Bits and Pieces Found Around Town

I'm very excited to begin gathering goodies for my new kindergarten classroom.  I took the opportunity to go to a few garage sales over the past few weeks to see if I could find anything that I could use.  I was lucky to find quite a few things....books, magnetic letters, dinosaurs, and much more.  Here's a sneak peak at a few of the items...

The Leap Frog Fridge Phonics, with both uppercase and lowercase letters, was a bargain at about $1.00!  I'm busy thinking of ways to use this great set.  Do you have any ideas that you would like to share?  Do you have a set in your classroom? 

I found a great collection of magnetic letters and numbers...again priced at only about $1.00 for everything you see here.  You can never have enough magnetic letters.  I especially like the different sizes and fonts.  Now I need to find some great tackle boxes to store them in.  Do you organize your magnetic pieces in an interesting way? 

I would love to hear about your second-hand finds.  More to come. 

Still Learning

I've been trying to do as much reading as possible on how to get my blog up and going.  I still have a lot to learn and many questions, so I have hesitated to post ideas until I understand all of the components of what makes a useful teaching blog. 

Some of the questions I still have include the following:

•  how to design a personalized blogger header
• the best format for user friendly posts
• how to add a comments section to my posts
• how to get others to read and recognize my blog
• posting restrictions (need to cover students' faces, using bits of ideas from others, building off ideas from books and other sources I've already used, etc.)
• how to link where some of my ideas are coming from
• how to share and link up great ideas that you find on other sites
• and so much more....

If any of you have great websites or resources that will help me to answer some of these questions, I would appreciate your comments.  Now I need to check and see how I can get you to leave a comment! :) 

I continue to learn and grow from each of the sites I follow.  I can't wait to get my idea list up and running soon. 

Might as well give it a try!

For a long time now I have been getting to the know the blogging world.  I follow a bookmarked list of everything from craft blogs, design blogs, home blogs, and teaching blogs.  I admire and learn from each of the blogs I peruse on sometimes a daily basis.  I have been thinking about starting my own blog for quite a while now, and I think I'm finally ready to give it a try. 

If you are like me, and you enjoy creating, sharing, and learning, I hope you will find some helpful "bits" in my new Kindergarten blog.  In September, I will be moving from first grade to Kindergarten with much anticipation.  A new beginning, a little re-energizing...might as well start a blog to share my journey along with you.