DIY Art Center Organization

Happy Summer 2014!

I'm going to make yet another attempt at blogging, and am starting with my summer projects. I have plenty to do in preparation for another school year with my kinders, so I might as well share!

The first project I tackled this summer was a solution for my art center. I am lucky that my students get free choice centers, even though it's a very small part of the day, because I know so many kindergarten classrooms no longer have them.

My Thinking: I love the idea of having an open art center full of different supplies that students can be trusted to use freely and creatively. My first few years I only had paper, crayons, and stamps, and I know my kiddos would benefit from exploring and creating with more materials.

The Problem: My classroom doesn't have the shelving to support all of these materials. Last year I attempted to solve the problem by purchasing a shoe hanger to hold the supplies. I loved the shoe hanger since it takes up so little space, but as a whole it was only decent; pom-poms, feathers, and beads were everywhere!

The Solution: I decided to fix this by having designated containers for each supply. My goal was to have a place where everything belongs and have each be clearly labeled. I am very excited to use this in my classroom!

Materials:
- Shoe hanger (I think I got mine pretty cheap at Target)
- Contact paper (Target and Rite Aid)
- Old containers
- Scissors
- Labels of art supplies

Shoe hanger and some of the containers that were used

Step 1:
I started by cleaning out the old containers and peeling off the labels. I was lucky that none of the labels were sticky, but goo gone works wonders if yours are. I used three containers from Clorox Wipes, two cream cheese containers, two sour cream containers, and an old parmesan cheese container.

Step 2:
Once the containers were clean I covered them with contact paper. I measured out the size, cut it out, and smoothed the contact paper on. What's great is that if there are air bubbles it is easy to peel it back off and reapply--it takes a while before it is fully stuck on.
**Hint** If you are using an old food container such as sour cream, it is important to note that they are not a perfect cylinder. I found it easier to cut strips of contact paper because it didn't fit all the way around nicely as it did for items like the Clorox containers.

Some of the finished containers

Step 3:

All that's left to do is choose which containers will hold which supplies, stick on the labels, and put the containers in the shoe hanger! I didn't put all of my labels on yet because I want to wait and see how my supplies fit once I'm back at school. I did put on two, though, and I'm very excited about the way they look!

The containers fit perfectly in the shoe hanger!
(I had nowhere in my apartment to hang it up,
but I know it'll look even better once it is hanging!)

I hope you have enjoyed my very first project post! If you would like to use the labels that I created, click here to be taken to my TpT page for the freebie!

Please leave any questions you may have in the comments section : )

It's Been Awhile

Phew! Thank goodness I put up that disclaimer in my first post. I don't know how people do this! Blogging and teaching? Clearly I've got a long way to go, and this definitely makes me value even more all of the fabulous teachers whose blogs I read.

I have tons of pictures that I've taken, and I'm really hoping to get something new up by this weekend!

Penguins!

This week my kinders and I have been learning about penguins! It is a very short mini-unit that we do, but it is a fun topic when we start learning about winter. I usually try to hold off on learning about snow until we get some snow in the area, so the penguins are a good winter topic while we wait for some flakes. 

On the first day, we read the book Cool Penguins. I bought it for $1 from Scholastic, and it is a great informational penguin book. We then did a turn and talk to discuss what we learned about penguins, and then wrote penguin facts in our journals. 

The next day, we start by making a penguin craft. Students are given tracers and construction paper for the belly, head, and wings, and are given construction paper and crayons to make eyes, beaks, hair, feet, etc. After cutting tracing and cutting, students are given total reign over putting their penguin together. I don't like to give students models because I feel it is their craft to complete as they see fit. It is certainly interesting to see how each child's penguin turns out; many of them are such great representations of each student!

After the penguins are completed, we come back to the carpet and read the book Penguins, Penguins, Everywhere. Even though this book is informational, it uses fun illustrations that the students absolutely love. After reading, students again turn and talk about one penguin fact that that want to write about.  Students then go back to their seats and write one penguin fact on the belly of their penguin.

Here is the bulletin board of our penguins:

Here are close-ups of a few penguins. You can easily see from this the different stages of writing that my students are in. Just as each craft represents each student, each child's writing represents them as well. I believe in allowing students to work at their own developmental level, whether they are currently writing one word, one sentence, or one paragraph. 

 

 

Our last day of penguins is spent with Tacky! We read the book Tacky the Penguin, and this is a great opportunity to discuss fiction vs. non-fiction text. Students love the Tacky story, and are able to clearly understand how this text is different from the previous penguin books that we read. After reading, students complete a page where they write and illustrate their favorite thing about Tacky (sorry, I forgot to snap pictures!)

I hope you all enjoy our penguins, please comment and let me know what you think!

Welcome!

Welcome to KITC! I am a kindergarten teacher in a large urban school district where failing is, sadly, the norm for our schools and our students. I work my hardest every day to ensure that my students don't become a part of my city's sad statistics. 

I have thought about starting a blog for a long time, but the task seemed so daunting! I read so many amazing blogs where teachers share the fabulous things they are doing with their students, and I couldn't imagine that I could compare to these teachers. What changed my mind was really just the excitement over what I am teaching! Over the course of this school year I have changed my literacy stations and started a new way of teaching math, and I am so excited about both of these changes! 

While I don't know that anyone will ever even read this blog (I don't intend to put it on social media; I would like to remain anonymous), I can't help the excitement I feel over sharing the things I am doing with my students.

If you are reading this, it means somehow you did come across this blog. Please feel free to leave comments so I know what I can do to make reading this blog a positive experience for you!

I can't commit to posting a certain numbers of time per week, per month, etc. Nor can I promise to always post things that are up-to-date. I do promise that I will try my best to share the things that worked well for my students, in the hopes that someone else will find them helpful as well. And I promise to always give credit where credit is due, as I use many things that I find on Pinterest, TpT, and other teacher's blogs. 

Enjoy your time here at KITC!