My Classroom

Well, I've got the first 5 days of the school year behind me.  I love my new group of kinders.  They've got a good foundation of skills and I'm loving their personalities.  The downer for the week was definitely the heat... upper 80s + no AC = miserable.  I'm looking forward to this week with the big cool down at 75 degrees.

Here are some pictures that I snapped of my classroom:

This is a view from my door.

I left some blank space here to fill with anchor charts I make with the kids.

Another view from my door.

I'm loving my new polka dot carpet from IKEA

and the red polka dot valance my sweet husband hot glued up for me.

And another view from my door.

Last view from my door.

My group meeting area.  I kept my calendar pretty simple this

year because I'm going to be using a calendar book with my kids.

This bench was truly a labor of love.  When I got it at a garage sale it was ivory with ladybugs all over.  My sweet husband transformed it into a black beauty and my stepmom recovered the cushion to match my classroom theme.  This is great because there's room for a 'special friend' to sit next to me when needed.

Ready for the first day.

My leveled classroom library and individual book boxes.

{By the way, I am doing the Daily 5 this year and my

kiddos are up to 6 minutes in only 4 days!}

Computer Table

Supply Center- I'll house my Daily 5 materials in the colorful drawers.

On the shelf is my pencil sharpener, glue sticks, scissors, pencil drawers,

and table supplies will go in the bottom red boxes.

Listening Station-  My hubby removed the table legs and I got the red pillows at IKEA.

I think it'll be a cozy place to listen to reading.

Lunch Choices

Vowels & Writing Resource Board

This is where I'll put the snack calendar, current newsletter, etc. as a quick reference.

Our school follows these 6 measures of excellence.

I thought this would be a fun way to display them.

There's still some finishing touches I'd like to add, but it's a fully functioning classroom for now!  :)

Table Caddies {with a promo code}

As most of you know from experience once a school year has come to an end you start planning for the next.  I, too, am guilty of this.  I still enjoy my summer and take breaks from school work, but I truly enjoy what I do and find it hard to let it go for so long in the summer.

Next year I'm doing a polka dot and apple theme.  Everything will be black, white, green, and red.  I wouldn't normally go for red, but the tables and chairs in my classroom are red so I needed it to all match.  I'm quite happy with my progress so far.  {I'll post my apple decor unit as soon as I'm finished with it.}

Ok, now on to my new table caddies... the whole purpose for this blog post.  Thanks to the wonderful folks at Mardel.com I now have the perfect table caddies to keep my kiddos organized at their tables.  I always have trouble finding just the right basket to fit all of the materials in a useful way so I was super excited to find these utility caddies from Mardel.com.  What I love most about these baskets is that there are two big open compartments vs. small divided areas that don't fit anything.

The awesome thing for y'all is that Mardel.com is offering 15% off all plastic storage by Romanoff with the promo code 'StorageSpecial15'.

I've dolled up my caddies to go along with my theme and now I'm trying to decide exactly how I want to organize the materials in them.  I know for sure that each student will store their crayons in a small food storage container like pictured below.  I have used this for a few years now and it's been amazing.  I just print out an address label with each child's name and stick it on.  Last year pencils were quite the battle so I'm trying to figure out exactly how to deal with that.  I'm leaning towards little tape flags in different colors on each pencil so kiddos know exactly which is theirs.

Reusable Dry Erase Pockets

I have just discovered a huge time {and paper} saver... reusable dry erase pockets!  Many of you probably remember a post I did awhile back about my amazing Filetastic.  Well, I'm back with another great product from Mardel.com.  The wonderful people at Mardel have sent me a few different products to use in my classroom-- one of those products is their reusable dry erase pockets.

These pockets are amazing!  All I have to do is print out 5 copies of the recording sheet for any station, stuff it in the pocket, and it's ready to go.  {It saves me time and paper!}  Some of my kiddos get so upset when our station time is up and they haven't finished their recording sheet.  Then, we have to deal with them storing the paper and attempting to do it on their own at another time... what a mess!  That problem was eliminated this week since I was using my new reusable dry erase pockets.  When the timer went off they simply showed me the work they had completed and then erased it.  {By the way, these erase so nicely... you don't even have to rub super hard and it actually comes off!}

I'm super excited to put these to use in my classroom in the fall.  I have enough for each student to have one so at the beginning of the year I'll just print out a tracer sheet with each child's name and they can go to town practicing!  This will save so much time and paper.  Yes, please!

