October Classroom- Down at the Patch!

Now this classroom has some life breathed into it!

Golf ball painted pumpkins with fluorescent Bio Color and crows on a wire. (Description below) 

Crows! I love these and have gotten lots of compliments from my fellow teachers. The kids painted the crows with real feathers that I collected from my molting chickens. The plan was to make feather prints, which some of the kids did, but most of them wanted to cover the entire bird black, which is awesome too. When they were dry, I added the eye, and hung them up on a piece of black yarn string like a utility wire. So cool!  Templates for the crows HERE and HERE. 

Sunflower garden in the hallway:

Meet the Farm Residents

Pictorial Directory of all the Knuckleheads: 

Meet Jack - 16 months: 

Thunder - 12 Years:

Kitty the Red Eared Slider - Age estimated, at least 20? He is as big as a dinner plate! (Just for a reference, not for an entree! ;)  )

My daily take from the girls: 

Daisy the Bunny, age 2,  and Kikko, age 9. Dae is a buck and he is in LOVE with Kikko!! It's like Pepe Le Pew and the girl cat... Pretty funny.

There are way more residents to add, I will update with more! 

Back to school - September classroom

Time to go back to school! I teach a 4 year old Preschool class with a teaching partner and an aide, and I love it!

Here are a few shots of my classroom during set-up.

I created this welcome board outside of the classroom door. Each child has a uniquely decorated fish with their name on it:

Inside the classroom, my back to school bulletin board:

Handmade felt tree mounted on a small bulletin board that holds our name tags. I stuffed it slightly with batting to make it puffy and give it some dimension. In the morning when the children are arriving, this board is lifted down and set up at the classroom door where we greet them and take attendance. Though we do not need name tags anymore, we still use them, as it has become part of the morning ritual and helps with name recognition.

Science Center - Stocked with rabbit pelts, giant evergreen cone, rocks, minerals and petrified wood with two types of scales, large magnet, bone, big teeth with dental care accessories, and color lenses, mirrors and magnifiers. These selections will be rotated as time progresses and our interests change. I studied Science Education at Humboldt State University, and I Love this area!

Newly rearranged Art Area: 

(There used to be Huge shelves blocking most of the windows, and that was the FIRST thing that I had to change!!)

Halloween Spirit Cometh

Happy October! My favorite month - birthdays, pumpkins, a change in the air to "sweater weather" and Halloween, good times!

Here are a few pics of the Halloween mantle that emerged on a coffee fueled Saturday morning. 

The skull came home a couple of years ago, funny story (now... not so funny at the time) -  My son dropped it in Walgreen's and it smashed into pieces. I had to buy it out of principle, so I glued it back together and it is making its debut. I felt like Dr. Temperence Brennan with my forceps and Elmer's in hand.