Krazy 4 Kinders: I Get By With a Little Help from My Friends!

Goodness gracious, y'all! I don't know about all of you but the past few weeks have been a whirlwind! We had our first day of school on August 27th. I really think that Kindergarten teachers block out the memory of the first weeks of school like moms do with childbirth. :) We bring them so far by the end of the year that we forget how needy they are in the beginning.

Any way, I have 20 kiddos this year and they are just precious. Even though one little girl said to me this week, 'Miss Wagner, can you wear a prettier dress tomorrow? I really like pink dresses.' OK...now I am going to worry each morning if my attire will meet her approval. You gotta love their honesty!

Since school has just started and my classroom looks neatly organized, I thought I would give a picture tour. I am so thankful for all you wonderful teachers out there who have graciously shared your genius ideas via your blogs and Pinterest.

First, this is a picture of my class when you first enter. Notice the pennant banner? Thanks to Abby at The Inspired Apple for showing us how to make it.

Here is one of my favorite ideas that I found on Pinterest. I have gotten so many compliments on it and it was so easy to make! Just get about 4 yards of your favorite fabric, then buy ribbon to attach to the top for a finished look, and use Velcro to attach to the table. Not only is it adorable but it is practical. It is a great hiding spot for all my stuff!

Next is an idea that saved me so much money! I have used chair pockets for years and thanks to my wonderful mother's sewing ability they have been great. The thing is that I used durable fabric and that can get a bit expensive! Well, my BFF Pinterest showed that some brillant teacher used jumbo stretch book covers as chair pockets. I was lucky enough to find mine at Target a month or so ago on sale for 25 cents each!!! They even had the primary colors that I assign to each table.

The other brillant idea was to use felt on the bottom of the chair legs to quiet the noise the chairs cause on the floor. They work great and are much cuter than the tennis balls. I used the same color felt as the table color. Thankfully Walmart had primary color rubberbands for 88 cents a bag! I am all about some color coordination!!! Can you say Type A personality???

Boy oh boy I am on a roll! Here was an idea that I saw on a teacher's blog (I apologize for not remembering who you are.). Thanks to a teacher's best friend, Target's Dollar Spot, the mini pocket charts make a great way to display our class' word wall. Sorry for the bad angle.

I started implementing Daily 5 after Christmas last year and my kids LOVED the Read to Self and their own Book Boxes. I have so many children's books that I had shelved and would pull out certain books when we were studying a certain theme. What I found was that there were many wonderful books that didn't get read. So thanks to Erica at Sprinkles to Kindergarten blog I decided to have my books displayed and grouped by theme, character, or author with each book having a matching sticker that matches the label on the book tub. I am excited that all my books are going to get some snuggle time with my kinders. PS- Do you see my cute crayon wreath a mom made for me and on the far end of the white board is 'Smary Pants' another idea from Abby at The Inspired Apple.

Abby is also who I can thank for bringing out the craft diva in me. Thanks to her cute signs she made I made a sign for each of my Kinder teachers to hang outside their classroom door. Each one matched their classroom theme. Honestly, I didn't know I had it in me! Thanks, Abby!

Final two things, I found these great signs for Whole Brain Teaching (amazing!) FREE at 3rd Grade Thoughts. The cute rules are a FREEBIE at The Polka Dot Patch.