My Sweet Classroom!

Hello everyone! Sorry I haven't posted lately but as many of you know, I have been busy getting my kindergarten classroom ready and starting school. I usually go in the week before I am officially back on the clock and set up my classroom. I like to have it all ready so I can focus on other things during my pre-planning week before the student start coming. So, I have been back in school mode for the last three weeks.....one getting my room ready, one week of pre-planning, and the first week of school with students. Thankfully we stagger start in kindergarten which means we only have a few students each day. It makes the beginning of the year so much easier. Since school has been my main focus lately, I am sharing pictures of my classroom today. My theme this year is sweet treats and I have incorporated some into the room. I hope you enjoy...:) 

This is a favorite area of the room for the students and myself. This is where we meet for reading lessons. The beginning of the year is mainly reviewing and learning the alphabet letters and sounds. This is where I read my morning message to them as well as read them books. The easel gets a lot of use! I always sit in my red chair that I redid a couple years ago. The students sit on an assigned spot on the rug.

Here's a closer view of the window. I made the curtains last year and will most likely use them for a few years. The alphabet in the window sill are wooden blocks. 

Moving around the room, you see my small group area. The door is to my closet.

This is the inside of my closet. It is actually very large. This shot taken from the door doesn't show everything.

My "office" area is next. A little busy I know but I love it!

This little desk sits at the end of my desk and holds a container (made by one of my parents last year) full of necessities....Clorox wipes, hand sanitizer, Lysol air freshener, and so on.

Next up, I have three of these shelves which I use as cubbies for the kids to keep their backpacks and coats in the winter. They are assigned a number and that's where they keep their stuff all year. The numbers are on gumdrops this year.

The top of this cubby holds bins for various things, papers, folders, & library books. Over the cubby is my Super Improver chart. The students set their own goals for things they need to improve on. Their goals can be academic or behavioral. My principal likes to see students make goals and track their progress in achieving them. This can be a challenge in kindergarten but with my guidance, it is possible. They earn a sticker or hole punch each time they improve and move to a new level when they reach ten improvements. They are competing against themselves, not each other. To the right, the yellow and blue charts are used for my helper of the day.

Moving on around is the door to the hall. It holds page protectors which hold important calendars and notes.

Our schedule hangs beside the door.

To the right of the door is the student computer stations. The birthday and rules board is over this area. The banner is made from book jackets. I made it a couple of years ago.

This wall houses my calendar area and projection screen. I love my Smart Cookie reward system I'm using this year. You can see it on the left of the white board. They can earn a cookie to be placed on the cookie sheet at the end of each day if everyone has had good behavior all day. I'll bake them cookies when they earn a dozen. 

The library area is next up. I am still tweaking this area. 

I took this picture a few days later after I made the little reading banner. I made it using Word Art and inserted a map of the world as the fill for the letters. I love how it turned out! Mama quilted the map for me when I first started teaching. It will always hang in my classroom. :)

And here is the last corner. I have a full sized fridge and stove. The fridge is used daily and I use the stove on occasion. The cabinets hold lots of supplies and necessities like tissues, hand sanitizer, paper goods for snack, snacks, and so on.

I didn't take a picture of all the student tables, but here is what they looked like for Meet Your Teacher night. The basket in the middle is what we call our tidy tubs. They are used as little trash cans for paper scraps.

The C.A.N.D.Y folder acronym stands for Communication and News Delivered to You. They use these daily to take things home and bring things to school.

I had these little treats ready for them that night as well.

Each table has one of these hanging over it. I have six tables and each is assigned a different color.

In the hall beside my door I have a desk with this adorable mirror I made. I bought the mirror at the thrift store for $5. I wanted one that looked like a window. The hubby built a window box on it for me and I painted it different colors. The mirror was wood tone before I painted it. It turned out so cute! I made little banners that say Mrs. Vicky's Sweeties and made flowers out of paper straws and cupcake liners. Isn't is adorable? I made the table cover as well using polka dot fabric and sweet treat fabric for the top part.

I also made the pink and white canopy for over my door to make it look like a store front. I made a canopy for three of my kindergarten team as well. 

This is the area in the hall where I will display student work.

And this is looking down the kindergarten hall.

My students used bingo markers to make their names this week. I write their names in different colors and they have to match the color using the bingo markers. They did a pretty good job following directions.

I have 17 little sweeties so far and love each of them already! I am the team leader for my team this year and put together a little something for each of them. I love the milk carton gift boxes I found in the Target Dollar Spot. They look like pencils! And, the cute gift tags came from there as well. Since we are doing a sweet theme, I had to give them some candy as well as a Krispy Kreme donut scented candle. Yum! 

I f you made it to the end, thanks for sticking around! I know this isn't very exciting for most of you, but it's where my heart is right now. On top of getting back in the groove with school, I am taking a Clinical Educator Training course which will allow me to have an intern in my room in the future as well as prepare me to be a mentor teacher. That is taking up some time in life as well right now. And, the hubby and I decided to start the 21 Day Fix lifestyle last week. We are both doing really well on it but weaning myself off sugar has not been easy. I can say that I feel much better and have much more energy that I did. I have lost 7 pounds so far and have been walking after school most days. I ordered a Fit Bit and can't wait to join some competitions against some friends to get my steps in each day! I am excited about this new journey I am on and hope I can stick with it! 

A quick update on Miranda! She is doing great! She absolutely loves teaching and is doing very well, receiving very high scores on her lessons. She has one more week of school and two interviews lined up. She has a flat secured and a roommate to live with. I couldn't be happier for her and this journey she is on. I hope each of you is doing well! Have a blessed and beautiful Sunday. 

Until next time.....