800

Ok guys. This is monumental. This is my 800th post on Sneaker Teacher. 

Cue the party horns and confetti. 

Woo Hoo!

I wish I had a big announcement or a giveaway. 

But, I don't.

I feel like I need to say something really important.

 But, I really just want to share the photos of what I accomplished in my room today....

It's far from done, but I only had 3 hours to work before I had to go to the dentist, so I did as much as I could with my classroommate. It doesn't look like much, but putting up all that paper takes time...

I was disappointed to realize that the borders I bought were in my car, which Mr. Sneaker took today because it has our only carseat and he drops Baby Sneaker off at daycare. So although we put up fresh paper for our display boards, they are lacking fun borders to make them look complete. 

oops.

 This will be the space where I gather with the kiddos every morning to review our letter of the week, words of the week, and to do some quick math practice. I moved my math wall to a new location this year so I could have separate walls for phonics and for journeys.

Fortunately this wall stayed in really good shape last year, so I actually didn't have to do anything to it. I am not sure if those things will all stay up against that wall, but we want to have a space for our "throne" that allows us to access/reference either of the display walls. I have not yet put up anything on this wall which will be dedicated to our reading program. The program comes with large Focus Wall posters for each lesson (so a poster that gets switched out each week) and we want to add something cute to decorate it that goes with the theme of journeys (maybe a hot air balloon?)

This will be our phonics wall which will be home to our alphabet, our letter cards that we add as we complete each sound lesson, and our word wall. I plan to staple the words below the picture cards as we introduce them. We decided to leave some open space at the top for photos or student work that we can hang throughout the year. And, you might notice that my alphabet is really low. I've never had it that low before, but I think that it's easier for the kids to see and reference since they are small and sitting down on the carpet. Plus, then I can add the letter cards on top and the words below. If I want them utilizing the word wall, then I figure it should be more on eye level. I feel like I am breaking some rule by having it that low, but that's what we decided we want to try this year. 

All of these areas will look better once they are actually completed and I will post more pictures then. The biggest change is that my classroommate and I want to save more space for student work instead of having all the spaces covered and decorated right off the bat. I want the visuals to be meaningful, which means things will be added as we go. We also want to preserve space to put up more photos of students. 

I'm really trying to hold back and not put everything out in its place now because I want to avoid having students and siblings touching everything when they come to drop supplies off the week before school. I love getting everything all set, but I just need to think about all those untrained kids grabbing at everything and I remember that I can do all that in good time. 

I really wish I could have stayed all day. I love setting up my room and getting everything organized. I need time to attack my desk, file cabinet, and shelves. 

I need to seriously organize my books. I should check out Pinterest for some ideas on organizing books. ooh that sounds fun!

When I picked Baby Sneaker up from daycare she was sleeping on a little cot with all the big kids instead of in a crib like she did last year. When did my baby get so big?

She was wiped out after spending time with her friends today.

I'm going back in tomorrow to chat with the new teacher on our team. I don't know if I will be able to get much done because Baby Sneaker is coming with me (yes, now I have a grabby child of my own who just might wreak havoc in my classroom), but hopefully I can at least staple the borders up!

Do you decorate everything before school starts or add as the year progresses?

Do you cover every square inch of space or use your real estate selectively?

TPT Treasures

I spent a lot of time laminating today in preparation for spending some time setting up my classroom tomorrow, so I thought I would share some of the TPT treasures that I am loving right now. Most of them are for math, so I also spent some time organizing math files so that I can have my loot organized as I go through the year. 

So, first I'll show you what I got. 

Then I'll tell you what I plan to do with it and how I'm organizing it. 

Sounds like fun, right?

Common Core {Kindergarten Math Vocab list & cards}

This packet contains lots of math vocabulary cards with images to help illustrate the definition. Math vocabulary is really important so these will help me stay accountable for using "math words" and will give the kiddos a good picture representing what I am talking about. 

Math 3D Shape {Mini Posters} for the Primary Classroom

My kiddos always have a tough time learning the names of the 3-D shapes so I am trying really hard to gather resources with good images to show 3-D shapes (in addition, of course, to having actual models to show the kids). These posters are great for showing 3-D shapes and a real life example. 

