organization party! Here is a picture of how I organize my markers and colored pencils for the art center:

As you can see, I have them sorted by color. This makes it easy for the children to find the color they are looking for. It's also great for rainbow writing (writing a word, letters, names, etc. with the colors of the rainbow). I just used milk cartons, cut off the top, and put 6 of them in a basket to sort the colored pencils. The markers are stored in a container that is usually used for silverware in the dishwasher. It has 6 compartments.

This photo shows how I have my letter stamps organized. I got this idea at a kindergarten conference I attended a few years ago:

The letter stamps are sorted and stored in tool caddy. I labeled each of the drawers with the letter that's inside. I had about 3 sets of letter stamps, so there are a few stamps in each drawer. For example, there are 3 upper and lowercase A's, in different "fonts" or letter styles in the "Aa" drawer. This makes it so easy for children to stamp names, words they know, etc. It is very easy to maintain because the children can help sort them if they get mixed up. Here is another photo:

Thanks for looking and enjoy the organization party!

A few classroom photos

2010-08-13T08:52:00.000-05:00

Hello! I've been working in my classroom and took a few pictures.
Here is the world map and landmark cards I posted about here.

This is my reading area. The small baskets on the top of the shelf are sorted by character. The others are sorted by subject/theme: animal books, abc books, etc. I also have other book baskets around the room with math/counting books, social studies/science books, religion, etc. The yellow tub to the right of the shelf holds the big books.

Thanks for looking and have a good day!

I Spy Bags

2010-08-09T07:55:00.001-05:00

Hello! I made a couple of I-spy bags for my classroom. There are several good tutorials on making these, like this one...and another one here. I actually made mine, then thought of searching for a tutorial! I really like the way they turned out.

Here is a photo of it empty; I used felt to eliminate having to deal with the rough edges of fabric.
The tutorials online use cute fabric, but later (after I made mine!) I saw really cute printed felt at Hobby Lobby that would be great for these.

Then I added rice and some plastic objects. I am going to use this bag for beginning sound recognition. I printed a sheet with the letters that begin each object. The children have to cross off the letter as they find an object that begins with that sound. I had these red toys in my closet at school for some time...I think they were from an older activity, but I'm not sure where they came from originally.

I also filled one with magnetic letters. This will be used for letter recognition or can be adapted to beginning sound identification, (give the child pictures, have him/her find the beginning letter), finding the letters in one's name, try to find the letters in ABC order....etc. This would also be a great activity to put in a literacy bag with an I Spy book...so many possibilities!

Hope you enjoyed seeing these. I am off to work in my classroom. Three weeks from today is our first day of school!

Classroom items...

2010-07-20T09:50:00.000-05:00

Hello! I thought I'd share a couple of "new" items I purchased for my classroom. It's always fun to start the new year with some new stuff, isn't it?? : ) The first picture is a pair of window valences I got for just 75 cents! Can you believe it??? I am going to use these on a shelf. I will post a picture when I put them up in my room.

This second picture is a large fabric map of the world. It was 1.00. I will use it on a bulletin board. I got the "Landmarks" flash cards at the Target Dollar Spot. I am going to post them around the map to enhance my Social Studies curriculum. Thanks for looking and have a great day!

Show and Tell!

2010-07-20T09:28:00.000-05:00

Hello! I am participating in ABC and 123's July Show and Tell event. What fun! I've been working on a few things and this is a great chance to share ideas and see everyone's creativity. I have another "pocket" idea to share with you today. In my previous post, I shared an idea using The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Today, I made an activity to go along with Dr. Jean's song, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a One...This song is on her Sing and Read Along cd and there is a black line master in the book for the children to color and cut out. They can glue the pieces to a zip lock baggie and put the numbers in the bag as they sing the song. I thought I'd take this a step further and make a fabric pocket for the children to use during center time. I used the black line from the book to make the face, hands, and feet. I colored, cut them out, and laminated them, then glued them to the fabric pocket. I cut the numbers out of colored paper using my cricut. I think it turned out really cute! The arms and legs are made out of felt.

Here is a close up picture of the pocket:

Thanks for looking and have a super day!

