Saturday, July 27, 2013

Introducing: My Classroom in Pieces

This is so exciting! I've chosen to do a safari- jungle theme for my Transitional Kindergarteners (TK). Here are some pictures I've taken so far.
This is my clip chart. Students will learn how to be responsible for themselves by moving their clips up or down according to the behavior they display everyday. 

Here are my awesome zebra curtains made by my grandmother. She is the world's best sewer- if you have someone with talents you down have yourself- it never hurts to ask for a little help! I also used an inverse spray job on those bags behind the right curtain for library bag holders. Here is a close-up of them: 

All I did was buy fabric spray paint at Michael's, and laid down a stencil! 

This next project I did is seen all over Pinterest: 
I am lucky enough to have a professional carpenter (my grandfather) to help me carve out the wooden parts needed to stabilize the top parts of these stools. After he carved them out, all I did was add foam padding and jean fabric with my staple gun. These are now stools for my listening center. 

I had a lot of fun with this next one: 
 
This tree took me around four hours to make, but totally worth it! Her name is Sally the Sleeping Tree, she says: "Please be silent as you read under me." I've arranged for my listening center and reading hut to be near her so the kids will learn to have whisper voices near her. 

All I did to make Sally was twist brown butcher paper for the branches, and painstakingly stapled each limb to the wall (so lucky all my walls are staple-walls). The trunk had to be massively taped down to the blue cabinet with clear tape. I made her face out of black yarn and tried to make it so it doesn't look so scary! My fiancé has told me it looked like it'd be in their nightmares if I'm not careful with the placement, so I hope it sends off a happy/peaceful vibe! Other than that, I just taped/ stapled the little leaves- which will eventually change with the seasons, and decorated with the students' art throughout the year! 

That's all for now. I've been told to try to enjoy my summer as much as I can before the craziness starts, so off the the pool I go! 

5 comments:

  1. Looks great Em! LOVE all that you have done so far! You rock!! :)

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  2. Wow!!! Sally the Sleeping Tree is Awesome!!! I think I may need to make one of those!!! Great Idea!! I am your newest follower and I can't wait to go through this year with another TK teacher!! But 30 students?? Hopefully not all at the same time??

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    1. Hi Michelle! It will be all at the same time- 5 hours every day. I will just need to stick with my discipline routine to the T and hope I don't go too crazy! How many will you have?

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    2. Wow... that is a lot of TKers!! :) I will have 13 to start off the year... we usually pick more up as the year gets started. We had 18 last year, but the enrollment went up this year so they split us up and created 2 classes. Our max is usually 15, but we didn't have space for a second class last year so we all squeezed into one room. I am looking forward to following your guys!! It looks like you will have loads of fun!! Where are you located? Would you be interested in becoming Pen Pals with my class? We are in NC, and I know the kids would enjoy writing and sending things back and forth... even skyping when our Smart Board gets installed.

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    3. That would be amazing to be pen pals! The kids would love it. We are in CA and won't have a smart board but we could figure something out. You would be getting thirty letters! How fun

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