My Pete the Cat Classroom

Welcome to my Pete the Cat Classroom! I have had a bee classroom for almost ten years and was thinking about changing when Oriental Trading contacted me about writing a back to school post!  I chose many Pete the cat themed materials and can't wait to showcase them for you!

Here is my classroom library!  I had this precious library front built this summer for my new Pete theme.

This precious Pete is from Oriental Trading! My awesome mother in law made me the little pillows beneath Pete.  She's the best!

I organize my library by topic.  Each group of books has a coordinating label on the front of the tub that matches the back of each book in that tub.  These labels are from Krazee for Kindergarten's TPT shop. These books are perfect for "read the pictures" in Daily Five.

I also have emergent readers in organized in tubs by DRA level.  This helps my littles choose books that they can "read the words" in Daily Five.

The back of my library leads to my whole group area.  I attached felt to the back of my library shelves for story retelling with felt pieces.

My calendar is from Oriental Trading! I got these awesome Sit Spots at I Teach K this summer, where I presented about guided reading.

The back of my whole group area easel hold this pocket chart.  These are our MEOW pockets.  Meow stands for My Extraordinary Organized Work.  This is our unfinished work.  

Next to our MEOW pockets is the dramatic play area.  I change this out once a month to be a different science theme.

Some of our cozy spots stay behind the whole group easel.  These are our scoop rockers and laundry basket seats.

This is our STEM building area.

Next to it is this long white board where we build our focus walls for science and math, as well as our iMovie alphabet wall.  I created a little Pete bunting to go above this wall.

iMovie Alphabet is where we place our QR codes that link to a movie we create for each letter of the alphabet.  Students scan these during Daily Five for one of our Listen to Reading choices.

Our little clip chart

Here is my small group area.

This shelf holds many of my reading group manipulatives, my assessments tubs and my sub tub, as well as our PAWS folders - Positive and Wonderful Students!

I found this cutie cart at Lowe's years ago.  It holds all of my teaching materials for each day of the week.

This little blue cart from Mardel's hold my reading groups emergent readers' as well as my math groups' materials. On top is my teacher toolbox.

I got this awesome easel through Donors Choose a few years ago.  Currently it's holding a donations sign for meet the teacher, but during the year it's used for math and reading groups.

These little stools are form IKEA.  They hold transition games for my littles to play while they wait for me to join them for their small group.

This is the view from my table.

Here is my Pete the Cat Word Wall.  These came from Oriental Trading!

We love our Promethean Board and iPad cart!  We are blessed to have ten iPads in this awesome charging cart.  Under the Promethean Board are two bean bag chairs for cozy spots.

Our art station is right past the Promethean.  The top of the station holds our Listening to Reading Leap Frog Pads.

Here are our Creative Activities Tubs (CAT) that hold differentiated games for kiddos to play when they finish their work as a transition activity.  

This is where Work on Writing activities will go for Daily Five.

 

The sink area holds our robots that we use during our maker spaces.  They're put away right now.

Here are my Beanie Baby Reading Strategies posters.  In the frames are the 8 thinking maps.

More cozy spots!  I got these stability ball chairs through Donors Choose.

Wobble stools are also cozy spots...

tray tables too!

Cubbies and book boxes

This shelf is for math stations materials and writer's workshop paper.

This little cart holds Word Work materials for Daily Five.  All of the cute little posters are FREE here.

If you want any of my Pete creations, here is a folder with all of it for FREE!

I hope you have an awesome year!!

A stampede of fun with back to school time!

It's almost time for the first day of school and I feel like I am anticipating Christmas!  I love, love, love the excitement of a new year and meeting all of my sweet, new kiddos and seeing their smiling faces, well, hopefully they're smiling. 

This year I moved back home to the Ft. Worth, TX, area and was blessed to get hired in Aledo ISD teaching kindergarten.  Before this new adventure of setting up a new classroom started, I went to Zambia (Africa) to work on a medical mission trip.  There were over 250 members on our team from Zambia and the US combined.  Together we served over 14,000 Zambian people in medical care in the areas of dental, optometry, lab testing, wound care, gynecology, and diagnosing illnesses and proving medicine. Our team also enjoyed a safari on one of our last two days in Africa.  Look how close I got to the elelphants and giraffes!

Victoria Falls was another site we were able to enjoy!

As soon as I returned from Africa, I immediately started working on my classroom for my new busy bees.  Buzz on in and check it out!

 The view from the front of the classroom

 Our turn-in basket with some literacy friends

This is our "Happy BEE-day!" wall.  I created little cupcakes for each month.  The students' pictures go under their cupcake month.

 My  document camera and laptop are housed here so I added a little Coder Elementary spirit.

 Our little tables are color coded.  This is the red table all set for Meet the Teacher.

Each table has a bee basket for materials with a matching color bow, a trash bucket that matches, and I include scissors of the same color.  I hot glue google eyes onto the scissors so that students learn how to cut correctly.  The eyes should always be looking at you if they're being help the correct way.

 For Meet the Teacher, I place an information sheet, our class handbook, the ABC's of Kindergarten, a parent check-list to make sure they see everything they need to see or fill out all that needs to be filled out, and a bag of pretzels that say "Thanks for "bee"ing here!"

  

Here is where our Math Tubs materials are stored.

I love these cabinets!  I store all of my literacy materials in them and below are my cuties' cubbies, backpack hooks, and book boxes for Daily Five.

I love my little Beanie Baby strategies.  Last year's class really embraced these strategies so I am definitely using them again.  These are in my Teachers Pay Teachers store.

 This is an art area with our art supplies, marker caddy, and paint drying rack.  To the right is the writing area where Writer's Workshop materials are stored and Daily Five Work on Writing materials are stored.  I love, love, love, Daily Five and Writer's Workshop.  I have written many posts about each of these.  Click below to learn more!

Writer's Workshop

Daily Five

Balanced Literacy

 This is my small group area.  I teach reading, math, and writing in a small group setting.  It makes me more aware of what each student knows and allows me to differentiate my instruction for them.  I got this awesome tabletop easel funded through Donors Choose.  I have had over 30 projects funded through them.  My stools open up for storage.  They're from IKEA.  

Behind my table you can find all of the organization for my small group instruction.  I keep my group's materials stored in the drawers numbered 1-6.

I collect data in my Student Data binder and write my plans for small groups in there.  My Lesson Plans are kept in this binder.  I keep supplies in this little organized drawer shelf.

This shelf holds my guided reading books that I use for reading groups, my Sub Tub for emergency plans, and my baskets to hold assessment paper work for reading, math, and report cards.

I stay organized for each day with my daily cart.  At the end of each week I place all of the materials needed for the next week in the correct drawer.

My Word Wall ~ I use Phonics Dance to learn letters and these are the matching signs for each letter's dance.

My whole group area

My Math Stations check in area ~ You can find these for free on my website.

My library area

 My Listen to Reading area for Daily Five includes a CD player in the bee hive for two children to listen to and the little baskets will store my TAG readers that were funded through Donors Choose. 

Our picture books are sorted by theme and labeled in baskets that have matching stickers that are on the back of each book for that basket.

I also have leveled readers in our library.

 Puppies and kittens!

My Working on Words cart for Daily Five

Our Smart Board

Thanks for taking a look!  Buzz back soon!!