Dr. Seuss Classroom x3

It's been a while, I know.  Well if you've perused my most recent (not-so-recent) posts at all you'll know that I've been busy with mommy things.  And SURPRISE! My little girl is not even a year old yet, but we are adding one more to the team.

Can't. Believe. It.
I'm 21 weeks pregnant and have been sick, sick, sick for, oh, the  last 4-5 months.  Ug. But I would rather not dwell on that, so let's get on to the real reason I came to the couch: I'm starting a preschool! (Big cheesy, plastered on grin with deer-in-the-headlight eyes). Am I insane? Yes. Yes I am.  But it makes me happy! So that's what I do. I do crazy and I like to think I do it pretty well.  I'm starting a preschool and mid-school-year I will be the momma to not one, but two babies under the sweet age of 15 months.  Heaven help me.

To the credit of my questionable sanity, I should add that I decided to quit teaching elementary to teach preschool from home BEFORE I found out that I was pregnant with baby #2.  I already had a full class enrolled, so here. we. go!

Anyway, if you made it this far you really deserve a ticket, or a token, or a sticker, or something. Good job! And don't let my candid apprehension fool you.  Let's get one thing straight: I love to teach. I was born to be a teacher. It's in my blood. Just like I know I was made to be a mom. I'm so happy and grateful to do the things that I love. What a gift.

Alright, alright already. Pictures, yes, the reason you visited my obscure, neglected, little blog in the first place. Can I get a drumroll please? And thanks for visiting! Come again.

Months ago, before I knew I was pregnant {again!} I deliberated long and hard about what to name my preschool. If you know me at all you know I've been kickin' around the Dr. Seuss theme for a few years now (Dr. Seuss Classroom x3 - yes it really is my THIRD Dr. Seuss classroom. 1st grade. 3rd grade. Now Preschool.) Finding a name was not an easy feat! But eventually I decided on 'Thinkin' Things.'

My handiwork sign I'm not such a fan of, but check out my little helper. Could she be ANY cuter? 

(Okay, fine, I admit I might be a little biased.)

So we had a little Open House and here's my front door...

(Wreath look familiar? I posted all about making it a few years ago here)

And here's your view as you descend the stairs...

 And here's a little-bit fish-eyed attempt at showing you what the whole place looks like...

...and the other half. 

Have you ever taken an iphone panorama? 

I hadn't, (guess I need a little practice - those stripes really DO line up on the wall) but what a cool little feature! 

Here's the hooks and alphabet (an awesome baby shower gift from a friend!) where the kiddos will hang their backpacks.

 And our crazy straw birthday balloons (download them for free here) and hanging planets. 

 The snack/art/craft/science table AND our pull-down maps. Probably my FAVORITE feature. I convinced my old principal to let me buy them from the school. :)

Our Thing 1 Buddy to "watch out" for everybody and make sure we are all playing safe and be a "model student" for us too - sitting on the special "Thing of the Day's" chair. 

(My "Thing of the Day" is basically like a "Student of the Day" or "Teacher's Helper". It does WONDERS to help with behavior and keep kids motivated) 

 Our writing/listening/reading/drawing table with student cubbies and the special Thing 2 chair cover for my "Thing of the Day" (see how I made it here). 

The AWESOME Dr. Seuss shelf facade my husband made way back when but that didn't get assembled and painted until just now! And a $5 thrift store chair I sanded, painted, and recovered.

 And the playroom! $10 door from the thrift store, easily cut in half by my handy, handsome hubby with a perfect puppet-show ledge stained and added to the top.  

Too bad the lighting makes it near impossible to get a good view inside the playroom. Just take my word. It's pretty awesome. Imagine one blue wall. One bright pink. The rest is a chalkboard. And filled with toys, games, puppets, dress-ups and more. Is it obvious I love it?

 And last, but not least, we have our math wall complete with calendar, shapes, months, days, and color-coded hundreds chart (Want a free copy? Check it out here)

And that's just about it.

 But wait! I want to see pictures of your classroom! Leave me a link so I can check it out!

Egypt anyone? + ancient civilizations and I LOVE my lamp!

Egypt anyone?  Do you teach it?  Do you kiddos just EAT it UP?  Mine certainly do.  They love it.  They are so fascinated by everything about it. What fun activities do you? (Leave me a comment or if you have a blog post about it leave me a link! I want to see!)

 We teach the Core Knowledge Sequence, so we learn about several ancient civilizations in first grade...so... each student creates one of these ancient civilization pocket books.  (We actually do one pocket for each civilization and put them all together when we've covered all of them.)  If you teach ancient civilizations and are interested in creating a similar book you can snag it here. It also includes the the vocabulary flapbooks you can see below.  