 Solving Math Problems {Strategy Posters for Addition} Common Core

I LOVE these posters that provide visuals for different ways to solve math problems. The images are really cute and I think this will be a great addition to all the story problem work we have to do.

"Owl" About Numbers {Math Posters 1-10} Kindergarten Common Core

We have a "number parade" that goes along with our math program to reinforce number order 1-10, but I love how these number cards show the various representations of each number. Each card shows the numeral, number word, dots on a 10-frame, tally marks, and how the number looks in dice dots. I think this will help provide differentiation for kids who know their numbers right off the bat because I can have them show me the numbers in the variety of ways these cards model. 

Shape Friends {Posters and Poems}

I have been really surprised by how difficult it is for some kiddos to learn the names of basic shapes. This packet includes a variety of posters in both black and white and color that show 2-D shapes. There are plain shapes, shapes with faces, and shape poems. I plan to do a lot of shape review so I'm excited to have additional visuals for my kiddos. 

Shout to Cheryl at Primary Graffiti who made these!

Then a few things for Reading & Writing...

Writers Workshop POSTER: Adding DETAILS using FEELING WORDS.

I'm very excited about this poster visual because as part of narrative writing, the kiddos have to express how they felt about what they did. I get a lot of "I felt good" or "I felt happy," so this poster will give a few more examples of feelings that we can talk about and hopefully include in journal writing. 

Journeys Through the Year...Kindergarten Edition

This was a bit of a splurge at $25.00, but I know that quite a bit of work went into making this. I am planning to have a wall dedicated to our new reading program, which is Journeys. This collection focuses on what should go on the word wall and includes all of the essential questions, comprehension strands, phonics we focus on and everything is labeled with the particular lessons it goes with. It also has binder covers so that all the materials can be organized into binders for each unit. Great stuff. The cards might be a bit small, yet I'll take it considering it's all ready to go! 

Now for my plans...

My plan is to create a much better math wall than I have had in the past. I am moving the math wall to a different area in the room and plan to make it a lot more interactive that it has been in the past. I would like to make the calendar and the 120 chart staple items that remain all year, but also add a space at the top where I change out the posters and cards depending on what we are studying. I had shapes posted all year last year, but some kids still had trouble because the poster just stayed on the wall and we didn't really interact with it. I want to use the math wall as part of a new morning review so that we can look at and talk about vocabulary every day. 

I have different things to post for each of the CCSS strands, so I will change the top section of the math board at the beginning of each unit. Once a unit is over, the visuals I used will then move over to the side of the board specifically for reviewing concepts. I hope this will be a great way to learn the current content better and continuously review as we go. 

I decided that in order to keep track of all the things I got and when I want to use them I should make file folders for each CCSS strand. That way at the beginning of each unit I can locate what I purchased and put it to use. 

 Measurement & Data

 Counting & Cardinality

 Geometry

Numbers & Operations in Base Ten 

Operations & Algebraic Thinking

I'm excited to get into my room tomorrow with my classroommate and start getting some of these instructional boards ready. We only have a few hours together because I have a dentist appointment at noon, but we'll try and get as much done as we can. 

I think setting up my room in preparation for the school year is one of my favorite parts of the school year. But this year, I swear that I will remember it's not necessary to put everything out before we have our supply drop because there will always be kids who start playing with anything and everything they can get their hands on and who will ring my bell and that always drives me nuts! 

Picky Picky

Do you remember that was the name of Ramona Quimby's cat? 

Ok, that was totally random. 

Onto the point!

Let's play a game...

what's wrong with this picture? 

don't blurt it out right away, I want everyone to think about it...

think time....think time....think time

Ok. In what Common Core Kindergarten world is a ball an example of a circle? 

Kinders these days develop and very sophisticated understanding of 2-D versus 3-D and therefore they are quite familiar with the term sphere. (well who am I kidding, many of my kiddos point to a sphere and say circle), BUT I certainly don't want to encourage this confusion by posting a picture of a beach ball next to a circle as if the former is an example of the latter. 

Why couldn't they just make it a clock? 

Do you ever wonder who makes educational materials? 

Did a teacher seriously design this? 

