Down In Pre K

Since we are getting our brand new Smart Boards this weekend I figured I would post some classroom pictures I took a few weeks back.

Classroom Door

We change the outside of our door depending on what month it is or what is going on at school. This was our Spirit Week door. Mrs. Cathy painted the kiddos hands and made their hand prints and underneath them  are little cardinals. On the inside of our door is our Star of The Week spot. Each week one student gets to take home the All About Me Bag and bring it back to share their favorite things with the class.

Where Are We Chart
I made this a year or so ago and I have probably changed it 3 times. I ALWAYS forget until we get back to the room. I am thinking about making a new one to make it cuter and more Roxanne friendly so I might remember to change it more often.

Line Up feet
We have a Boy Line and a Girl Line with line leaders and cabooses. The line leaders stand on the Line Leader Foot and the cabooses go at the very end of each line. Everyone else lines up in between.

Morning Calendar and My Rocking Chair
 That gets sat in for 5 seconds maybe once a day. Sitting is not in the Preschool Teacher's Vocabulary.

Class Schedule and Cool Colors Behavior Chart
 Students move from red to blue as they arrive. This was thrown together when they removed our 2nd chalk board to prepare the wall to install our smart board. Cool Colors Behavior Chart. Everyone starts on Ready To Learn and they move up if they make Good Choices and down if the have Unexpected Behaviors.

At the end of the day my friends can earn tokens for making good choices. If the end on Ready to learn they get 1 token to place in their token cup, If they end on Great Job they get 2 tokens and if they end on Outstanding they get 3 tokens. If they go below Ready To Learn at any time during the day they do not get to choose a token, but they can still work to move their clip up. In each of their K.I.T.E. Folders there is a Behavior Calendar where I write what number they ended on and that is what they are really working for. They like to tell their parents that they may have had an Unexpected Behavior, but they worked really hard to get back to a Happy Color. Anyone who has an Unexpected Behavior and if their clip moves down at any time they get and Oops Note sent home to let their parents know what happened and parents must sign and return the note the next day. This is a great way to monitor behavior and a great visual for my friends. It is also a great way to not forget about the students who are making good choices. If I catch a friend being kind then I can ask them to move their clip up which is a great way to get friends making unexpected behaviors to notice.

Classroom Schedule and Sign In Clips
 The students move their clip from the red clip to the blue clip as they enter the classroom. We used to use cloud sticks and the students would remove their cloud from the board and place it in a pocket on our Attendance Chart as they entered the room, but since they removed the right side of our chalk board to make room for our Smart Board we can no longer use those.

Our Previous Clouds and Attendance Chart
Right next to that at the very far top right is my Dismissal Signs. We have small magnets with each child's name on them that we can move from each Dismissal sign to however they are going home that day. Some friends go to Aftercare everyday, some leave Half Day at 12:00. Some leave at 2:30 everyday and some go to Sibling Pickup. These can change from day to day sow e can move their magnet so whoever is taking them out will know who goes where.

Class Norms instead of Class Rules
I like to stick with Positives instead of Negatives.

 Job Chart, Compliment Chart, Full Body Listening Friend, Weather Graph, and 100 Day Chart
 Each students has a job to help the class everyday. In our class one of our main goals is to teach our students independence and to try to do things for themselves and then after they try we will always help them. The class can earn Compliments during the day by walking nicely in the hall and being quiet to spell words to earn class parties like Pajama Parties, Movie Parties, Hot Coco Parties, etc.  All I have to ask is "Are You Being A Full Body Listener" and my friends know exactly what I mean and will immediately sit crisscross applesauce, place their hands in their lap, and put their eyes on me. Everyday we graph the weather and this helps us  learn about more and less, adding and subtracting, and graphing. Everyday we add a number to our 100 Day of School chart and when we get to 100 we have a 100 Day of School Party!

Letter of the Week Chart
 Each week we meet a new Latter Person and we learn all about their letter and a Theme that goes along with that letter.

The Letter People!!