Very Hungry Caterpillar Story Props

2010-07-09T13:23:00.000-05:00

Hello! It's been quite a while since I've post on this blog! I've got a cute idea to share with you for The Very Hungry Caterpillar. Where to begin....I've never actually done a tutorial post,
but I took some pictures while I was making this, so hopefully it will help!

Here's a picture of the finished product. It is a caterpillar, with a pocket on the front so the children can put in the items the caterpillar ate. First, I printed out the sequencing pictures here. You could make each item out of felt, but that takes a lot of time...and this way, if something gets lost, it's easy to print out another one. I laminated the pictures for durability.

I cut 2 pieces; the larger one is for the back. I topstitched along the front to give the impression of the segments of the caterpillar's body. (You wouldn't have to do this, I just thought it looked nice.) Then I put the top and back together and stitched all around the edges. You could use fabric glue for this if you don't sew. I used a shiny, silver metallic thread. It gave my sewing machine a few problems, but I liked the way it looked, so I kept on going! I also topstitched around the face.

I cut some wings out of pink felt and just glued a variety of colored circles on them. I think I'll add a strip of velcro to the wings so the children can attach them to caterpillar's body. I decided to stitch around the edges of the wings, too. I glue the head to the body, added the antennae and face. I like the wiggly eyes; gives it some character!!

Here is a better picture of the finished project, along with the sequencing cards. I think this turned out pretty cute! I want to sew (I just love to sew!) a cute fabric bag to keep everything in, along with a copy of the book. Thanks for looking!

A Couple of Fall Ideas...

2009-11-01T09:48:00.000-06:00

Hello! I have a couple of fall ideas to share with you today. I have an "October Fun" bucket of activities for the children to use when they are done with their work. Items include: October tic tac toe, ABC file folder games, and color word matching activities.

The next idea I found here. It is a pocket chart color word matching activity. I took the picture after a couple of the children matched the words, so they are not in perfect order, but you get the idea. : )

MORE homework bags!!!

2009-11-01T09:22:00.000-06:00

The "I Spy" Bag
Hello! I have a couple more homework bags to share with you. One of them is the "I Spy" bag. It has some "I Spy" books to read, a magnifying glass, and an "I Spy" bottle activity. I filled a bottle with colored sand and several small objects. I took a digital photo of all the objects and made a chart with photos of the individual objects. The children can use a dry erase marker to 'x' off the items as they find them. This is a fun homework bag!

The Science Bag

The next couple of photos are of my "Science Bag." This is based on Dr. Jean's Scientist of the Week idea. The bag has several books with ideas for experiments. I have a journal for the children to record their experiment and results. I do not have them do the experiment for the class, we just read about what each person did as they return the bag. I also have a white men's shirt to use as a lab coat and goggles in the bag.

More homework bags!

2009-09-08T20:30:00.000-05:00

School is keeping me busy....how about you? September can be a tiring month for students and teachers! I wanted to share a couple more of my homework/literacy bags with you. This is my "Feed the dog a bone" bag. The objective of the bag is to practice sight words. Each sight word is written on a dog bone. The children spread out the words on the floor. If a child can read the word, he/she moves it into the dog dish. Pretty simple, but a fun way for children to practice sight words. I got the cute dog dish at the dollar store! If you'd like to download the parent letter, click here.

The next photos are of the "Sports Bag." The photo on the left shows the bag's contents: reading buddy, directions, class book (children write about their favorite sport), Take Me Out to the Ballgame, and opposites matching game. You can see the game in the close up on the right. The bag is sewn out of soccer ball fabric. Love it! I really enjoy putting everything together to make these bags! And the children love to check them out as "homework."

Birthday Bag

2009-08-22T09:51:00.000-05:00

Every child has the chance to take home the "Birthday Bag."
The bag includes these items:
*Birthday Reading Buddy: Isn't this thing cute!! When you push the button on its hand it sings "Happy Birthday."

*Birthday books to read and share at home
*Class book--each child adds his/her name to the correct month. (For example, if my birthday is in September, I write my name on the Sept. page.)

*Class book: Each child draws/writes about how he/she celebrated his/her birthday

The bag is sewn out of red fabric and measures about 15 x 16 inches.

