Three for Thursday plus a shout out!

     Today I'm sharing along with those at I'm a Blog Hopper my favorite font, blog, and online resource.  This was actually a lot harder than what I thought it would be!  It's kind of like when I read a story to the kids, and I say this is my favorite story, and they respond back but Mrs. Pigg, you say every story is your favorite! LOL  I had a very difficult time narrowing it down, but here it goes!
  My favorite font is anything by DJ Inkers!  Love, Love, Love everything that is made by DJ Inkers!
www.djinkers.com/dj-fonts/
     My favorite blog is the incredible Deanna Jump!  I'll have to say I think we are kindred spirits, but because before I found her blog I was already doing many of the things that she does in her classroom.  I just love her excitement for teaching, her colorful room, and her amazing ideas!  She is a definite must see!
mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com/

      My favorite online resource is Making Learning Fun.  It is teachers' dream come true.  You name it...it's there!  There are many resources to choose from: story props, color pages, bingo dot marker pages, booklets, calendars, art activities, and more!  I could spend a whole day (and have!)  on this site alone!  Enjoy!  www.makinglearningfun.com    

     I know this is suppose to be just our favorite resources, but one of my favorite resources is the amazing teachers that I work with!  I love sharing ideas with them and being a great support for one another.  One of my amazing coworker brought me my dinner for tonight just because she said she knew how hard I had been working and thought I needed a break!  LOVE HER!!!  Thank you Mrs Carroll!
     Sorry I didn't finish or take pictures today, next week!  Have a great night blog hopping!

   
   

Where it all Goes Down Wednesday

  Today is sharing pictures of your classroom.  We are close, but not completely there yet...still have some finishing touches to do!  I'll have those pictures up hopefully tomorrow.

I haven't brought my traffic light to school yet, but these are what they use for behavior.  Of course, everyone stays on green! :)

Thanks to Deanna Jump, I made the ship that she used for her work stations.  I am using at for our helpers.  Up at the top, the saying is All Hands on Deck.  On the ship I made captain's wheel that has the job name on it.  I found these adorable wood cut outs (pirate hats, ships, parrots,and treasure chest) that we wrote their name on that we place in the captain wheel pocket when it is their turn for that job.

Pirate Ship Numbers

I think this is my favorite thing in the classroom!  It is our class Bible verse, "Where your  treasure is there your heart will be also."  I figure having pirates are ok because they are friendly pirates who love Jesus! :)

I made the pirates that Deanna Jump used for her pirate glyph.  This is our Buccaneer of the Week.  The poster that they make will go in between the girl ad boy pirate.

This is our Pirate Cove reading center.  I still need to do a few things, but we were in  a hurry to clean up!

Here is my magnetic chalkboard that I made last week to use as a center.  I  haven't quite finished it.  I still need to rub chalk across it, clean it, and put a border around it.

Cute little pirate lamp for reading center!

Kitchen area and developmental center materials

Puzzles, blocks, lincoln logs, lacing beads

Calendar Wall

Other side of the calendar wall

Pirate color bears

Popcorn Word Wall

Rules Posters...I'm bringing the traffic light tomorrow

Crates for reading center

My brand new curtains!

It's finally coming together!  We are going to do the tomorrow and finish labeling names on everything.  I just need to clean the cabinet, bring a few moe things from home, bring out the cart and we are finished!  There are a few other pictures of the classroom that are on a previous post.  Now on to lesson plans!

Teacher Talk Tuesday

  Today is offering advice to new teachers.  Here are some things that have worked for me and made my classroom a better experience.  Hopefully, it will do the same for you!

1.  Be sure to greet each child with a smile and "Good Morning"!  It makes your day and their day a little brighter!  It also shows them that you are happy that they are there and they matter to you.
2.  Be prepared!  Be over prepared!  There is nothing worse than dead time!  I usually have extra activities or an extra book that is goes along with our theme in case it is needed.  Also, be sure to have all the supplies you need and copies made.  You never know when the copier may be out of order, the laminator may be out of laminate, or the school is out of the supply (construction paper, glue, popsicle sticks, etc.)  you need for a project.  Being prepared also helps cut down on behavior problems!
3.  This may seem silly, but be sure to have read the book that you are about to read to the class.  You may think it is a cute little book for your class, only to find out it is totally inappropriate for your class!
4.  Be flexible!  Things happen, projects take longer than expected, work takes longer to complete, your specials get cancelled,  so be willing to adjust accordingly.
5.  Be sure to keep your parents informed!  An informed parent is a happy parent!  I do a monthly calendar, a weekly newsletter, and a homework sheet.
6. Have Fun!  Laugh!  Play!
7.  Love your job and the love the children you teach!  If you love what you are doing, it will show!  There is nothing worse that working with or having a teacher that really doesn't want to be there.  Remember each child is special and unique and are deeply loved by God.  Sometimes it is hard, but love them anyway! :)

     I hope you all have a wonderful school year, and as my mentor teacher told me: "If you can get through the first year, you can get through anything!"

Meet the Teacher

  
     I'm very new to the blogging world, and I'm still learning the ropes!  Bear with me...hopefully, I'll catch on soon!  My name is Ginger and I absolutely love teaching!  I'm constantly planning, creating, and improving!  I've wanted to be a teacher since I was in Kindergarten! Right now I'm very busy preparing for the upcoming school year: lesson plans, decorating, and updating files.  
      I've taught in the public school system (7 years) and now teaching a 5K class at a church preschool (7 years).   I've been married to my wonderful husband for 18 years and have two fabulous children.

We also have a furry child, Izzy, but I don't have a very good picture of her to put on here!
     Some of my favorite things are Peanut M&M's, Diet Coke (I've been trying very hard to cut back and have compared to what I use to drink!), any type of pen, especially felt tip, and books!  My personal children's library is almost embarrassing!  I logged over 2,000 books and still want more!  I'm also becoming very addicted to blogging!  I love all the fabulous ideas and it has really become a source of inspiration for me. 
    
      Sorry this post is a mess, but like I said I'm new and still learning!

Today's projects

     I was very crafty today!  This little table has been in my room for years and was in desperate need of a makeover!  It has been green, so I thought a nice blue would be a great change.  This was after the first coast.  We use this table for writing, listening center, and art projects.

I wanted to make the back of one of my cubbies magnetic and into a chalkboard to use in my centers.  This was an all day project, and it still isn't complete!  Even though it is a lot of work, I am super excited about it!!!  The magnetic paint took three coats and you have to wait about 45 minutes between coats.  Yes, it is actually magnetic and  does work!  I tested it with magnets from my file cabinet and my magnetic letters and they both worked nicely.  Tomorrow I am going to paint over it with the chalkboard paint.  Then it has to set for 24 hours before being able to use chalk on it.  I will post the final product on Monday. 

These storage containers are behind my color bears.  I keep it turned around and just pull out as needed.  These are my ABC and fine motor containers.

These are my stool/storage container.  They are all over the blogs and Pinterest.  I first saw them on HGTV and knew I had to have some in my room!  They are super simple to make and fairly inexpensive.  If you would like directions on how to make them, just let me know!  Right now I have all my popcorn (sight) word booklets and ABC booklets that I made in them.  I'm also going to use these to store our class books that we make.

These are my math and sight word storage units.  My friend Raelyn made my skirts for me! :)  She also made curtains that I hope to have up the first of next week.

These are my developmental storage units.

That's all for tonight!  I'll have more up soon!

It's beginning to look like....

     Whew!  I have been so busy the past week I haven't had a chance to put anything up!  I've been getting materials ready for new teachers, revamping lesson plans, and working in the classroom.  I'm taking a computer class this Friday, so maybe I will learn how to upload my files on my blog! LOL  We are not  finished but here's a taste of what Christi and I have done so far.

