Not Even Lions

I don't know how the weather is in your area, but here in the desert, it's been absolutely fabulous! Saturday was the epitome of Fall. It was such a gloomy, overcast, and chilly morning. It's always sunny and hot about 340 days out of the year here, it seems. (which makes it super hard to explain seasons to three year olds that are growing up in the desert... I'm already stressing about trying it again this year in a few weeks...)

We started back school a whole month later than all my teacher friends back home, which made it so hard watching them get their elementary classrooms ready and doing what I love to do. Don't get me wrong, I've grown to love my little three year old babies, and I have a total whole new respect for Preschool teachers... they work half a day for a reason, y'all... not just for those little brains, but for the sanity of the teachers as well :) But, I do miss the elementary setting and doing the old things that I use to do.

I do have big plans for my 3 year olds this year though. Last year was a little touch and go because it was my first time with that age group, but I tried more and more with them as the year went on, and they are SPONGES! They got middle sounds in CVC words better than my Kinders use to! I'm telling you, they made my jaw drop a lot last year with how much they are capable of learning that people tried to tell me it was too hard for them. It was incredibly encouraging, and I made it a daily challenge for me to see what I could "test" out on them.

Here are some pictures of my classroom ready to go for Open House right before school started. Our rooms are extremely small, so it's so hard to really group things together and make different "areas" like I would really like to:

Back to School Door Their pictures will go in the middle of the flowers

Carpet Time Calendar, Daily Schedule, Weather, Word Wall, Browsing Boxes

Dramatic Play Area

Group Tables Eric Carle Decals for The Very Hungry Caterpillar Center materials underneath curtains

Weekly Schedule on Wall with Birthday Display