Five for Friday

It's time for Five for Friday.  I missed it yesterday because I went grocery shopping after work, which meant a 45 minute trip into the closest town!  But I bought $400 worth of groceries for $66 using my coupons so I can't complain!

{One}  Because I teach preschool I don't have any students on Friday, so I asked my nephew if he wanted to each lunch with me.  He's in first grade, and he was really excited.  He even gave up his gym time to come each lunch with me in my classroom!

{Two} With a new classroom came a new aide this year.  We happen to go to church together so that was a nice surprise.  When I told her I wanted new curtains to cover my shelves, she bought the fabric and took on the whole project herself!  The previous curtains were red with tiny stars, and there was nothing wrong with them.  I just needed something that would go with my theme (or any theme if I decided to change it from year to year), so black with white polka dots it is!

{Three} I hung lanterns above the book corner to fill some of the space.  We have nice, high ceilings, that I was able to staple right into so those lanterns are not coming down!  Hehe.

{Four} Our first day of school with students is on Monday.  Our program went all day this year, and I can't imagine having 4-year-old's for 7 hours on the first day!  We are only having school for one hour so our students can see the classroom, explore some of the centers and then we're going to read a story and do an art project.  Hopefully this will help them (and their parents!) with their transition to school.

I created an area in my dramatic play center for a "Photo Booth" so parents can take pictures and they can dress up to take silly photos if they want, to calm the nerves and help them feel more comfortable in the room with all of those new faces!

{Five} I had this pole in the middle of my room, and what was I to do but make it into a coconut tree?!  I tore the leaves by hand to make the palm leaves look more natural, and it was looking a little bare.  My aide suggested crumpling up paper into a ball to make coconuts, and of course, I was like "Why didn't I think of that?"  (It's been a long week of home visits and paperwork!!!)  So now we have our very own coconut tree!

Have a wonderful weekend all!

Coloring Clothespins

While setting up my classroom, I've attempted several craft projects I found on Pinterest.  The newest one I attempted with relatively good success was coloring clothespins for my behavior management clip chart.

I did not have RIT dye, but knew you could use food coloring to dye the clothespins, so I did what anyone would do...I googled it!  You can click on the image above to find the directions I followed for this project.

I have several glass jars I've been saving for a project this fall.  I used those and then washed them out afterwards to use them later.  Glass jars work better because they don't stain, but you could use plastic containers if you don't mind.

The directions said to soak them for an hour, but I soaked them overnight, just in case!

This is what they looked like when the project was finished.  I used Neon food coloring, and the green did not take as well as I wanted it to.  Next year, I will definitely try this again, adding more drops of food coloring, and experimenting with mixing traditional colors with neon to make more fun colors.  I love all of the bright colors and shades Kaley Ann made!

Classroom Digs & Organizing for Instruction

*** Classroom Digs ***

I spent almost all day yesterday trying to figure out how to get pictures of my classroom off of my phone, and I guess since it's not a smartphone, it is completely impossible!

In any case, I went into my classroom today to get a few more things done and take some pictures with my digital camera (which is probably for the best anyway!).  My first day of school with students isn't until September 16th and I have a new classroom this year, so I'm still working on the organization part.  But, I wanted to do the fun stuff first---YAY decorating---so here goes...

Welcome to my Jungle themed classroom!

View from the front door

Word wall - Pardon all of the books.  I have to wait for my bookshelf to be moved in.  The word wall letters are from Teaching Joy.

Writing center - The bulletin board to the left will have examples of things they can write about, such as fact books, recipes, grocery lists, ABC books, etc.

Book Corner - I separated a giant bulletin board into two smaller ones; one to place pictures of students reading, and the other for student work.  I had TONS of bananas left over from bulletin board sets I had purchased, and so I used them to make the word Bananas in "Bananas for Books."  It says "Spotted:  Great Work" above the other half.

A view of the other half of my classroom from the door.  I love all of the cubbies of materials with real life labels.

This bulletin board will be used to display student art.  The middle of the bulletin board will be used for a seasonal art display.  Work that students create at the art center will be displayed around the outside.  To create the animals:

1.  I hot glued clothespins to thumb tacks to hold up the artwork.  

2.  Since I didn't like the look of a plain clothespin, I glued on a jungle themed animal cutout to make them look more attractive.  

3.  The animals at the bottom are hot glued to a clothespin and then glued to the wall.

Tip:  Glue the thumbtack high up on the clothespin.  I discovered when I glued it lower, the animal tipped upside down! You can also use sticky tack instead if hot glue pulls the paint off of the walls. :)

This is my morning meeting area.  Everything is low so my students can access everything for the Read Around the Room center.

The area to the left is my Information HUT board to display  information parents may need to know.

I placed paper on the cabinet to the right, where I have my Jungle Behavior chart with chevron from Teaching Joys. 

Next to the chart it says, "Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, Look who's HANGING OUT in our room!"  Here, I will place pictures of my students to display all year.

*** NOW Teach: Organizing for Instruction ***

The only organizational tip I could think of that some people may not have thought of was how I store my bulletin board posters and supplies.  When thinking about how I would pack up my room this year, I happened to look over and there it was: an "under the bed" box and it was empty!  I love that it has wheels and can easily be moved from place to place.  It stores a lot of items, and you can't see it very well in the picture, but the handles clip around the top so the lid doesn't fall off when you pick it up.  It is so much easier to carry this around than those giant, heavy storage bins!

Thanks for viewing my classroom.  Head on over to Blog Hoppin' to check out how other teachers get organized!