Beginning of the day....

Each morning, the students come in and check to make sure they have 2 sharp pencils in their desk, 5 books from Mrs. Hoffman's classroom library. I need to take a picture, or multiple pictures, of her collection of books. I hope to one day have a classroom filled with every type of children's book imaginable. After these 2 jobs, they often do an activity page left on their desk and then have the choice of coloring, reading, or doing a puzzle. School begins at 8:05 and by 8:15 Mrs. Hoffman plays this song to "cue" the students that it is time to clean up, put away whatever they are doing, and have a seat on the floor space.

This song is so wonderful! I have never heard it before but the words are so fun and uplifting for kids. Plus it is performed by Will.I.am. from the Black Eyed Peas and the cast of Sesame Streets! I love watching the kids sing along and put up their muscles when Will.i.am talks about being stronger. I recommend this for any kids' playlist!

 Last year Mrs. Hoffman found those stretchy book covers on sale for 49 cents a piece at Dillions and happened to pick a bunch up. She saw on pinterest an idea to attach them to the back of the students' chairs to hold their whiteboard, marker, and eraser for practicing math and numeral writing. She had a lot of markers and erasers become lost in the students' desks throughout the year so we crossed our fingers this would work.

I love them! They turned out soooo cute and fit perfectly over the chairs. This gives the students easy access to their supplies without having to dig through their desks looking for everything when we're ready to start math. They look like little super-hero capes on the backs of their chairs. It's especially cute when they're sitting down. It looks as if Mrs. Hoffman is holding the staff meeting of all the Marvel superheroes! These are definitely something I would love to have in my own classroom one day.