feeling crafty?

It's usually this time of year that I start perusing the internet to find cool ideas that I can steal borrow for my classroom in order to make the upcoming school year new and improved and the best year ever. I already think this year is going to rock because 1. I only have ONE class and will be working part time and 2. We are getting iPads for all our kiddos...but, I'm still on the lookout for other ways I can spice up the classroom and my instruction so that teaching Kindergarten continues to be a blast. 

So, I revived my twitter page in order to read some of the educational tweets posted by educators I follow and I started tuning in a bit more to the educational posts on facebook by none other than Heidi of HeidiSongs. She is the amazingly talented woman who created all the sight word songs that I love and the new CD full of classroom management songs that I am oh so excited to put to use this fall. Several posts from HeidiSongs popped up yesterday on FB and one of them linked to this site and a post about creative ideas for classroom set up. My favorite one involved this...

 what's that you ask?

well, it just so happens to be a rain gutter

creatively used to become these...

rain gutter book shelves?

Yes please!!

I have this one old display book shelf in my classroom and no matter where I put it, it's in the way. It sits against the wall but comes out on a diagonal and the shelves for books just aren't the right size, so many books get hidden in the effort to put them on display. I know those kinds of shelves are expensive, but I don't think it's the most attractive thing and it's frustrating that it doesn't really do a nice job of displaying books which is what it is meant to do...

I started googling rain gutter bookshelves and there are lots of sites with "how to" directions. It seems easy enough to do...if I can enlist the help of Mr. Sneaker. I am not really sure if this is just one of those cool ideas that will never come to fruition or if I can really make this happen in my classroom, but I think they are really cool and I want I want I want!!! Also, these shelves seem pretty compact and therefore flexible enough to put in various places around the room. Math books displayed on the math wall? Yes please! Books related to our sound of the week on the phonics wall? That would be terrific! A short shelf near our morning greeting area to display the daily read aloud?! I am getting really exciiiiited....

So props to Heidi for turning me on to this cool idea!!

I also have been thinking about trying to make some type of curtains that I can put on my bookshelves that could cover games and activities when they are not in use. I am also thinking curtains have the potential to be helpful for the classroom sharing situation I am in because if there are any materials I don't want the other students using, the curtains could function to block out that shelf. I am still not sure what we will and will not share with each other and each other's students, but I am thinking it might be nice to maintain some stuff for my own class. In the process of searching for a good photo of what I am hoping to make I came across this awesome site. Classroom DIY!? I am in love! Baby Sneaker just woke up, but I have a date with that site later today because I bet it has some great ideas to offer. 

What back to school ideas have you all excited?!