I got a little bit more done in my classroom today.  School starts in exactly one week! I copied enough today to kill a few small trees, but it will get me through most of August! 🙂  I also laminated lots of new things.

I put some parts of my All About Numbers pack into my pocket chart on my Focus Wall today.  I still need to put the blank papers in next to a few of the words where we can put tally marks, the number before the number of the day and the number after it.  (I’ve had some questions about the “What’s it’s name” part–this is where you would write the number out in a word (one, two, three, etc.). 

I also put on new labels on my library book bins.

I attached them with book binding rings.  I will also label them with the same color dots as are on the front of the books.

I got 20 Danio fish (they look like zebras to me!) and two Clown faced sucker fish to help keep the tank clean.  We will see tomorrow how many are living!

I made new Literacy Work Station cards for the pockets and I’m working on smaller ones so the kiddos can come to the green IKEA tubs and get the correct one.  I’ll also have a card in the place where they need to take the tub to work on it.

I made new numbers for my Math Work Stations as well.  Identical cards will go on the rainbow colored drawers I’ve shared in the past.

Kristen 🙂

I’ve been working in my classroom this week and here’s a look at what I’ve done:

I got this shelf at IKEA earlier this week and I’m going to use it for my Literacy Work Stations.  The kiddos will come get their bucket (going to add labels to them) and then take them to the assigned place. 🙂 I’ll share more about my IKEA trip this week. 🙂

I’m using the large binder clips as name cards on my mailboxes this year.  I usually use stickers right inside the box, but when they put papers in, you can’t see their name anymore, so this will help with that problem! 🙂

I made some curtains to cover up my shelves.

This is what those curtains are covering up! 🙂

My new fish tank. I thought it would be a calming thing for my kiddos.  What kinds of fish to get? 🙂

My Guided Reading table.  The stars are dry erase and removable. I got them from Oriental Trading. 🙂

These are my Reading A-Z books I use during some guided reading groups. I need to make a few more labels (I didn’t know I had so many books at those levels!).  This shelf will get a curtain as well next week…I just need to finish hemming it.

Here are my new supply buckets from IKEA.  Each 1/2 table will have one of these buckets (you’ll see better pictures of that further down in this post). 

This is what one basket will look like.  Crayons will go in the ziploc containers.  After I went and bought all the containers, I realized I probably had enough for my whole classroom at home with all my other plastic containers! 🙂

I did have two of these shelves holding dry erase boards and clipboards under my Promethean board earlier this week, but after thinking about it, I was worried that the kiddos couldn’t reach the board, so I moved the dry erase boards to another space and combined the clipboards.

Our Science/Social Studies area. 🙂

My hardware drawer organizer that I made earlier this summer. 🙂

The shelf of Games & Puzzles.  The kids can use these items during Discovery time and during indoor recess. 🙂

My counter where I put items I will need during each of my lessons. 🙂

My new word wall circles (they are available in my Tpt store!).  I have temporary magnets holding them up right now until I figure out how I want to keep them on the board.

My husband (who is also a teacher) came to school today to bring lunch and then he took down the green paper on these bulletin boards and put up black so they all would match! 🙂  We think it helps the Promethean Board blend in as well. 🙂

Here is a look at the right side of my classroom.  You can see the table baskets on the tables.  Each 1/2 of the table will share one basket. 

Here is the left side of my classroom. 🙂

A view a little more to the left.  The round table will be for my assistant to do interventions.

My collection of baggie books/take home books.

The sink/fish tank and pencil sharpener.  Sharp pencils go in the blue basket, un-sharp pencils in the pink basket.

This is a view of the inside of “the office” in my room.  I can walk through this room to the K room next door to mine. 🙂  This is my side of the office. We mostly use it for storage! 🙂

Here is a look looking out from the office into my classroom.

Right next to the office, there is a closet that I share with the teacher next door.  It used to be a restroom, but they took out the toilet and put in shelves for us to store things on.  This cart you see is our cart of science materials.

This is a look at some of the the shelves in the closet.  We have a random assortment of everything! 🙂

Another look at my new shelves from IKEA!  I love them!  The rainbow cart will be my Math Work Stations and on top of the white shelf, is our “Welcome Area”  The children will be able turn in their homework folders in the yellow bucket and pick up their morning folder or morning work where you see the white bucket.  I used to have this happen right inside my door, but it was getting so congested!  The kiddos would stop right inside the door, put their backpacks down and unload everything there, so this is going to move that activity out of the doorway! 🙂

Kristen 🙂

OKAY!!! Today is the day you’ve been waiting all week for!! The BIG GRAND PRIZE giveaway to celebrate our blog birthdays!  I hope you’ve been enjoying the prizes this week and if you won, give the lovely girls who donated prizes a few days to get them to you!

Today’s giveaway is open until Sunday, July 21st at midnight. 🙂

Today you can win:

From Kristen’s Kindergarten, you can win an Organizing Utility Tote with personalization!!!

You can also win any product of your choice from my Tpt store! 🙂

Debbie Clement is giving away 3 copies of her AMAZING books (she made the quilts by hand that became the illustrations in her books!!)  and she’s going to autograph them and personalize them for you!!!!  🙂  I hope I win that prize.

Debbie is also giving away a digital copy of her song “You’re Wonderful”…this is probably my most favorite song that Debbie sings and it’s even better in person (remember when she came to visit my classroom in May??).

There are also lots of other bloggers donating prizes to you today:

And many more!!! So head on over to my Facebook Page to enter and look for the blue helicopter!! Click on it to win! 🙂  Don’t forget to visit Debbie’s blog to get double the entries! 🙂

Thanks so much for all the fun the last 5 years!  I really enjoy reading your comments and trying to figure out what to share with you! 🙂

Kristen 🙂

The giveaway is already up and running for Thursday!  I stayed up extra late just to have it ready to go. 🙂

Here are the wonderful bloggers who donated prizes for you to win today to help celebrate two 5 year Blog Birthdays!  Don’t forget to visit my Kristen’s Kindergarten Facebook Page to enter (look for the blue helicopter and click it) and then visit Debbie Clement’s blog Rainbows within Reach to double your chances to win and wish her blog a happy 5th birthday as well! 🙂

Come back tomorrow for the BIG prize giveaway with some special prizes!!

Kristen 🙂

Here are the winners from Day 3’s giveaway! 🙂

I’ve already let the lovely ladies who donated prizes know who won what, so one of them will be in touch with you to e-mail you your prize! A few of them might be in Vegas for the I Teach K conference, so please be patient with them in getting their prizes to you. 🙂

Kristen 🙂

P.S. The prizes are going to keep getting bigger from here on out, so make sure you enter here and on Debbie’s blog to double your chances! 🙂

Here are the winners from Day 2’s giveaway. 🙂

The ladies who donated will e-mail you shortly if they haven’t already. 🙂

Please be patient with them…some of the ladies are at the I Teach K conference in Vegas and are not near their computers right now. 🙂

Don’t forget to enter again today!  There are about 5 hours left to enter! 🙂