Now Teach! Linky Party

I am linking up with Blog Hoppin' for Teacher Week '13- NOW TEACH! Organizing for Instruction.

I have only been in my room a few days setting up, so today I actually looked at some things and took some pictures of some of the ways I organize for teaching.  I don't even have my tables or chairs in the room yet. They are used for a camp in the summer, so hopefully they come back soon. ;)  I actually don't mind because  my room seems SO BIG without tables and chairs- so... it's not all bad.

I put my magnetic letters up on my board ready to use!

 I covered up the ugly back of this bookcase with some cute letters I found. Each letter has something that starts with that letter- apples on a, bees on b...  As we start making things- this will go and projects will replace it. It was just so u.g.l.y. with nothing on it...

 This is one of my word walls. (I know... it is comic sans... I made this before I was so font-savvy- ;)  ha.)  I love this because the words are each on a full size piece of cardstock.  One of the kids' favorite activities when we have a few minutes is when I use the laser pointer and they read the word I  point to.  (Sometimes I spin it is circles so they run around and get dizzy... WAIT- that's the cat. Sorry.)

Here is another word wall.  I put the children's names on this board after we take them off our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom tree.  (What other profession would EVER know what in the world that sentence meant?!)

 

These are some charts I have ready to go (not up until we learn about them-).  They are always really handy and used a lot for writer's workshop.

 I love to use last names to teach "er."

 This is just a quickie for writing where we will circle or underline chunks we find. 

 I do not have ANY storage to speak of- and we are not allowed to have any fabric for curtains or coverings in our classrooms- so that makes for unsightly clutter that makes me sad.  The kids are awesome about not touching certain areas, because it is all right out there- not hidden- and oh so tempting, I would think.  This is the front of my room. (Pretend those cords aren't there- also not pretty. ) I change the book bin topics every so often, and have beanbag chairs for the children to read.

These bees CRACKED me up. I loved their enthusiasm.  

This poster is ready to go- again, not hanging up- just ready  for after we read about filling buckets.

I usually have a couple different name charts that I keep up for the children to use to link letters and sounds. 

My meatball spacers, spacemen, and pointer eyes are all set to use.  I never put anything out until we talk about it and learn how it is used.  

I have all my reading strategy reading buddies ready to go.  I feel like they can't breathe in these bags... :(  Seriously. I have 5 of each- so enough for each group during our center time.  I get out one type of reading buddy to use as we learn about that one.  The others wait their turns in their bags. :(  

I was lucky enough to find big reading strategy animals at garage sales for my lessons!  I like that caterpillar because it is segmented-and I also have a more "stretchy snake" to use for that.  No big eagle eye though. Oh well, it gives me something to look for at garage sales!  (You know- with my eagle eyes. Oh wow. )

 This mess area is actually math read alouds and character ed read alouds.  I keep the activity ideas inside each book so I have it all set to go. This makes it really easy, too, if I need a quick sub idea.
The bins on top are sight word games and rug activities for whole group.

 These are some of my first few days books I like to use.

 These are my first day favorites. If Everybody Did gets a laugh from everyone and makes a good lesson.  I use The Very Busy Spider when I teach about our center time, and how I am a very busy teacher working with my group so the children need to ask each other or wait for me to be done with my group to ask questions.  I have a little spider beanbag I keep by my spot when I teach as a reminder.

The kids love these books.  Here is an example of a poem I keep in this book that the children can illustrate to go with the book.  I don't usually do this when I read it the first time. I just read it, but I have that activity inside incase I want to use it with the book.

 I have my previous class make a book for my new class. This is a favorite.  The new Kindergarteners LOVE to think that first graders made a book just for them. It is a great conversation starter about different things we will do in our classroom!

 (a favorite!;)

 Look how much it looks like our rug!

 I found this AWESOME Star Spangled Banner Freebie at the Crafty Classroom blog!  It is wonderful. I didn't use it last year because I just found it, but I laminated the pages and made a couple classroom books. The illustrations are wonderful.  We learn all the vocabulary for the song- and these pictures are great. I also printed out the pages so the children can make mini books. 

 I actually had to look up what a rampart was when I first taught the song.  Really.  I did.

This is a great Pledge of Allegiance book. This year I am teaching it in sign language. I can't wait. The videos I am going to use are  on my Back to School Prezi if you want to  use them (on the flag).

One is normal speed and the other is slow motion.

 These are a couple of my favorite books about being a friend. 

Right by my chair on the rug, I keep my go-to game ideas, Common Core Standard reading questions, pop sickle sticks with questions, quick exercises, or activities, and extra reading books- always ready for those few minutes to fill.

I keep the math/science journals under a desk in the front of the room.  We use these on the rug or at seats- with a math question of the day or a science experiment.  I keep pencils right by the journals. I have 24 pencils in about 4 or 5 places in the room- so I can just always have them ready to use when I need them and we don't have to waste time getting pencils.  Did I ever mention I love sharp pencils?  Just checking...  And I don't even have one of those famous quiet sharpeners everyone talks about! Go figure.  

 After we read The Kissing Hand, I paint the children's hand and stamp it over a red heart beside a poem. As I am doing this, the children color Chester while they wait to stamp their hand. When they are done and have done their best job, I tape a Hershey Kiss to his hand to send home. ( That is what is in the bag- I have no idea why I left that bag in the picture or why the pictures are so doggone bad and not clear. SORRY!)

I love using my Brown Bear, Brown Bear big book, and then coloring a different color page each day for the first couple weeks of school when we have our color days as review. 

 This is my little way to help remind the children not to pick nametags...  We have a nice long talk about keeping them looking nice before they go back to their seats and start picking their nametags working.

 This is my bribe tool to teach how to pronounce my name.  I refuse to ever let anyone call me "Mrs. K." because I don't want them to look back when they are 30 and try to remember their Kindergarten teacher and only think of "Mrs. K."  Nope. It will not happen.  They are really great at saying my name. They never say "Kis-LOUSE-ki" like grown-ups do.  Lots of times I get just plain old "Kisloski" for a while.  They concentrate so hard on that part- they forget the Mrs.  :)  I also get "Kalochky, Sloski, Slouseski"- but for the most part- we are good.  I tell them it is a good thing my name isn't Mrs. Spinachloski or we would have to start off with spinach.  That spins in to all sorts of food names and we have more fun than we should with my name. 

If you are still here- thank you for making it through this post! I got carried away with the pictures. Hopefully tomorrow I can do some nametags on my tables and cubby names- and hopefully all of my chairs will come back, too. 

Have a great day! :)