Hi Friends! I've missed all of you. I haven't blogged since last October! Life was happening! My son finished his freshman year of college, has a girlfriend, and went on a missions trip. My daughter had a very busy senior year and graduated from high school, so you know we were celebrating that. My husband and I celebrated 20 years of marriage. He got a new job, and I decided to move grades once again! It was such a busy year for me personally and professionally that I just didn't have time to get anything on the blog. Now that both my children are settled into college, and the new school year has gotten underway I am ready to be back here sharing great ideas with all of you! Thank you for being patient with me as I was slow on updating! Now for the fun stuff...

I am teaching Kindergarten! It's my dream job! Really, I couldn't be happier. I spent a good part of my summer putting together a welcoming classroom for my little ones and I want to share all of it with you, so let's take a tour of my new room! I'll leave links to the things I have purchased and try to explain as much as possible, and I've got several freebies for you!!

Here it is...
This is the view from the door. It's a pretty small room but I've tried to make the most of the space. You can see my "teacher" small group area, the library and students desks. Under each set of windows I strug a length of twine and clipped student work up for a fun and easy work display.

These drawers are directly to the left of the door, they store any type of cleaning/organizational things we may need such as baggies, cleaning wipes, brooms, paper plates/cups, and extra Kleenex. Above the drawers is our behavior tracking system we use a colored card system K-3 to keep consistency. I added a shout out board for students who are going above an beyond. We give them a shout out cheer, their name goes on the board and they get a couple M&M's. They are so proud when their name goes up there!

The back wall has two large boards, they are actually shower board but they are old and I decided to use them as bulletin boards instead of white boards. This one has our interactive alphabet, where we add pictures to the letters we learn each week. I got this idea from Maria at  KinderCraze, you can check out her blog for directions!

Under the board is our sensory table, I found the directions for making this out of pvc pipe and a storage container on pinterest. It works really well. I have two yoga balls for kids to sit on while they work if they prefer. the drawers underneath hold sensory table supplies so I can switch them out with the seasons.

Above the board are my shape posters! The letters that spell "shapes" are typed one letter per page in one of my favorite fonts, printed and cut out. I added a solid color under each letter for a "shadow" effect. This is an awesome idea I got from Kacey at Doddle Bugs Teaching. Her letters on her boards are always amazing! The shape posters are free!

Next to the alphabet board are our class rules. I got the chalkboard from Target dollar spot and added a cute ribbon for hanging. The rules are also from Maria at Kindercraze. The drawers underneath are our class mailboxes. The green bin on top holds our daily folders, at the end of each day we take our mail from the drawer and put it in our folders to take home.

This is the second big board along the back wall. It is holding our word family word wall. Our curriculum is big on word families and I am glad for the space to display them. The "word families" and "colors" letters are the same font I used for shapes printed one per page and cut out.

Under the board on the white shelf are our morning work tubs, center tubs, and puzzles that can be used during free choice center time. I will explain more about what is in each of these in a latter post. The cart in the corner is holding the larger center toys such as Legos and large ABC foam shapes.

Above the board are my color posters. I printed them round and put a piece of scrapbook paper in the corresponding color under each to help them stand out. These are also free you can grab them HERE!

 Here's a view from the other side of the room!

This is the front of the room and our meeting space. I love this carpet I got this year from Kidcarpet. It is perfect for giving everyone their own space! I have it right at the front of the room so all of our important learning posters and displays are quickly accessible while we are here. To the left is our calendar area and more center tubs. Above the white board are my alphabet and number posters that can be found in my TPT store. To the right is my teacher small group area, I will explain more about that in a little bit!

Next to my teacher area these drawers hold our tablets. We are one to one with Samsung Galaxy Tablets this year and I am loving it. These drawers hold the tablets perfectly. Tablet rules are above the drawers you can get them free HERE! I love, love, love the vinyl quote under the clock I bought it on Amazon

To the right of the drawers is our class library! This is my favorite space!! I love books! Having an inviting and organized library is always a must for me. I loved putting this space together.
I organized my books by character and theme. I made my own labels and put the same picture on each tub and book so students will know where to return them easily. The bins on the top are from Dollar Tree, the bins on the shelves are from Steps to Literacy. The rug is from Walmart.

