Classroom Reveal!

Hey y'all! It's finally that time...CLASSROOM REVEAL!!

I have to say that I am so in love with my classroom this year. I spent a big chunk of my summer in there organizing and preparing for this school year. I don't feel like it's as "cute" as I want it, but I have to keep in mind that my babies are only 4 and 5. I don't want to over stimulate them or give them a million things to look at and be distracted. Either way I still love it!

I will warn you that you will see a lot of empty shelves. Since I teach Pre-K I don't put everything out at once. We learn about 2 centers at a time. Usually by the end of the second or third week they will have activities out in each center. 

Enjoy! :)

I posted this on IG right before Meet the Teacher. This is what you see when you walk in...

As you're walking in you would see this....

It's hard to tell but I have letters with funny faces on the window. I've gotten so many compliments on them...and that wonderful green sign!

Our daily schedule! This thing saves my life (and the kids!). After a few weeks of using it I no longer get asked, "What's next?" 

My Safe Place looks pretty lame right now, but I don't add a lot in the beginning. As I teach them how to use things I will add more. I put the pillow and blanket in there just for the first day. 

I don't have a "teacher desk" so this is my area.

I had to get a close up of my toolbox. I am already in love with this thing!

And around the room we go....

Art Center..

This is one center that will be open week 1.

Math/Science and computers. (Ignore the trashbags)

Writing center. My library books are over here because there's just no where else to put them. I had the library here last year and it became a big problem. Hopefully this works better!

Yes it's roped off. They're not allowed to enter that center yet :)

Blocks...this center will also be open week 1

Pretend and Learn and ABC center

Job chart, birthday board, work display

Also roped off because they cannot be in that center just yet.

Trying something else new this year! I put tape down last year and it left ugly marks on my carpet. So we are trying velcro this year! 

Probably my favorite center.

I think the library will work better over here and the kids will enjoy it.

 The next few pictures are all pom poms that my wonderful aide, Lauren, made. I had all the tissue paper for them and while I had to be in PD all week she spent time getting them made for me. Seriously such a blessing! They are the cutest ever! :)

That's it! This is where I'll be spending most of my time at this year. What do y'all think about it?! 

Live, love, learn

Rachel :)

Gearing up for back to school!

Hey y'all! I haven't posted in awhile so here's what has been going on. Things have just been crazy! The rest of my summer flew by and I started back last week. July was full of conferences, trainings, and working in my classroom. (Reveal is coming soon!) 

I met my mom for lunch and shopping today. While we were walking around a store I threw out the idea to her about some new blog posts. I've decided to share with everyone some simple things I do to stay sane during the craziness of school. Now some of you have been doing this for years but I'm just getting started with it all. 

I have a full week of professional development ahead of me which also means 10 hour+ work days. Because of this I know I will want to get as much sleep as possible, not do a lot of thinking about cooking, and will need tons of snacks (and caffeine)!! I have quite a few goals this school year. They are: 1) no frozen dinners!, 2) eating out only once a week, 3) precooking some meals on Sunday, and 4) have snacks prepard 

Some of these ideas I've seen on Pinterest and some I came up with on my own. Here we go...

One thing I did a lot last year was pick up dinner on the way home from school. I was too tired to cook and most of the time I never left any meat out to thaw. I seriously spent a lot of money doing all that and I put so much junk inside me! In order to solve this problem I am going to start planning my meals out for a whole month. I will still only grocery shop once a week, but I'll know in advance what I may need more of. I posted this on IG a few days ago...

Don't follow me on IG? Go for it HERE. :)

It's only been one week but so far the calendar has really helped. It's also held me accountable to what I'm eating and what I bought at the grocery store.

We are very lucky that during our week before school starts we are able to take long lunch breaks. We use this time to go out to eat. It's a fun time to bond with the other teachers. So this week I won't be premaking any lunches, but I am working on snacks. I make sure to always load my bag up with tons of snacks. One problem I ran into last year is that I didn't have much time in the morning to bag things up or I didn't have enough for the week. How am I planning on fixing it? A snack bucket and a snack drawer! 

I am using one of the bottom drawers of my fridge for various snacks. When I am packing my lunch in the morning I can just grab from this drawer and be done! This week I have strawberries, blackberries, grapes, apples, carrots, and string cheese. 

 This is the snack bucket I put together. It's sitting on my kitchen counter so I can easily grab a few things out of here and throw them in my bag. 

Have you seen these amazing bags at Target? 

I love them! I was able to quickly portion out a serving of Cheerios and didn't even have to think about it.

That's it! There's a few things I'm trying out this school year to help keep things a little calm. Do you do any of these? Is there anything you do that works well for you? I want to know! :)

Have a great week everyone! 

Live, love, learn

Rachel :)