First Day of School

Well, I completed my first week of school without getting sick or fired! I'd say that it was a success! :) I started the week off reading a few of my first day favorites... First Day Jitters and The Kissing Hand... aren't these books favorites of all teachers???

I got some ideas from Pinterest for my 'Kissing Hand' activity.  I began by reading the book to the class.  Tucked into the very last page of the book was a very special letter from Chester himself.  It was a scavenger hunt! Let me just say, this was the cutest thing ever.  I want to thank Mrs. Solis over at Mrs. Solis's Kinder Class for the ideas.  I made a scavenger hunt based off of hers to work for my school since I couldn't get hers to work on my computer. Click the image below to get this freebie from Mrs. Solis!

I glued the clues onto little red hearts so they were easy to spot.  We went all around the school looking for these heart shaped clues from Chester. The kids were SO EXCITED to find the next clues.  The very last clue told us to follow footprints in the hall to find a special treat from Chester.  When we got back to our room the kids were so busy looking for another heart clue that they almost missed the giant plate of cookies on the table! 

Those cookies were egg-less for my student with egg allergies and they were DELICIOUS!! Yum, Yum!

At Recess:

I took pictures of each student on the first day.  They all held up a picture frame that said 'First Day of Kindergarten' on it.  I sent these pictures home on Friday with a clothespin and magnet glued to the back and a poem that read: "I made this magnet on the very first day, so my kindergarten work will always be on display." :) 

Here's what the pictures look like.

Most of them gave big smiles for me, and I know all of my students' parents loved this little gift. :) 

More First Day Stuff:

I am attempting the Whole Brain Teaching approach in the classroom this year and started that on the first day as well.  So far, it seems to work very well.  If you haven't heard of Whole Brain Teaching please go YouTube it, you will NOT regret it!! I am absolutely in love with this type of teaching.  :) 

We worked on procedures and just got to know each other on the first day.  It always goes by so fast and you feel as if you got nothing done, but I know all those procedures are SO important in the beginning of the year.  I am trying to hit my classroom rules hard this year so there are no exceptions and hopefully my classroom will run smoother throughout the year.  Last year I would forget to make them raise their hand EVERY time, so I am trying really hard to follow my own rules also! ;)

 Well, that is pretty much what we did on the first day of school, if you do anything different I'd love to hear about it! I love getting new ideas to do in the classroom!! 

Have a Seusstastical Night!

Mrs. Konarek

Classroom Photos

I finally got my classroom together enough to get some pretty good photos. :)

Here we go...

This is the view from the door.  You can see my teacher desk and part of my meeting area. 

Here is a view of my "Number Corner" and the kitchen area.  You can also see my color truffula trees in the center. :) Also notice the colored balls hanging from the ceiling, they match my table colors.  

The front of the room.  Touchmath posters and schedule cards on this wall. 

This area is right to the left as you walk into the room.  I store my centers in those wire shelves and have my student resource center against the wall.  Mailboxes, pencils, paper, scissors, glue, erasers, clipboards, etc. are stored here.

To the right as you walk in is the library.  Those circles on the wall to the left are my classroom jobs. 

The word wall and HUGE guided reading table.  Don't get me started on this humongous reading table... it takes up SO MUCH ROOM.  You can see that I did not use the canopy this year in the library like I did last year, so I just put the curtains on the ceiling. :) It may look a little goofy, but it makes the room so much more homey.

Well, that is pretty much it.  I am loving my room this year!! I hope you do too!

Until next time...

Have a Seusstastic night!

Lauren

Meet the Teacher Night

Meet the Teacher Night Was A Success!

I had all of my new students show up to meet me.  :) They are just so adorable!  I guess that is one of the perks of having the youngest students in school.  :)

Here's what it looked like: 

The week before I sent out postcards to all of my students that looked like this...

I think they fit my Dr. Seuss theme well. :) 

For the actual night of meet the teacher, I set up some stations for parents and students to visit.  They looked like this...

Station 1:

In these folders I put my information handout with EVERYTHING parents need to know about my class procedures.  Also included was an information sheet about the child and parents for my personal files.  The third thing included was a photo permission slip so I can take photos of my students in class and put them on my class website. :) 

Station 2:

Each student took a scrapbook page to decorate with photos about their family.  This is their first homework assignment.  We will create a class book with everyone's scrapbook page.  This helps me get to know my students a little better. 

Station 3:

Here parents signed in to let me know who came.  They also signed up to receive emails from me and to volunteer in my class. 

Station 4: 

This is where I had my wish list and places to sort school supplies that were brought.

A Gift From the Teacher:  

 Here I had each student take a goody bag and a night before school surprise.  :)

That pretty much sums up what I do for meet the teacher night; it is always so exciting to meet all of my new students and hopefully get them excited for that first day of school!

What kind of things do you do on meet the teacher night?

Lauren 

Last Year's Classroom Photos

Before I post pictures of this year's classroom, I wanted to show you want last year's room looked like at the beginning of the year. Classroom decorating is one of my favorite parts of the job, so I am always looking for new ways to spruce up the place. :) 

Last year was my first year teaching, so my room changed frequently and by the end of the year, almost everything was different. 

Sorry for the poor lighting on the photos, these were taken on a not so good cell phone camera.  

Here we go...

This is the view from the door.  

The view from the back left corner.  My number corner on the left and the library on the right.

 Closer view of the number corner.

Student desk area and teacher desk.  

Close up of library.  Believe it or not, the canopy lasted until the very last month of school...with KINDERGARTENERS!!!!  You can see my author's chair I made last summer and touch-math posters.

What I came back to this year...

Piles and piles of STUFF....how does a second year teacher have so much STUFF??? 

More STUFF, and the beginning of my number corner area for this year. 

That was last year...I will post pictures of the 2013-2014 school year later this week! I'm so excited about decorating my room this year.  I have way more Dr. Seuss decor!! I can't even imagine what my room will look like in twenty years when I actually have a lot of stuff for my room. ;)

Have a Seusstastic evening!

Lauren Konarek

I'm a Blogger!!

Hello there!   I am so excited to start blogging....problem....I HAVE NO CLUE WHAT I'M DOING!!!!!!!

I have always been fascinated by the amazing teachers who have an amazing way with words; not to mention all their great ideas.  So... I have been sitting here for hours reading some great blogs trying to figure out what direction I want to take my blog in.   Well, I'm still not sure, but I figured I'd better start somewhere!

So, this is it. My blog, Seusstastic Kinder. Why did I chose that name? Well, my class them is Dr. Seuss, and I teach Kinder...duh....I really just chose it because I couldn't come up with anything that sounded whimsical smart  unique.

I do know that I will just have to show off my classroom soon, so check back for my classroom pictures.

I could use a lot of help blogging and figuring all this out, so if you know anyone or have pointers please contact me! I love hearing from other teachers and getting new ideas!

Have a Seusstastic night!

Mrs. Konarek