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Friday, April 6, 2012

Setting up my new room

Welcome to Pre-K Teacher Tweets!  I am a first year teacher and I recently started teaching Pre-K. I'm taking over a pre-k class in a public school..it's a little different than starting in August. I am teaching at a year round school with breaks in between..so we will have about two and half months before the end of the semester...but I'm looking forward to having my own classroom and starting this new adventure! 
One of my first endeavors was organizing learning spaces in my classroom. There were existing centers in the classroom but they were pretty bare. I wanted to create an environment that was bright and cheery. I wanted the room to be student friendly..everything in kid reach will be available for them to use. (I have an amazing back room storage area with many cabinets and a large counter space for teacher supplies!) 
My first project was the reading center. I purchased bins at dollar tree..they were the perfect teal color I was going for! The only downfall is they are not very sturdy around the sides..at least they were only a dollar and hopefully will last till the end of the year. I added stickers (yellow circle, blue rectangle, purple square, etc.) to themed labels and then added stickers to the books.  I put minimal books in each bin so the kids could practice putting them in the right bins. So far the kids have done super with keeping the books organized! Better than I expected for pre-k. They actually made a game out of it one day..seeing who could find the shape stickers the fastest.

I use post-it notes for EVERYTHING!

This laminating machine was given to me as a gift for my new classroom! It works SO well! Of course the school will laminate things for me for free..I will use my laminating machine for small projects and things I need right away.. Scotch makes laminating sheets in various sizes and they are not that expensive for how many you get in a package. The laminate is a hard plastic..more durable than the school's.

I made the labels on Photoshop using clip art from
Microsoft Word and free polka dot labels from
http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Polka-Dot-Classroom-Labels-Free 

I will post more photos of the finished reading center and classroom soon!
I have taught for one week with this new class! I have experienced two conference nights (which I turned into meet the teacher nights), writing lesson plans, teaching rules and procedures, and giving assessments..report cards are due next week! I must say the first day and first week has been AMAZING!!  I have wonderful co-teachers and a great assistant who have all been so helpful!  I stayed with the same theme "Community" as my co-prek teachers but I did not go into the theme very much. We discussed and described community helpers and read books about community helpers...I focused a lot more on rules and procedures. I am so grateful to my intern hosts and to the pre-k teacher I previously assisted for...classroom management is key!  I have learned so much from you and my experiences!!! And that is probably the biggest reason why my first week went so smoothly! Students have been practicing hallway procedures, clean up procedures, ect. and they've got the Signal 1, Signal 2, Signal 3 procedure down pat! I created a staying on target three circle chart for individual behavior.. and a "Sweet Behavior" chart for students to work together. (will post photos soon!) 
Thank you to my mom who sent a HUGE balloon bouquet the first day..each student was super excited to take home a balloon! She had the bouquet surprise delivered and she even had the store match the color of the balloons to the theme of my room!
 The first week is over..whew!! My stress and nerves of anticipation of the first day/week have disappeared and I am excited for students to experience the Eric Carle unit that I am presenting next week!

4 comments:

  1. I just went through your site pinning many ideas to my pinterest board. Your stuff is GREAT! What is the signal 1, signal 2, signal 3 procedure you are talking about???

    And thanks again for the ideas! I teach pre-k in Athens, GA and I will be using many of those here!

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    1. Thanks so much!! Signal 1 criss cross, Signal 2 hands in lap, Signal 3 eyes on the teacher. It is so much easier and faster to say signal 1 than to say "would you please sit criss cross." I learned it from another teacher I used to work with..

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    2. Do you have a pinterest board I can follow?

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  2. it is http://pinterest.com/thepinkido :)

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