Quick and Easy Shelf Covering

Hello! The first day of school is less than a week away! I often put curtains on the shelves in my room to cover items for storage. I tell the children that anything behind the curtain is not usable right now, but will be rotated out over the next few months. Here is a quick and easy curtain I made using a Dollar Tree table cloth.

When I bought it, I thought the whole things was polka dotted...turns our that's just a border and the center is white...but that's ok, it still looks cute.  I used a tension rod on the shelf and set it to the correct size. Then I stapled a rod pocket and slid the rod through. Once I had that done, I measured the length from the shelf to the floor and cut off the extra. (I kept the width the same, because it was perfect.) Pretty quick and easy and pleasing to the eye...rather than a shelf full of stuff. ; )

I made new labels for my math shelf...needed them desperately.  The top empty space will be for math centers...once I get them sorted and ready.

Lastly, here is my birthday display...hanging above my calendar area. I explained how I printed the months on the cupcakes here.

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

A little organization....

One of my goals this summer (which didn't actually happen over the summer) was to organize all of my center materials. I like the idea of having them organized by month, but do not have the storage space to do each month separately. I decided to group the centers into Sept/Oct/Nov, Dec/Jan/Feb, and Mar/Apr/May into a 3 drawer cart.

                                  (I downloaded these cute labels from Miss Kindergarten.)

I sorted through the items and pitched ones that I don't use, had missing pieces, or were outdated. I like these big drawers because I can fit everything in them...like counters or manipulatives.

And then, when I was done, I still had a pile of stuff left...these items I just sorted into reading and math for now, but eventually want to break them down into skill tubs.

The best part was seeing everything I had...now I know what I have to begin the year and what skills I still may need to supplement. Sorting is always a good thing. ; )

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Word Wall Title Freebie

I added this title to my word wall...you can find it here if you'd like a copy! Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Printing on those cute die cut papers!

Hi! I've been working in my classroom this week...not a whole lot of photos to share yet, but I thought I'd share how I use my ink jet printer to print on die cuts.

I am using these cute cupcakes I found at the Dollar Tree for my birthday board. They are pretty light weight paper, but this method also works on card stock die cuts.  First, I print whatever I want to put on the die cut onto a white sheet of paper.

Then I center the die cut on top of the paper...so the word is lined up where I'd like to be...and put a little piece of tape on the back of the die cut, so it's stuck to the paper. I run it through my printer again, with the die cut taped on, and the word prints right where it should. Once you have your template done, you can change the word (like I typed February), tape on the die cut and print again.

It's pretty quick and easy and you probably already know how to do it...but every once and a while a co worker will ask me, "How did you print on those???"  Here's a sneak peak at my birthday board:

Eventually, it's going to look similar to this:

(source)

I still have to make the candles and add a title....

Also...on a sidenote...you may have seen this on pinterest: using dollar store table cloths to as bulletin board backgrounds.

I thought I'd try using a table cloth or two to see how they work. I used a red one on my birthday board and I have to say, I like it. I thought it might be too thin or tear easily, but since I won't be changing this bulletin board all year, it should last. If you're going to pull staples or pins in and out a lot, I'd say go with fabric or paper. I also tried using a yellow table cloth for another board, but the color was too light and the cork showed through, so I took it down. I'm going to try a blue one instead.  I would suggest using bright or dark colors vs. pale. Just my opinion...

thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Polka Dot Apples

Hi! I hope you are enjoying your day! I have just a quick but cute Cricut project to share with you. I am going to stick with my polka dot classroom decorations this year and made a few apples...I'm not sure what I'll use them for yet, but have a few ideas. They would make a cute door decoration or bulletin board accents. So far I've made 8 of them.

I used my Doodlecharms cartridge and cut the apples at 4 and a quarter inches. I cut the shadow out of black. I used the "auto fill" button on my Cricut. If you have not used this feature, you should! It automatically calculates how many images will fit to your paper, in the size that you want.

That's it for today....just a little polka dot fun to share with you! Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Do you like pretty clothes pins??

I do! I saw a "pin" of clothes pins covered with gingham paper and thought they were just too cute to pass up...I knew I had to make a few for my classroom...so I did.

THEN I saw a pin of clothes pins covered with wrappers from crayons! How cute is that for hanging up class work!! So I made a few of them as well!! (I didn't pin that one, so I can't give you the source...sorry! Just filed the idea in my memory for future use!!!)

The clothes pins I bought at Walmart were exactly the right size for the crayon wrappers. The other clothespins I had were a little longer than the paper, but that's ok...I think they are still super cute. I am going to put thumb tacks on the back and use them on the cork strip outside of my classroom for hanging art work...yet another "pinspiration!"

I just used modge podge to attach the paper and only covered one side of the clothes pin with paper. The crayon wrappers had two layers, so I pulled them apart and just used the top layer. Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Letter Pops

Hello! I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July! It's been busy around my house...we have a new little puppy...and I've forgotten how much time and energy they take!! We picked her up on July 4th. She's 10 weeks old and a cutie, of course...what puppy isn't??? Anyway...my creative time has been cut back a bit, but I did manage to squeeze in making these "letter pops."

 I pinned this idea a while ago and planned on using magnetic letters...the original picture is from Dr. Jean & Friends.  I got most of my supplies from the Dollar Tree: foam letter stickers, craft sticks, felt, and hot glue.

I cut circles out of felt using a circle die and my Sizzix, then I added the foam stickers and hot glued them to the craft sticks.

These will be a good prop to use with Shari Sloane's "Letter Pop" song. She has a printable for making a big book of the song her website; just click on the "Get Ready" big books link on the left side of the web page.  The children can also put the letter pops in ABC order, sort them by letter color, and use them to practice letter identification.

Thanks for checking in and have a great day!

Update those board games!

Well, my first official weekend of summer is approaching, and I have to say, I've been enjoying  sleeping in a bit and sipping a second cup of coffee this week! My family and I are heading out for a weekend camping trip later today...so I have a little packing and grocery shopping to do.  I want to share a couple of updated board game ideas with you...especially since garage sale season is upon us! You may be able to find games cheap this summer if you like to frequent neighborhood sales.

Here is my version of sight word Candyland.  I know there are great blog posts out there about printing your own cards and making the game more versatile...here's how I did it: I had 2 Candyland games on my shelf. I left one version "as is." I like having it available for the children because it's a game they are familiar with and can easily play without much direction from me. I simply took the second game and added sight words to all of the pieces. Children have to read the word before they can move to that space. Quick and simple and a good idea to share with parents as well.

My next idea involves this favorite: Boggle Jr.

I seem to find this game a lot for like 50 or 75 cents! I already have 2 on my shelf, but it's hard to pass them by at such good prices...just in case the timer breaks or dice get lost, it's good to have a spare! I decided to just use the dice and  make some "roll and graph" games.  I made a separate graph for each die; children roll the die and print the letter in the row that matches the beginning sound...here's a sample of the graph for the die with b,l,t,r,c, and n.

I also have the numbers version of Boggle Jr., which I was surprised to find! It's a good "addition" (ha ha!) to your math shelf, if you can find it.

Hope this inspires you to look at your board games in a new light! I have a few other ideas I am going to try to work on this summer if I find a game at the right price! Have a great weekend and thanks for checking in!

First Week!

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!

Beginning Sound Gems

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

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!

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!

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!

Looking back on fun projects...

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

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!

DJ Inkers and a few more pics...

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

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

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!