Classroom Tour

Here is a tour of our classroom!  I finished it yesterday and open house was tonight :-)

This is how we track our behavior.  They start on green.  They can move up to purple, which gets them something out of the treat box if they do something exceptional, and there is also yellow (straight face) and red (sad face).

This is how we "take" attendance.  They flip their bee over when they come in and sit their lunch and snack on that yellow shelf.

Their pictures will eventually be up there!

A view of the classroom from the door.

Our reading center!

Our job board, and computer table!

Calendar area

Our word wall and writing center

Small Group area.  All my stuff is behind that cute curtain!

Our listening center

A view from my desk

Our awesome cubbies!

My crayon wreath :-)

Our pet goldfish is in there somewhere!

Our color beehives!

Crate Seats!

I saw these on someone's blog a while back and then later saw a different set on Pinterest! I had to make them! They definitely look like beginner's work, but they will do.  :-)

I got 3 crates from Wal-Mart for $3.50.  I went to Home Depot for the plywood.  I just bought a sheet and they cut it for me!  Be sure to take the crate in with you so they can measure it too!

I got the Spray Adhesive (a small one) from Wal-Mart for around $4.00.  I got the foam squares from Hobby Lobby and I thought they would be perfect!!  As you will see in the next picture, they didn't fit exactly like I planned.

See?  I bought one more square and I was able to add more foam to the ends to sort of even it out.

The finished product! :-)  I will be using them at my computer table (I have 3 computers) so hopefully they will work out!

Book Bag Storage

Last year, I had my dad build these cubbies for me.  I had little bitty cubbies my first two years, and the kids stuff was always all over the floor simply because they couldn't fit it all into the cubby!  I saw these cubbies in Lakeshore.  However, for a set of 10, they were $600.  I needed two sets, which meant $1200.  No thanks! So my wonderful dad and a friend of his built these for me.  They are wonderful!  They have a big enough cubby for their backpacks and lunch boxes.  They have hooks in the back to hang their jackets on.  They also have a slot for a  basket which we use as a mailbox.  I realize these are not the quickest solution to a book bag storage problem, however, if you can find someone to build them, they will last forever!  We have a prison work center close to us here (scary I know!) and they will build things for you too for a reasonable price.  You might want to check your areas and see if there is something similar.  The teacher before me had a bunch of bookshelves built by them.  :-)  Happy Summer!

Teacher Giveaway!

Teachers,
Head on over to The Moffatt Girls blog for her first giveaway!  You get to pick between three different gift cards if you win. 

Summer Projects

Along with this blog, I have spent the past few days sanding some chairs.  I use these chairs in my listening center and in my library.  When I first started teaching, my room was "themed" with all different kinds of bugs.  So my chairs were painted like lady bugs, bees, and butterflies.  Since then I have made my theme just Bees.  So, I am getting these chairs ready to repaint.  Let me tell you, sanding was hard work!  But, they are sanding, ready to be primed, and painted.  I will post pictures once they are completely finished, but here is a look at some sanded pics :-).  I can't find any before pics! If anybody has any painting tips I would love to hear them!! :-)

Not all of the paint will sand off, but it is all smooth enough to be painted!

Those ladybug ones had about 5 layers of paint on them!  Goodness!

Donors Choose

 

Donorschoose.org is a wonderful website for teachers!  Teachers post projects with materials that they need for their classroom.  Teachers pick a particular theme or project they want funded, and the materials to go with it.  Once it is posted, it is up to donors to fulfill the projects for teachers.  In this time of huge budget cuts and no instructional money, teachers love websites like this!  I've used Donors Choose before and have had two projects fully funded!  I currently have 2 projects that are active.  You can follow this link to see the projects I have up right now.
http://www.donorschoose.org/kate.boyer

Yard Sales!

One of the many things summer means to me is yard sales!  Since I get to catch up on my sleep during the week, I willingly wake up early on Saturdays to see what I can find at yard sales.  Some days are better than others, however, this past Saturday was my first yard sale day of the summer.  I think I did pretty well!  I got a huge plastic Mr. Potato Head filled with plastic Mr. Potato head pieces for $1.  I considered the day successful after that find!  But I continued to see what else was out there, and I am glad I did!  Hungry, Hungry Hippos, Let's Go Fishing, 5 Disney Movies, 2 bags of cars, magnetic alphabet letters, and a ton of books.  And not just any books, but a few Dr. Seuss books!  You want to know two things that are like gold to a teacher?  Dr. Seuss and cardstock! Here are a couple of pictures I took of the things I found.  Maybe I'll be just as lucky this Saturday! :-)