Preschool Classroom Reveal

See this room?

It is my new home.

It has literally eaten up my entire life in the span of a few short weeks. 🙂

I teach all morning, work in the afternoon for the school’s front office, and then take my boys home to feed them the same thing for the 3rd night in a row and then fall into a coma of exhaustion.

The other day I was like, “Blog?  What blog????”

My mother-in-law wisely told me (when I called her crying about this dramatic life change) to lower my expectations for the next month and hold on for the adjustment.

But tonight was Back to School Night with all my new parents and I am still awake and completely wired from having had conversation that did not involve me telling someone to stop throwing sand or did they go poopy?  And because I know you’re all sitting around wondering why I haven’t posted in an eon, I decided to send a little note and let you know that full-time work did not kill me off.

Although on Thursday last week it almost did.

But oh how I love my sweet new students and their families!

And how much fun it has been to see them enjoying our little space that took 400 trips to Ikea and 75% of my entire year’s budget to set up. 🙂

Before I show you the after photos, however, I wanted to give you a peek at the before photos!

When I first started teaching the 2’s last year I was in a different classroom that I shared with another teacher.

This year I was moved to a new room that has been kind of infamous around the school as having a funky, narrow/crowded shape.

But the Lord gave me great peace and excitement for the project of creating a space of my own.  I also loved looking to Him for some out-of-the-box ideas to help make the room feel large and accommodating for such a busy age.

I’m so happy with the results…

**Warning – PICTURE OVERLOAD.**

This is our Circle Time area and main bulletin board for learning.

In the 2 year old class, we focus on a specific Bible memory verse, a shape, a color, and a number for the entire month.

We celebrate the calendar and weather every day as well.

I bought an oil drip pan from Walmart for $11 and use it as a magnet wall for the children.

The school buses on the pan are how I take attendance each morning.  We sing THIS SONG and then the children get to put their bus on the wall.

Even though they can’t read yet, I like to post a schedule of our daily activities and I talk about it throughout the day with them.

They get really excited about Goodbyes because it means MOMMY TIME!

I found these adorable schedule cards as a FREE Printable from HERE.

These are our classroom rules.

I refer to them 100 million times a day during the first month of school.

This is my desk.

It is so cute, but when you teach preschoolers, you NEVER ever get to use it!  Haha!

We spend a lot of time at that changing table.

And those cabinets are overflowing with important preschool supplies like googly eyes and Glue Dots and Do-A-Dot Markers and every color of pipe cleaner you could possibly imagine.

I have all of my parents send in photos of their families so that I can display them for the children to visit throughout the day.

I like that they can stay connected with their loved ones even when they are apart!

I believe I need to budget for more puzzles.

🙂

I love to label things.

It is a tremendous help at clean-up time.

You wouldn’t believe the hurricane this room becomes when we are focused on our play.

The only reason the classroom looks so awesome at the moment is because I had to get it in tip top shape for Back to School Night. 🙂

I saw a great idea on Pinterest to use cheap picture frames for all the mandatory policy things (firedrill, lockdown, procedures, etc.).

Dramatic play is SO encouraged in our room!

Today two of my girls dressed up in gowns and informed me that they were going on an adventure.

Also, 2 year olds love to put stuff in things so I like to have lots of purses, bags and baskets on hand.

This is our train table and rice/water table.

That rice table is a ton of fun but a BEAST to clean up.

Over the train table is our Birthday Bulletin Board (idea from HERE).

During the first week of school the children decorate some birthday crowns that I purchase from Michael’s.

Then they get to wear the crowns on their birthday, of course.  It generates so much anticipation for their special day!

As you can see, we have already celebrated one little girl.

This is our kitchen area where the kids cook me 10 course meals about 7 times a day.

If one of them grows up to be the next Julia Child or Emeril, I will make sure everyone knows that they got their start in PreK-2 with Mrs. B.

I like to hang mirrors in my room because the children just love to look at themselves while they are exploring.

The other morning we all stood in front of the mirrors and practiced our silly faces.

Then I glanced out our classroom door window and saw a parent peeking in to watch.

I’m sure they were having second thoughts about their child’s enrollment.

And there it is.

This room where even if it didn’t have any toys or decorations or paraphernalia from Ikea, would still have the Holy Spirit.

And that’s really all that matters to me anyway –

That my students know Jesus and His absolutely perfect, unfailing, and precious love for them.

Not where my desk lamps are from.

I hope you like it!

Happy Preschool Classroom Reveal-ing! 🙂