My Classroom, Teacher Resource Center, and New Craft (Pics!)

Get ready for the motherload of pics y'all!

I went to the Teacher Resource Center yesterday and got lots of items laminated for my classroom. As promised, I took my handy camera (I'm not cool enough to have a smartphone yet) and snapped some pics for y'all. I did wait until the two other teachers had left because I felt a bit dorky asking them if they were cool with me taking pics for my blog.

This is the cute little computer area that they have set-up. You can print 10 color copies and 25 black and white copies each visit.

This is the beautiful Variquest area. It can print posters on the right and cut outs on the left.

Here is a close-up of this beautiful machine. Can you tell that it is love y'all? The computer is also touch screen!

This is the paper area next to the Variquest. You can get 10 sheets per day to use. The big manila envelopes on the bottom are there to help you take the items home.

This is a large working area. They also allow teachers to check-out this area for meetings and such so that you can work while you are planning. This is where I like to sit and get my stuff all together before taking it to the laminator. Yep...that's my junk on the table.

This is the view from the table over to the far wall. You can see two laminators set-up. They also have a poster maker over there. The big tables are for cutting the laminating film off using a slider thingy (like my technical terminology).

The bookshelves contain the teacher resources that are available for check-out. Most of it is really elementary age. They have lots of center resources. I have checked out the buzzer system before for jeopardy games and the kids loved it. They are starting to get more middle school items in now and trying to build up their middle/high school supply. They have book-sets you can check-out to use with your students. The great thing about this is that they send it through the courier in our school district so you don't even have to drive over to pick-up or drop-off!

This is the newest area that was being set-up last week. These are all theme bags...again, mostly for the elementary school teachers. Through the door is their little storage area.

That is the end of my tour on the Teacher Resource Center. I am really in love with it and love the plushy new building they are in! It is so cozy that you don't even feel like you are doing work! The wonderful ladies that run this place are so sweet too! I'm really grateful that our school district provides such an awesome place for us to use for FREE!

Moving on.........here is my classroom! Day #1...

This is the view when you walk in the door. It is going to need a lot of work. There is still some stuff up on the walls, bulletin board, etc. from the teacher before me. I also need to scrape some of the poster leftovers off of the wall before I put anything up. I am really puzzled on the best layout for this room...

This is my view from the windows going across the opposite side of the room. I have 3 whiteboards total...however the one in the front of the room is connected to my Epson Projector and my Digipen (aka a Smartboard).

This is what the hubs and I accomplished in about 45 minutes. I wanted my desk moved across the classroom because I have a pretty good size classroom library and since the room is more of  a rectangle the kids complain they can't see if their tables are by the door. Sooooo my plan was to make the reading area over there and move my desk. However, I might not be able to do this if I can't find the right long cords for my computer so that I can still use the smartboard, TV (which runs through our computers), etc.

Here is a close-up of where I will hopefully *fingers crossed* be keeping my desk. All of the bags have school supplies in them, etc. It is a mess!

I have so many ideas for this space, but these tables are HUGE and when you put 30 kids in this room it is cramped. I didn't take a pic of it but I have 10 student computers and bulletin board on the back wall (near the windows) so they take up some space too.

Alright............that ends the classroom tour for now.

So this was my project last night and today. (Please ignore the mess in the background. My cat loves this box and I can't get rid of it. That is also her chair in the window which has amused me this summer watching her chirp at people (we have a walking path behind our house)). I found a similar pin on Pinterest and knew I HAD to have this on my teacher desk. The kids are going to love it! Do I really intend to use it? No, not really. I think I only took away 3 cell phones last year. I am pretty lenient with them and a lot of my kids have books on them so I'll let them read on their devices. I just tell them that if they are caught not reading they lose this privilege. I am working on fixing up the lines using my Xacto knife so that the bars are straight.

This is one of my favorite! My dad has taken to eating McDonald's Happy Meals for me again to help me collect some minions for behind my desk! They are so stinkin' cute! He ate like a bazillion Happy Meals for me when I was little for Beanie Babies so I asked for him to bring it back for minions. LOL!

That's it for me folks! Hopefully I didn't overload you on pictures.

I gotta get back to the hubs. We are celebrating our 4 year wedding anniversary today! YAY!

Classroom Decor

This has been my first summer that I have actually taken off and not picked up a summer job and I am loving it! I have had so much time to plan lessons, organize units, and, of course, get decorations ready for my new classroom!

Pinterest is a dream for teachers! It is so easy for me to spend a few hours looking at amazing lesson ideas, crafts to make, etc. Throughout the school year I created a pin board called "Summer Projects Home & Classroom" of ideas and inspiration for the new school year. Over the summer I have tried to get some of these projects done so that I can make my classroom more comfortable for my students.

Here are a few things that I have made over the summer so far for my classroom:

 

This is a really cute (and giant!) wreath I made to go on the wall in my classroom. I saw this pin on pinterest of this wreath from The Simply Scientific Classroom and had to make it! The curtains I bought for my classroom last year are green and white polka dot and I had also purchased blue and green crates from Target. I love the two colors together because they are not too feminine or too masculine for all of my students. The wreath was perfect because it had pops of pink and black in it. This picture is a little dark because it was taken at night, but I will show better pics once my classroom is all arranged.

