Lesson Plan Book/Gradebook

I made this binder to keep my lesson plans in, until I turn them into the school.
This record book is solely for recording homework completion. The other grades and benchmarks I record are kept in the computer.

Keep it Neat!

I made these little 2.5" x 3" cards to attach to my crayon caddies, as a reminder to put their cups BACK the way they FOUND them! :)

More Shopping!

I used a 40% off coupon at Michael's for this scrapbooking storage wheely bag. It is definitely much cuter than the other option. It has zippered pockets for markers and supplies.

I found four cups for $1. I use the cups to hold crayons in my supplies caddies.

At Dollar Tree, they have a section for teachers. They have cute stamps, borders, posters, and lots of other great finds!

These bowls are great for hold small pieces during art projects. When we are doing a project whole-group, I put wiggly eyes, pom-poms, or any other small pieces in the bowls. When we use cereal as counting manipulatives. I pre-fill the bowls.

Shopping!

Here are some of the great things I have found for my classroom.

I found foam numbers for my water table at the dollar store and really cute border. I'll put the border in my bathrooms. Just $1!!
Here are some incentive charts I found for $2.99 at teachercreatedresources.com. I ordered 10 of them!

I am in LOVE with these bins. They are big enough to fit 8.5" x 11" paper. I found them at Target for $2.50 each so I got 4 (I am thinking about going back to get more). I am using the red bin for my morning class's no name homework and the blue one for my afternoon class's no name homework. I color-code all of my things; red is AM and blue is PM.

These balls are perfect for the playground. They don't hurt if you get hit with one and they help improve hand-eye coordination and gross motor skills.

"They" always say the children who can read are the first jumpropers. I think it has to do with the rhythm... Another $1 find!

Summer Vacation

I have spent my very first summer vacation (we were a year-round school until this past year) planning and preparing for the 2009-2010 school year. I have been labeling items for the children and organizing. Every year, I start off with items pre-written, such as three days worth of name tags, apples for my bulletin board, and people cut-outs.

On the first day of school, I leave the "welcome" plaques on their desks with a piece of candy. We keep the apple nameplates at school, in case one forgets how to spell thier name during an in-class assignment.

I have been putting my laminator to good use creating non-fade labels. Some of my classroom decor is starting to fade and needs to be replaced.

Commotion in the Ocean

At Art Center, I keep this sign to remind children the steps to complete their art projects. Usually, it keeps them independent. The pieces are velcro, so as art projects change, I just swap the steps.

Here the students are told to write names first, then paint!

The Ocean theme is my favorite! As always, you have to keep lessons integrated, so I am incorporating math patterns in art!

Kid's favorite.

I drew goggles and a snorkel and used the riso to make copies on sturdy construction paper. This is a very difficult cutting task for a kinder, when cutting out the eye window. They wear these on their heads for the rest of the school day. In the journals, the children wrote about what they would want to see in the ocean with theeir goggles.

Water Table Center.

I put TONS of soap in there and some fake ocean life. Another favorite!

Organization

I keep this bin on my front table and put all worksheets, transparencies, and reminders for that day in there. Everything is within arm's reach. Very handy!