Back to School- Classroom Tour

You better up your bandwidth baby because today you get to peek around the place where I spend way too much time. Let the pictures roll... 

It's slightly unfinished, a tad disorganized, always more dusty than I'd like, but it's my little place where I get to do what I do.

I usually don't go theme crazy, and instead opt for vibrant bright colors. I like the idea of a full blown theme, but this works for me. 

Here's my little piece of the pie. 

I love using WBT's Super Improvers last year with my 3rd graders. I know my little first grade darlings will love it too! 

I really love my calendar board. It's missing a few components, but we'll get there. I'm giving my self permission to not stress out this year! 

Here is my huge gigantic board that I probably should have divided up, but I was running out of time. So it got some bunting that was left over from last years room (I changed rooms this year!) and ta-daa. Here's whatcha get. That paper is NOT so neon green...don't know why it looks that way on my screen????

That's all I got for ya today. Keep it real home slice...

(my husband always says that...I don't really understand the phrase, but whatev...keep it real anyway, haha!)

So it begins...

Making a very quick stop to say hey to all you lovely ladies (and maybe gentlemen)...

Monday morning I drove 2 hours meet my mom so she could take my kiddos for the week. First time they've been away this long and I MISS THEM!!

But...I've been in my classroom every day which is fabulous. Teachers go back on the 12th and students on the 19th, but I'm getting my wisdom teeth pulled on the 5th. Yah, who does that right before school?!? Oh right....I do. What a dummy. 

Since I'm changing grades that means I'm changing rooms and for some reason teachers at our school love to leave behind all their crud lovely teaching resources that they no longer want. This means emptying all the cabinets and sorting through everything before putting all my stuff into the cabinets. 

This is what I'm working with folks...

Not pretty. Not pretty at all. 

I'm determined to make a dent in all this junk tomorrow because once the husband gets home we're on the road to pick up the littles.

I'm crossing my fingers for a Five for Friday with pictures of a neat and tidy (although incomplete) classroom. Say a prayer people!

Classroom Tour

The fact that I'm just now (after a week of school) posting pictures of my class is a sure fire indicator that the last two weeks of my life have been absolutely crazy!

I was putting it off because I kept coming up with things that I still needed to do, or wanted to fix, or wanted to add to. I finally realized that if I didn't just share it now, it might be June before I really finish everything I want to do. 

You can see the before pictures here. 

This next picture is from the main front door.

 

This next one is from the opposite corner. 

 

 

Attendance markers right when you walk in. 

This is the side of my filing cabinet. 

 

My group table. The bookshelves could really use some work.

 

My board for jobs. The little signs says, 

"We're going out on a limb to give a helping hand." 

I am going to put little hand cutouts with their name in 

each of the little job title pockets.  

 

 My cubbies got a new paint color!

 

 

My student center right on the other side of the filing cabinet. I saw this idea on another blog, but have no idea which one. If you have a student center, link up in the comments!

 

 My calendar/schedule boards. 

Below is a picture of my favorite back to school activity that we did this first week. These darling Bagpack getting to know you crafts can be found on TpT if you visit Mrs. H's store from Once Upon a First Grade Adventure.

Happy Back to School everyone! 

Laminating Frenzy Begins With Taking Attendance

First of all, thanks to everyone who has entered my 100 Follower Giveaway. I can hardly wait to pick some winners! If you haven't entered yet click the button below. 

 

Now for the frenzy.

It was impossible to resist the urge to run out and purchase the Scotch Thermal Laminator after hearing the wonderful things you fabulous teacher-bloggers were saying about it. 

 

I had been going back and forth about it for days, but let me tell you that my money was well spent on this baby!

And I'll admit that today's laminating didn't exactly reach full frenzy potential, but I can assure you that it will soon.  

Last night I whipped up some attendance markers to put on the side of a filing cabinet that I have right near the entrance to my classroom. Those were the perfect thing for my first lamination project. I'll just attach a little magnet to the backs later.

 

Sorry about the shadowy/blurry picture, it's late here. Anyhow, minus the sore hand from cutting a gazillion circles, I'm very happy with how they turned out. 

 

I included numbers 1-30 in duplicates of pink and blue. All of my students are assigned a number so although number 1 is a girl this year, number 1 may be a boy next year. I figured I better make them both now and get it over with. 

Maybe one day I'll have a TpT or Teacher's Notebook store, but for now I'll give a set of these cuties to the first two people who comment and ask for them. 

Speaking of cuties, here is Charly after her first trip to the groomer. I was amazed that I could actually see her eyes. I don't have a picture of Lily because she wouldn't stop whining...I think she was traumatized. If you didn't catch the pic of them pre-groomer and about a month ago check them out here.

Yard Sign Makeover, Mod Podge {really?!}

SIDE NOTE: (hmmm, can you have a side note before you get started. Not sure about that, but I'm going to do it.) I'm only 7 followers away from hitting 100 which means a giveaway is brewing. If you'd like to help me celebrate by donating a giveaway item, send an email to teachonalimb@me.com

Now back to the purpose of this post...

I was terribly bummed when I didn't have a single thing to share for Tara's Monday Made It linky, but in my defense my Mom, her hubs, and my nephew were visiting this weekend AND my mom and I repainted my kitchen and half of my family room. 

I was totally able to forgive myself after I created this beauty:

Take note of this moment folks. This may be the one and only time that I actually create something from an idea that came from my very own brain without any influence from another blog or Pinterest. I'm going to cherish this moment!

Here's what I used:

• Mod Podge
• spray adhesive
• sticker letters
• 2 yard signs
• large gift bag
• extra paper 

The best part is that I got the bag, yard signs, and sticker letters from the dollar store. What a score!!

