Hello everyone, Jessica from Mrs. Stanford's Class guest blogging here!

I'd like to start off by thanking Jeannie for this exciting opportunity to guest blog for the very first time! Ever since I contacted her about being a guest blogger I've been racking my brain about what to write. So I've decided that I'm just going to invite you into my classroom and introduce you to my obsession love for DonorsChoose! Hopefully after seeing my classroom some of you may get ideas that you haven't had before or maybe some will create projects to bring amazing materials to your kiddos too! So here we go....I am a 5th year kindergarten teacher and love every minute of it!

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I was blessed to move into a large room this year (my original room was no bigger than my master bedroom... eeek). My students now have the opportunity to travel to  more workstations than they have been able to in the past.

click to pin You may be wondering what I'm doing with all of those orb looking things all over their tables... those are their amazing ball chairs! I love how exciting they make my classroom. A few years back I was in dire need of some sort of therapy for a few of my severe ADHD students. After much research I decided to order a few and now they are so wonderful I have a whole class set! If any of you are interested in checking them out they were ordered from School Specialty

click to pin When it comes to technology, I am a junkie! My students absolutely love our listening workstation. It's so bad that I have to beg them to stop reading so that we can get to lunch. I currently have it set for 4 students and the choice of about 100 books. All cds have been loaded to their iPod Nanos and students just have to search for the cover of their selected book. (Beats the old cd player with 4 sets of headphones that I was constantly resetting during reading groups)  

click to pin As for our library workstation, I have encouraged the students to read sight word books during their visit. Students then practice until they are ready to read them to an adult.

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click to pin  After the students read me their book of choice, I snap a quick photo of them and their book to present to parents. We have created a wall of fame in our hallway to show the parents the books that they are able to read indepentently. Since we have created the wall of fame, more than 3/4 of my students have doubled their book logs!

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click to pin  Workstations are dandy, but what do you do when you hear the dreaded line "I'm done, what do I do now??!" Well I've mastered it this year! When students have completed their work early or just have a few extra minutes in their day I encourage them to grab either a tag reader or a file folder game from the shelf. Students are excited to use these tools and are building much needed literacy and math skills while 'keeping busy' during those few extra moments in their day. I have the books and trays leveled and students are aware of the tag caddy/tray color that they should choose.

Well we have many more workstations in our classroom, but I thought I'd give you a sneak peek at my favorite! Everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) that you have seen has been donated through DonorsChoose (they are oh so amazing!!) If you have any questions or need help creating a project, let me know and I'd be more than eager to help you, help your kiddos!!

Thanks again to the AMAZING Jeannie for this opportunity!

Blessings,

Jessica

Mrs. Stanford's Class

Come visit me :)