Little Monster's Hip, Hip Hooray Cheer

I have seen this cheer somewhere before and wanted to add a little color to it so made this sheet for myself to use and keep posted at circle time so we can do our "Morning Cheer".  Thought I would share with anyone who would like to see/use it.

Go Team Go!


https://docs.google.com/document/d/1MNT63vFQNfvawrQVWNK68pJcn8kAm7OwYEfkRNKmaOs/edit?hl=en_US

Welcome cards to my Kinders

I am sending out a little "Welcome to Our Class" post card to my students just to let them know I am awaiting their arrival on Sept. 6th.  Hopefully this will make them, and when I say "them" of course I mean the parents, feel comfortable leaving their babies with me!  I found these great cards at T.J. Maxx (a box of 100 cards and envelopes) for $7.99 then I embellished them with some clip art (by ScrappinDoodles), then took a brown paper bag, cut it to 81/2 x 11 so it would fit into my printer and then printed Welcome to "Our Class" on it then taped all of it onto the front of the card.  On the back of the card I just typed the saying on cardstock, printed it and cut it out and glued onto the back of the card.  I think they turned out kinda cute! :-)  Hope my families will like them!

I WON! I WON!

I cannot believe it but I won the beautiful READ banner from "Stepping into First Grade".  I am so excited.  I just don't win stuff.  Have never had that luck but I checked my email THREE times just to make sure and sure enough I truly was the winner.  Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!  Yes, I did my "happy dance" (won't mention that I pulled my back out while doing this) and it feels like Christmas in August!  Thank you so much Stepping into First Grade.  Can't wait to get the awesome banner!

steppingintofirstgrade.blogspot.com

Still in Progress

Wow.. I am wondering if I am ever going to get this room done?  I am trying to get ready for Sept. 6th when my kiddos arrive but purging 25+ years of the previous teachers "stuff" is very time consuming.  I am going through it one piece at a time but wondering if I should just pitch everything and tell myself, "what you don't know won't matter" or "outta sight, outta mind".  If I don't get through all this by next week, I think I will just close my eyes and take it all to the recycle bin!  Did manage to get a couple of the bulletin boards up.  How come they always look cuter when they are in the room but as soon as you take a picture of them they look so blah?  Would love any suggestions, comments... like I said, still in progress and need to add my finishing touches (like ribbon, curtains etc...)

                                                            Making of my word wall

                                                    Word Wall up... Kinda bright colors....

                                                               My Imagination Station

                       Class Library.  I love Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.. I will leave this up year round.

                                      Pop Art that I made... Need to add the hanging ribbons still.

                                                        Sign in Table/Home work bins.

                                                                       Cubby area

Classroom Makeover in Progress

I went to my classroom AGAIN yesterday to work on my "Makeover" but every time I leave there it is more of a mess than when I started. The problem is we only have limited time to be at the school (although I do have access to it all summer) BUT I live 45 minutes away from my school. So by the time I get there I only have about 3 hours to work in my classroom. Boy, this is starting to sound like a complaint form!! Sorry.... Ok, this is what I have so far. Remember this is just the beginning stages, it is by all means not even close to being finished. I would love any comments, suggestions and even a little criticism (be gentle though!).

                                                          Front of my class - Circle Time
                                             (I do not like the mats but can't afford a rug right now)

                                                          Still looks a little BLAH...

                                                                             My desk

Imagination Station in progress.. Yep, I have a Fire Extinguisher smack in the middle of my board.

This is the decal that will go on the Imagination Station.  I found this idea on another blogspot but for the life of me cannot remember "Whoo's"..  If you are the creator of this idea, PLEASE let me know so I can give credit where credit is due.. Plus, I would love to see yours again!

       My "Target Treasure".  I got this lamp on clearance for $14 bucks!  Regularly $30!  YAY!!!  Love it..

                            Another Target find.  Didn't get it on sale though. :-(    But couldn't resist!

               Dollar spot @ Target about 2 years ago!  Still love them and yes, I do wear those slippers!!

Found these at a WalMart this month while on a family reunion in Oregon.  Saw them and just knew I had to have them for my imagination station.  They are JUMBO push pins.  I am just hoping the kids don't poke themselves with them!

Ikea Trip

I am still working on gathering items for my classroom so I can get it all put together before school starts next month.  Problem is I have too many ideas swirling away in my brain and every time I see something cute on a blog or in a store or online, my brain swirls some more as I want to do everything I see.  Funny thing is, I teach special needs children and now I am thoroughly convinced that I am the one with ADHD!  I hear myself saying, "Focus. Focus. Focus."  I went to Ikea today and Oh My!  My cart runnith over.. Yes, I believe I might be a shop-a-holic.  A shopaholic with ADHD.  Not a good combination I might add.  BUT... I did come out of the store with what I had intended on getting, so that is a good thing.  I needed some cute little chairs to go in my listening center and I found these lime green ones.  They are so cute.  Made of plastic (so easy to clean) and lightweight.  I also purchased the cutest lime green Owl lamp at target to put on my desk.  It was on clearance for $14.99.  Did I say 'Cute"?  My classroom is very old so it needs A LOT of cuteness in it.  (At least that is my story and I am sticking to it!  And it works really well with the hubby!)  Well here is a picture of my cute lime green chairs that I wanted to share.  Can't wait to go to my classroom this week to start putting things together!

Here is the fancy border to go with my cute chairs!

Here is the other side of the border.  Not sure what side I will use.

First Day Scavenger Hunt

I have been away from my blog for several days due to a trip to Oregon for a Family Reunion.  It was absolutely a very memorable 5 days and so wonderful to see family members that I have not seen in 15+ years.  Lots of pictures were taken and many memories made... with that being said, I am back to reality and back on the trail of blog stocking for more wonderful ideas!  I must say, I am one of the luckier ones as we do not start back to school until a day after labor day so I get the pleasure of sitting home for another month to "look" at more great ideas before returning to my classroom.  I saw this idea on http://wildaboutk.blogspot.com and thought what a great idea for me to use in my classroom as I teach special education kinders and we are constantly redirecting the students to certain areas of the classroom so I thought if I made this a first day scavenger hunt, made a little game out of it with a "reward" at the end then perhaps my kiddos would learn the areas quicker.  Of course we might have to modify it and make it a weekly scavenger hunt for the first few months!  So thank you Wild about K for the wonderful inspiration!

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oWgwRX8n0zdfhcuRJcsgy7xhUuu715He-JPnDj36X5w/edit?hl=en_US