Line Leader and Birthday Vests

2009-08-22T09:34:00.000-05:00

Hello! Today I'd like to share something I do to help children feel unique and special. : ) Everyday I have a line leader and calendar helper. I post a list of the children and we go down the list; for example, "Mary, John, Suzy, David, etc." When we come to the end of the list we start all over. It is predictable, the children know when their turn is coming, who will be line leader tomorrow, etc. As I mentioned, the line leader is also calendar helper for that day. The line leader of the day gets to wear this special blue vest. How fun is that! They love it! Other adults often comment to the child, "It must be your special day."

I also have a "Birthday Vest" the children get to wear on their birthday. It's purple/green. If they happen to be line leader on their birthday, then they can choose which vest to wear that day. It's just another fun way to make children feel special and give them a little *perk* for the day. I love to sew, so I made these 2 vests, but you could probably use any special kind of jacket or clothing item you choose if you don't have a vest.

Religion Learning Center

2009-08-17T16:36:00.000-05:00

I teach in a Catholic School. I am fortunate to be able to have a Religion Center in my classroom. I keep Bible stories, Christian themed games, puzzles and activities in this center. I also put little projects in the center for the children to complete, like Noah's ark bookmarks.

Dramatic Play: Dress Up Suitcase

2009-08-17T16:26:00.000-05:00

Hi! Today I am posting a photo of my dramatic play area "dress up suitcase." I have a very small classroom--I don't know for sure what the square footage is, but we are located in a high school. The elementary and high school classrooms are the same size. I have to be very creative about using every inch of space wisely! I put my dress up clothes in an old suitcase; the kids dress up and put all items back when finished. I have also posted a photo of the sign on the front of the suitcase. (Like many other teachers, I LOVE the D J Inkers clip art and use it all of the time.) I will post more pictures of the dramatic play area another day. : )

Felt Birthday Cake for Take Home Bag

2009-08-15T16:53:00.000-05:00

Hello again! I have several "Take Home Bags" in my classroom. I thought this felt cake would be a fun addition to my "Birthday Bag." I sewed it out of felt then cut out a bunch of shapes with my Sizzix for the children to use to decorate the cake. I think it turned out pretty neat! I looked at several felt cakes on the internet and kind of used all of the ideas to come up with my own. It is pretty simple...and I think they will enjoy using it. I plan on sharing more of my take home bags in upcoming posts.

Dollar Store Name Badges!

2009-08-15T16:47:00.001-05:00

Hello! Today I'd like to share an awesome idea for classroom nametags. I bought name badges at the dollar store, added some cute scrapbook paper and ribbon, and look at how cute they turned out! I am going to type my students' names on labels and stick them to the blue paper. I am hoping this will solve the problem of nametags that wear out quickly! Plus, these could be kept and used when there is a substitute teacher in the room. Thanks for looking! I am planning on sharing more photos of my classroom set up very soon! : P

Kindergarten Classroom set up photos

2009-08-04T20:41:00.000-05:00

Hello! It's hard to believe we'll heading back to school soon. Here are a few photos of my room "before." During the next few days and weeks, I will finish setting up learning center areas and update you on what the room looks like "after." The photos are: writing/listening center, reading area, and dramatic play area. I have a lot of work to do! I have been inspired by other teachers who share their classrooms online--what a great way to get new ideas! I hope you will find some useful ideas as you watch my classroom come to life. : ) Enjoy and happy school year!!

Dramatic Play Area

2009-04-08T08:19:00.000-05:00

Here is a picture of how the table is set for the children to begin playing. At the end of playtime, we try to make sure it looks like this for the next group of children who would like to play! Shari Sloane has some great dramatic play photos and ideas on her website.

Dramatic Play Area

2009-04-08T08:03:00.001-05:00

I like to change my dramatic play area several times throughout the year. I start the year with a general housekeeping area, with dolls, dishes, and dress up items. I also set the area up as a grocery store, pet hospital, and it is currently a restaurant. I am posting pictures of the restaurant and hope to add more pictures of the other areas in the future. I use these items for the restaurant: plastic food, plates, cups, silverware, a tablecloth, napkins, menus (with picture of items and words), a cash register, fake credit cards, a stove for cooking, and matching aprons/chef hats. I also display adds from local restaurants. The children love this center. You can store items in a small container or bag, pull it out, and you're all set to start your center.