 

I found a blog tutorial by Miss Kopy Kat on how to make this spiral deco-mesh wreath. It was too easy not to at least attempt it and I love how well it turned out!

 

 

To make this you will need:

• 16" wreath wire frame from the floral department $3.99
• 4 rolls of deco-mesh in your colors (mesh is 21" wide and 10" yards long) Note: Yes, you will use almost all of this on the wreath if you want it to look full!!!
• Black pipe cleaners (also called chenille now (really?!? when did that happen?)

This was even easier for me to make because my husband helped hold the spirals while I twisted them with the pipe cleaners (note: I put on a really good move to help pass the time and appease the spouse and lower the grumbling) and put them on the wire wreath.

 

 

 

 

Another item I made this summer was the Teacher's Toolbox!

 

I am in love with how it turned out! I first saw this post on Fun in Room 4B's blog and knew I had to make one! The drawers of my desk are always full of these random items still in their boxes but they take up so much space and they are not always readily available. This was such a fun craft to make! I did have to order the toolbox from Lowe's because my local home improvement stores were not carrying this item on the shelf. I spray painted it black (note: make sure you spray the whole box first with a primer so that the spray paint will stick!) and let it dry. I used Fun in Room 4B's template for the box and just customized some of the labels that I thought would be more useful for me.




One of the most time consuming tasks for me was making my hall passes and plaque for on the wall. I got the idea after seeing a pin on pinterest that connected to Miss Jenning's Hall Passes. I wanted something similar for my own classroom for when I simply don't have time to fill out an agenda for a student to go to the bathroom because I'm in the middle of teaching or for when they have to go to the office/nurse, etc. I wanted to make sure I did this in the same blue and green theme of my classroom with maybe a pink pass or some black here or there.

It took a lot of work...

and a few days to let the paint coats set before I could add another paint color. I bought everything at Michael's craft store. I bought the wood plaque sign and spray painted it black. I then used stencils to add my pink letters after it had dried, HOWEVER because the black paint had not been painted over it was still sticky and lifted up some of the black paint. I then had to go back in and hand paint the pink lettering and touch up the black plaque.

 I also added a few polka dots in green and blue. I learned the easiest trick ever for how to add polka dots from pinterest. Use the eraser side of a pencil! DUH!!! This made the perfect sized polka dots. Even my husband was asking how I got them so perfect.

I also made the READ letters to go on the wall in my classroom library. They are originally posted by Queen of the First Grade Jungle. I don't have a close-up of them yet but will add one once they are on my classroom wall. I love them!

The hall passes are a little bit of work but so cute! I used one hall pass like this last year. The wood signs are $0.79 each! Such a steal! By the end of the year last year one student had dropped the pass and part of it had broken off but I'm not going to complain when they are so cheap and accidents happen.

I always feel guilty making a student use one of their personal hall passes from their agenda (students at my school get 10 hall passes each 9 weeks) if they have to go to the office or to see the nurse. I like to have something that I can quickly grab and let them go. I also noticed that several kids wanted to go to the library last year towards the end of class. I HATED to make them use a personal pass because I am the Language Arts teacher and who am I to discourage a love for reading? That is when these passes come in handy.

I painted each of them with acrylic paint that was on sale at Michael's for $0.49 a bottle. It took about 3 coats to really get a good color and to make sure that you could not see the wood grain through the paint. I then used black acrylic paint to write on the passes. Obviously, from the picture above, you can tell that I did not use a stencil. I learned my lesson with the wood plaque and was weary of doing this again. Next year I might try to just buy a fine print paint sharpie to do this.

My name is on the back of the passes.

My intention is to paint a layer on all of these to seal the paint and to get rid of the sticky feel this week. I will then loop ribbon through the passes and my husband is going to put 6 knobs on the "Mrs. Finley" plaque to hang on my wall. I also bought a picture hanging kit at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $3.99 that holds up to 30 pounds to put on the back of the sign so that I can easily hang this in my room.

My masterpieces drying:

That has been the majority of the crafting for the month of June. I intend to do a few more projects before school starts.

A few more things I have bought for my classroom:

Our school has tiled classrooms. Last year one of the teachers that was retiring gave me some foam mats that link together for in my reading corner. The kids seemed to think it was okay, however I was annoyed at how dirty it always looked (I ask my students to take off shoes and just wear socks in this area) and how small it was. This year I wanted a carpet remnant. I ended up buying one that was unbound to go in my classroom for $83. Although this was a little expensive it is a 12 x 9 piece of carpet and I intend to use it for many years to come! I'll post some pictures later of it in my classroom.


I also bought this futon at a garage sale for $45! Such a steal!

This is going to go in my reading area at school! I am going to wash the cover and then put a fitted sheet over it. I may need to add something to the cushioning to make it a little more plush. I think the minions will love it!


I also would like to add some table lamps around the room. I am not a big fan of the fluorescent lighting. I really do think it gives me headaches during the school year and so I prefer to always leave one set of them off or even completely off (depending on what the students want). I think adding some lamps around the room will make the ambiance more cozy and, hopefully, lead to less headaches.