Back-to-School

Here are some of the things I have purchased and/or been working on for the new school year...

Apples for my new bulletin board to welcome the new kinders to school. They were blah, so I added ribbon and cardstock.

New jumpropes for recess.

We have one of these in the computer lab at our school. As the teacher circulates, she places this "Good Work" cone on a student's computer who is following the rules. I bought one for the classroom, I'll try it out during centers.

Lots of new decor for my new room. I love puppies, so that fabric is great for a dog-themed bulletin board!

Instead of the traditional alphabet ending, "Now I know my ABCs, next time won't you sing with me," I will sing, "Now I will never forget how to say my alphabet."

With more time in full-day kindergarten, I will be incorporating the Zaner-Bloser Handwriting workbooks, so I made bookmarks for each student to mark their pages.

More great dollar store finds.

I made this clipboard for my new aide, so I can post her to-do lists. The poor thing is stuck with me and my OCD tendencies.

A welcome note for my new kinders.

In the past, I usually memorize all 52 names by day 3, but I still made five days of name tags for my 25 kiddos. Hopefully, this helps my aide and the specialists.

With full-day kinder, I will be using ALL of the Social Studies materials, so I put together this basket to easily grab from.

Orientation and Open House items, explained here.

As part of homework for the second week of school, I ask my students to make a "Life Box". A "Life Box" contains items that are special to that child. We present these in a Show-and-Tell format, so we can get to know each other better. This is my "Life Box" with pictures, seashells, a Maltese figurine, pink things, sparkly things, and a little bit of Hello Kitty.

Hula hoops for recess.

Our new and improved crayon caddies.

I put each child's name on a cup. The theory is, if their name is on it, they'll take better care of the items... Fingers crossed.

Welcome to School gift bags.

**I am so excited for the new school year to start!...**

Office Overload

My office is currently in shambles. Boxes, bags, and piles cover my floor. I have been back to school shopping for my classroom.

I have also been sorting, counting, and organizing our consumables. We will have THREE teachers in the fall, instead of our previous two. I brought the boxes home so I could count them, bundle, and label the chapters with the teachers' names on them. Then, we had a lot of random extras from previous years that had been cramping my storage room.

Here are the chapters for my class. I keep them at home.