TV Armoire Change Up

A couple months ago my mom brought me her old TV armoire.  After having it sit in the garage for what seemed like forever, I had decided that I would put it on Craigslist and get rid of it.  Well, then I started getting out clothes for the baby to prepare and I quickly realized that I didn't have enough space for everything.  Ugh...  now what to do???  So...

I decided I needed to redo the TV armoire to create a closet for my new lil.  

Here is a before picture. 

It did come with both drawers.  I must have taken one out before I took the picture.  As you can see the back of the armoire was completely shot.  Also there were some scratches on it.  After deciding what exactly I was going to do with it, I started by sanding it with an electric sander and then I applied a primer.  I also took off the old back and added a new back to I didn't have any holes in it.  My husband went ahead and added the bar for the clothes, however it wasn't exactly where I wanted it so I took it back off.

Once the primer was set, I applied the color I chose to paint it.  In the store the color was a pretty blue.  It seemed a lot darker then what it turned out.  I still like the color it is just brighter than what I had planned on.  Then I bought new handles to add to it.  The handles ended up being tricky.  I had to go to the store 3 different times.  The holes in the drawers were a strange size to it took awhile to find something that would work. 

Here is the end result!

Here is the new inside.  I added wallpaper to the inside of it to dress it up more.  I also re-added the bar for the clothes where I wanted it ;) and then I added the shelf to it.

I think it turned out really well.  It will be perfect for my lil boy coming soon.  I finally got it inside where I wanted it and was able to add items in it.

Here is another before and after shot of the armoire.

~Thanks for stopping by!!~

MLK, Big Idea 8, Baby Sprinkle

This week went really fast.  On Monday, we had Kagan training all day.  Then on Tuesday we celebrated Martin Luther King Junior.  We made a book about Martin Luther King.  I loved looking at the pictures they drew of him.

Then we also did everything that I mentioned in my blog post last year about MLK.  Click here to check that post out!  I love having them make the cut and paste activity with my class. It is always interesting to see how they are turn out.  They are always so different.  

This week, one of my awesome assistants made me some Buckeyes!!!  They are delicious!! 

This week we also worked on the Science Big Idea of 8 and 9.

Big Idea 8 is Properties of Matter. 

SC.K.P.8.1 Sort objects by observable properties, such as size, shape, color, temperature (hot or cold), weight (heavy or light), and texture.

So we practiced sorting by color, shape, color and shape, weight, temperature, and texture.  My students were already familiar with sorting because we have sorted in Math class.  I set up my class into four groups and then each group was given different items they could sort.

Sorry the picture is sideways.  Students are sorting by color.

I made sure the kiddos understood what we were doing by having each child grab a colored shape.  Then the students had to group themselves by color.  The students did a great job with this.

Here are some of my students with their group.  They are holding up their shapes with colors.

We then continued our centers on sorting by sorting by shapes, color and shapes, weight, temperature.  The students really enjoyed the centers.

We have begun the scary double phonograms.  They are usually very tricky for my students.  Every week I make sure we take time out to practice writing the phonograms so the students really understand them.  We are really working on writing correctly on the lines too with our letters so it is perfect to practice with our phonograms.  When we practiced I had the students face their partners.  Then the students wrote their answer and when I said partner check the partners checked the work to make sure it was the correct and formed correctly.

This week we had to read Cinderella.  I choose to read a regular version of Cinderella and then a different version (Cinderella Skeleton) so we could compare.  I love reading Cinderella Skeleton because the boys in my class always enjoy it.  I had them tell me the main character and then the beginning, middle, and end of the story.

Last Saturday I was surprised with a Baby Sprinkle.  If you don't know what a Sprinkle is, it is the Baby Shower for the second baby.  I thought I was having a day of pampering but instead I was happily surprised with the Sprinkle.  I couldn't believe it.  I really didn't think I was having anything.  

Walking into the surprise Sprinkle!  Sorry for the glare.

Today my class and classroom parents had a surprise shower for me.  It has been a week of full of surprises.  I am so honored my class would do this for me.  It was so special.  Here are some pictures of the surprise.

 

The students took yarn and cut it to how big they thought my belly was. 

Another thing the students did was write the name they thought I should name the baby.  Lots of them voted for Tobey.  It was adorable to see what they thought.

The showers we so great!!!  I am one lucky gal!!!

Science and the 100th Day!

What a busy week! I had to take a day off on Tuesday because my little boy was sick so I got behind for the week. I was hoping to catch up on Friday, but it was our 100th Day of School so instead of catching up I got further behind. I guess at least we had great learning and an exciting week! 

