I thought I would start my blog by showing you my classroom. This is the first year for me in this room. I gave up my "teacher desk" a few years ago and went to this kidney shaped table. I love it.
When students need help they just pull up a chair and I don't feel the barrier of a desk. I do all my small groups and guided reading groups here also.

 When I gave up my desk I needed storage. So I purchased this old dresser at a thrift shop. I painted it red, all but the top. The top was in good shape and I knew the top could chip as it would get the most use. I also took a charm pack of school fabric from Moda and made a runner for the top.  I store my clips in jars. A cool look and easier to get at when I need them. The lamp is an old lamp that I painted black and used an old locker basket for the shade. I have pictures of my family hanging on the basket.

 Here are my birthday bags. The idea came from pinterest. I don't recall who from, so if it is yours please let us know. They work really well.  I have their birthday sticker and card from me in them. It makes them very handy in a busy school day.

 The chair my husband helped me refinish. It was an old oak and leather rocker with the leather worn and stuffing falling out. We took off all the leather, added a wooden seat and slat back then painted it black. I made the cushions for it. I love the chair it is the perfect height for sitting in when my students are on the floor. My Grandpa Carl made the little stand that sits next to it. It is the perfect size for storing things used during center time.

 Yes, these are the crate seats you see all over pinterest. The difference is that we added wheels to them. We put a piece of 3quarter plywood cut to fit the bottom then added the wheels. Two reasons for this; as I am using them as their chairs they would need to move them in and out from the table, thus wearing out the carpet. With wheels the the carpet does not get damaged and they are able to move around. They work a lot like the " ball " chairs giving them the needed movement, but not the bouncing with the " balls". I color coded the covering to each table. The square on the table is made from duck tape. Because I have a morning and afternoon class my name tags are on velcro. The morning class takes theirs off at the end of the morning and the afternoon class can put theirs out when they come in. The baskets on the tables are from Target. My husband used his "riviter" ( I am sure that is not the correct term, but that is what I call it) to stick the cups to the plastic baskets. They do not move around or tip over, it works wonderfully.

 We are the home of the Leopards, this board is at the entrance of the classroom. Each child has a leopard with their name on it. Red bows for morning, blue bows for afternoon:)

 My classroom view from the doorway.

 Word wall. I took their first day in kindergarten pictures and added to the center part so they have their friends names to use in their writing.

 Our center tubs. They are numbered to match the center names on the wall. The students just grab a tub and take it to their spot. It works really well.

 We work for "bubblegum " parties. When they have gotten their jar of marbles full they get to put a penny in the bubblegum machine and get a gum ball. They take their gumball home in a zip lock snack baggie. Keeps the janitors in our school happy.

 My computer station and SMART board. I use my SMART board all day long. I love it and the kids love it!!

 The red chair is our " on deck" chair. When we are doing activities on the SMART board that I want to move quickly I have one student at the SMART board and the next one to go is sitting on the "on deck" chair.

 Our ABC board, at the beginning of the year we go through the ABC's. I have many 3d objects with magnets on them that I pull out and put on the board as we introduce the letter.

 The kindergarten kitchen. They love it and can't wait for their turn to go to the kitchen. I don't have it every week in our rotation, so when they haven't had a chance to be in the kitchen for a few weeks they are excited to go back.

 At our schools surplus auction this summer I bought these table/desks. They were the typical school gray/brown metal on the bottom. So I sprayed them red, refinished the tops and used my cricut to put the ABC's in vinyl on the top. It is our writing station.

 Another view of the table/desks.

 The next two pictures are our reading corner. The trufila trees were on pinterest, again I am not sure who to give credit for these as there were so many different versions of them.

I am having a great time teaching a group of 24 kindergarteners in the morning and a multiage group of Junior kindergarteners and kindergarteners in the afternoon.

Blogging is something I have always wanted to do. I took a class this summer at our districts technology camp that got me partially started. Yesterday we had a technology workshop day and I took another class that got me the jump start I needed to begin.

We head to see our son and family tomorrow for my grandson's 1st birthday. I can hardly wait to see them again. 

One more day in a two day week. Show and tell for our kindergarten classes. Should be a fun day!