Song Freebie and Classroom Update

First up, I happened to stop by one of my favorite singer's Facebook pages today and discovered a freebie! Stephen Fite is actually from a little town not far from me here in Oklahoma! I've had the good fortune to be able to attend several of his concerts - some when my own children were in pre-k and kindergarten and once as a teacher. His songs are educational, engaging and entertaining!

He was a presenter at Frog Street Splash this summer and debuted two new songs. Today he's offering a free download of them! I took one listen to the song "Learn it Up" and loved it (the other one is great too, but this one really had me excited!)! I was totally rocking out in my computer chair, making up motions and picturing how I would introduce it to my class! I think it's perfect for a brain break and will be great for transitions or just to get the kiddos up and moving when you see their attention start to wane. I emailed Stephen and asked for permission to share the song with you and he graciously agreed, take a listen!



If you love this song as much as I do, head to Stephen's Facebook page and leave him a note with your email and he will share the mp3 file with you! You should definitely check out his cds too - "Giddy-Up and Learn" is our favorite - whenever we have inside recess we had down to the gym with this cd and do some dancing - "Beaver Call" in particular is really fun and the kiddos love to do the movements!

Classroom update: Yesterday I went back into my classroom and started unpacking boxes. I have so much storage space I wasn't quite sure where to put everything and I don't want to forget where something is and have to search for it lol! I decided to devote each closet to a specific purpose, so one is for Title I materials which have to be kept together for their audits, one is for Math materials and one is for Literacy materials. That still leaves one more closet and the cupboards by the sink (one of which is devoted to art supplies) plus the shelving by the cubbies. I am beginning to think I am going to have a lot of empty spaces!

I inherited a great book display shelf from a teacher that left, but it was a little banged up and a very loud red:

I took it outside in the 115 degree heat and painted it. Yes, outside, even though I had drop cloths and another teacher offered me even more drop cloths. Why? Because I knew that there was no way I could paint indoors without getting messy! Case in point - after it was all dry I brought it inside on the dolly and placed it on my new rug. Where it promptly left two paint splatters! The entire thing was dry, except for the one corner on the bottom! If you look carefully you can see the spot on the carpet :(

 Sorry the pics are bad - forgot my camera at home (again!) and had to use my cell phone! I'm quite happy with this chocolate brown - although I will be adding a few embellishments to fancy it up :)

I also have a pile of furniture by my door, waiting for our custodians to figure out somewhere else to put it. With all this storage space I definitely don't need any filing cabinets! I'm not sure why she had all those little tables (there are 3) and that kidney table just takes up too much room - I'm hoping to get a narrower one. I am crossing my fingers it will all be out of there when I go in today because it would make it much easier to see the space without this mess in the way:

I'm heading out to our teacher supply store now to find some borders. I was going to do the whole scrunchy border thing but I didn't like any of our butcher paper colors once I looked at them closely. Hopefully I will be able to find something that coordinates with my brown/green/blue color scheme! Have a great day!