Make a Year Monday {School Fever}

I have been at school as much as possibly since the 18th. I really try to restrain myself from going to school until the 2nd week of July because I deserve a break too right, plus we went to the beach and I had shower planning....so it just kind of fell that way. 
So now I'm running around like crazy trying to get everything finished in time for parents to come on August 11th! AHH!! PRAY! 
So, this year I will be teaching in the hallway with the fabulous Kindergarten teachers and I could not be more excited. Scared and a little nervous...yes, but excited! I wanted to share a little photos of my room construction from day #1 until I finished up today. I know some of you are going to think oh my...she has a lot to do, but trust me I've gone many days without taking photos. Sorry! 

Believe it or not--this is after I had worked for 6 hours the first day. Reminder---I moved rooms!

Ok looking back on these photos...I have come a LONG way!!

 

This is actually NOT trash...though it may look like it, this is all my books and pretty much everything that goes on my walls. 
Here is where I am today....

I so wish that I had remembered to take a BEFORE picture....seriously I'm so bad, but ya'll would be so very proud! 

I still have a long way to go, but I'm getting there. Many blessings to those of you who are starting back today or who have already started! I'm thinking about you. 

I also wanted to add something that I found somewhere (cannot remember where) that I am going to give to all of my K teachers and my administrators as a beginning of the year treat! Enjoy! 

{Click the picture to download}

Making a Year Monday!

It is hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that it is the last week of July! Where did summer go?
As I work in my room this week, one thing that I have been working on is my word wall.  I use my word wall everyday!  It is an amazing teaching tool!  So I went looking for some awesome classroom word walls and this is what I found-

Cute way to use an alphabet line!  I love the classroom names with the pictures! Great for kinders!

An awesome word wall from Lakeshore Learning!

 

Sticky Note Word Wall

One of my favorite word walls from Mrs. Lee's Kindergarten

Portable word walls- I love this idea!

I love word walls and cannot wait to see more!  If you have pictures of your word wall up, let me know so I can cruise to your sight and check it out! 

 Have a Marvelous Monday!

Make a Year Monday {FREEBIES}

Please tell me that I'm not the only one sitting here getting depressed not only thinking of the summer quickly coming to an end, but thinking of everything I have to finish before August 17th! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my job, but I also LOVE the part of my job where I can wake up at 10am and lounge at the pool in the afternoon. 


Ooh....anyway, because I am just over my head in things to complete I am going to give away some awesome things that help me at the beginning of the year. I hope you enjoy!


Here is my dismissal list that I hang up on the wall as a quick reference.

Click the picture to download

This is a parent excuse note that I put in my notebooks for the parent's to fill out. It is quick and easy and really cuts down on the unexcused absences. 

Click the picture to download

Enjoy my friends!! I'm saying a prayer for all of you friends out there preparing for the new school year. I feel it's one of the toughest parts of this job--especially when you try to be extra organized!

Making a Year Monday!

Though it is summer vacation for many of us, we, teachers, are constantly thinking and preparing for the next school year.  We all have those "to do" list that we want to accomplish before school starts back.  One thing I do at the beginning of every year is try to get organized.  There is so much to get rid of and so many new things to create a home for in your classroom.  I am always scoping out the storage containers around town and online trying to find what I need and at the best price.  Here are a few of my favorite places to look for storage for my classroom-

The dollar section and the college dorm room storage 



LOVE my dollar tree finds!  Not always a large amount of color choices, but definitely worth looking through!

LOVE this store!  So much to choose from!

I am getting my students' book boxes from here.  Set of 5 for $1.99



You can normally find really good deals on storage here!  



Walmart is my least favorite place to visit, because it is always soooo busy.  But they do have good deals on the college dorm storage and normally it cute designs and colors.

Let me know where you shop for your classroom storage needs!  Have a Marvelous Monday, friends!

Make a Year Monday {Management}

I hope I'm not the only one that has a problem with this, but at the beginning of the and up until around Christmas my kids are crazy tattle tellers! So after looking around Really Good Stuff I found the most amazing tool to use for my kids. Tattling Turtle Kit- I did not really like the idea of having a turtle in my ocean themed classroom so I used this idea and made into.....Squirt your Worries. I just use a basket and put squirt (from Nemo) inside with a set of note cards attached by a binder ring, along with a pencil and the kids can come a long and write all their problems down for Squirt. THEY LOVE DOING THIS! I am including my little sign for you just incase you want to make your own little version. 
Click the picture to download the freebie file. 

Seriously, this was the best thing for me and it has cut down on tattling COMPLETELY. I do not deal with it. At the end of the day I usually try to go over and look at the book just to see what the children are writing and to check out their handwriting.