Pattern for Pete

Well I promised this a long time ago and then time got away from me. Here is the pattern to make your own Pete the Cat and His 4 Groovy Buttons. This is the first time I've used Google Drive so hopefully this will work.

So my wonderful class of 16 has now grown to 19 since they decided to cut a Kindergarten unit. Unfortunately, that put us all over by 1 student (we're capped at 18). So now we have to make a K/1 split which meant pulling the higher K students. So in a nutshell I gained 3 low students and am now losing 2 high students. I'm not sure I like this trade but I will make the most of it. My kids have a real drive to learn and are starting to make all those important connections. I am amazed by how much they have gained in such a short time. As Pete would say, "It's all good."

Pete the Cat and His Four Groovy Buttons

All I can say is WOW!! Today was the first day that my daughter wasn't with me (she's started her college classes today) and I decided to do a big art project which included cutting. Now normally I should have been shot but this class is amazing!!! I made a pattern to make Pete the Cat and his Four Groovy Buttons and they were able to cut it and assemble it with minimal help. They look so amazing!

I will be posting the template later if anyone wants to make it. I forgot to bring it home today. I will try to post it tomorrow.

I finally have close up pics of my room now as well.

Only 169 days left...

Wow am I exhausted. My kinders have been in school for a full week now and they are learning the routines. Good thing, we had a two hour training this afternoon so they had a sub. I so wish they wouldn't do this so early in the year when we are still working on routines but they seemed to handle it fine. Probably the craziest thing about today was the fact that there was a short in the electrical panel in one of the outlying buildings where the AC chiller is and it set the fire alarm off TWICE!! Each time entailed the fire dept coming out and everyone standing in the hot sun for 20 minutes. The second time was just as we were heading to lunch so needless to say, lunch was cut a little short. My kids have developed a love for Pete the Cat. I made a pattern today to make Pete and his 4 Groovy Buttons. I guess tomorrow I will see how it turns out and who can cut. I meant to make it today before I lost my daughter to college classes but it just didn't happen. I may be crazy to attempt it alone but only time will tell. I will try to post a picture if they come out decent. This group is really good at drawing but cutting is a whole different thing.

And so it starts...

Friday was my first day with half of my kinders and let me just say I am so happy to have my daughter volunteering in my classroom. She has been a tremendous help with organizing the kids supplies, taking their pictures and keeping an eye on one wandering lovely. This seems to be the year of the boy because all of our classes are very boy heavy. So far I only have 16 kids, 10 boys and 6 girls. I'm just praying that it stays that small. Here is my classroom so far. I'll have to take some close ups later.

Thanks to Pinterest and Tara's Monday Made Its I got this finished just in time.

That's my lovely oldest daughter modeling for me. I made sure I got one of my 16 year old on her first day of school too though. I also made a new alphabet to go with my movie theme.

So happy I got these things done before the craziness began.

Giveaway

Lori over at Teaching with Love and Laughter is having a giveaway. You'll have to hurry since it ends today. She is giving away one of those awesome Easi-speakUSB recorder microphones. Let me just tell you I have been wanting one since I first saw them. I can only imagine the possibilities. I would love to doing a year long record of the kids reading to show the progress they have made. It would be great for conferences to show parents what their child is doing. Ahh, the possibilities are endless. Anyway, head over to her page and check it out and be sure to enter.

Monday Made It

This is my first Monday Made It on this blog. If you'd like to see my other Monday Made Its you can head over to my Blog Stalker blog to check them out. I have linked up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics. She is a friend of mine and I wish all of you could see her classroom for yourselves. There is this serene feeling in her classroom that just makes you feel at home. This week, I have been working on making some simple graphics as I learn the ins and outs of my Bamboo and Photoshop. I managed to make a film clip graphic that I have been using for absolutely everything! Last week, on Monday Made It there were lots of different box top containers and I thought to myself, "Why haven't I thought about that before?" So after thinking about what kind of container I wanted to use I happened to find a small cereal container at Dollar Tree. Perfect it has a spout that lifts up so the kids can put in their box tops. Then I used that graphic of mine as well as a frame that I got from Tracee Orman to add to that Hollywood feel and of course a giant box top.

Then I finally got around to making clips to hang the kids work in the hallway. I have been wanting to make something with a clothespin so that I'm not stapling the kids work in the hallway and then ripping it to get it off the wall. My biggest problem was what to do about the background paper since the kids turn the paper either landscape or portrait. Last week I was on someone's blog (forgive me I can't find it again to give credit) and they suggested using 12x12 scrapbook paper because then it works either way. GENIUS!! So here it is!

Finally, I was on Really Roper's blog and she made a great To Do planner page and once again I thought, "Why haven't I thought of that before?" So I made my own and hopefully it will keep me on track a little better.

New Blog!

Even though I have another blog it was technically started for me by a friend so I didn't have much time to think about where I wanted to go with it and jumped in feet first. Then life happened during the school year and I still didn't have time to deal with it. This summer I started working on it again but was still struggling. It was hard to tell what age group I was targeting and soooooo.... I decided to start anew. I will probably continue to post on both for awhile since I do have a group of followers but I'm hoping this one will build up and become my main focus. Welcome to my new blog!