Birthday Chart
I am still working on this because I am losing so much board space I am currently finding a new home for this hence no pictures on board. I took pictures of the students who had a birthday in that month holding a number with whatever day their birthday is on. We also celebrate half birthday so we will celebrate those through out the year.

Word Wall and Alphabet Buckets
And yes there is a bottom row my photo editor wouldn't let me fit them in the collage for some reason.

Cubbies and Magic Soap
 Each student has their own cubby where they hang their jackets and backpacks. Inside their cubbies we keep a change of clothes and on the small shelf underneath they place their K.I.T.E. folder. We look like Germaphobes with all of that Hand Sanitize or Magic soap as we call it because it magically gets rid of those yucky germs.! Our students don't wash their hands in the bathroom because #1 they don't do it right and they usually end up with more germs then they started with and #2 they are too small to reach the soap, sinks, and paper towels.

My Teacher Shelf and Weekly Files Holder
This is where I keep all of my Big Books, Lesson Plan book, Religion Book, the books I will read that week and anything else I need for that week. My blue stand holds my Lesson Plan Book, My Letter Person File, and my Days of the Week Files where I keep what I will need for each day's lesson.
 My Desk and Turn in Boxes
 Green Box for finished work and Red Box for unfinished work, Info. Center to keep me organized, and Jobs shelf where I store all of the manipulatives I need for our weekly Jobs

My Bookshelf
I have a problem I know! All books are organized by theme, holiday, etc.

Morning Message and Jobs Chart
Our morning message is where we write our morning sentences and the Jobs Chart is how I keep up with what table is completing which job. The shapes are the tables and the colored squares are the Job Boxes. The 1,2,3,4 right next to our Job Chart is where I place the Directions so my friends know what to do with their work and what to do when they are finished without me having to repeat myself over and over again.If you are a teacher you know I still have to repeat myself over and over again, but it works sometimes.

Jobs Boxes and Student Filing Box
For sorting and sending home class work

Center Sticks and Center Names
For center time each student has a stick with their name on it and each center has 2 pockets. Students place their sticks in a pocket and mark their name off of the list which helps us keep up with who has and has not been to each center.

Supplies Box and Table Shapes

Each table has their own labeled supply box that matches the shape on their table.

This is how I keep everyone from running around like crazy people. I call them by Tables. Red Square, Green Circle, Yellow Triangle, Orange Diamond, and Blue Rectangle. This is also how I know which table does which Job each day.

Block Center and Math and Manipulatives Center
Block Center on top is where they can build buildings and blocks, Lincoln logs. We also have animals, people, cars and some floor puzzles.  Math and Manipulatives Center on the bottom is where students can play math games, make a Potato Head, work puzzles, and build with different manipulatives.

Dramatic Play
This is where students can dress up and pretend to play house, restaurant, grocery store, etc.

Prayer Center
This center is where students can make prayer cards, color different Bible story pictures and soon they will make their own stained glass windows like the ones they saw when we visited the church.

Reading Center
This is where students can sit and read books and snuggle with our soft animals.

Listning Center 
Friends can sit and listen to stories while they read the book.

Computer Center
I think this one is pretty self explanatory = )

Science Center
Here we work on science experiments and explore with magnets, magnifying glasses, objects from nature, amongst other things.

 Art Center
Students are free to create with all different mediums and sometimes we give them and art project they all must complete. I like to give them free will in centers since we ask so much of them during the day, but sometimes it is fun to have them all work to make something.

ABC Center
Students can play with ABC magnets, Handwriting Without Tears Pieces and Letter Mats, Write, and learn all about Letters.

Felt center
Students can make up stories and scenes with different felt pieces.

Sensory Center
Right now the students can find and match the Uppercase and Lowercase letter, but I am hoping to soon be rid of these annoying packing peanuts and create a Fall Sensory Center.

So there is our little virtual classroom tour for today. I will of course post many pictures of my beautiful Smart Board once it is installed and I have figured out how to work it.

I also wanted to share since the outside of my door has been decorated by my AWESOME co-teacher, assistant, and friend Mrs. Cathy. She came up with and executed this and all of our other oh so cute door decorations.

What's better than some oh so cute tiny ghost feet!?!?