What you don’t know…

Well!  Today was the first day I had the kids for a full day..well almost a full day.  Here’s what you don’t know..

-First of all my school district is pretty awesome…They are very supportive of their teachers.
-There is no school on Monday for Kindergarten…No school. None. 4 day week…EVERY WEEK
– Everyone gets out of school at 1:30 on Wednesday so that we can spend the time from 1:30-3:30 planning..learning…being PROFESSIONALS!…That’s EVERY Wednesday.
–  Every teacher from kinder to 2nd grade has an assistant in the classroom half of the day.  EVERY teacher!
– The faculty and staff are all very supportive and wonderful.
Since
It’s all pretty awesome…I know that this will make most of y’all hate me…I’m sorry for that but I had to share the awesomeness. 

On to the classroom pictures!  I got to school extra early this morning and took lots of pics for y’all!

This is the dramatic play/construction zone/kinder cafe.  

Here is the word wall.  The top alphabet is from Handwriting Without Tears.  The one in the middle (above the word wall) is Dr. Jean’s Alphardy.  I introduced it today…the kids loved it.
The section below the teddy bear is my Puzzle Party area.  It’s got tons of puzzles, play-dough and games.  Straight ahead is my science section.  It’s a little disorganized but I’m hoping to work on and add to that area soon.
Here’s my teacher area. Against the window are pictures and notes…a little bit of home!

Here’s my classroom library.  You can see it’s kind of a small space…nice a cozy though.  

Here are my homework bags.  These are full of fun activities that students can take home once a week only after they have turned in their homework.

Here is the non-fiction half of my library.

This is my math area.  The two colored tubs on either side of the cubbies are filled with math activities.  The cubbies are filled with labeled math manipulatives.

Here is my math word wall.  Above that, is a pocket chart for my math workshop.  I love this way of running math centers.  I do a quick mini lesson…then the kids pop over to their centers!  

This is going to become my Exploration Center.  It will be where I present science vocabulary.  It will also be the place where we do our experiments.
This is the math side of my classroom.  The cute birthday cakes were a big hit with the parents!
 This is my listening center. The rules for the listening center are posted on the bulletin board.  I’m considering selling them on TpT.  Would you like a copy? Comment below.
 On the other side of the listening center, is the writing center.  In the green containers, I stored different writing activities.  I need to label them.  The bulletin board is full of different things that the kids can write about.
 This is my behavior chart.  I explained it to the kids today.  I think they get it!

This is the Creation Station.  In the blue basket are various art books in case they need a little inspiration.  In the next pic you will see the art supplies adjacent to the Creation Station.

Here are tons of supplies for the kids to get creative with. I can’t remember where I found the labels but they are super cute and very helpful.  The next picture shows you a close up.

This will be our question of the day space.  Right now, I’ll just use it for attendance.

Here’s a poster I made…It ties in the theme quite nicely.

Here is the door to the classroom.  I wrote the kids names on little clouds to go under the rainbow.
Here is a shot of the entire classroom from the entrance.

These are my literacy activities.  Tons of goodies here!

And here’s a pic of the classroom from the back door.  HUGE!

Here are a few pics of the closet…Nicely organized!…kind of.

Well! That was a whole lot of goodness!  I love my classroom! I’m very excited for this new school year!  Since I’m not working on Mondays, I’m hoping to create something new each week or at least every other week.

Follow:
0
Share:

3 Comments

  1. Heather
    September 6, 2012 / 1:42 am

    What an amazing school! It sounds wonderful supportive and child- centered! Your classroom looks wonderful! Have a wonderful school year!

    Heather (heathernnance[at]yahoo.com)

  2. Grandma S
    September 6, 2012 / 9:13 pm

    I think you've entered teacher heaven! When I started I had an aid half day, an hour duty free lunch, an hour planning period daily while the kids were at PE and another three hours weekly when they were at music, art & library, duty free. I'm glad to hear that some places this type of things still happens!

    Grandma S aka your college math ed teacher

  3. Jenn Long
    September 11, 2012 / 12:20 am

    Wowzers! I'm totally not hating on you at all! I love seeing what other schools are doing with their schedules and such! I'm glad everything is going well for you!

    A Pirates Life for Us