A Jungle Journey!

A couple of years ago, I hit a roadblock in my teaching journey.  Little did I know that what transpired was not only going to put a spring back into my step, but it was going to transform my classroom and my whole professional career!  It all started when I had a classroom of spunky, rowdy kids. (I know some of you are thinking aren't all 4 year olds rowdy and spunky?) This group challenged me on all levels and kept me on my knees and in prayer the whole year.  The funny thing is, I love the kids who have spunk the most....so who knows maybe this was all in the plan.  At the end of the year I was questioning whether to sign my contract again...then something amazing happened.  I discovered blogging!  I went on an adventure and decided to change the theme in my room.  Well I spent 100s of hours (you bloggers know I am not exaggerating) searching and coming up with ideas, elements and the perfect theme for my room.  In the course of this searching I found this amazing group of teachers who helped me and shed light on my situation even though they did not know it because I was a blog stalker at that time and no one knew I even existed.  As I read their struggles and journeys I began to change my perspective and see my teaching in a new light!  I am so grateful for all I learned and suffice it to say I am a changed teacher and woman!  I want to give a shout out to a few of those amazing women:  Christina Bainbridge, Miss Kindergarten, Vanessa Levine at Pre-kpages, and Annie Moffat.  Thank you for this new journey...and now I am in the blogging world and loving it, loving my job and I say:  Bring on the next challenge!!  Here is my transformed room:

My calendar and job board

My beginning of the year bulletin board.  I add really cute huge letters
and coconuts!  We read Chicka Chicka Boom Boom and Chicka Chicka 123
and we create a Glyph with our names!  Coming in the fall....

This is my reading center!  I have 2 body pillow out of zebra print, vines
hanging from the ceiling with velcro hanging animals that I picked up
at oriental trading.

This is where I have my centers posted.  I use monkeys with each kids
name to rotate around centers.  Fridays they get to pick their own centers.

This is near the entrance of my classroom!  I love this jeep!

Here is a close up of my jobs.  I change jobs weekly.  Jobs include:
teachers helper, prayer leader, calendar, door holder, flag holder,
line leader, and each of my tables have a table helper.