Our Smart Community is off to a great start!!

We are off and running with our farm unit! J I have the greatest intentions of creating a comprehensive unit to place on TPT but so far, I have not found the time to do it… hoping to catch up with thematic inspirations soon!! We started our vocabulary word of the day 2 weeks ago! Our students have already begun the process of understanding and applying their new found knowledge during discussions and through projects. We are having so much fun learning new words at Our Smart Community morning meeting! This week, we will begin a new addition to Our Smart Community… an afternoon math meeting which will include a math lesson and calendar activities. We meet in Mrs. Parrott’s room in the morning and we will meet in Mrs. Weyher’s room in the afternoon. We are looking forward to this new collaborative portion of our day! Kelly and I are still working on our rooms… and we wonder if we will ever get them truly finished.  We are finishing up our Leader Board this week and I will post classroom photos ASAP. Have a great week!

 

Our First Vocabulary Strip!

 

 

 

 

 

 

New classroom pictures coming soon... until then, a Leader In Me FREEBIE! J 7 Habits Bookmarks for your students! Enjoy! I hope your year is off to a GREAT start!

 

Classroom Storage Crate Seating!

So… Are you addicted to Pinterest?! If so, I am SURE you have already seen the fabulous and very functional crates for classrooms!

When I saw the first post, I knew I had to make some… but I wanted to add my own touch to them. If you have followed my posts at all in the last 4 months, you know I am moving to a brand new building. I am absolutely determined to have a beautiful and well decorated classroom! J My room will be black, bright pink, lime green, a little zebra thrown in for good measure. It all started with the fabric for the crates!

So, you wanta make ‘em too? Here is what you need to get started… (We made 12 so keep that in mind) We purchased 6 yards of fabric… had probably a yard and a half leftover. We chose “duck cloth” for the fabric because it was heavy like canvas and we thought it would hold up well. We bought 12 black crates at Target. We bought one sheet of wood @ Home Depot where they cut it FOR FREE and even rounded the corners for a perfect fit!

 We purchased foam from Hobby Lobby, along with ribbon.

We made a pull on each crate for easy removal of the seat.

We used a professional grade staple gun and it took some elbow grease to get those babies into the wood. I have already had some questions about the matching labels. J They are my favorite part!! I photographed the fabric and inserted the pictures into shapes in Powerpoint to create matching labels. Pretty cool, huh? I must admit… I am in love with our crates! We can’t wait to use them in our classrooms!

   

ZEBRA WORD WALL :)

Great Combo…

ZEBRA AND FREE!!! J

Grab your FREE word wall letters by clicking below…

Matching DOLCH words are available in my tpt store!

Ready, Set...CREATE!

So... as most of you know, we are moving to a new school. That would be brand new, still not finished and school starts in 3 weeks. I may or may not be a little stressed... OF COURSE I AM FREAKING OUT! I am the teacher that goes to school the second my room is clean and starts arranging and decorating. I have never (IN 17 YEARS) set up my room in less than 2 weeks. I am certain that a cot will be used for cat naps this year to get it all done. The hardest part is not knowing what the room looks like. I cannot plan for the space I haven’t seen. Like... how can I make my new word wall if I don’t know how much space I have?! I have officially started planning anyway and I am just praying it all works out! At the beginning of June, Kelly and I went shopping to choose our color scheme/fabric for our rooms. (Yes, they will coordinate... i.e. match!) We will be making the cute little storage seat crates as seen on Pinterest. Construction will begin soon... I will take pics as we work! J Here is our starting point... wish us luck, we have lots to do!

Saying Good-bye to Park Lane Elemntary

It would appear that I have been on vacation for a month but no… actually I have been SWAMPED with school and life stuff! Kelly and I have been packing and moving things to storage since Spring Break. Our entire building is relocating to a new school

(How exciting is that!?!) … Between field trips and kindergarten programs, the end of school and regular life… it has been crazy! I am sure you feel the same way!  Today, we will both sign on the dotted line and check out of the school forever that we have taught in for 7/8 years. It was amazing to stand in my classroom last night… so empty… and reflect on the children who brought so much laughter and brightness to room 100 at Park Lane Elementary. Kelly and I have never taught next door to each other. In fact, we have been at opposite ends of the building for most of our time at Park Lane.



In August, we will move into our new classrooms at Highland Park Elementary… side by side.  There are so many things we will be able to do with Our Smart Community and we are so excited!!  This summer, we will be working on some organizational projects and lots of fun decorating ideas… we look forward to sharing our completed classrooms with you.

(I fear we will have about 14 hours to move in before the children come… Please Lord, let me be wrong!!)

We had the opportunity to tour our new school at the beginning of May… and OF COURSE we snapped some pictures of our new classrooms! Um…yes, they are quite a bit smaller. L

The Front of the Building

Interior Design

 

Main Entrance

End of the hallway outside of our rooms

The door in the center leads to the playground. 

All kindergarten classrooms will be together in a pod for the first time ever!

This is my new classroom! Kelly’s is the opposite of mine.

     

We are SUPER excited to be next door to each other…

it only took 17 years!

       We would love to hear what you are up to this summer! J Stop by often and embrace the journey of summer fun!

SURF'S UP!!!!

WOW! I am just tooooo picky! It has taken me over a month to create my ocean unit but I had a bunch of ideas so... it is 140 pages! J) I hope my teacher friends love it as much as my students do! WOOT! Here it is: