Summer's Coming to an End

As we near summer's end I'm getting that anxious feeling in my tummy that I always get. Anyone else know what I'm talking about? There is so much to do when school starts and then we have to sit through preplanning which is pretty much just time to write your to-do list and complain about not having enough time to get everything done. I've already started my to-do list.

I was talking with another one of my friends who teaches first grade and we were saying that right about now we are ready to get back into the classroom. We love being with our girls in the summer but right about now we are willing to share them with anyone who loves them... if you know what I mean. 

I have so much on my mind in my everyday life that I haven't really been focusing on what needs to be prepared for the classroom. I'm moving at the end of this month into our new house and my daughters first birthday party is the weekend before my Kinder's show up for their first day of school. AHHH! As my friend and I also said, some CRAZY people thrive on stress. My blood pressure is higher than normal but this too shall pass. 

Anywhooo... I want to know what the top three things on your priority to-do list are for the start of school.

So far I have...

1. Make newsletters for the year

2. Get first day parent packets ready

3. Purchase 3 drawer organizers for each table.

Share with me!!!

Kristin Hatt

Summer Inservice

It's been way too long since my last post. Of course summer is the time when I think most about all the fun things I can post about what we have done in my classroom and what I'm preparing to do this year. However my year won't start until mid-october because of my first little one on the way.
Anyhow, started my first summer in service on Tuesday. K-2 Six Traits. I've never been trained on the six traits of writing. Its been fun and informative. My mind is bursting with ideas!
Have any of you taken any inservices yet this summer? If so, what and have you enjoyed them?
TTFN
Kristin

Donors Choose

Alright so it's been way too long since I've been on here to do a posting. Kindergarten has taken my full attention. After all I'm here for the kids. I'd like to be here sharing my ideas more often but here I am LOVING my new position. It's been a rough first half of the year. I'm now loving almost every minute of it. I have seen them grow so much since we have started. It's just AMAZING! Of course I have my good and my bad days. I would be lying if I didn't. Anyways enough about me.

Over the summer I started two Donors Choose Projects via www.donorschoose.org . I was lucky enough to recently get one fully funded. If you haven't used Donors Choose, I would highly recommend it. The project I got fully funded was my "Exciting, Intriguing, Playful!" project. For the sake of privacy I will just say it was a very generous woman to donate!

In the spirit of the giving season I decided to tell my kids they were Christmas presents from a very nice person. This then led to a conversation about doing nice things for others and why it is important to do those things in life as often as possible.

Here is a picture of our goodies:

I hope you all are enjoying your Holiday season as much as I am. I have so much to be thankful for... especially making a difference in the lives of the little ones. : ) I know cheesy but it's true.

TTFN,
K. Hatt

Classroom Walk Through

So I decided to break this up because there is just too much to talk about and if you're anything like me after two or three paragraphs I'm over it. So I decided to show a little at a time. School doesn't start for me until Monday but I have been KLS (Kindergarten Literacy Survey) testing for the past three days. It's looking like its going to be a great year!

Here we go...

I grabbed this "Welcome to Kindergarten" banner off of Kinder Craze 's TPT Store

This is our Carpet. I love how it has a circle on it. I can't image what it is like asking Kindergartners to make a circle.

There is my rocking chair that I made new cushions for this summer.

Next... our Library. This is most of it I have another bookshelf hiding. I came up with the bulletin board on my own but it was inspired by this packet at The Teacher Wife The Teacher Wife. It was meant for the kids to fill out a strip of paper for each book that they read. then they put their strips of paper in their pocket on the bulletin board. once they get to 100 strips of paper they can make a paper chain and display it in the room.

I'm borrowing those cute stools from my sister-in-law this year.

I bought the bins that are on the bookshelves by my teacher table at Big Lots. I think I got as many as a could between the two Big Lots we have in town. I had intended on using them for my library but I think this look better. Then I made my first freebie! The labels for my bins in green and blue chevron. You can get it in PDF or Word Document

Moving on... I grabbed my Schedule Cards off of The First Grade Parade It was another freebie.

Last for today, I want to give a big shout out to my Mother-in-law for these AWESOME chair pockets. I'm so excited! They turned out great. They were definitely a surprise. : )

Well that's it for now. I'll be posting more here and there. Keep and eye out.

Setting Up

So I went back to school this week and have been busier than EVER! Well at least it feels like that. I been taking pictures to show you before and afters but I'm not quite done yet. : ) Today was our first pre-planning day. It was pretty overwhelming but it was a very important information. It's hard to take it all in at once. Afterwards I did some mindless work to decompress. Anyways enough of that. Here is a picture of my classroom on Monday after I unloaded all of my stuff.It gives me a headache just looking at this. I was pressed with the question I'm sure many other teachers are as well... Where do I start? As always I figured it all out and took it one box at a time.

That's my mom sitting there. She was a great help. I also had my sister (in law) and her fiance come in and help me. They were a HUGE help. They did the time consuming things like cutting, gluing and sooooo much more. I am blessed to have family around and willing to help. Yesterday my other sister (in law) came to check out my classroom and help me with a few things. 

Please be looking out. I'm hoping Friday I will be completely finished to do a classroom walk-through to let you know how I did it all. I'm excited I think you're going to like it. : ) 

ta ta for now

Play-Doh

I've been told that we use Play-Doh A LOT in Kindergarten. I had planned on making my own if that's the case and today was my first attempt. Let me just say it's AMAZING. I found this on pinterest(like everything else I use in my classroom) at the Domestic Superhero. I will be making Play-Doh from now on. It only takes 10 minutes to make a batch so with 6 batches it took an hour. I love that this recipe only makes two small containers full, so that I dont have a huge container filled with the same color. The more colors the better. : ) The link above shows the original post. Here are some pictures of my creation and the original recipe at the bottom. I'm curious to see how long it lasts, and how often I'll need to make it compared to the brand name Play-Doh.

Donors Choose

Check out my Donors Choose projects I have going on. I have two: Exciting, Intriguing, Playful, Learning and Chart Caddy Craze. This is my Donors Choose page: Mrs. Hatt

I have 4 months to get them fully funded and then they are dropped off the website. I've got my fingers crossed!

Spread the word.