Welcome to the class of 2024!

The class of 2024 got off to a good start on Thursday. I have 18 darlings in my full-day class!

Today we started a week of activities surrounding the favorite book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? I love reviewing colors and introducing the kids to characteristics of print. Of course we talked about the cover, title, author, and illustrator, and today we read the book for enjoyment. The rest of the week we will read for a purpose - looking for "popcorn" words, comparing different versions of the story, and acting out the story. We will also tie in math and science wherever possible. We did a math sorting and graphing activity today using gummy bears.

First we sorted them by color:

Then we graphed our gummy bears:

After we talked about our graphs, we got to eat our gummy bears! Mmmmmm...

I created the sorting and graphing sheets the kids used. If you would like them, here they are:

Gummy Bear Sort Sheet

Gummy Bear Graph Sheet

Pinterest Linky Party

Michelle at Michelle's Math in the Middle is having a pinterest linky party. If you just can't get enough of Pinterest, hop on over and link up!

Summer Purchases from Target, Dollar Tree, etc.

OK, so I went to post my latest purchases a few weeks ago, and realized that my pictures had somehow been deleted from my phone. I had already taken most of the stuff in to my classroom, so I had to wait until this week to go in and get new pictures. So finally, here they are:

From Dollar Tree:

Oversized Coloring Pads (to use for tracing animals, since I can't draw!), dinosaur skeletons, frog glowstick (to use as a pointer), palm tree bulletin board accents, crayola color books for independent reading

Shark, flamingo, and monkey hats for acting out stories, a bubble wand pointer, simple board books for independent reading, several packages of sight word cards, palm tree drink stirrers for pointers, star-shaped ice cube trays to use as ten-frames, rubber placemats to cut down on dice noise

A basket and glass beads to hold large pointers, popcorn bags to decorate our popcorn word board

Several books for independent and theme reading

Divided trays for sorting and community supplies, magnetic art for a fine motor activity, flashcards for math and literacy stations, police and firefighter guys for manipulatives, ice cream bowls for a fine motor activity (spooning pompoms)

Tiki ice cube trays for ten-frames, ice cream cone dishes for "sharp" and "needs to be sharpened" pencils, popcorn bowls for a literacy game, dinosaur hats for acting out stories

More popcorn and hot dog bowls for word work, frog pen for a pointer, inflatable chicka tree

From Target Dollar Spot:

Books for theme and independent reading, foam hammer for a word work game, sand pail, colander and measuring spoons for the sensory bin, animal sounds flashcards, a cute post-it pack, and a zippered lanyard pocket to hold the popcorn word of the week

Pocket charts with stands and without, books for independent and theme reading, math and alphabet bingo games, number and alphabet puzzles, informational cards, and a star and pencil wooden pointer

Math workmats, letter and star stickers, and a writing utensil caddy

Dice, letter stamps and stamp pads, lip gloss for motivation (rub on the back of their hand), hand-shaped erasers for pointers, and a pack of highlighters/pens just for me(!)

Traffic Signs, Community Workers, and Money flashcards

(OK, not from the Dollar Spot, but I couldn't pass these up!) a miniature frog pillow pet, and a timer with green numbers!

From Walmart:

Frog clips for posters, black and blue sheets for bulletin boards

Mr. Tickle, Mr. Scary, and Miss Helpful plush reading buddies

DVD's for after lunch or indoor recess, frog beach towel for independent reading, paint swatches to cut apart for sorting

A pillowcase (had the pillow form already), a squishy pool noodle, and two pillows, all for independent reading

Two beach chairs for independent reading

Book covers to make these

From JoAnn Fabrics:

Fabric and batting to make these

Frog accents, animal books for tracing onto charts, several pointers, and silicone frog holder

From Dollar General:

Two books-on-cd and an independent reader

From Goodwill:

Books ...

Books ...

And more books ...

And still more books, all for independent and theme reading

Boggle Jr, Dinosaur floor puzzle, 2 packs playing cards for math stations, dominoes, flashcards, and an I-Spy computer game

From Michaels:

"How to Draw" Books

From a local garage sale:

More books and flashcards!

