This has been an extremely tiring week, but a productive one! My farm theme has taken shape, and I am now working on last touches for the beginning of school next week! Let’s start the tour:

As you come down the hall, this cute little farm scene welcomes you to our classroom.  The clip art is from Whimsy Workshop Teaching and Kelsey Mango!If you keep going down the hall, on the opposite side of the door will be our authentic art creations.  The first will be a pig!

This is what you see as you enter the classroom.

and…my favorite door! The outhouse door that leads to our “en suite” childrens bathroom with kid sized fixtures.

You will notice a lot of bandanas in my room.  I tried to use them to accent things that needed a bit of a lift! Like my file cabinet,

my bucket seats (so they would match the theme), the backs of the chair pockets I made by using Oriental Trading totes (large), hot glue, and bandanas, the top of my teacher desk, above the door, across the windows, and more.  It really helped to pull it all together.

I was allowed to choose $75.00 worth of classroom merchandise from Oriental Trading to use in my room.  Here are some of the cool things I am using (either from the complimentary supplies, or from things I purchased with my own funds).

First, I love the little magnetic nutrition set! It is so versatile! Here, I am beginning the year featuring it as a letter sound center.  I made the cute little gingham letter blocks, and all the rest is from the Nutrition Set.

Because I love to give my students something for all their hard work, the cute little farm animals from Oriental Trading will be given at the end of the first quarter for students who have learned our first list of eight words.  Love them!

Another thing I will be using is the set of brag tag chains and badges.  I am using them this year for our sight word lists.  Our words are divided into several sets of 6-8 words.  Each time students master a list, they will get a brag tag and a prize! I also take a photo with our @Seesaw app for their online portfolio.  This friendly competition is a great way to help students be motivated to study their words.  They even remind family members that they need to study because they want their photo and a small prize.  Kinders like extrinsic motivation too! We have many opportunities to talk about doing things just because it helps others, and is the right thing to do.  As you can see, I still need to load the sets of cards into the 100s chart they are held in.

The rewards are from a large treasure chest set from Oriental!

http://www.orientaltrading.com/treasure-chest-with-toy-assortment-a2-5_1554.fltr

And here are a few more views of my room…comment if you have questions about anything you see.  My farm themed calendar set and other tags or desk plates are in a bundle here.

This year, I had our custodians to put my horseshoe in storage.  I kept bumping my leg when I would have to run out to check on a student during our literacy centers/guided groups time, so I decided to use a long narrow table instead! I think I will love it! It is finished off with a table skirt made of gingham, bandanas, and cute alphabet ribbon (white on black).  Love how it turned out!

This is all I have for right now! Teachers begin school Monday, and there is still so much to do! Let me know if I can explain anything in the room! Have a great year!