Indian Corn Art

My kids created this Indian corn using Legos! The Duplo Legos are the perfect size for this activity. Their hand prints made the maize even cuter.

Fire Safety / Community Helper Fireman Activity

The kiddos enjoyed painting a picture of fire using finger paint. We used red and yellow, and the kids were excited to see that these colors create orange when mixed together. In small group, I gave the kids precut shapes, and used positional words (and also modeled) where to place the shapes to create a fire truck. 

Magic Appearing Letters

My kiddos loved this crayon resist activity. Before the lesson I wrote the first letter of each student's name in white crayon. The kids used liquid watercolors to make the letters appear. This was a fun way to encourage the students to recognize the first letter in their name.

Environmental Print Word Wall

The kiddos are really enjoying adding to our environmental print wall. They get excited with every new word they're able to "read". Every time a new word is brought in, I first attach it to our "I can read___" sentence strips. They like to use pointers when reading the sentences. After a few days we'll place the environmental print label under the the correct beginning letter. The kids can bring in environmental print all year long.

Fall is here!

My favorite time of year has arrived, and my kiddos have been busy learning about Fall and the changes this time of year brings. Here is my new door. The web and spider are Dollar Tree finds, and the kids enjoyed making these cute handprint spiders complete with googly eyes.

Classroom Door

   

This is my classroom door that has welcomed my kiddos these first 2 weeks of school. And what an amazing two weeks they've been. My students are just perfect! They are cute, smart, sweet, and I'm just loving them. We're all (myself included) catching on so very well. 

     This door was inspired by something I saw Pinterest. The original pin can be found in my "Classroom Door" board on Pinterest. Unfortunately that board will not benefit me this year as we are no longer allowed to put paper on our doors. So this will not be up much longer. I will still pin classroom door decor on Pinterest, so hopefully others will find it useful.

Slow Progress

     I'm slowly making progress in my classroom. I wanted to share a little crafty fun that took place this week. I mentioned in a previous post that 13 different stations are required in my room, and space is quite limited. So I made the decision to get rid of the teacher desk. Yes, I did it. It's gone! And guess what? It feels great! My students can enjoy more space now, and everything fits perfectly without feeling to cramped.
     My reasoning for getting rid of the teacher desk, besides giving me more space, is because I don't believe I will be sitting much anyways. I'm teaching PreK this year. I'll be with the kids day long with no planning break. It doesn't make sense to keep the desk.
     Instead, I now have a small cart for my computer, printer, and maybe a small filing box. So, this is my lovely cart "before & after". This poor little cart was found in storage at the school. Dirty, slightly rusted in spots, just unfortunate looking. I was able to fix it up with a little black spray paint and some chevron contact paper that you can purchase from Target. (However, my contact paper came from my fabulous mom who found this paper at a yardsale for a steal!)

     So here it is! I'm happy with the way it turned out :)

Cheers!

Wait...what day is it?

I say this. My oldest son says this. It's actually a running joke between my husband and myself all summer long. I know I'm not alone, teacher friends! Hehe!

My Classroom

     So this is the classroom that I have inherited this year! I'm super thrilled to have basically all of the materials and tools needed for this year in PreK. However.....look at this mess!! Ive been working in my room for a little over a week now, and these pics reflect the progress made during that time. Initially everything was piled in the middle of the room, stacked on cubbies, shoved in closets, etc. Basically a huge disaster. I'm supposed to have 13 different stations in my classroom, and I think I've managed to create just that.

Now to organize and decorate! More pics to follow :)

My First Blog Entry!!

I have decided to create this blog to document my teaching journey and to connect with other fine educators near and far. When August arrives, I will be teaching my very first PreK class......and I am beyond excited! While I have 7 years of experience working in elementary schools, this is the first year that I will have my very own classroom! I will be sharing classroom pics, lessons, behavior management tips, funny teacher memes, interesting articles, and basically all things related to living the primary school life. I hope readers will enjoy, relate, and maybe be helped through my experiences.


Cheers!

Amy