One Day for Me!

Well, my post heading isn't entirely true! I am still working away on my never-ending to-do list, but I am doing it from home, and I am making sure that some of the list includes time with my family! 

I have got in cuddles with my little man, and we have made plans to head out to Walmart (yes we are crazy) for some last minute essentials for school! We always get his teacher a "gift" (of sorts) for September Start-Up. Hayden brings along a bag of paper towel, soap, baby wipes...the essentials! ;) 

Today, as part of my "me time" I am blogging (because it makes me happy)! I am joining up with Farley for Currently and I am also adding a sneak peek of my classroom...so keep reading till the end!!!

A little explanation...I have been at school for 7 days straight, many nights until 10 p.m. With the classroom still a construction zone, there was only so much we could do at a time, and some of the regular things took longer than anticipated! The hardest parts were the uncertainty of where you would be at the end of each day and what you would be able to do the next day, and also I felt all over the place (I still do). 

Good news though! I have a great team to work with and many, many supportive friends and colleagues! I can't thank you all enough! Seriously!!!!! Without you, I would not have been ready and feeling so, SO, SO much better today!!! 

Thanks to all my fantastic helpers, my room went from this:

To this:

A huge weight off my shoulders! It isn't perfect but it is kid-friendly and welcoming! Now, I can focus on getting to know my little kidlets, and not worry about them being safe!

I will continue to plug away, and maybe I will have a classroom reveal by...Christmas? Until then, I will be back soon with details of my first week. My first day is tomorrow!

Classroom Reveal

I am very excited about today's topic for Teacher Week 2013 - the classroom reveal! I love taking a look around everyone's classrooms and seeing how they decorate, the different themes and "embellishments."  

Unfortunately, mine will not be that exciting, because this is how my room looks right now: 

Construction is behind, but there is still hope for September Start Up! Keep your Fingers Crossed!

This is how it looked when I had to drive into the city to help out a friend and decided to drive by to see the progress.  It didn't look encouraging, but I have to tell you that the gentlemen I met from the construction crew were such nice guys and I know they have been working tirelessly to get this all done for us! 

However, that doesn't mean the back to school preparations haven't begun (at least in my mind), so today I am going to share with you, some of the items I have chosen to create and decorate my new, fabulous plans (going by the blueprints I saw last June...I will have to use my imagination)!  

Before I make a final commitment, and begin the printing, cutting, laminating, cutting process. I plan to meet with my new teaching partner. I can't have her spending all year in polka dots if she dislikes polka dots!  In Ontario, our new Full Day Kindergarten (every day, all day) consists of a Qualified Teacher and a Qualified Designated Early Childhood Educator (DECE) working together to implement the program.  FDK is new to our school this year, and I am new to kindergarten after years in grade 2/3 and in grade 5/6, so my DECE partner and I will be doing a lot of learning together.  Starting with how best to set up the classroom.  

Here are some of the things I will be presenting to her when we meet for the first time this week, thanks to so many of you and your great ideas and wonderful creations: 

Marsha McGuire's ABC chart (and tracer) Pack and her Numbers and Colours Pack from Differentiated Kindergarten. You can purchase a copy by clicking on each of the headings above. 

Also, she has created a set of Shapes posters, that you can get for FREE here!

In my "window" shopping, at Scholar's Choice, I liked these and think they would go nicely with Marsha's posters (J.W. if you are reading this, here is my visual shopping list).

I also love Hope King's Decor Galore and I think I have narrowed it down to Patterns Galore (on black), but I have to tell you, it was a difficult choice. Her decor bundles are all beautiful. You can check them out here or purchase here. 

But I am a little torn because I also love Amy Lemon's Get Your Chevron On Bundle. You can check it out here and purchase it here. 

So, now I need your help!!! Please comment below and tell me which one you think I should get! 

Then I thought I could tie it all together with some material for the bullentin board backgrounds (thanks again to Amy Lemons), some paper lanterns and some of these, just because I think they are fun! 

Check out Meredith at Keen on Kindergarten, for directions on how to make these.  She also use paper lanterns to create the Very Hungry Caterpillar too! So cool! I may have to create that as well!

Hope this gives you a sense of where I am going with my classroom.  Come back tomorrow for organization ideas! 

Yours in classroom decorating, 

Jackie (a.k.a. Ms.M)