America the Beautiful!

A while back, my class studied American symbols. We talked about the Statue of Liberty, the bald eagle, and more. We even got to focus in on some of Texas' symbols, such as the mockingbird and the bluebonnet. It was a fun unit of study. I thought I would share a craftivity that the students did during their Art workstation time. This wasn't an original idea. I believe Mrs. S. from next door found the idea on Enchanted Learning...or something. Sorry I can't source this!


Each child got to create their own bald eagle! They had to trace their foot and both hands for this activity, so it kept them REALLY busy. Some had their workstation partner help them out with the tracing. It took a while to cut out, and some got a bit frustrated after they cut off a finger or two from the hand tracing. (Nothing a little glue can't solve!)

It turned out really cute. I loved how each child did the project just a little bit different. I had a completed one hanging on the wall at the station so they had an idea of what they were trying to accomplish. It was amazing to see all the varieties on the same idea!

If you haven't heard of BrainPop Jr., you should really look into getting access to the site from your school. It is a fantastic learning tool! My students love to watch the videos on there. During this unit, we watched the video on the American symbols. I wish the site was free, but it's worth the cost.

I hope this gave you an idea for a future patriotic art project for your class!

How do you teach the American symbols? Let me know in the comments below!

I'm linking up with KindergartenWorks for her Kindergarten Show N' Tell linky! You should go check her blog out if you haven't before. She's fantastic!

I'm Back! (Summer Bucket List and Lessons Learned)

Can I just say... WOW! I've been gone for a long time. Sorry to all those who were following me here and enjoying my blog posts. It's now summertime, so I have more spare time than before. I finished my first year of teaching and LOVED IT!

Here are some of the things that I learned:

1. There will be challenging times, but talking to a veteran teacher about problems or concerns really helped me get through them. I am blessed to be working alongside a veteran teacher and dear friend (she taught me in 4th grade!!) that really understands me and wants to guide me.
2. Don't be afraid to be firm. I had a hard time at the beginning of the year with classroom management, but once I stepped up and was very firm, the students responded well. I had one girl who cried daily for almost the whole first semester. When I stepped up to the plate and was consistent with her, it was almost like magic!
3. Saying goodbye is hard. Enough said. :(
4. If you don't have a good organizational strategy for tackling the constant paper flow, you have to spend an eternity cleaning your classroom at the end of the year.
5. I take way too many pictures of my sweeties. Seriously!

Obviously, I've learned a whole lot more than that (like don't-trust-email-to-inform-parents-about-field-trips-because-it-will-go-to-junk-mail-and-the-parents-will-be-confused-the-day-before-the-field-trip), but I want to get to the fun part of this post. The linky party!! 

Yay! Here's my SUMMER BUCKET LIST!

--- Sleeeeep! Waking up at 5:20 everyday is NOT COOL.

--- Start grad school to begin the path of getting my Master of Education - Reading Specialization

--- Train for the Run or Dye 5k

--- Clean the horrifying mess of a classroom that is left after this whirlwind of a school year. Here's a terrifying, horror film picture of it. I hope it makes you feel better about your own classroom and/or gives you a chance to share your awesome organizing tips to help me out... It's a bit embarrassing to post this, but the first step to fixing a problem is owning up to it!

--- Use up all my awesome gift cards from super sweet parents.

--- Buy and label some Sterilite storage shelves and ACTUALLY USE THEM FOR SOMETHING this year. The one you see hiding in the corner back there in the picture? See it? Yeah, it just held all my junk and didn't even help me out this year. Woe is me!

--- Go shopping for new teacher clothes! :)

--- Read for enjoyment and for professional development. Mainly for enjoyment.

So that's it! I've missed all the interaction that I received last summer from you guys. Your advice helped me out tremendously this school year. I will post some cool stuff I've done and some ideas that really worked later on.

What's your favorite way to manage paper flow in your classroom? Is it even possible!?

Workstations Frustrations!

