Super Cheap Dry Erase "Boards"

I saw this idea a while ago somewhere on the internet.  I've been wanting to try it for some time now. I don't know about you but all of my dry erase boards seem to be in really bad condition, don't wipe easily, marker stains and so on.

I bought these plates (4 for $1 at my local Dollar Tree) to try as dry erase boards!  Take a look:

I wrote on the plate with a dry erase marker.  I didn't even use a "real" Expo marker.  

Then I erased with one stroke:

This is what it looked like at the end :)

I am a HAPPY teacher!  I spent 6 dollars and have 24 dry erase "boards!!"

Whole Brain Teaching

I use some whole brain teaching strategies in our classroom.  I created these posters as the ones I saw online did not really fit to my teaching style or to our classroom.  Feel free to download and use in your room!  Let me know what you think!

Getting Started

I have to admit that I'm really excited about starting my second year as a kindergarten teacher.  However, I have to admit that I have been having trouble getting motivated about leaving my life as a teacher on summer break.  I brought a few items home to work on this summer.  One of them was a big box of papers that I wanted to file.  Another was all of my math and literacy games that I wanted to organize better.  

Today I took them to my classroom to finish the job by putting them in my cabinets.  However, all of the cabinets were moved to the sides of the room from cleaning.  So I started the summer adventure of setting up my classroom.  The good news is that I moved much of the furniture to where I want it to be (for now at least :) ) and I finished all of my FILING!!!  That's something that I never seem to get done.  Here are the before pictures.  I'll post after pictures soon.

Summer Fun :) :)

Like many of us, I brought home several projects for this summer.  Here's a little one I'm trying today....running all of my scissors through the dishwasher!  I also snuck a couple of baskets in there!  Have any of you tried this?  I'll let you know how it goes!

Update:  I ran one load of in the dishwasher.  The scissors turned out like new!  I was a bit nervous about the crayon baskets as I wasn't sure what was gonna happen when the dishwasher got really hot on any crayon residue.  The baskets are cleaner than they have been since I bought them and my dishwasher is just fine!!! (pictures to follow)