My 2016-2017 "SUPER" Classroom

It has been a great summer!  It was a good mix of relaxing, fun, and memorable.  Now it is August, and in less than 2 weeks my little Kinders will be entering their classroom for the first time.  I strive to make my classroom inviting, fun, organized, functional, the whole deal really.  :)  I am not 100% finished, but have put it together enough that the parents of my class can show their kiddos their upcoming classroom for the school year.  Before I start, I always like to start with a "before" picture to see how far it's come.  So here was my room when I walked in one day in late July.  

The theme we chose this year was Superheroes.  Not only because we feel the kids are excited about superheroes at the age of 5 and 6, but we also wanted to tie in that Jesus is our hero.  I absolutely love that I teach at a Catholic school where I can incorporate our faith into our day to day.  So the first thing I did to my classroom was work on this focus wall in my classroom.

Our class rules are based on one simple word:  Respect.  In my classroom, I expect my students to respect themselves, others, and our school.  

They can get caught being "Super."  When they are caught they get to wear a cape all day as well as what badge applies to what they did.  Ex:  super helper, super friend, super listener, etc.  I had my "helpers" with me today, and they modeled some capes for me.  :)   

We will also have a Star Student every week until everyone gets a turn.  The star student gets to have special, fun privledges all week long.  The star student schedule and daily activities will be on this blog under "Parent Korner" soon.  

One day, your child will get to sit at the "Super Seat."  This is a special desk where he/she can sit and wear shades, etc.  

Our group area is a very important area in our classroom.  This is where we talk/discuss whole group and where we read stories, work on special skills, and so on.  Having a focus wall near it, has been very beneficial in the past, so I wanted to keep that there this year as well.  

I love the black with the bright colors, so even though our theme is superheroes, which is usually primary colors, I tried to keep it bright and black colors.  

This year I also wanted to incorporate some alternative seating in my classroom.  There are several great articles out there on alternative seating and its advantages when available in the classrooms.  You can just google it if you'd like to read some of those articles.  Here are my cute little models again.  :)

The next area I worked on was the prayer area.  I used one of our bulletin boards for an area that we can post prayer requests on.  In addition I have a World Peace Prayer, that I plan to say daily with the class, and have a table that I painted this summer to match, where I added some of my favorite verses for kids in the colorful frames I had.  I also will have our religious books there for the kids to have easy access to.

Here are some other various pictures of the classroom.  I hope you all enjoyed and that some of the kiddos were able to see before Open House.  

I am looking forward to the school year ahead of us!  It's a special year because I already know many of the kids with my son, Gabe having been in preschool with some of them, and now he's entering Kindergarten as well.  I am pretty sure I'm known to most of these kids as "Gabe's Mommy."  :)  I love it!  Hopefully, they will feel more comfortable as they enter the school year.  We are going to have a lot of fun, learn a lot, and make a lot of memories along the way.