Mardel is so wonderful that they are offering 20% off any of their reusable dry erase pockets with the promo code DRYERASE20.  The code is good until June 24 and is good on all four reusable pockets they offer.  They even have individual pockets for sale so you can just get enough for your small group or get a box for your whole class!  Go check it out and don't forget to use the promo code DRYERASE20 at checkout to save 20% on your reusable dry erase pockets.

I'm also working with Mardel to bring you a great giveaway opportunity for fellow education bloggers!  The best part about this giveaway is that you get to pick your own prizes from the Education department on Mardel.com.  Click the image below to learn more about this amazing opportunity.

Classroom Products Giveaway

UPDATE 6/25/13- This giveaway has ended.  Entries will be reviewed and the winner will be announced by the end of the week.

I'm working closely with Mardel.com to bring you this amazing giveaway opportunity.  All you need to do is choose 3 products from the Education department of Mardel.com that you'd like to have in your classroom. Simply create a blog post about how you would use those products and email me the form with your information.  The winner will receive the 3 products they featured in their blog post!  How awesome is that?! I know we all love new products for our classrooms.... especially for the start of a new school year!

After blogging about the 3 products of your choosing,
email me this form to officially enter the giveaway contest.
{Contact Me to Enter}
Email to teacheristatales@gmail.com.

I'm a Kindergarten Teacher now! :)

I feel bad that I've been so absent from my blog lately.  If you've been following my blog, then you know I left my job as a first grade teacher in June and moved back closer to home with my husband.  I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find a job since teaching jobs are so hard to come by up north, but I got lucky.  It all came about very quickly, but now I'm a kindergarten teacher here in Ohio!  I can't believe I have my friends and family so close AND I'm teaching.  It's my dream come true!

It's been a busy start to the school year.... and HOT {my classroom isn't air conditioned}.  We've been busy learning our classroom rules and routines and getting to know each other.  Since I'm in a new grade I've had an excuse to buy lots of amazing resources on TPT.

I love using Mr. Wiggle at the beginning of the year to help kids learn how to use my books in the classroom.  After reading "Mr. Wiggle's Book" a few times, we brainstormed everything we can do or not do to make sure we take care of our books.  Then, we made our very own Mr. Wiggle using a craftivity I found on TPT.

To help us all learn each other's names we've been doing "Who Took the Cookie from the Cookie Jar" each morning.  For this, and many other awesome beginning of the year ideas, I got Kim Adsit's Going to School unit.  I love this unit-- everything is so easy to just print out and laminate!

Another great purchase is Deanna Jump's Chit Chat Morning Messages.  It has been so super easy to just look at her messages, write them on my board, and use her images.  It has seriously saved me so much time!  This is just the first set in a series so I'm looking forward to more to come!

Finally, I got an alphabet book unit.  It has a booklet for each letter with pictures for the kids to color and repeatitive text.  We're not quite ready for it now, but I will be getting it ready for upcoming months.

Once things settle down a bit I'll be getting around to making my own kindergarten units, but for now I'm more than happy to put other's hard work to use in my classroom!  And now, I'll leave you with a little tour of my classroom.  {Keep in mind I had 3 days from hire to the first day.  It's very different from my previous classroom, but I'm liking it.}

Before:

After:



Since these pictures there have been a lot of changes... I got new tables {circular/flower shaped}, a carpet, easel, and more!  I'll add more pictures later.

If there are any fabulous kindergarten teachers out there with advice for a new K teacher, I'd love to hear it!  Happy school year!  :)

Lost Crayons?

I know each and every one of you teachers out there has this problem... lost crayons.  It's amazing how these things can just grow legs and walk out of their boxes, but it happens.  I've always had one big crayon box for these misfit crayons where students can go retrieve them as they need a color.  My problem with this is that finding that one special crayon can take forever!  My fix to this problem?  Individual color cans-- each color crayon has its own lost can so you just go and grab the color you need quickly.  Just train your kids at the beginning of the school year to put any crayons they find on the floor in the correct color can so it's ready when someone needs it.  {Be sure to teach them to politely ask someone who is coloring right by the crayon if it is theirs before taking it to the lost cup.  Some kiddos are just too eager to 'help'.}

Head on over to my TPT store and grab this lil' {freebie} for your classroom!

