Special Olympics

Last year was my first year participating in Special Olympics. We had a blast! If you ever get the opportunity to go, it's completely worth it. Our students had a great time getting our banner created for it, and running in the races. I highly recommend eating lunch there (our Special Olympics allowed us to purchase hot dogs there). It saved a lot of time and gave me more backpack room for snacks and other emergency things!

I can't wait to do it again this year!!

Fish Tank

I applied for a Pets in the Classroom Grant for the second year. They paid for fish in my classroom. Last year I had two goldfish, Marvel and Sushi. No, they didn't die ... in fact, they got too big for my tank and are now residing in a favorite sub's pond. Due to having to let Sushi and Marvel go, I got new fish this year. I went with glotetras this year because they are MUCH cleaner than goldfish. Here was the tank at the beginning of the year before kids.

The pink fish is named Ms. Piggy, green one is named Kermit, and the Orange one is named Animal. After the first week, Ms. Piggy left us because she was too stressed. I have since replaced her ... also named Ms. Piggy and added some glow lights, darkened the tank, and added a snail named Smoosh (I think he's passed on too).

The blue in the right corner is a bubble maker with blue LED lights around it. It really looks cool when the room is dark!

So excited to continue this grant for a second year! Teacher TAKE ADVANTAGE OF ANY GRANTS AVAILABLE TO YOU! You will be amazed at what you can get if you take the time to fill out a simple form!

Morning Work

I worked hard every summer on usually one BIG project for my classroom. This year I worked on putting together morning work folders for each student. These are the basic templates that I got of TPT and then I added my students information.

This first few pages is all about themselves.

   

They must sort objects from each season to the correct area. 

Must add a day to their calendar.

I put this page in there, but am waiting until later in the year to teach them the facts for them to do in their morning work folder. 

This page is a boy for boys and a girl for girls. They have to dress the child for the weather. 

On this page they take a dry erase marker and mark the answer's they choose. We then will check their answers during circle time to see if they need to make corrections.

If you want the templates to these, feel free to email me!

Classroom

      My classroom has been a work in progress this summer. I found out a week before school started back that I am getting to stay in my current classroom. With that being said I whipped it into high gear and pieced my classroom back together. Here are some pictures of my classroom (not completed yet).

This is a picture of my desk. I am very big into being organized and since I'm a Special Education teacher, I have to make sure I keep up with everything! I bought this organization system at Kohl's (my favorite store) on clearance!

This picture is where I hold circle time. The board is a Smartboard. I changed this from last year. I had a table in front of the board last year, and it was too difficult to fit several children behind it to do Smartboard activities. 

The white table in the middle, underneath the paper lanterns (yes, they light up!), is a pintrest project! I bought that coffee table off craislist for $10. I painted it with chalkboard paint last year, and it was a bit messier than I was willing to deal with. So I went to Walmart and bought a can of whiteboard paint. The kids can now use dry erase markers on the table. I also added cushions to milk crates for seating!

I got a new whiteboard hung up this year. This one is magnetic and will be used for MANY reading activities. The pink board is now my Brag Board. I have yarn and clothes pins hung up there to display Excellent work done by my kids. 

I made these curtains with fabric and seam iron tape. I then purchased curtain rods and now all my art supplies (especially the paint) are not accessible to my students. 

My classroom theme this year is Pete the Cat. My student's loved him last year. His phrase is "It's all good!"

I will post new pictures of finished products when I get there. I am looking forward to a GREAT year!