Classroom Update and a freebie

This is going to be a quick post. I have to go to physical therapy in 30 minutes. I'm no longer required to go to therapy for my knee but I'm trying to keep my knee strong. Also, I might be a weirdo because I really like going to PT. It makes me feel better and I love my therapist! They are seriously the best. I've been going for 8 months so they are my friends too. Anyway, I went to my classroom for the first time yesterday. I was a little scared as to what I was going to be walking into because we had new floors installed. Our principal made it sound like our things could be damaged in the process. But overall it wasn't too bad. I took some before and after pictures to share with you.

 I couldn't move the heavy stuff so while waiting for the custodians to come help me I worked on bulletin boards. You know. They are important. Last year my colors were black, red, and blue. I loved my room last year. But it wasn't very kindergarten. (Which was the idea because I was in first grade) This year I'm doing some brighter colors. So I changed out the fabric and borders.

This board still needs a little work. It's going to have pictures of the kids' and their families on it. I was inspired by Jeannie over at Kindergarten Lifestyle (Check her post out here. She has a freebie.) Here are a couple more pictures of the work I got done yesterday. I was pretty pleased with it. It looks more like a classroom now.

I needed a new rug and I really didn't want to have to spend a ton of money on it. (Well, Chris wasn't crazy about me spending $80 or more) So I found this one at Big lots for $16. I'm thinking I'm going to write a PTA grant for a nice rug sometime this year.
One last thing before I go, I had a reader ask me to share the guided reading slides I had made for my posts about The Next Step in Guided Reading by Jan Richardson.

Click here to get the slides in a pdf. 

I plan on printing these out and putting them in my guided reading notebook as a reminder of what I  read and learned from this study. If you download it, I would love to hear from you.