A New Adventure

So tomorrow is the big day.  24 (or more!) little people are going to be entrusted to my care for 9 months.  They will grow in more ways than just physically in their first year of education.  I have such a good gut feeling that this is going to be the best year ever.  My 11th year teaching.  Can that even be possible??  It doesn't seem like it.  This year will be a new adventure in kinderland.

SO, I'm having a glass of wine, hanging out with the kids, and enjoying my last moments of peace before the crazy begins tomorrow.  At least the #1 kid doesn't start school until the 4th, and the #2 kid doesn't start until the 11th.  I only need to worry about getting myself ready in the morning for a week before the chaos begins.  Now...what to wear the first day?  I have these new adorable flats to wear:

So I'm thinkin' black slacks, those flats, and one of my anthro tops.  But which one???  LOL  Okay, have a great Monday everyone!!  Wish me luck in my new adventures in kinderland.

Ramblings

Summer break is winding down, and I'm super excited to get this year rollin'!  This week has been pretty uneventful as far as my classroom goes, as it's been mostly ready for a week.  However, we did have our kinder parent orientation meeting on Tuesday, and it went super smoothly.  {Yay!}  14 families out of 23 in my class came!  That's a great turn out for summer I think.  The families all seemed very nice, and the kids seemed super sweet and calm!  Crossing my fingers that the good vibes I'm feeling come true on Monday.  :)

Tomorrow we go in for our teacher inservice day.  I'm looking forward to seeing all my coworkers and putting the final touches on my class.  I promise I will take my camera in tomorrow so I can share it with you all.  Monday will be here before we know it.  Thank goodness my daughter's school doesn't start until after labor day, and then the little one will start preschool {sniff} on the 11th.  Less stress for me the first week, and fewer lunches to make!  :)

Now for the good stuff!  I uploaded a few more lovlies to my TPT store.  I suffer from severe migraines, so this summer I decided I needed to make up a substitute binder and get some emergency sub plans in place just in case.  The ones I've had this summer landed me in the ER, so that will not allow for the hours it takes me to prep for a sub on a normal basis.  I'm giving you the cover page in editable form as a freebie {click the pic} so you can add your name and room number to it cuz I loves ya!  The rest of the binder dividers and forms can be downloaded in my TPT store here.

Enjoy the last few days of summer, my friends!  I have no plans Saturday and Sunday so I can enjoy the kids and be lazy.  {Giggle!}

We Are Family!

Thought I would do a quicky post to share my latest creation.  I love the ever-so-popular subway art popping up everywhere these days, and I've seen a few teachers put up a classroom version.  I decided to personalize my own, and of course make it cute and colorful!  I plan on printing it off and putting it in a picture frame near the front door.  After we get our class picture, I will frame that as well, and set it out next to the "In this classroom..." art.

Here it is:

Click on the picture to download your free copy.  Enjoy!!

Almost Ready...

I feel like I have been thinking about my classroom all summer!  I even went in early so I could get started.  I have been creating things on Photoshop all summer to personalize my space, and make it just how I want it.  In conjunction with a few things I bought on TPT, or got as a free download from some awesome teachers, I am happy with how it is coming along.  What to take a peek?  Sorry about the phone pics...

Welcome sign from Kreative in Kinder included in a big pack of classroom decor.  Click on the link to check out the set.  The owl ribbon I bought at Michael's and hot glued onto the top of each flag.

I'm super excited about my tree of knowledge.  I got the idea for this tree on Pinterest and simply sketched out a tree and branches, then traced three different sized circles in two shades of green.  I created the owl myself on Photoshop.  It says "Look Whooooo Knows their Letters & Sounds."  You can't see it in this photo, but since I'm crazy, I decided to add stitching lines on the darker green circles with black pen to help them stand out more.  I am going to put a little owl with each child's name on the tree once they have mastered their letters/sounds.  You can download a free copy of the owl by clicking the picture below.  Last minute I decided to cut off the blue chevron background so the owl would look like it was coming out of the tree through a hole.

Another new idea I had this year was to create a personalized classroom respobsibilities bulletin board.  Last year I got so tired of having to take down and restaple kids names up under each job week after week, so I decided to use clothes pins with kids' names on them.  Of course, being my crazy, crafty self, I had to make them cute.  I mean, this will save me work in the long run, right??  I created a page of pencils, printed them out, laminated them, cut them all (yeah, I know...I cut out most of mine at the park when we were having a playdate) and hot glued them onto clothes pins.  They are so cute, they were worth the work.  I made two sets of 25, plus a few extra for those newbies we get throughout the year...and I'm sure that a classroom full of littles will break a clip or two.  ;)  Oh, BTW, when you laminate them, you can use Expo whiteboard cleaner to wipe them clean, and you can use them year after year.  Click the picture below to get your free copy of my Classroom Helpers set on TPT.

Here is a pic of my finished clothespins.  Cute, right?

If you love my freebies, please share with your friends!  I just started my TPT store, so I would love it if you would follow me!!  I am also on facebook as Kindergarten Kapers.  Come join the fun!