My other pet peeves are "teacher" fonts with a and 4. That's not how we teach the kids to write them, so why would I want to display anything in my room with letters and numbers that are different than what we use! 

What is your teachery pet peeve?

Whacky Back to School Dreams

Having weird dreams, ok more like nightmares, about school is pretty common for me as it gets closer to the beginning of a new school year. Only I'm not sure they've ever started this early before. My typical back to school dream goes something like this....

It's the first day of school but for some reason I have not prepared anything and have not gotten the classroom ready at all. I have children who are severely misbehaving and the principal decides to come in for an observation visit.

My. Worst. Nightmare.

But last night's was just odd. More funny actually. I was in my classroom setting up (which I have plans to do with my classroommate (I think I just made that word up) on Thursday and I was hanging photos of all of the suitors from the Bachelorette on the walls. I had a big string and then their photos were hanging from it so I could display all their faces on the wall. Then I went outside and met up with my principal who had some serious summer weight loss and who was telling me about how she got fit. Cardio is out, she said. Rock climbing and barre work are how to get it done. And, eating high protein meals every two hours. Then an anteater crossed our paths as we walked on the playground.

Where does this stuff come from?

When I went back into my classroom, there were three beds lined up in front of the whiteboard instead of desks and Mr. Sneaker was taking a nap in one of them.

Yeah.

Super duper weird, right?

Do you have back to school dreams or nightmares? 

Will you be tuning into the Bachelorette finale tonight? 

classroom ideas you have to see!

Check out this article that shows some great classroom organization ideas! 

My favorites are pictured here: 

Check out the link and tell me which ones are your favorite!

Throwback Thursday

I am loving the idea of Throwback Thursday that I've seen on facebook, Instagram, and some blogs. So instead of writing something new today, I picked a post from the summer before my first year of Kindergarten. I had just decided to go with a beach theme in my classroom and shared some of my ideas for decorating.

Originally posted August 12, 2010

Which Way to the Beach?

Not only do I wish I were at the beach today because it is gray and rainy out in Germany, but I finally decided what my classroom theme will be and the winner is....BEACH THEME! As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I spent a LOT of time yesterday on the internet looking for ideas and making lists of what I need to buy/print/organize/put together next week. I only have three days left in Germany, can you believe that?! I am so ready to hit the ground running and hopefully jet lag will  not interfere. Last time I flew to Cali I was totally fine, it was just the return that killed me for about two weeks.

Back to the beach, I have been trying to decide on a classroom theme for awhile now and I started looking in the direction of the zoo which intermingled a lot with wild animal and safari themes. As I was looking, I came across some really cute decorations that sparked my interest in a beach theme. I did some shopping at Oriental Trading since they have fun, cute decorations that are pretty reasonably priced and I found some good stuff.

I am picturing the balloon lanterns hanging above the tables because I like to assign each table group a color and I already have rainbow colored material bins, so I typically use rainbow colors anyway. I am not sure if the janitor will allow that, but I am going to try! I think the beach ball string lights will go along the top of the whiteboard, but I don't think I will actually use them as lights, just decoration. I will find a place for the big sun, probably in the area where I do whole group lessons. I was thinking of incorporating some ocean/fish stuff as well to go with the beach theme (maybe for attendance and/or bulletin boards). I have to see what materials I find at the teacher store when I get back. I also want to use buckets for supplies like in the picture above, but I will get more beachy buckets instead of metal ones.

That's cute!

It could be cute to use something like this Popsicle for attendance. I usually have laminated names with magnets on the back so the kids can move their names to sign up for their lunch choices. My Kinders won't have lunch at school, but I do want them to be in charge of "signing in" daily when they arrive. If the popsicles were on magnets they could move their pops to indicate they are present. I need to do more thinking on that...still not sure where I want to go with it.

The ideas are still coming together, but I am glad that I at least have some semblance of a plan. Also, the bee folders actually still coordinate quite well because there are always bees as the beach! I am excited to get working on arranging and planning out my room. I know I will need restraint to not start decorating right away, but I need to be a planner first once I see the room and think through everything before I start moving stuff. I will definitely post pictures of the room and the progress once I get started! If you have any ideas or have done the beach thing before...I am all ears!!

Life's a Beach!