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September 4, 2017

Back to School- A Mini Classroom Reveal

Hello everyone!  Happy Back to School!  Have you started school yet?  We have started...and stopped (due to Hurricane Harvey)....and started....and stopped (due to Labor Day).  I will be so glad to get in the swing of things!  Honestly, Back to School is so hectic and stressful for me, full of paperwork and working out the kinks in the schedule.  I personally love October when things are just...well, rolling along!

I do have a few pictures to share of my classroom.  I realize that I have only posted a picture of my classroom before I started working in it on my instagram (@kindergartenbykatie).  Whoops!  I'm going to take care of that as soon as I am done here!

So here's the before...


All of my furniture was piled in the middle of the room.  See that filing cabinet?  It weighs more than I do.  It's full of books and thematic files that I use through the year.  I'm proud to say that I was able to move and arrange all of the furniture by myself!  I had to use a dolly for the filing cabinet, but I had everything moved and placed in under 2 hours.  

Here's the after...

The furniture was placed in 2 hours.  The rest, well, that took a while.

After 16 years with the same carpet, my parents insisted on purchasing a new rug for my classroom.  My original rug was a college graduation gift, so I was very reluctant to part with it.  But it found a new home in my friend Taylor's classroom- she's on IG as @piratesinprimary or you can visit her website at http://piratesinprimary.weebly.com

I ADORE my new rug!  It adds to much color to my room, and hides a lot of my checkerboard floor tiles.  The kids love it as well.  I love that everyone has their own, well-defined space.

Here's a shot of my classroom library-

Last year, after 15 years of teaching Kindergarten, I FINALLY gave my kiddos access to every single book I owned.  I spent a few days leveling and organizing books, and each book has a small sticker label.  I used Maria Manore Gavin's Black Series Classroom Library Labels.  You can find that product here if you are interested.  It is editable so you can add your own categories.

After trying it out last year, I felt so guilty!  I should have done this WAY SOONER!  The kids do a great job of putting the books back where they go, and I assigned a classroom librarian to organize and reshelve books in our library if necessary.  She did a great job.  

This year, I had to move my Pete the Cat books to the front because they are very popular.  I have had to order some Pigeon books (by Mo Willems) because my kiddos have been asking for them.  PS- Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is $1 right now from Scholastic Book Clubs!  

The biggest highlight from my classroom is- OUR iPADS!  I was given an iPad lab at the end of last school year, so this year we are a 1:1 classroom!  We have spent lots of time learning about how to get out and pick up our iPads, as well as how to use them.  

I got an AMAZING idea from A Primary Kind of Life (@aprimarykindoflife on IG, go follow her, she's amazing and her fonts are GORGEOUS!!!).  I used washi tape to organize my iPad cart!  My kiddos were doing well with finding their iPads by number, but this made it so much faster and quicker!


The washi tape is from Michael's.  Before you make the trip to Michael's, do some digging online for a coupon.  I found a 50% off coupon for their brand of washi tape!  Oh, and did you know- teachers get 15% off of everything!  All day, every day!  Just show your teacher ID and ask for a teacher discount.

This makes my rainbow-order OCD heart so happy!  And it helps the kids to put the iPads back correctly, which makes it easier and faster for me to plug in the chargers.

I spent 45 minutes one Friday morning showing the kids where their iPads were, opening them, finding their apps, how to work with their apps, how to close the apps, and put their iPads away.  Time VERY well spent.  The kids are pros now and LOVE working on their iPads.

Here's a shot from that Friday morning-

100% engagement!  

So the next question is- how do you make sure your students are doing MEANINGFUL work on their iPads?  I discovered the most WONDERFUL app this summer (thanks to Shanon over at @OCDinfirst).  It's called Boom Cards.

This cutie is working on my Find the Colors Boom Cards Deck.  I am making my own Boom Cards decks, but not selling them.  YET.  That's next.   UPDATE 7/22/18  I am now selling boom cards!  You can find them in my TpT store or by clicking here.


Boom Cards (www.boomlearning.com) allows you to make your task cards digital.  There are so many freebies and paid decks to choose from, or you can create your own.  As the teacher, you create a classroom and enter each student.  You can then assign your students different decks.  You can assign the whole class the same decks or individual students individual decks.  The students then click on their name, click on their assignment, and they're off!  They can work at their own pace and complete decks several times- this is up to you as the teacher!  As they complete their assignments, you can see how they did, which questions were correct or incorrect, and how much time they spent on each deck.  For me, this is a little-kid friendly version of Google Classroom.  Boom Cards will work for students of all ages, and there are lots of bilingual decks out there in case you teach students in another language other than English!

Let me just tell you- my kids LOVE Boom cards and are becoming pros at it!  I do model a new deck for my kids just so they know what to do, but then they take off!  Thank you Boom Cards for helping me to give my kids fun, engaging and meaningful "work."  They don't think it's work though...

A new addition to my classroom is the "This is our Happy place!" sign.  It was inspired by...okay, copied from Emily over at Polka Dots Please (@polkadotsplease on IG).

The kiddos love it!  After our 3 day Hurricane Harvey break, they could not stop telling me how much they missed me and how much they missed school and how happy they were to be back.  So it seemed like a perfect time to hang it.  It hangs above our writing resource posters and anchor charts.  Go check out Emily's-she put hers above some GORGEOUS windows!  I made mine using PowerPoint.


Our Math Tubs are off and running.  We are still in the exploration stage, but we should be moving on to real games and activities soon- hopefully next week.  My kiddos have come up with some awesome creations using the manipulatives...just look at this kiddo!  He was so proud!

Just in case you're trying to get your tubs ready for September, October or November, I just added my It's Fall Y'all Math Tub pack to my store this morning!  Click on the picture below to visit my TPT store and snag a copy!


Thanks for stopping by and reading....especially if you have read this far!  Happy Back to School, regardless of how long you've actually been "back!"