Here are just a few pictures for you from my day at Murch.
This is something I always did as a classroom teacher! We made a BOOK of it for each student though rather than a bulletin board. The idea is from Patricia Cunningham's book Phonics Their Way. I love seeing variations of it out in other classrooms!
I am not sure if this shows up in the picture- but there are THREE- yes THREE frogs in this aquarium! Yikes! That's a lot of frogs. On closer inspection I also saw LIVE crickets! Ewww! I know it is science in action, but still Ewww! My reason for taking this picture however was to capture the three names of these frogs and the description of which is which! I love Kindergarten kids!
Just a cute and kid friendly posting of the classroom rules.
You KNOW it is summer in the city (old schools with little air conditioning) when you see the bin of water bottles!
This was just funny! If you tilt your head to the left and look... it is actually a pretty good drawing!
Status of the class! Love it! It is so colorful and cute! I am going to have a hard time when I go back to the classroom! Everything is so CUTE these days!
What a great way to show writing that has been published by young authors in your classroom.
LOOK AT THIS! I just adore this reading area! A cool bench! A fun circus tent! Chalkboards to label Just Right Books and Browsing Boxes! Love!
I have always loved this expression to describe for kids what "fair" means in a differentiated classroom. Makes me want to think of other things "Mrs. Leach always says..." and post them in appropriate places in the classroom.
I always had new "words" of the week, but I just stuck them in a boring way up on my easel! This is so much better!
I had to take a picture of this! Live and learn! This could have been MY classroom carpet. I wanted to make lines for kids to sit on. So I did! I used colored duct tape. Live and learn! It doesn't come OFF the carpet! Oh boy! Betsy learned the hard way too! A girl after my own teaching heart.
It's a little blurry, but do you see the book this boy is reading!? I got so excited! Encyclopedia Brown! He told me "My dad had to convince me to check it out from the library!" LOL! I told him he was super cool for reading it and he gave this toothy (or lack of toothies) smile.
Cutest job chart I've ever seen!
I love this! It makes me want to include teacher language/phrases in my next Guided Reading Gazette!
I will close with my TWO favorite things from the day! This Daily Schedule won me over! I always had a Daily Schedule, but it was the kind with clip art and was clearly computer made! This one was decorated by kids! I just love it! Actually if I could describe Betsy's classroom in one way it would be KID CENTERED! The evidence of kids learning was prominent. I loved it and wish I had a classroom- I'd redo my Daily Schedule tomorrow!
Last, but not least... look at this cute way to say Happy Birthday to kids in the class! A big cupcake and every kid made her a candle. So many unique candles! Love! Love! Love!
Hope you saw something that sparked a teaching idea for your classroom from all of these classrooms at Murch Elementary School in DCPS!
