Rockin' in Our School Shoes

Wait a minute... what's this? A blog post? I know, it has been a long time! I should be in bed, but I just HAD to share a few pictures of a book that we made in class.

My students absolutely adore Pete the Cat. My kinders all want to read the Pete the Cat books when we have quiet reading time.

This summer I saw the coolest idea on Pinterest where a teacher took pictures of the kids shoes on the first day of school and made a school shoe book for their classroom library. I really wanted to do this, so I took pictures on the second day of school and then I assembled them into this adorable book!

This is what the inside looks like. Each page has a 4x6 laminated picture of the child's shoes taped onto the center of the page. I used clear packing tape and only taped along the top edge. 

The children look at the shoes and guess who they belong to. 

Then they can lift up the flap and see a picture of the person wearing their shoes. I printed the photos of the students to be just under 4 inches tall. It amazed me that some of the students knew right away who every pair of shoes belonged to. 

I did my best to take pictures of the book, but the reflection from the lights and flash were terrible. Hopefully you can see the basics of what the book is about. 

So now that I have told you all about the book, I want to share part of it with you. I'm offering a freebie of the cover and inside pages to be turned into a book for your classroom! 

Click here to download the files to make your own. 

If you make a book, I'd love to see it! 

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!

It's finally here... the big classroom reveal!

Is it really possible that it has been 3 weeks since my last post? Wow, you would think that it was back to school or something?! 

I decided that I should probably upload the pictures that I took of my classroom. I love to see everyone else's classrooms so I thought I would share mine too! The pictures were taken the day before school started. Everything was ready to go and it is probably the cleanest my room will be all year! :) 

This picture is taken from my guided reading table. I love that I can see the whole classroom from my table which makes classroom management much easier! :) I like to have specific areas in my classroom for learning centers, but I also want the room to feel open. I think I've managed to accomplish both! 

This picture is looking back towards my table. I wish I would have had the windows open, the pictures probably would have turned out better! 

Here is our large group area. We gather here many times throughout the day. And of course, my SmartBoard. I don't know what I would do without it.

Not the greatest photo, but this is part of the library. I covered the cabinet on the left with black contact paper. I'm going to add some signs and use it to store leveled readers for my students to use when they are at the library center. I think I will try to cover the big book stand on the right as well since the dry erase board is all gouged up and nasty from something a previous teacher put on it. Not sure what it was, but it does NOT come off! 

This is the back of the classroom. The student computers, sink and science center are housed back here.  Now that I look at the photo I realize that i absolutely must cover the nasty orange cupboards with my black contact paper! They definitely do not match my theme! :) 

One of my favorite parts of my classroom. I have 3 closets that have always been used for my word wall. A bunch of us decided to cover them this summer so that we didn't have to look at the dingy closet doors anymore. It really made a difference. I will show pictures of the makeover another day. The classroom job chart and clip chart are also on the closet doors. 

Here is the writing center that is located right by the word wall. 

 

This is looking towards the door. The large cart on the left has hooks on the other side for my students to hang up their coats and backpacks. There aren't enough hooks on the wall behind the cart so unfortunately this is the only way to have a space for everyone. It is the only spot that I can't see from my table, but I'm never sitting down while the students are back there anyway. :)

Here are the computers and the overhead station. 

The overhead is under the table and we wheel it out when we use it for stations. 

You can also see my "Art Cart" behind the green pocket chart. The students can wheel this over to the table and use it during free choice time. It is hiding back there until we learn how to use it correctly! 

Well, that was a little glimpse into my classroom. 

I hope you enjoyed looking around. Come back again soon!