Classroom Pics Continued....

First of all, we hope  everyone came through Irene ok!!!!
We go back to school tomorrow and I still feel like I could use another week preparing for those kiddos.  The room aspect is as ready as it's going to be.  Due to Irene we had a half day of inservice and an Open House all in one.  It felt like a whirlwind, but those children are just so adorable and excited to come to the big school, it can't help but get you excited. Here a few more of my classroom pictures:

As you walk in, these are the cubbies and hooks for the children.

It looks a lot busier than it feels, but this is looking in from the door.

This is my calendar and circle area where most of our morning is spent singing learning songs, doing Everyday calendar math activities, morning message, and calendar work in our mini offices.

This is the dramatic play area.  Small and confined, yet perfect size for 3 which is all I allow in that area at one time. This area is changed every month.  For the first month, it is just a general market area so the children can get used to the rules and expectations.

To the left of the dramatic play area, we have a nice TV area with storage.  I use the storage area as my block center.  The children sit at the city rug ( a great find from IKEA) and build with blocks or use the cars and city workers.
Picture is below.

This is my word wall area.  That table that lines the wall, houses my computer station, on the top are my fine motor trays. The children can choose these when they first come in, and underneath are the puzzles and legos the children may choose at free choice center time.

Here is a zoomed out version of my writing center that I had mentioned in an earlier posting.

In front of the writing center I have a non carpeted area we use for  Shared Reading. This area is at the back of my room. The students choose a carpet square and sit to listen to our weekly story.

To the left of the Big Book area, is my listening center and bulletin board that for the start of school will have our Rainbow Names from Deanna Jump's Names unit. The bucket houses our journals, and on the floor to the left are our pointers for reading the room.

Here is the view from the back corner where our writing center sits.

I still need to take a photo of my Literacy and Math center( oops, just noticing I forgot those.)  Finally for today, is one thing I could not live without in the classroom, my class Ipod and docking station.  As soon as I found out I was moving from fifth grade to Kindergarten four years ago, I was frantic about how to best teach with all the awesome learning songs available.  I thought this is going to take forever to change CD's in and out, etc. My husband had the idea of going on ebay and finding a cheap used ipod.  WHAT A TIME and LIFESAVER!  It sits on my desk and gets used constantly.  The docking station was a great find from the Brookstone outlet.  

Well, there you have it my room.  (Jess) We hope everyone has a great year!