{Where is All Goes Down...}

Today's focus on Blog Hoppin' is sharing classroom pictures [I am so excited about this day!] I can't wait so see what all of your classrooms look like..I get so inspired by things I see...

Here it goes...I posted some of these in an earlier post so I apologize for the repeats... Our first day of school is September 6th, so my room is still a work in progress... I'll try and post some more pictures when its a "finished" product..

This is the back wall..it houses my beautiful book shelves..It is filled with all sorts of fun stuff...Books, art supplies, writing tools, pencil boxes and when school starts lunch boxes... The blue cabinet holds my other materials [I also have a bin that lives outside]

My cubbies with their cute froggy labels :)  This shelf also houses many of my personal momentos..

Calendar/Circle Time Area... Here I post our learning objectives preschool style.. number, color, shape and letter cards.. I have also incorporated the counting hands and leader of the day which I first saw at Pre-k Pages... You can find the info here...

The envelope goes along with the Leader of the Day activity described at Pre-K Pages.. It's a great activity and my kids love it!

Dramatic play area.. I'm planning on adding a {Home Sweet Home} sign and a writing bag, full of writing materials especiallly for this area...

My Library...I used to have a book shelf with tiered shelves but the books would never stay on the different levels and were always falling.. so last year I started using baskets... I would like to label them, but this works for now.. The kids have access to more books and have an easier time putting them away and taking care of them...

Our Art gallery...

The Manipulative shelf.. the manipulatives are rotated once a month between four classed [two transitional kindergarten and two prek] I am planning on adding pictures to the rest of the drawers...my science center will live on top of this shelf..

*My other shelves are covered in butcher paper 1) to keep the items clean over summer and 2) because I only allow the kids access to certain areas at the beginning of school..until they learn routines and how to maintain the learning materials and they get excited through out the year when a new area is "opened up" to them... So I will proved pictures of those later on...

Writing area.. It's a little bare right now.. I need to add a few more items... We try to do a mini "published" writing project for each theme so when school starts it will be more colorful...

Lily Pad name tags for my door for the first day of school...

This is a name chart [an idea I got from here at Pre-K Pages] Vanessa has some of the best resources... You can read the details by clicking the link but bascially it is an easy and fun way for the kids to learn name and letter recognition, name writing and acts as a bonus attendance taker!

I just realized I forgot to take a picture of my parent board!  I'll have to add it later--I'm very proud it :)

So that's my classroom..it's a little small but I love it!  It has definitely become my home away from home... Thanks for taking my tour and sticking through it... I know this was a long post!  Can't wait to see what everyone else has to share...

{Getting in the Zone...}

It is hard to believe that summer is coming to an end, but I think I am beginning to get in the zone of going back to school..something I know some of you have already done..Yikes! 

In an earlier post I had made mention of a cabinet I was looking into purchasing from IKEA...Well, I found something even better!!

 TA-DA!!

It not only has removable drawers [8 of them] but it also has wheels so it can live practically anywhere!! Which is the best part :)  I think this is going to work perfectly with my idea of morning centers/choice time/literacy centers/math centers and anything else I can think of...I was so excited!

Okay, now that I've shared that with you I can move on to other exciting things... After visiting Growing Kinders, I downloaded and copied Kathleen's Alphabet Sheets [which you too can have by clicking on the link above] to make Alphabet Mats to be used to sort magazine letters or alphabet cereal or beads... They just need to be laminated...

I also spent some time in my classroom last week and took some pictures to share with you..it's not much [really just two of my boards]

 The top one is where I hang up our art projects.  I use clothes pins to clip the projects to the colorful paper so I don't have to use staples or have to deal with staple removal [UGH!], which makes my life that much easier [YAH!]  The second one is my main board, when I get my class list I'll add little frogs to the pond with my kid's names.. also this board never changes...again I like to make my life easy...I add things with the seasons and such but for the most part it remains the same...

Okay now on to my adventures from today...I am fortunate enough to live in driving distance of a Lakeshore Learning Outlet so that's where I spent about 3 hours today--like any outlet you have to dig around to find stuff but sometimes its worth it...Here's what I found today...

Score! Right?! Being in the outlet was like a kid in a candy store!  So fun!

And of course nothing is complete without a little online shopping--I get into so much trouble with the internet..so many stores at my finger tips... Here are my Unifix cubes and Five Little Pumpkins on the Fence Felt Stories [I bought these from www.etsy.com] I also purchased Five Little Frogs and Chicka Chicka Boom Boom but I already took those to school..

 Yes, my name is Gloria and I have a problem [the first step is admitting you have a problem right?]  I also got two Pete the Cat books, the white and school shoes, sure to be an instant favorite...

Okay I this post is a LOT longer that I anticipated so I apologize and if you stuck through the whole thing than I applaud you!

Thank you so much for visiting and reading..Can I just say how awesome it feels to be pinned [check out www.pinterest.com to find out more] So many of you have viewed my I Have, Who Has cards and I hope they're helpful to you...I would love to know who you are so if you are able please follow my blog so we can continue to build this incredible community of teachers helping/inspiring/loving other teachers!