Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Classroom library

Aggggghhhhh! The good news is that I have a lot of books. The bad news is that I have a LOT of books!!

At the beginning of summer, I knew I was leaving a very disorganized classroom library, and I had every intention of organizing everything before school starts. Well, here we are. I have just a few days left.

It was a messy process with stacks of books everywhere. I'm so happy to have all the books organized by holiday, topic, genre, or in one of the general piles for decodable books, read alouds, pattern books, or wordless and label books. This is going to pay off this year, right? And MAYBE it'll be easier to set up for next year??

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Owls in Kindergarten

I love putting together my owl themed classroom :)

Today, I get to meet the students and do some beginning assessments. They are identifying letters, writing their names, and counting. They are excited and hopeful. Just like the poem on the bulletin boards

Hoot Hoot
Hoot, hoot hooray!
We are in school today.
We'll read and run,
And have some fun.
Hoot, hoot hooray!

Saturday, August 10, 2013

Happy School Year!

I'm setting up once again.
I love this time of year, with all the hope and anticipation, everyone looking forward to the Big Day. I love knowing that I get another chance, another set of little hearts to share this room with. I'm always filled with new ideas to try and new songs to sing.

And then there's the old. I realized as I finished a classroom bulletin board that I made this same tree about 15 years ago, when I started teaching. It has such great appeal to me because it is warm and happy... and free. Yeah, free is important to teachers.

As I move forward with my second year in kindergarten, there are many new things I want to try. But I also have many old things that I'm excited to reuse and recycle. It's going to be the best year yet.