Word Wall is UP!

This being my first year teaching, I have a LOT to set up! One of the very first things I tackled was my word wall. I don't have large bulletin boards in the room, but I do have two very large white boards. I only plan on using one (the one in the front of the room), so I created a word wall out of a portion of the other one (on the side of the room)! I have a plan for the other portion which I will post soon. :)

I did things a bit differently. I saw an idea on Pinterest to use plastic table cloths from the dollar store instead of bulletin board paper because they don't fade (and they are only $1)! So that is what I decided on. I grabbed a red one and went to town. Here is what I discovered:

1. My white board is plastic... which means my initial plan of attaching everything with magnets didn't work out.
2. It is nearly impossible to get the table cloth flat, so there will be bumps. I can see where this won't happen on a bulletin board since you can use staples, but on a plastic board where tape is your only hope, it is a headache.
3. Packing tape and sticky tack are good for nothing on that plastic.
4. Duct tape is your BFF.
5. The table cloth rips easily around the edges.

I initially wanted the red table cloth and then a red, yellow, and blue alphabet border around it that I got on sale at a local teaching supply store. I was then planning on attaching black letters. Easy. Peasy. BUT THEN I FOUND THESE AT WALMART:

If you've been keeping up with my blog, you will know that I am doing a pirate and polka dot theme in my room and my main color is red! How cute are these?? They were in the party section for 97 cents for a pack of 10, so I grabbed 3 packs and knew I had to integrate them somehow into the room. I thought my word wall would be great for this!

I had already had my border up, so I went with it. I decided to put some yellow and blue papers in the center of the plate so the colors would match the border a little better and the letters would stand out more. Plus, yellow is pretty dominant in my room as well. Here was the result:

I LOVED my plates. But I hated the combo with the border. It took me so long to get that border up on that plastic table cloth that I kept trying to convince myself that the kids wouldn't care and that I should leave it. Well, I did leave it over the weekend. I went on vacation and didn't think about school for 4 days. When I returned this afternoon... it seems I was destined to change it...

The strong packing tape I used in combination with a little sticky tack (well, the sticky tack was really only to help me keep the cloth straight...) totally did not hold the plates. When I originally hung the cloth with the alphabet border I was not planning on adding so much weight to it. After I found those awesome plates and added them to the mixture, things went awry. I was not upset though! This meant I had to change it! All I did was use black duct tape as the border AND the adhesive and VOILA!

The black looks so much better and I am confident it will stay up. My only complaint is the lump and streaks in the plastic, but as mentioned before... it was a pain to keep straight. I was able to smooth it out a bit after I took this photo and I think over time as I add words to the wall, it will smooth it out more as well. But I am happy with it! I can't wait to start using it with my first class of kinders!

Twitter Chats and First Year Preparation

Have you done a Twitter Chat before? I had never even been aware of their existence until yesterday and I immediately knew I wanted to participate in one. I heard about a few and found one scheduled for Wednesday evenings for Florida educators and tried it out. Holy cow... I'm an instant addict!

I met so many great teachers who also teach in Florida and they were so welcoming and encouraging. I learned a lot and can't wait to learn more every week! This kind of networking is what I love. I love to learn from others' great ideas and since I am quickly approaching the start of my first year teaching, there's a lot I can learn right now! If you don't already follow me on Twitter, click below to check out my profile and follow me for some more Twitter Chats. I'm planning on doing a lot of them!

Speaking of my first year quickly approaching, I've been preparing as much as I can. I haven't seen my classroom yet, but it looks like I will be seeing it some time next week (Oh... there will be pictures... You can count on that!). I did find out that my classroom will be a portable. I haven't quite decided my feelings on that yet. Of course there are pros and cons just as there are pros and cons to teaching in the main building. I guess I'll just have to find out! What are your thoughts on portable classrooms?

Without a classroom to set up, I've been doing my best to prepare what I can. I know that I'm doing a pirate themed classroom and created some decorations for it (which will be posted as soon as I have everything created!) But here's a sneak peek at what I've made so far! I am SO HAPPY with them!

I snagged some super cheap picture frames from IKEA when I was there (it is an hour and a half drive for me so I buy whatever I can when I'm there...). I initially had no idea what I wanted to do with them until now. I designed the 4x6 stand up frames to be table numbers. Depending on how that works, I may or may not change them to be center labels. But I know this is how they will be used for the beginning of the year!

The bottom photo are the basis of our class rules. I found this poem on a forum somewhere and I will have to tell you... I can't remember where I saw it! I would like to give credit to the person I took the idea from but I can't find it! If you use this poem, comment below! I think it is super cute and useful.

In addition to getting my decorations and rules poem framed and laminated, I also decided that I'll be doing a Kindergarten Time Capsule this year. That is when students' work from the first day/week of school are sealed in a box or an envelope and not touched till the last day of school. Then on the last day of school, you open it up and see how much they have improved! I am excited about it. I created my Kindergarten Time Capsule Book and you can download it by clicking the picture below!

Comment below about the pros and cons of teaching in a portable and let me know as well if you've ever participated in a Twitter Chat! Which one(s) do you participate in? I'd love to join in the fun!