And two games for math & literacy stations.

Whew! It's a lot, but I didn't get it all in one trip, thank goodness! Everywhere we went this summer (including vacation!), I scoped out the local Target and Dollar Tree. Does anyone else do this?

We have a building "retreat" one day this week, open house is next week, and school starts on the 24th. Sadly, the summer is almost over.

Test

Testing to see if my blog is linked to twitter (@krouskopk) and facebook (Nicklin Learning Center - Mrs. K.).

I love this - it is so true! So what do YOU make?

A Treasure Trove of Free Ideas!

Reagan over at Tunstall's Teaching Tidbits has offered a bunch of free printables - you'll want to hop over there now and pick them up!

Room Arrangement

This past year, I liked most of my room arrangement. However, there were a few little things that weren't working for me. So, with two weeks of school left for the year, I performed a makeover on my classroom. At first I thought I was going crazy, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized it would be good. I could try out my new ideas before the new year started!

This is how it turned out, and I loved it. I did not take pictures until the last week, though, in case I needed to change anything. So the room is a bit messy - I also wasn't even thinking of putting them on to a blog - they were taken for my own reference in setting up my room this summer! So please ignore the mess.

This area is right inside the door. The frog sorter holds disaster reports, our goodbye book, my badge/whistle, and Mr. Who, our owl puppet who reminds us to walk quietly in the hall. The baskets on the table collect daily folders and work. The colored totes were used for community supplies last year - I'm not sure that's what they'll be used for or that they'll be housed here this year. The tubs under the table hold wooden blocks and clipboards. Next to this table is the listening center. My students take an mp3 player loaded with a book on "tape" and find a place around the room to sit and listen, so I don't need chairs here.

This is also the best picture I have of my word wall. I tried the Two Sisters' idea of using super sticky post-it notes with the words on them, but I guess my class uses them more than most, because they still kept falling off. So now I print the words on mailing labels and attach them to foam cutouts, and then I attach these to the wall with velcro dots. I put one side of the velcro on the letter cards on the wall, and the other side on the backs of the foam words. These have held up MUCH better than the post-it notes! I still have some post-its for quick, temporary words that someone asks for.

Still standing at the door, looking up from the listening center, you can see my Teacher Corner. Well, under the mess, that is. My guided reading table is in front, and our sensory table is behind that. I pull it out when we need it, otherwise, it divides my space. Behind that is our sink (in the corner), my teacher bookshelves on the right, and my computer desk on the left, by the filing cabinets.

A better view of my teacher corner.

To the left of my teacher corner are the student computers and smartboard. I have an Elmo document camera, which I love as well!

Still panning to the left around the room, I have a whole wall of shelving/heater/windows. It sounds like a lot of storage, but it's really not. I love how light the classroom is with all of the windows, but there is no storage above waist-height on this wall! Anyway, you can see our lego table and book cart. The students do not use the books under the pocket chart - those are my read-alouds. But we use the pocket chart daily to answer a question of the day. The students write their name on a "name ticket" when they arrive, then place it in the correct place to answer the question. Then we analyze the resulting graph. The shelves on both sides hold the students Daily 5 Book Baskets (girls on the right, boys on the left). Student-select books are on the windowsill on both sides.

Now you can see our magnetic white board easel, my rocking chair, and our frog author's chair. I attached a large pocket chart to the top of my easel, and I roll it up or down, depending on what we're doing. I also attached a small pocket chart under the marker ledge for quick little mini lessons. It also keeps little hands out of the storage bins underneath. :-)

This cubby shelf holds math manipulatives, individual white boards, picture dictionaries, newspapers, puzzles, and fine motor activities. Theme-related books are stored on top. Most of the lockers behind this area are used for storage, since I have 20 lockers, but I double-up the students and only use 10 for their belongings. Since that is the case, we can store our reading pillows behind here so they are not in the way / a distraction during whole group time.

And here is an overview of the room. Teacher corner is to the right of this picture, easel is to the left.

What do you think? Have you gotten any good ideas? Do you have any suggestions to make it even better?