Along the wall we have a tub of reading buddies and a tub of big books. The small front facing shelf holds our theme books for the month. Right now it's back to school books.

In the corner you see our carpet bags hanging on a coat rack I got from Hobby Lobby. I love this storage solution! Carpet bags are a great time saver for us! Learn all about them over at Kindergals

The Creative Teaching Press Tweet Birds have been a favorite of mine for the past few years. They started my color scheme and I've kept the poppy red, lime gree, aqua blue going throughout the room. I think it brings a unity that keeps the room from looking to visually cluttered. This board says "Friends of a feather read together: the READ sign is from Target dollar spot. Each of the birds has a student name on it.

 
This is my small group/teacher area. Behind my table I have closet organizer shelves from closetmaid that just happen to fit the sterilite three drawer units perfectly. I put border inside each drawer, and labeled each drawer with a number. All of the supplies I need for my reading lessons that week are in the drawer. So drawer one holds all of our reading materials for week one and so on. I found the corner shelves several years ago at Walmart in the same closet organizing section, they are closetmaid brand but I have not been able to find them recently. I painted my table with dry erase paint this summer and love it. I used blue duck tape around the edge to give it some color. The stools are from Family Dollar.

A closer view behind the table. The smaller drawers on top are my teacher toolbox, they hold all the little things that would go in a desk, but free up so much space. I also have a bin for my student assessments and I found the magnetic tin board at Michaels on clerance this summer for just $2.00! I love how it added a place for me to post notes and some family pictures. The cubboards above my shelves house all of our math maniuplatives and extra supplies we need frequently.

One more view of my little space. Someday I am going to paint the filing cabinet but for now I used contact paper to cover the side most often seen. It's another great space saving place to hang things we need often.

This is our calendar area and center bins are stored underneath. I have six math stations and six word work stations that students cna choose from during rotations. The bins are from Dollar Tree.  The shelves are six cube organizing shelves from Walmart.

We do a basic calendar routine every morning. We count the days of school and use place value blocks to make the number,we also make tally marks for the number of days. We sing the days of the week and months of the year. We talk about the weather and our class jobs are displayed here. The tally mark chart and weather charts are from Maria at KinderCraze. The month and day charts are free HERE!

I really love my job chart this year. I used these library pockets from creative teaching press and made job signs for the front. I just hot glued these pockets to the wall. We took pictures on the first day and I cut them out, put them on a popsicle stick and we use them to show who has each job.

One more view of our calendar area!

This is the front of the room where most of our learning happens. The number posters and alpahbet line are both in my store. I have used the precursive font because that is what is required at our school. I have also added them in a primary font for those of you who don't use precursive.

This is the inside of my door. The apple is from the Target dollar spot. I made the security curtian to match our classroom curtians, and the poster I found online but I can't find it to give credit. If you recognize it please let me know so I can give credit where due! I printed it larger through vistaprint and used Creative Teaching Press Small Pencils to add each students name.

Here is our room from the hallway. I printed the "welcome" letters and made the wreath a few years back. I still love them! Our work display is another favorite of mine! It was a last minute idea that popped into my head and came together so well. I love hanging our work here for everyone to see.

Here's a better view of "Our Sweet Work" display! I made the awning with foam board from the dollar tree. I just scored through one side and bent it then used duck tape to keep it at the angle I needed. This is two boards put together. I covered both boards with green wrapping paper and the dots along the edge were a birthday party decoration I got from Walmart for a dollar. I just cut them apart and glued them on the edge. I laminated scrapbbook paper and hot glued it to the wall. Then glued mini clothes pins I got from Michaels to each piece. I love how it brightened up our entryway!

So there's my room for this year. We are now 22 days in and I am loving every minute of it. We just started reading groups and stations so I hope to be back soon sharing some fun ideas we are using with you! Thanks for reading, happy teaching!
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