Classroom Makeover

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had my sister paint an old door in my classroom. I'm excited to share the before and after pictures of the makeover!

BEFORE 

AFTER

What a difference a good artist and a little paint makes! It's not completely finished as I still have to add a border. Now that I'm in the crafting mood, I'm off to complete some classroom projects seen on Pinterest!

Click for Creativity!

Abby, at The Inspired Apple, has a great video explaining her idea of having a blogging type of conference. Head on over to her blog, check out the video and leave your thoughts/ comments! :) Wonderful idea, Abby! 

I came across another great website after being directed there by Kristen at Little Miss Glamour Goes to Kindergarten. The website is No Time for Flashcards . It has SO many awesome ideas for studying the alphabet, books on certain subjects, seasons, crafts, animals, holidays and other themes. Below is a picture of the many ideas shared for the letter C. Thanks for sharing, Little Miss Glamour!!

Has anyone tried....???

 Has anyone tried Crayola's Dry Erase Crayons?

 

I just saw a commercial on T.V. advertising the Dry Erase Crayons, and I'm really interested in how they work! I thought about buying a pack to try out. On my classroom "Wish List" I added skinny black dry erase markers, which I've used in the past. I like the markers, but noticed that they would dry out after awhile. If the new crayons are a "must" I just might add those to my list instead! But I'm wondering how well do they erase, are they noticeable, easy to use or will I have students breaking crayons left and right?! Hmm, let me know what you think! 

Has anyone tried Delicious?

Yes, that cupcake looks DELICIOUS! But, I'm talking about the Social Bookmarking website called Delicious. I just discovered this as I was researching for Grad. school. I am loving it (just as much as I love cupcakes) !! This website allows you to create a list of bookmarks, just as you would on your computer. However, this list of bookmarks can be accessed anywhere with Internet access AND you can share the bookmarks with other users of Delicious. So if you and a colleague both sign up for Delicious Social Bookmarking, the two of you can share websites that you have found and loved! If you do not have a blog of your own I suggest getting a Delicious account because you can bookmark every blog you come across....... instead of searching through your computer's history to track down that blog you found two weeks ago, but can't remember how. (Or am I the only one who has done this?) :) The best part is that it's completely FREE! Who doesn't love free stuff?

August.... already???!!!

Don't get me wrong-- I LOVE my job and the kiddos! But I have really enjoyed having this summer off! This is the first summer since I've been teaching that I didn't work thru the summer (other then taking grad classes). And let me tell you-- I didn't know what I was missing! Summer has consisted of  enjoy days at the pool, days with family and friends, days catching up on home improvement and gardening, days visiting out of state friends, and days to improve my cooking/baking skills! It's sad to see summer come to a close, but exciting to start with a new bunch of Kindergartners! I've started to work in my room and that beginning of the year excitement is slowly starting to make its way into the end of summer. As I was blogstalking last week, I found a super cute Open House treat at What the Teacher Wants. Click to check it out-- it's a cute and inexpensive way to start the year off. Thanks for sharing your awesome idea! 


As the back to school organization continues in my room, I have decided (with the help of my wonderful aide) that I'm going to paint a door in my room. I have a "door" that used to be a door, but now is blocked off and covered with Styrofoam. My sister is an art teacher, so I have plans for her to come in a paint a scene as if we are looking out of a window. I will post a before and after picture of the door as she works her magic! I'm excited for the end result as the past few years I've had posters that have been stapled and stapled and stapled again because they continued to fall off of the "door".

As I mentioned, I've been working on my Master's Degree in Ed. Technology. I thought I would start to share some of the projects I have created, so they have a chance to be put to use-- instead of sitting in storage on my computer. :)  I've created two WebQuests for Kindergarten students. A WebQuest is a inquiry based lesson with many web based features. (Check our www.webquests.org for more information and more awesome WebQuests!) The first WebQuest is a math lesson based on Shapes. The second is a Science lesson based on a Pumpkin Life Cycle. I have included a link to Little Giraffes in this WebQuest. I love this website, so if you have a chance and haven't before-- check it out! Let me know what you think, hopefully they are of some use to you! 


Click to access the Pumpkin WebQuest.
To access the Shape WebQuest see below: