Classroom Decor & a 1st day FREEBIE for you!

      Well, it's that time again. Time for a new school year. Time for a new class of eager students. Time to prepare for it all! If you teach at a school similar to mine, then you walk into a completely empty room at the end of summer vacation. My school requires all furniture be moved out to wax during the summer. This is both of time of love and loathing. I LOATHE the fact that I have to take everything down and move it all out (YES this includes things on the wall too). However, I LOVE that this gives me the opportunity every year to change my room arrangement!
      I am lucky to have a fairly large classroom with an entire wall of cabinets and cubbies. This helps organize (hide) and clutter. :) In my classroom/life, I live by the concept "less is more". Therefore, my room seems boring to some, organized to some, and simplistic to others. I prefer to think of my classroom in the same manner as a book "a good fit".

                                     My class view from door. To the left is a wall of cabinets. 
FYI, that banner over the window was $0.97 from Walmart. I used 4. Best $4 I've spent.

                  My reading tub. YES this is a very real and very heavy bathtub. :) The kids love it.

       My FREEBIE for today is a 1st day of page. If you take pictures of your students on the 1st day & need a cute way to send it home to parents, than this is for you!

 Click here for 1st day freebie. 
      I usually print, tape picture on, than laminate it so a parent can cherish it forever. The sign is editable for your name and to change the year. Fonts used: Jumpin Jack & Gridie Miss Tiina. All of her fonts are awesome and FREE! She also has a great tutorial on how to download and install the font. I promise you won't regret downloading her free fonts!

Phonemic Awareness

Tonight I made a quick flipchart (for ActivBoard) to go with a great phonemic awareness activity from Mrs. Will's Kindergarten blog post from the other day. I took her idea and made it for my interactive white board (IWB) since my room has very limited space with 24 little darlings this year and no room for a pocket chart. :(

We will use it with our "Name of the Day" Reading Workshop unit in the first few weeks of school. I'll write in their name and draw in a quick picture and then the student can move the environmental print picture over. Easy-peasy! Pick up your flipchart for free here!

Thanks for reading!

Here we are!

Karen and I have decided to begin a new adventure together--writing this blog! We are 2 years apart and growing up, couldn't have been more different. Now, however, we seem to be more and more similar. We ended up graduating from the same college, we both ended up with degrees in education even though neither of us planned on that at first. Fast forward a few years and we're both happily married and teaching kindergarten!

Ours teaching experiences couldn't be more different, however. Between the two of us, we have taught kindergarten in 4 states and in 4 very different public schools: the ultimate suburbia school, a semi-rural traditional community, inner-city at its best, and an extreme high-income neighborhood school.

So here we are, ready to share our ideas and experiences with all of you! Thanks for joining us on this adventure!