The Final Countdown

This is it....the final countdown!
Yes, I only have 6 more days until I'm back at work!  Hard to believe how fast this year off went (oh, how I loved my maternity leave!).  I am getting more nervous by the day!

Here's the bad news....these are pictures of my classroom status as of Monday, the last time I was at work......it's not pretty.

That little person you see is my daughter.  I brought her with me to help....well I moved at a much slower pace then I thought but at least she had fun!





Not all of that furniture (and other stuff) in there is mine.  You see, my class was used as a storage room last year and this summer.  The KG classes across the hall housed summer day camp until this past Monday so the furniture came out of those rooms and was placed (ever so neatly, right? HA!) into mine.  I did manage to put up fabric onto my bulletin boards (thanks for the idea Julie Lee) but that was a sight to see!  I was climbing over furniture - I have scratch marks to prove it!

So needless to say, I am feeling VERY overwhelmed.  I have only tomorrow and Friday to prep my class for Tuesday morning (Monday is a holiday here in Canada - Labour Day).  I'm going in bright and early tomorrow and my poor family probably won't see me until late Friday night!  Ha!

Wish me luck!

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The Playdough Club

Playdough has to be, by far, the most popular of my centres.  BUT....I find that after about a week my playdough gets gross!  Yuck! 

Our school gives us just a few tubs of Crayola playdough, certainly not enough to last us the whole year.  First of all, this stuff is not easy to make at all!  Second, it dries up within the week and makes crumbs EVERYWHERE.  Who wants to play with old, dried out playdough? So that's when one of my teaching partners thought of the Playdough Club.  It works like this...

Parents can sign up to make playdough (totally voluntary and you wouldn't believe how many want to do it!).  Those parents that participate make it about 3 times per year.  That's it!  I send out this note sometime during the first week of school. 
Click on the picture to download.

***NEW:  Download your own EDITABLE version of this letter for FREE by clicking here.***


For those parents that become members of our Playdough Club, I make a schedule and send them this note.  I usually get quite a few members so I am able to change my playdough weekly. 
Click on the picture to download. 


I have a fantastic Playdough Fun package on my TpT store if you want to check out great activities for this centre.
If you have any questions about the Playdough Club, please let me know!
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It's Moving Day!


Horray!  I'm finally moving all that stuff from my basement back into my classroom!  I hope I can get it all done today or else I am going to have to rename this post as "Moving Week!".  Ha!

Just wanted to share with you my caddies that hold all the pencils, crayons, erasers, etc. that each group needs at their table.  I have 4 table groups, colour-coded, so students can easily find their matching bin and take it to their table when they need it.



I actually bought these bins a few years ago when I was in Buffalo for the day, at the Walmart.  BUT....when I went to Walmart here (in Toronto) last night I found them too...on sale for $3 each!  Problem was there wasn't many colours (not that I need any more) so I just got a couple of black ones to use for craft days.



I'll explain how I set them up.  Glue, crayons, pencils and scissors are the basics.  I have an area for "Mr. Space" which is an idea I found online years ago.  It is just a popsicle stick with a smiley face on it and the kids use it to leave spaces between their words.  I actually don't introduce Mr. Space until the second month of school or so.

You can click here if you would like the labels for the caddies.

At my Writing Centre, I like to put a small 3 drawer plastic bin to house things students can use while at this centre:  stencils, pictures (clip art or magazine pics), tools (pencils, rulers, etc.).  I have a seperate container for markers and another one for crayons. 

Click on the picture for the labels for the Writing Centre.
Sorry for the bad picture.  As I was moving this upstairs I ripped the bottom label (guess what I will be making later?).

Wish me luck today!  I hope I can accomplish everything in one day!


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