Michael's 10 drawer rainbow cart sale!

Hi all,
I am soo excited to share with you Michael's 10 drawer rainbow cart!

I picked up two of them (after seeing them on soo many blogs) this past Sunday. All this week they are on sale 40% off and then with your teacher discount (15%) you can get an even better deal on them! There was a special 20% off coupon on Sunday from 3:30-7:30 pm on your entire purchase including sale items so I was able to pick up both carts for $60! Amazing!

I can't wait to use these for Math and Literacy Work stations. One cart will be for Literacy Stations (Debbie Diller) and one will be for math work stations (also Debbie Diller).

Peace, Love and Kinder uses her Rainbow carts as cubbies for her kids since the drawers can be taken completely out!

Summer to-do list!

Sorry for the missing in action. It was a bit stressful and very busy Spring. I'm hoping to get into blogging with more frequency!

Life: Does anyone else get overwhelmed during the Summer with all of the things they want to accomplish and get done? I have been trying to keep up with all of the reading I wanted to get done but it's been challenging with teaching at an awesome Summer Science camp! I am seriously learning more than the kids and they teach me soo much everyday. The most interesting learning for me has been that my Summer students are from a higher economical status from the students I have been working with the past two years. I have read books on working with students in poverty but I really had never experienced teaching students who were more affluent and did not know how different this Summer would be for me. My eyes have been opened!

On to the to-do list:
1. Finish reading and planning for Literacy workstations (Debbie Diller)
2. Finish reading and planning for Math stations
3. Re-read (read it last Summer) Daily 5 and Cafe and figure out how I am going to combine or plan to incorporate Literacy Stations and Daily 5.
4. Read: Children's Mathematics: Cognitively Guided Instruction <CGI> (a teacher friend read it and told me about it. There are some videos on youtube for more information if you're interested.)
5. Figure out how to incorporate Math Stations with Guided Math with CGI
6. Go through brain breaks on pinterest and create my own popsicle sticks.

7. Go through my Transition Magician book and create popsicle sticks for quick transition ideas.


8. Get into my new classroom at a new school and start setting everything up! And also get the 30+ boxes we have in our house out of here and into my new room!

To help with my dilemma on how to incorporate both Literacy Stations and Daily 5 I found this awesome Linky Party:
http://seusstastic.blogspot.com/2011/11/daily-5-stationliteracy-station.html

I found this awesome linky party on Math work stations:
http://time4kindergarten.blogspot.com/2012/06/math-work-stations-again.html

There is also a Kindergarten Daily 5 study going on this Summer:
http://livelovelaughkindergarten.blogspot.com/2012/06/kindergarten-daily-5-book-study.html

And there is also a Guided Math book study going on this Summer:
http://primaryinspired.blogspot.com/p/guided-math-book-study.html

Hope you enjoy all the blog stalking as much as I am!

Space Man!

Here is my home-made Space Man I made for the kids. They love him! I just drew a happy face with some hair on popsicle sticks and remind the kids to use them when we are in Writer's Workshop time! I keep them in a Turkey meat plastic container. I have my own version that I use during Morning Message to remind the kids how to use Space Man!Really Good Stuff has their own version as well.

Pointers!

I can't remember which blog I got the idea from, but I picked up these drink stirrers in different colors and shapes at Party City! I am going to use these with the small decodable books. I have been telling them to use their "reading finger" all year and most of them are pretty good at it but I wanted to reinforce how important it is to have that 1-1 correspondence on each word. I hope they like them! I'll keep you posted!PS: If it was from your blog, let me know so I can add the link!

Library!

If anyone needs a way to organize their library, I highly recommend Lakeshore's Classroom Libary Labels!

Here's a picture of my new organized library! I love it and the kids love it! They can go right to the bin and find a book they want to read about and then put it back in the correct book bin with the cool stickers that are put on the cover of every book. They just have to match the sticker to the label on the front of the book bin.

*Tips:

1. I got the bins at the Dollar Tree. 20 bins at $1 each = $20

2. The system doesn't come with the plastic sticky label holders so I got those at Office depot. A pack of 10 for $4.59. They are called Insertable Label holders self-adhesive.

Donor's Choose

For my first post I thought I would write about Donor's Choose and it's amazingness! With the help of Donor's Choose I have been able to gain so many new materials for my classroom! Here are just a few pictures of all the wonderful resources that have been donated to my classroom through their website:

A new Projector and Interactive Pen system to make my white board interactive!

A new wireless listening center and new sturdy double-sided whiteboards!

An Anti-bullying program with many anti-bullying books!

Literacy Centers and Math Listening Centers!

Lakeshore Teaching Tubs to teach beginning sounds in Spanish.

These are just some of the amazing resources I have been able to receive from Donor's Choose!

Any teacher that is at a low-income school can make a project on their websites. They are always working so hard to get more companies to help match donations. Many of my projects were funded through Gap's Resources for college Prep 50% match. Don't forget to check out their funding opportunities in the monthly newsletter to see who is having a match offer! I feel very lucky that I have been able to enhance my students educational career by having more hands-on materials and technology inside the classroom!