Don't Let the Pigeon Come to School

Unless you've been living under a rock this summer or have vehemently avoided social media, you have probably heard about the Kohl's Cares Mo Willems plush characters and books that have been highly coveted by teachers everywhere. I personally snagged up Pigeon, Elephant, and Piggy. Duckling, unfortunately, was not available at my closest store. Mo Willem's stories are some of my favorite children's literature out there. Each year, my students beg me to read his funny stories, and if my little darlings start to read independently, there is great rejoicing in the land when a student gets to check out an Elephant and Piggy reader to take home. Long story short, Willems is nothing short of a superhero to my classroom.

Each year, my school chooses a school-wide theme. We are a PK-K site, and our principal lets us nominate and vote on the upcoming theme at the end of the previous year. This May, my colleagues voted in favor of a transportation theme "The Boomer Journey Begins at the ECC!" I shamefully forgot to vote. I didn't dislike this theme, but I wasn't really excited about it either. I know you are wondering, "What on earth does this have to do with Mo Willems?" Well, it wouldn't be like me to get to the point without a backstory. Just ask my husband!

I sat and brainstormed a few ideas for my personal theme. I don't re-do my entire classroom, but I do "theme" our hallway displays and some of the consumable items we use each year, like our take-home folders. I searched high and low for cute transportation classroom decor. I found lots of hot air balloons, sail boats, airplanes, even some rocket ships. Nothing spoke to me. So I started trying to think outside of the box. What else "goes?" I thought about Monster Trucks, for so long in fact that I created a Classroom Basics kit for it. Then I thought about school buses. I thought this would go perfectly with "back to school." It took me a bit, but finally the heavens opened and I settled on "Don't Let the Pigeon Come to School!" This theme, of course, is based on Mo Willem's popular character, with a school bus in place of a regular city bus.

Again, I struggled to find what I needed to make it happen. That is how my "Pigeon Classroom Basics" file was born. I can't wait to get to work on my classroom and show you the finished result! For now, here is a peek at some of the things inside:

In every one of my "Classroom Basics" sets, you will find a student gift tag. These are great for Meet the Teacher and/or Open House! I love how this one turned out!