New Play Room!

We just had a baby in December, and with a toddler running around, my husband and I thought, WHAT BETTER THAN TO RENO THE BASEMENT!!! Yah. So we had an unfinished basement and with the new baby moving in upstairs, we were out of rooms and hoping to have space for guests to come stay. Hubby began construction in September, and I was little to no help being super pregnant and all, so he has completed it mostly on his own and finally finished up the bedrooms and play space. It is still a work in progress, but I wanted to share our play space as it makes my teacher heart SUPER happy. Organization, labelling, wall art, toys in one spot. SIGH. So many good things to keep me busy while on maternity leave and out of the classroom. Here it is!!

The little loves playing down here, and I am enjoying it too. Of course, each bin is labeled with a picture so the little, and the big people ;) haha, know where to put everything away. I bought a bunch of frames and glued clothes pins onto the top for easy change up of art work. The word masterpieces is at the top of this wall (not in the picture) which is what the little refers to when he shows everyone the wall. "These are my masterpieces" HAHA.  We also have pillows, a big play mat, a tent and a huge table for creating those masterpieces that are not in this picture. It is working so well and is our happy place. Stay tuned for more activities that we love to do in our playroom.

The Clothespin Pinterest fail- and win!

So I did this long ago, and was going to blog about it but just never got around to it! So finally it is summer and I have time to catch up. I tried this idea from Pinterest and for me, it was a FAIL. (from Middle School For Life). The clothespins broke, the pins fell off and it was a hot mess for me in my room.

So instead I tried this with much better results. I bought plastic clothespins from Walmart that look something like this. They have to be flat at the top. I then pushed the pin THROUGH the plastic and pushed it into the wall. Well, it lasted the rest of the year and is still going strong.

Here is what it looked like, I use this board to put up my students math work activities and it works GREAT!

100 Day- A little late!

We celebrated the 100th day of school in mid February, and of course with life being as busy as it is, I am only getting around to blogging about it now. The students had the best time doing 100 day centres all day. We did a lot from Cara at the First Grade Parade and then I changed and added a few of my own. The kids had the best time.
We also did this project that was a hoot! The kids made themselves look like they were 100 years old, wrote about it, and then I used the aging booth app to make the kids look old. I'm telling y'all this bulletin board has been a MAJOR hit. Teacher's have commented on it, the kids can't stop looking at it, and even my Admin made mention of it. So great!!

When I was making up my centre activity cards, I looked around for clipart and was having a difficult  time finding what I was looking for, so I figured I would make some! Right now it is on sale too since it is a new release :) I am also having a giveaway on my Facebook page.

100 Day clipart

Happy New Year!

Wow, I can't believe it is already 2015! Happy New Year to everyone, we are already one week into school and it is amazing to see how much my little ones have grown and matured over the holiday. I loved spending time with my family over the holidays, and it sure has been hard on my little guy this week going back to the day home routine after spending two weeks with Mom and Dad full time.

We had lots of fun this week in the classroom!
We made time capsules to be opened in a year to see what we were like WAY back in grade one!!

 The students did a cute little New Year's Resolution creativity. They loved making their little party kids!

We also made some cityscape New Year's Eve Firework artwork! Phew! Some students had NEVER seen fireworks before, so we watched a video on Youtube which the kids loved, and then we painted our background, added some salt to the picture, cut out our cityscape and then used glue and glitter for fireworks! They turned out pretty neat, and the kids LOVED making them.

YUP THAT'S A LOT OF GLITTER!!!!

Wow it has been a busy week! If you would like to do these activities with your students, they can all be found in my New Years Countdown activities packet on TPT.

New Years Countdown

Have an amazing year in 2015

Mrs. Dunn

Blog Link up and New Product

Hey Everyone, Happy New Year!

What a busy holiday it was with a new little one, oh my word, a whole new meaning to the word pack up the car for a holiday. 

I'm linking up with Simply Kinder, basically you can find some new blogs to follow for this lovely little link up. 

Also wanted to share a new product, for the "athletic competition that is coming up in February for many countries to go to and get really excited about". Wink, wink, apparently copyright infringement to even mention the name so there you have it. It's a bulletin board to use in your classroom during the games!!

Go For Gold

Mrs. Dunn

Valentine's Day- Pinterest inspired

It was a pinterest-y valentines day for my students on Wednesday. They had so much fun!

THE PIN

Brilliant Beginnings Preschool

Student work

THE PIN

Teacher Bits and Bobs

Student work

Hope your Valentine's was as great as mine!

Mrs. Dunn

Baby You're a Firework!

 Well it's hard to believe that we've been back in school now for over a week already. The kids are settling back into routines nicely and it has been a pretty calm couple of weeks. Just thought I would share some of the activities we completed from my TPT New Years package. 

Students made their cityscapes with grey paper and cut up pieces of yellow for windows. I then put a blob of sparkly paint on their sheet, and with a pointy stick they pulled out to make the fireworks. Here is what the entire bulletin board looked like:

Students also made their New Year's Resolutions on these little people and I hung them beside the bulletin board.

Hope you have lots of fun with your students in the New Year!

Mrs. Dunn

Remembrance Day

For me Remembrance Day is so much more than "a day off work". My hubby went to Afghanistan in 2010 for 7 months and has been in the reserves for over 11 years.

It is so important that we take the time on November 11 to remember those who have died for our freedom and those who continue to serve today. Please remember to take a minute of silence at 11 o'clock on November 11.

My kiddos are doing the Remembrance Day celebration at school, and so we did some BEAUTIFUL artwork to decorate the front of the celebration inspired by the incredible Gail Bartel. She is just so amazing. Anyways, here is how ours turned out!

Mrs. Dunn

Birthday Link Up

I am linking up with Erica Bohrer on the Blog Hoppin website for this Birthday Post. I actually got the idea to use pictures from her so THANKS Erica!

Basically we have a birthday song during calendar time, and the students make a little booklet about what they wish for the students birthday. They then get to take a balloon and their birthday booklet home with them.

Mrs. Dunn