Holy Cow!

I am sure you have been wondering where we have been. We had such high goals on our blog when we started it at the end of last year. But wow was our summer busy! We attended the Missouri Kindergarten Conference in St. Louis and gathered so many new ideas and walked away with that feeling that you are going to be great teacher this year. You know that feeling that we all walk away from conferences with. Then August came and the reality of getting the room ready begins. Mrs. Gordon and I had spent most of summer last year getting our rooms cleaned and arranged, then we got the school newsletter and our building was going with a building wide western theme. I don’t know about most people but news like that sent her and I into panic. How in the world would we incorporate western in our bright and colorful kindergarten rooms. We were not required to have much, but we did have to dress up the halls for back to school night. So we went shopping. I don’t think we did too bad! Here are a few pictures of some of our hallway decorations and bulletin boards. I just added a little cow print to my polka dot room and felt it worked.

A Glimpse at Mrs. Barnett's Room

When I received my room assignment for my kindergarten room I was very excited because it was the biggest room in the building.  But I soon found out that big is not always better.  The room had been occupied by a teacher that had retired after 30 years of teaching.  And as you all know we seem to gather a lot of stuff as we teach.  So I had a lot of stuff to go through and arrange.  I had to decide what to keep and what needed to go.  I have to say I am not much on saving everything, so there was a lot of purging going on.

Then it was time for a theme and a paint color.  I am really drawn to bright and cheery; and as I looked on Pinterest and the internet I started to be drawn to the polka dots that are so big right now.  And then everything just snowballed from there.  I spent my entire summer painting, cleaning, decorating and organizing.  Here are a few views of my room. 

My Math Board

Where I keep my Kleenexs, germ-x, and supplies for students.

My desk area and my card shelf that I dug out of the dumpster at Dollar General and painted pink (love that shelf) works great for my theme books.

My kids cubbies and some storage.

My Guided Reading area.

 My seat pockets I sewed over the summer, and I love them.  When my kids finish their work I can check it at their seat and then they place them in their pockets.  Then at the end of the day it is a cinch to load their backpacks.  The idea traveled around our building and I ended up sewing some for two other classrooms.

 

A Peek at Mrs. Gordon's Room

Last year when I accepted a teaching position at my new school I immediately began thinking about my NEW classroom.  I love to decorate and the thought of designing a new theme for a classroom had me giddy.  I spent countless hours on the internet scouring Pinterest classroom ideas not to mention looking at the amazing School Girl Style website.  I stressed over it for weeks and finally decided on a color scheme.  I am very lucky that my school district allowed me to paint my classroom...and pick any color I wanted!  At first our head of maintenance was a little wary of my color choices which were Benjamin Moore's "Sapphire Ice" and "Ladybug Red".  I have to admit I was a tad nervous myself.  I am beyond blessed to have a wonderful mother and mother-in-law that helped me sand off mickey mouse border that had been there for I am guessing at least ten years and paint the entire room.  After getting paint on the walls the room really started to take shape.  I decided on a "Seussy" theme and began adding lots of polka dot and striped fabrics, a bright red rug, pops of turquoise, orange, red, and lime green and these amazing Dr. Seuss quotes I found here.  My ever so talented dad created the frames that were repurposed from old trim removed from my grandparents home.  On meet the teacher night the look on my new K babies faces made all the hard work and countless summer nights worth it!  They were in love!

 

Mrs. Gordon>

Word Work Center

Math Center

Book Ledge in the Reading Center

Guided Reading Area

Student Cubbies