What to do when your classroom overflows into your house!

Well, it is just 3 days into my summer and I am already planning for next year. What can I say I am a teachaholic! I also have to tell you that I did not meet my husbands challenge of fitting everything school related into my classroom cabinets (Sigh). Instead I made a deal, instead of a pile in the garage, living room corner and dining room I am going to organize it all into an old tv armoir that we are no longer using and the rest goes (ugh!). I did manage not to bring anything home this year from my classroom and did fit a good amount of what was in the house into the classroom cabinets but there just wasn't enough space.

So, I am starting to plan a new storage system for next year. Everything alike goes together, not a new concept but in a classroom that everything goes in and out each week this could save me a bunch of time. So, first things first, I am going to designate each cabinet for a specific purpose. I have this done to a point but need it more detailed. My major needs being:

Math and Literacy Centers: store in poly folders and envelopes, wipes containers when necessary.
Science Centers: store in Ikea 1.99 plastic stacking bins.
Little People homes and pieces: pieces are stored in zipped linen bags, works great for fitting around the houses.
Manipulatives: organize each box/bucket according to how it fits best with others, largest cabinet. Storage towers with 10 buckets already filled with as many of my manipulatives as I could fit.
Book Bins: buy book specific magazine file type bins to seperate my books by theme and label.
Curriculum: in filing cabinet and cabinet directly above
Miscellaneous: as organized as possible, I'm going to try to have an open cabinet for overflow (we shall see.)


I will start by taking pictures of each of these cabinets organized and hang it on the door with a list of what is inside. Some of my less used supplies will be hidden from view but still need a place to live.

My worse offense is shoving materials into cabinets where they do not belong. I am making a promise to myself! I will no longer allow myself to be lazy at the end of the week! I suppose this is the biggest lesson I have to learn!

Till next time,

The End is Here! Recapping 2011-2012

There was good and there was bad, there was fun and there were tears, but all in all I will miss another class of special children and their families. With 14 four year olds this was a busy year, I know many of you have many more students and I applaud you for what you do everyday! I will miss the hugs and smiles, the innocent questions and the puzzled looks. But I will remember fondly the lightbulb moments, the growth and the laughter. I will relish the friendships that grew with a little direction and the developmental milestones I was blessed to have seen. 2011-2012 was my seventh year teaching Pre-K at Round Rock Christian Academy in Round Rock ,Tx and I look forward to many more years of Pre-Kers! Have a wonderful summer you awesome teachers!!!!

Memorial Day SALE!

This weekend I am having a three day sale in support of Memorial Day and in celebration of the last weeks of school around the country! Please visit my TpT store and enjoy the 10% savings from Saturday to Monday! Use the link below to go directly to my store!

http://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Cropingchristine

End of the year scavenger hunt is a hit!

I designed a scavenger hunt for my third grader that gave his class a chance to learn a few things about 4th grade and a fun end of the year activity. His class went around in groups today and had such a blast. Finding each place, stamping their passport, writing down an objective for the next grade and then coming back to draw a map and write a paragraph about what they want to learn nest year. Tomorrow they will finish with one more clue which leads them to their new teachers classrooms and has a treasure box filled with a candy treat for them. I was so excited that it went so well! Here are some pics and a link to the files on Teachers Pay Teachers.

Passport-to-the-4th-grade-3rd-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

I have created a passport/scavenger hunt for children moving to 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. The objectives are all taken from the Texas TEaks and are common core aligned. Below are links to each different passport, there is also a blank passport if you would like to use your own clues and objectives. The preview file contains the entire passport for you to view ahead of time, Enjoy!

Passport-to-the-4th-grade-3rd-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

Passport-to-the-next-grade-End-of-year-scavenger-hunt-booklet

Passport-to-1st-grade-Kindergarten-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

Passport-to-2nd-grade-1st-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

Passport-to-3rd-grade-2nd-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

Passport-to-5th-grade-4th-grade-end-of-year-scavenger-hunt

Giveaway winner is Connie Jeppesin at Creating Kinders!

Hello Followers, So the business of this week has me spinning in circles, enough so that I totally forgot to post the winner of this month's giveaway. The winner of my Under-the-Sea-Ocean-Themed-Math-and-Literacy-Unit is Connie Jeppesin over at Creating Kinders. Congratulations Connie!