This week we conquered the Science Big Idea number 5- Earth in Space.  We will actually finish it next week too because I ran out of time.  We worked on a Science Reader that I bought from TPT on day and night.  It was great to use to teach the students what is in the sky during the day and night.  The students loved the book. We are also working on a Space Book but again, we didn't get that finished.

Next we talked about how things may look different up close than far away, but they actually stay the same size.  To do this we went outside and did an experiment with two different balls.  In the picture below the students is holding a beach ball far away.  The students thought the ball was smaller.

Then we brought the ball back up to where we were sitting and measured the ball.  They thought the ball looked bigger.  Once we had the measurement, another students ran across the playground with the ball and then another student went to measure the ball.  The students found out that the ball was the exact same size.

The students really enjoyed going outside and learning.  It was an exciting experiment that we did and the students learned that the ball is the same size no matter where it is.  

On Friday of this week I had a student give me this letter.  

Isn't it precious!!  I love the drawing and how she sounded out my name.  I guess our practice of writing and sounding out words is working.

Also on Friday we celebrated the 100th Day of School.  We had a very busy day.  I actually didn't fit in everything I wanted to for the 100th Day.

We made these awesome hats of 10 things on 10 strips.  They take a lot of time to make but they are so adorable and the kiddos LOVE them. 

Stamping for fingerprints.

Here is a picture of how all their hats turned out.

Aren't they adorable?!

Next we made a one dollar bill with 100 pennies on it.

I can't believe that is all of the 100th day activities we got too. I will have to do the rest next week.  We also had a birthday on Friday.  I loved the birthday snack the little girl brought for it.

Popcorn and a drink.  So much better than the cupcakes!

My week was super busy.  I caught two more weeks of lesson plans finished for my sub.  I am now up to my due date with plans.  I am hoping to do more next week.  We have training on Monday so hopefully the others days I will get some more plans ready.

How was your week? 

Did you notice I went back to my old layout.  I just love it!!

What a week!

Monday we started back to school after our Christmas break.  I was excited to go back to see my kiddos and because I have a lot to do before the end of February.  I will be taking 10 weeks off once I have my baby so I have been wanting to get things in order for that.  I guess you would call it school nesting. (hehehe)  I hate that I will be missing so much school.  My last baby I only took 6 weeks off, so this one will be even longer.  I thought since it will be my last child that I should take a couple more weeks off than I did with the first.  

At my school teachers are required to provide two weeks of lesson plans when they take off for their maternity leave.  Well, I just couldn't do two weeks lesson plans!  I want to know what my students are working on and feel like I am still apart of their school day.  I have decided to work on lesson plans for the rest of the year.  Yes, I did say the rest of the year.  I couldn't just start making lesson plans for when I am due.  I needed to go in order to make sure I am covering everything that needs to be covered.  I actually love this idea!  I may start doing it every year.  I am not quite finished yet with it, but I am hoping by the end of next week I will be pretty close.  I am using crates with file folders in them to sort the lesson plans week by week.  I have finished up to the week of Feb. 8th.  I tried to put everything a sub would need in the file so all anyone would have to do is pull out everything from the files.  I hope I have enough crates.  :)

Lessons and lesson plans in crates

I like planning my whole maternity leave.  I understand they may not get everything covered but at least I know it was supposed to be and that the materials were all there for it to be.  

Only 15 more weeks to complete.

This week my class began the double phonograms.  My school has used Spalding Phonics or at least the phonograms of Spalding.  Then the school also got Secret Stories (red posters).  On the back of the posters is a little story that has to do with the phonogram.  It helps the students learn and remember the phonogram.  

 This quarter my students have to be able to tell me today, yesterday, and tomorrow.  This is always very difficult for my kindergarteners.  We go over the calendar every single day and this year I even purchased It's Calendar Time to help my students understand calendar better.  I decided to print off the days of the week and put them by my Smartboard.  When we go over today, yesterday, and tomorrow I have a student come up and point to the day that is today.  Then I tell them to slide to the left to tell me yesterday and to slide to right to tell me what tomorrow will be.  The sliding has really given my students a visual for which way they should be going to figure it out.

Our calendar journals we do also include today, yesterday, and tomorrow but the more we go over it the better. 

I have been thinking about my blog.  I absolutely love blogging and love hearing from my followers.  One of my New Years resolutions is to write consistently on my blog.  My goal is going to be to update you on what my class it up to each week until the baby comes.  I hope you come and check it out each week.  Thanks for stopping by!