First Day of School Writing {Guest Blogger}

Hey y'all!  This is definitely a post you'll want to read!  Mrs. Crow is an amazing teacher all around, but I especially consider her an expert in creating a classroom of passionate writers.  Enjoy the post!

--Mrs. Pollard

Hi,

My name is Trish Crow and I had the pleasure to work with Mrs. Pollard last year.  I have taught kindergarten and first grade over the past 5 years.  Mrs. Pollard asked me to share my beginning of the year writing lesson for K & 1^st grade.

I am extremely passionate about writing, it is my FAVORITE subject to teach!  To have a class that enjoys writing there are a few things you must do.  You must start the first day of school, write everyday, and no matter how frustrated you become, keep writing!

On the first day of school before writing, I share a “mini lesson”.  The purpose of this lesson is to remove the pressure.  I begin with talking to the kids about the stages of writing.  To do this with Kindergarteners or First graders I bring up siblings, you know YOUNGER children :)

I am at the board with my marker and I draw a four square.

I ask the question, “who has a little brother or sister?”-someone always does.  I ask how do they write?  I usually get a couple responses, “sloppy”, “with crayon”, or my favorite, “they don't write”.  I always hope for the last reponse because then I can say, “Oh, but they do”.  Everyone can write, but we all write differently.  Then, I tell them to watch and I'll show them how people write differently.

I draw a scribble while I say my sentence out loud.  I went to the park.  Then I ask the important question.  Who has seen someone write like this?  Hands fly into the air.  Then I say if you have a baby at your house I bet they write like this.

I go to the next square and as I say my sentence I draw a picture.  I went to the park.  I saw a house and a butterfly.(remember I am just saying the sentence)  I draw the picture and ask if anyone has ever written like this?  Again, hands fly up.  I say, I have seen a lot of kids in pre-school write like this.

In the third square I say, “I have seen a lot of kids write like this too”. Then I say the sentence- I went to the park- I take my time, I write very slowly as I am sounding out each word before I write a letter. I use invented spelling and link all of my letters together. This one usually gets a laugh. Then I point and read my sentence. For the laughs I point out that I used my sounds to find the letters, that's what writers do.

In the last square I write the sentence out. I take my time, stretch words, and use finger spaces with a lot of emphasis. I have used invented spelling in that square as well. Remember it's the first day of school!

After all of this is up on the board I tell the kids that I want to see how they write.  Remember, you just took the pressure off.  I ask them to write to tell me something about themselves or their family.  I pass out the papers and they start writing.

As soon as the first pencil hits the paper I start walking around with dramatic “oohs & ahhs”.  I make my first stop where I see someone using letters, “wow, you know how to write words!”, I say.  Then several other students get the confidence to show me words as well. 

We continue this for about 20 minutes, more or less, depending on how much they are willing to share the first day.  Once everyone is finished we have a share square.  We all come together and I invite the kids to share their work.  This is a proud moment for them to showcase their skills to their class.

Thanks for sharing, Trish! This is definitely a must-do lesson for the first day of school!  :)

Are you organized?

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer.  I can't believe it's already the middle of July!  I'm certainly enjoying the free time and loving exploring my new town.  Let me just tell you... the Farmer's Market here is awesome!  I got a bunch of beautiful sunflowers and an upcycled windowpane last night.  I can't wait to go again next week!

So, back to my reason for blogging today... ARE YOU ORGANIZED?  Before we know it it'll be back to school time and we'll all be rushing around to get ready for our little ones to come to our classroom for the first time.  Check out my Teacher Keeper to help get you organized and ready for that first day.  It'll be one less thing you need to get ready in August!  Last summer I created an organizational binder for myself that housed all things important-- lesson plans, monthly calendars, teaching standards, meeting notes, and more.  I loved using my binder so I wanted to share with all of you wonderful teachers.  I have added 9 different themed Teacher Keepers to my TPT and TN stores.

Here are the themes I have available:

I have just updated all of my Teacher Keepers with customizable features so you can add your name to the cover and add any dividers you need!  Check them out in my stores: Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook.  {If you've already purchased one of my Teacher Keepers, you can go back to your purchases and redownload it for the updated version.}