 Here are some of the activities and things we do when we learn about Egypt:  (click here for TPT and the image for TN if you're interested)

A few weeks ago I saw a lamp similar to this on Pinterest.  I loved it!  And of course I had to make one instantly.  I actually already had the $2 lampshade from the thrift store just waiting for me to put it to good use and a goldish/bronze lampstand that I just wasn't a fan of.  Lucky for me I already had blue spray paint too.  The only thing I had to buy was the ribbon. Using a 50% coupon and my 15% discount at Joann's that didn't cost me much. And here's the final product.  What do you think?

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 If you want to see more of my classroom you can see pics here.

And if you followed Becca's great linky party over here looking for a February freebie... well here it is!  A valentine/february sentence sort. If you like it, follow my blog! :)  And join the linky!

Back to School FREEBIE!

My school started this past week and boy has it been CrAzY!  I created this rule booklet to help my students understand and internalize our rules.  They are: I am here to learn; I respect myself; I respect others; I respect property; and I am responsible.  

My students have loved completing it and I'm so close to 100 followers I decided I would give it away as a freebie!  If you download, please help me reach (or surpass!) my goal by following!  Click the image to download.  Please leave me a comment if you like it or have any questions!  

A big thanks to the Digital Bake Shop for the cute graphics and Kevin and Amanda for the fonts.  

Dr. Seuss Classroom Theme PHOTOS FiNaLly!

Tonight was Back to School night because like it or not school starts on MONDAY!  I can't believe it.  I feel like I have been functioning at 150% at an operating speed of 200 mph.  The last week and a half have been CrAzY!  But I'm excited to finally share my classroom photos.  I'll be back soon with some of my co-workers cute classroom photos too.  

 You would never believe that I got the blanket (yes blanket!) used to cover the bulletin board & create the curtains (yes I did cut it!) at the local thrift store for just a few dollars or that I got that AMAZING blue chest for $5 at a garage sale last Saturday.  Yay! Thing 1 was $8 on Ebay. (Look close and you can see the outlet covers.  You can see my earlier tutorial post here.)

 25 yards of red ribbon at the thrift store: 2 dollars.  Yes it was.

 Shelf, mirrors & leather garbage, yep, you guessed it - ALL from the DI or garage sales.  You can see the original $3 shelf post here.  

Found these guys for $1 each at the DI (local thrift store) and couldn't resist making these...

 They are seat covers for my previously called "Students of the Day" now to be my 'Thing 2' and 'Thing 3' (there was no Thing 1 shirt :(, plus we already have a Thing one in our room :)  

Blue mail slots - $5 at the DI.  Red bow-tie shelf - $2 at the DI (I painted of course).  Flat Pendant from Target. Vinyl quote from Etsy.

 (Below) This is our classroom continents rugs & library reading area...

 Homework tray & pencil cup labels

 Schedule cards huge thanks to Melanie Conger.  You can get the cards here.  

 I always display our spelling words for the week. (Available in my classroom pack - see end of post)

 Our phonogram board, Dr. Seuss abcs & truffula trees!

 Seussified teacher space place.  Love the hanging lantern lights. You can see my blue filing cabinet post and get the birthday balloon template free here.

Cute hiding places! 

 

 Our Saxon Math Meeting/Calendar Board.  (Calendar & pieces from Michaels).

 East sign & clock numbers

 Back to School Poem for students + erasers from Target

 Classroom door display.  ADORABLE Quotes available here and cutouts from Target.

 Things 1-26 Locker Tags (in my classroom pack - see end of post)

Seussified Wreath End-Result (see original post here)

 Peeking through the door. See the curtains and chair covers?

Easel area & Planet Rug 

 Oh wait!  There's more!? Here's the HANDSOME boy that I came home to. Seriously, check. him. out! And look what he's working on.... a Seussified shelf ALL for me and my kiddos! How sweet he is. Best. husband. ever.

 Pictures to come!

Leave me a comment if you like it!  Or send me any questions you have.  

PS - If you want to download the Dr. Seuss Classroom theme things that I created go ahead and click the image below! You can get the classroom labels for free here.   

 

Jessica @ Tales of a First Grade Teacher, Lorraine @ Fabulous 4th Grade Froggies, and Corinna @ Surfing Through Second are all hosting fun linky parties highlighting Classroom Themes/Design.  I have been working so hard (and excitedly) on my theme for this year... Dr. Seuss and couldn't wait to join the parties!