I have been slacking in posting on my blog! Don't hate me! I miss the blogosphere, too. :( Especially now.

I'm having some trouble with my workstations. My kids really enjoy them, and center time is their favorite part of the day. I want to give them more time in each station, but the way I have it set up doesn't allow but 5-7 minutes in each one. I have from 10:00-10:40ish for stations, and they don't get their work done. I want them to finish their work!!


Could you give me some suggestions on how your rotations work? I do not want it to be a free-for-all type situation because I want 1-2 in each station. Preferably just one. (I have 10 kids! I know!! Don't throw any tomatoes at me!)


What has worked for you? Maybe I'm just over thinking it. How would you organize my classroom stations if you had 10 kids to work with?

My stations are: Listening, Write the Room, Word Work, Puzzles, Math, Writing, Play-doh, Library, Computer, and Creative (Art).

Word Work Station

Math Station

I'll ask another question next time! Thanks for all your love and sharing!

My Super Short Post!

Well guys, I'm very sorry I've been MIA.

Blogging in my first year of teaching was a great idea at first, but let me just say that it is pretty much the hardest thing ever to do. I've been so busy planning, printing, talking, eating chocolate, and lying in bed in the evening thinking,"Is it normal to want to sleep at 8:30???" that I forgot to post.

I've been asking tons of questions on my Facebook page about the ins and outs of Kindergarten, though. Drop by to help me out!

I'll be posting a lot of classroom pictures sometime soon. For now, here is my September Currently!

Hope you're well! Leave me a comment with an answer to this question:

What kind of behavior management systems have you tried? Which are your favorites?

My Little Jungle of a Classroom!

I'm sorry I've been MIA all week...I've had a lot to do! Monday was the first day I was able to go in and really get down to business setting up my classroom. I was so excited because my classroom has a GREEN accent wall! Can you believe my luck? :) My aunt took some before pictures, so here they are!

I moved the right cabinet to beside my teacher desk!

The previous teacher left quite a bit of stuff for me, and I wanted to change up the layout of the room to make it my own. So...my cousin and I attacked. We moved furniture, hung posters, sorted books, put things in cabinets, went through curriculum...EVERYTHING! It was fun because we put some music on and talked a ton. She was so helpful and I'm blessed to have had her help! I still have some work to do on the room before the kiddos arrive, but I think I'm pretty much set to go.

I hope that you like the pictures. Let me know if you have any fun ideas that I should add in!

Little library area! I store other things on that shelf as well. Should I cover it somehow?

Hallway window to my classroom! (Ignore the mess on the inside!)

Word wall! I have no bulletin boards so I made due.
We added the missing letters, don't worry :)

Job rotations! I will put craft sticks in these pockets and move them.

Made my cubbies into a little entrance hall.

All that's missing now is a teaching chair and little sweethearts!

Calendar and Skippyjon Jones! Oh, and Blue. That's my shelf's name.
I promise I'm not crazy.

What's a jungle without a palm tree? The coconuts will have
student names labelled on them!

Guided reading table. The blue cabinet has curriculum in it!

My desk! I had no desk drawers, so I put sterilite drawers and fabric drawers under!

Have you tried Veggie Sticks? LOVE them! And I couldn't live without my label machine!

Hallway poster set of praying kids! I thought they were precious!

I left some space for classroom rules, but I haven't even put them together yet...I seem to be procrastinating on creating my classroom rules and procedures. How do you post your rules? I was thinking of doing the Whole Brain Teaching rules because they seem really good, but I don't like the two that say that they need to constantly raise their hand for permission to do things.

Other things I need to are set up workstations a bit better, organize my picture books, organize cabinets, and hang up some paper lanterns! I'd really like to get some fake plants to spread around the classroom. I think it would make the room look more like a "jungle."

Hopefully this post wasn't too picture heavy for you! I thought you all would appreciate these pictures the most! :) Feel free to pin these photos to your heart's content!

What are your classroom rules?