Kindergarten Classroom Preview

Wow! It's almost time for the little ones to come through my door. I've only had the chance to work in my room for a few hours. Teachers officially begin next Tuesday and our students come on Friday. I am off to a great start. Today I took a few pictures of my classroom to show the setup and arrangement of part of it. Most of it is still a mess. I hope you enjoy my pictures and most of all, I hope it may spark an idea for you and your classroom. Enjoy!

This is a view of my classroom door. I created a ladybug. How cute! Of course, I got the idea off of pinterest.

Next is a view of the numbers my students line up on. This really helps keep down confusion. I assign each student a number at the beginning of the year and they keep that number all year. They line up on it and everything that belongs to them has that number written on it. I choose to use black and red dots to go with my "ladybug" theme.

I chose red and black dots for my bookbag hangers also. These hangers are so close together. I wish we had more room.

These are my wonderful kinderlinks. I have these instead of just tables. Students can sit on the floor crisscross, on their knees, or legs stretched out under them and the kinderlink top functions as a desk where students do their work. Students can also sit on top as a seat if needed. They are wonderful. I don't have students leaning chairs back and falling out of chairs all day. I can move them around if I need to relocate students. I can stand at one kinderlink and see what everyone is doing at once. They can be taken apart and arranged into groups. I do have another small reading/math group area that I will post later that has 8 hooked together. Some are even green and yellow. These can be stacked when not in use. I will be adding these cute ladybug nameplates that I ordered from Amazon.com (check below) when they arrive. I can't wait! 

 

Cute ladybug nameplates I ordered from Amazon.com

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ladybugs-Nameplates-D-J-Inkers/dp/1604182059/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375333206&sr=8-1&keywords=ladybug+nameplates

 

  

 

This shows my behavior chart and my classroom rules posted. I got both of these ideas off of Pinterest. I love Pinterest!

 

   

Here is a view of my window showing my "curtain" I made using bulletin board paper, border, and dots.

  

 

More to come...stay tuned!

 



 

 

Student Information Sheet (FREEBIE)

It's almost that time of year again. The beginning of the school year involves so much planning and decision making. I thought I would help make your life a little easier by posting this student information sheet for you. This sheet gives all the necessary information we need on our students for the year. Have parents fill them out at open house or send them home in the student packet at the beginning of the year for parents to fill out and return. It's a great idea to print them on a bright colored cardstock so that they last all year and you can find them easily with the bright color. You can even laminate them if you'd like to. Then punch a hole in the corner of each and put them on a ring and hang them by your classroom door or place them where they are convenient for you. The information sheet is set up to provide two per page. Just cut in half and you are ready to go. I hope this small item helps make the beginning of your year a little easier.

Just click on the link below to download the student information sheet. Enjoy!


http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Student-Information-Sheet-FREEBIE-779645

Collaborative Pinterest Boards - Kindergarten Writing, Reading, and Math

Pinterest Boards

 

Collaborative Pinterest Board for Kindergarten Teachers or TPT and TN Sellers of Writing, Reading, and Math Items

 

I have set up a Collaborative Pinterest Board for Kindergarten Writing, Reading, and Math. I will add more collaborative boards in the future.



 

PLEASE NOTE: If you are a TPT or TN seller and you would like to be a contributor, you can use this for both free and paid products, but please include that it is a paid product in the description when you post it. TPT and TN items and blog posts are welcome, but please keep it grade specific.

 

If you are a Kindergarten Teacher, TPT or TN seller of Kindergarten Writing items and would like to be added to this board, you can do so by following me on Pinterest or following this board on Pinterest, and then leaving a comment with your Pinterest URL below, and I will add you. Thanks for participating!

Background below from mycutegraphics.com

  

 

I LOVE PINTEREST!

OPEN HOUSE - Hassle Free

I know it is summer time and teachers hate to even think about this right now, but before we know it, the first day of school will be here. With all the running around trying to get your classroom ready for those eager little ones, open house can be very hectic. It seems as though all the parents arrive at one time while you are trying to greet parents and students, answer questions, and get forms filled out and signed which makes open house a little overwhelming at times. While doing all of this, we must continue to smile and be organized. 

I created this FREE PowerPoint to make open house a little less chaotic. This PowerPoint allows parents to see what they need to do before leaving your classroom at open house. It also gives parents important information they can be reading while they are waiting for their opportunity to talk with you which will also help reduce the number of questions they have for you. This PowerPoint contains important information about name tags, lunch numbers, arrival times, developing independence, bookbags, lunch times and prices, student behavior, and dismissal times. Hopefully this will give you an idea of how to make your open house more effective and smooth sailing. To make it even easier, this open house PowerPoint is editable so that you can delete or create changes to make it appropriate for your school and classroom. If you find this useful, please leave me a comment below. Thank you for stopping by!

Click on the pictures below to download the FREE editable Open House PowerPoint!

 

 

 

and much MORE!!

Opinion Writing (FREEBIE included)

How many of you LOVE to teach writing to your students? I am amazed at how well kindergarten students can write by the end of their kindergarten year. Some students come to school not even knowing how to hold a pencil, others may make random marks on their paper, while others may be able to write recognizable letters or maybe even a few beginning sounds. Then by the end of the year, most of these students are writing stories including a beginning, middle, and ending with characters and a setting. I am so amazed at how well my students write. I am excited to begin my blog so that when school begins in August, I can share some of my students' writing with you.

One of the common core standards (ELACCKW1) under writing includes opinion writing where students draw, dictate, and write to compose opinion pieces in which they tell a reader the topic or the name of the book they are writing about and state an opinion or preference about the topic or book. My students love to write their opinion about books and topics.

I am always looking for ideas to put in my writing center. These opinion writing topics below make a great item to add to a writing center or just for a writing workshop lesson. Take a look at these topics and feel free to visit my Teachers Pay Teachers store for more opinion writing ideas and topics. While visiting my store, please follow me for updates of new products posted and to be notified of free products posted. Feel free to download my free opinion writing product on the topic of favorite playground activity. Thanks for stopping by!

Click on the following link to receive my FREEBIE:

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-Favorite-Playground-Activity-642902

Please leave me a comment below. Thank you!

FREEBIE!

Opinion Writing: Favorite Farm Animal

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-Farm-Animals-613679

Opinion Writing: Favorite Food

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-Favorite-Food-Kindergarten-1st-grade-2nd-grade-509497

Opinion Writing: Favorite Insect

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-Favorite-Insect-604829

Opinion Writing: Favorite Ocean Animal

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-Favorite-Ocean-Animal-Persuasive-571533

Opinion Writing: Favorite Sweets
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Opinion-Writing-My-Favorite-Sweets-546451

EXCITED!

Here I go. I am so excited! I am desperately trying to create a blog for my classroom. Please be patient with me as I learn how to maneuver on this page. I hope to be able to share some activities in my classroom for this upcoming year.