A Few More Ideas ...

... for the beginning of the year:

I place all of the "Beginning of the year forms" in large manilla envelopes with each child's name written on the front.  I put these out the day before school begins (at our PTA Social) so parents can take them home and fill out the forms.  If they don't attend the social, they get the envelope on the first day of school.  You can also put them out on the first day for parents to take as they drop off their kids.

I plan our "Color Days" (one for each of the first 12 Fridays) and place the first few calendar cards in our pocket calendar.  When we celebrate each color, we dress in that color, we do a "craftifity" in that color, and we eat a healthy snack that is that color.  Like on Red Day, we dress in red, make a Clifford puppet, and taste strawberries.  Here are the Color Day Calendar Cards.

Click the image.

I put out a yearly planner for parents to sign up to volunteer in our classroom.

And here are 2 of my oldie ideas:
I picked up these cute sponges at The Dollar Store to keep my paints from drying out.

Wet the sponges and slide them on to
the brushes at the end of the day.

Slide the sponges off when you're ready to paint.

I usually cut out sponges to fit on the top of each paint container, poke a hole in the center, and I place these wet sponges on top of the paints each night.  In the morning, I remove the sponges so the kids can paint.  I don't have to wash out the brushes every day!

And last, is my "Giving Tree" which I place outside my door with a Post-it on each apple.

I write down the items I need for my classroom on each apple and again on the Post-it that sits on each apple.  The parents take the Post-its and donate the items requested.  :)

Click the image.

That's it for today.

Let me know some of your beginning of the year ideas. 

Palma :)