Classrrom Set-Up

With the new school year about to begin, I find myself struggling to get back onto routine of getting up before 7 am and getting my now 4 month old daughter ready for daycare.  However, before all of that begins, I get to set up my room and spend some time prepping for the school year with my other grade level teachers.  Over the summer, my room was made a little smaller :( so I had to rethink how my room was going to look.  

Here are some pictures of my room (and yes they are not done cleaning up).

After spending all day working on my room, I have to say that I am pleased with the outcome.  I have some last minute additions to add next week but those are small things.

My reading corner was the biggest challenge.  I decided to reorganize and label my books.  I found these really cute labels from Missing Tooth Grins and decided on her chalkboard labels.  After my books were organized and labeled I did a little decorating.  I fell in love with my new chairs when I saw them at Walmart.  I was getting tired of my old beanbags.

My students will also have specific leveled readers chosen for them each week.  These books will be placed in the red pocket chart.

I then moved onto my writing corner. This is a relaxing part of the classroom where the students can free write.  There is a word wall posted for them to reference to.  I love the alphabet cards I got on teachers pay teachers. 

Here are some of my storage areas of my room.

I have a few finishing touches left to do, but I am so happy with how my room turned out this year.

I hope everyone has as much fun setting up their room as I did. 

Back in Action!

     It has been awhile since my last post.  A lot has been going on these past few months.  My husband and I are expecting our first child any day now and we have been busy preparing for her arrival.  I have been busy preparing for my maternity leave.  Lets just say that it has been a crazy past couple of months.

     Yesterday and today my school had two 'snow days' in a row.  Now that I have all my maternity plans done I decided to make a few more "Match em" readers.  With the upcoming St. Patrick's Day holiday almost here, I decided to create a "Find the Gold" reader to go along with the holiday.

"Find the Gold"

"Getting to School"

"Big or Little"

One crazy month!

     A lot has been going on since my last post.  I had my first month of school.  I have a great class this year who are eager to learn (a teacher's dream come true).  I have had to differentiate my instruction more than ever this year.  I have some students on grade level; however many of them are above.  I love being able to challenge my students.  

     I am also trying to balance my work, moving in into a new apartment. and finishing my last two classes to complete my Masters degree in ELL.  Like I said it has been crazy.  Now that I am have a rhythm in order (or at least I think I do).  I hope to get on more often to share what my class has been up to.

    Below are two activities that I created as extension, or homework assignments, for a couple of our Social Studies and Science topics.  My students loved doing these at home and come back to school and sharing them with the group.  I hope your students enjoy them also.

Countdown

I have 2 weeks left until I got back to work to start pre planning and preparation for school to start.  I am excited to get back to work and start another amazing school year.  With the new school year rapidly approaching us, what are you doing to prepare yourself for the upcoming year? 

New "Match em" Readers

Well it is countdown to the beginning of school.  I decided to create some new "Match em" Readers for the beginning of the school year.   I tried this reader out with a summer school group of students; and they went crazy.  They love when I create new readers.Currently I have a freebie available on TPT titled "At School"; feel free to check out a fun new interactive reader for the beginning of the school year.  I also have a Color Bundle available.

The first new reader is titled "First Week of School".  This is a fun reader about some of the fun things that the students can look forward to when entering school.   The second reader is titled "Fall".  This is a reader about my favorite seasonal pastime, playing the the leaves.  I also created a reader that is focused around the different colors that are seen during this season.  This reader is titled "Fall Colors".  These readers would be a great addition to a fall unit.  

I had one follower who requested a reader with number words.  Well here it is.  This last reader focuses on the number of objects on each page.  

Well I hope everyone enjoys the new readers.  I know my students will.  Please leave me a comment with any topics that you might like a "Match em" reader on.

New App!

As I mentioned, my school wants to go 100% paperless in the next 3 years. My big concern was allowing the students to practice their handwriting and continue to do their sight word and phonics activities (typically worksheets) that reinforce the lessons. These are typically done as part of an independent small group center. I found this new app. It has potential to create 100% paperless worksheets and handouts. Below is a brief explanation of the app.  

Handouts

I think this application has some major potential.  I am going to try it out in my classroom this next year.

My New Classroom

At the beginning of the summer I was informed that I was going to move to a new classroom next year.  My current room was being used as the model room for summer tours; so I had it all set up for next year.  However, I took this as an opportunity to start out fresh the following school year.  I just finished giving a presentation on classroom organization and setup; so I took this as a challenge.  Before I left that day I took a panoramic picture of the room.  Initially I knew I needed to get rid of some of the tables (I did not need 6 tables for 18 students). 

And after a couple weeks of work and preparation, I moved all of my classroom items and finished a basic setup of my new room.

This is my reading area.

Whole group meeting area.

My own "Mrs. K's Korner"



I can not wait for the kids to arrive to help me decorate and 'break in' the new classroom.