Here is the calendar wall.  To the left is the hundreds chart, poster for 100 piece puzzle, coins and piggy bank, and clock.  Below is our pirate 100 day count.  We will put a gold coin on the treasure chest each day until we get 100.  In the middle above the flags are a right and left hand.  In the middle I have a weather graph and All About Today pocket chart.  Below is the days of the week and months of the year.  I also put up something I bought from Target to go along with the weather.  We will write what today's weather is and then below that predict what the weather will be tomorrow.  To the right is the actual calendar, 1's. 10's and 100's  chart, estimation jar, pattern, and our tally board.  Below the calendar is a shape poster.  The table that is in the corner stores all my calendar items, Saxon Math maniupulative and Scholastic curriculum.

At the right end of the wall I have an All About Letter pocket chart that I purchased 

 this summer from Lakeshore.  It is awesome!  There is a handwriting poster, a practice board to write the letter, a poem, and pictures that go along with the letter.  The cabinet has a little bit of everything in it and is in desperate need to be cleaned out!  Next weeks project! :)

Here are my adorable color pirate bears.  Thank you Deanna Jump mrsjumpsclass.blogspot.com!  This was on her blog as a freebie a couple of weeks ago.  I've had the color words for years, so I put those underneath the bears.

Here are our class rules.  I found these, but I can't remember where!  I'll have to look when I go back to school tomorrow.  I haven't brought my traffic light back to school yet, but that usually goes in front of our rules.

  

We really don't have the space for a word wall, so I have a word door.  In the past I have had a huge popcorn cut out with popcorn kernels for our popcorn words on the door, but I found this set this summer, and I like it so much better!  It is acutally for a jungle themed classroom, but I think monkeys and parrots go along nicely with pirates!

That's all for tonight!  More to come soon!

Pirate Sink or Float

     I've been very busy getting lesson plans together for the first few weeks of school.  Today I worked on our Science activity for the first week of school.  Our Science experiment is learning about sink or float.  I read the book Who Sank the Boat? and then we conduct our own experiments to see what items will sink or float.  I usually do crayons and other school tools, but since we have a Pirate themed classroom I thought I would incorporate that.  I haven't made these yet, but I am going to cut Styrofoam into pirate ships for them to predict whether or not they will sink or float.  After they predict, they will test to see whether or not they actually will sink or float.  Then we will use my foam blocks that I bought at the Target Dollar Spot to use as treasure chest to see if their ship will sink or float after putting treasure chest on them.  Then I will have them predict how many chest they can put on their ship to make it sink.  They will then test that theory.  After we have completed this portion of the experiment, I will put this in the Science center for them to conduct further experiments.  I have gold coins, a small telescope, and a small pirate figure that they can experiment with.  I created a form for them to fill out, but I cannot get it to upload on to the blog! GRRRRR!  If I ever figure it out, I'll put it up! I'm working on a counting book, a color book, and a shape book that I plan to have up in the next couple of days. :)

Wild Wild West

   We had a great time at the Grand Canyon and even in HOT Arizona!  We did the scenic tour and went through Sedona and stopped at several Native American booths.  I made friends with one named Red Feather.  I bought a bow and arrow and a tomahawk that he made.  He also gave me the stories that go along with these items to tell the class when I share them.  He also gave me a talking stick, because he said every teacher has to have one of those!  I will probably bring these out at Thanksgiving and then again when we do our Wild West theme in the Spring.  I cannot wait to do that theme this year!  We usually make a book with all the things that you would see in the West: cactus, desert, jackrabbit, etc.  Well, I took pictures of all these things and now I am going to make the book with real pictures so they can see what they actually look like!  Fun!

     Alex and I went back to school supply shopping, and I found ABC, Number, and Shape Silly Bandz!  I cannot wait to use these!  Great for centers!  They can make words, add, subtract, sort and more!
Now the fun is over, and it is time to really get down to business!  Lots more to come!