 

I started by taking apart the polka dot gift bag and laying it out flat on my work table. I flipped the yard signs over and traced them onto the bag.

 

I cut out my pieces from the gift bag and used spray adhesive to stick them to the front of the yard signs. I sprayed the adhesive directly on the yard sign to make sure I didn't miss any edges. 

I used some clip art from my blog design to add a little more color. I knew the letters weren't going to be enough. I originally wanted to cut out the branch and individual leaves so I didn't have that icky white background, but guess what...I didn't have the patience for that this morning so icky white background it is.

 

I hadn't quite figured out what I was going to say on the sign when I was shopping so I ended up having to make a few e's out of paper and using some of the leftover letters to get creative and form letters that I was short on. I wasn't so great at making the words centered on the sign {obviously}. I think it's cute enough that I can deal with crooked. 

Here it is again:  

I made 2 signs so that I can have them back to back in the little ground cover area outside my classroom. 


This picture was pre-Mod Podge just in case I messed it up. As a final step I Mod Podged the top just to add a layer of protection against our morning coastal fog. 


Those of you that read my filing cabinet fiasco (which you can read here) are probably thinking--Mod Podge again...really?! I know. Tell me about it. But I did learn that the less papery the item you're Mod Podging the better. I didn't have nearly as much trouble this time around although the letters did bubble just a bit. 


If you have some Mod Podge projects to share or if you're a Mod Podge expert with some helpful tips go back to my filing cabinet post and link up to my Mod Podge Mania.

 

After Mod Podge project number two I can say that Mod Podge doesn't stink as much as I originally thought, but I'm not completely sold either.

Monday Made It: Pendant Banner

Another link up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for a Monday Made It. 

This week: Pendant Banners. 

So much easier than my filing cabinet makeover that you can read about here. 

Working backwards, here is my finished banner. (Sorry the picture is not that great.)

 

Not sure that I love it there, but we'll see. I might put it across the windows.

Anyways, here's how I did it.

First, I made a template out of some thin cardboard I had from the packaging of some scrapbook pages.  

 

Keeping the fabric folded in half, I used a washable fabric pen to trace the template on the fabric.  

 

I cut through both layers of the fabric at once. 

 

 

I piled up all of my triangles according to color and kept them in pairs with wrong sides together. 

 

I tried pinning the ribbon in half, but the ribbon was too narrow. It was easier to fold it as I fed it through the machine. I only sewed across the ribbon, not down the sides of the triangles. I figured since it was going to be hanging it didn't matter much. I used some liquidy stuff (used to prevent fraying) on a few areas that looked like they might be prone to fraying. 

 

And that's all folks. It was a pretty quick and painless Monday Made It. Can't wait to see what you're linking up!

A Class Act and a Musical Linky Party

This year I'm going to be changing classrooms so that I can be next to my 3rd grade teaching partner. I don't mind because as a new teacher I have not accumulated nearly as much as the veterans at my school. 

I was excited to hear that my new class would be receiving a fresh coat of paint. The downside is that I've been anxiously waiting for 3 weeks to be able to get in there and start getting bulletin boards and things organized. 

With the limited amount of prep time I had before this last year my class decor left much to be desired. It was mostly a hodge podge of random things other teachers donated to me and random things I had picked up here and there. 

I am thrilled to be able to put some more thought and effort into getting my classroom set up nicely. And I love my blog design so much that I'm going to use it as the basis for my classroom theme. 

Here is what I have to work with.

Is anyone else envisioning a cubby make-over??
 

This white cabinet will be great for storage, but that gap at the top of the door is going to drive me crazy! Any ideas?
 

 

These are for the desks. The teal prints out much darker. More like a bright blue. I like it though!

Jo-Ann's was having a sale on scrapbook paper so I picked up these for $.35 a sheet. Not sure what I'll use them for yet, but perhaps a teacher toolbox or a file cabinet makeover. Have you seen those on Pinterest?! So stinkin' cute!
 

Here are the papers and things I've printed at home. What do you think? I can't decide if the pieces go together. I think maybe it's the stripes on the nametags?? I don't know, but I'm not quite sold yet.

 

I also want to take a minute to link up with Amanda over at Teaching Maddeness to share my musical favs. 

The first thing you should know is that I cannot sing. Well, I guess I can sing, I just can't carry a note in a bucket as my former "rock star" dad would say. Yup, ladies, my daddy-o was the lead singer in local band way back in the day. Long locks and the v-neck, bare chested polyester jumpsuit thingy and all. A real class act {wink}! Boy I wish I had a picture to share!

Anywho, I happened to snag my mommy's genes on this one and let me tell you, it's a terrible thing. Needless to say, I avoid singing in class if at all possible. Is that horrible of me to deprive my students of the potential learning afforded by using catchy tunes to memorize multiplication facts and other tidbits of useful information?

What I will do, though, is put on relaxing music while doing writing workshop or some other low key activity. My absolute favorite piano man is Jim Brickman. His music is so soothing and really quite beautiful. Click his album cover to check out some previews in iTunes.  

 

He has a Disney Songbook CD that I don't have yet, but is on my "to buy" list. You can check that one out below.

 

I teach at a Christian school so I have the privilege of being able to pray with my students, and encourage them in their walk with the Lord. This also means I can put the local Christian station on the radio and I can play Christian music in class, which is what I usually listen to anyways. I purchased this next CD for my daughter since she's the musical talent in our family. I LOVE IT! The songs are great with beautiful messages. I'm taking it in to class for sure.

   

What are you playing in class? Click on the Turn the Music Up link at the top and join Amanda in sharing some musical maddeness!