Classroom Reveal!

I haven't posted in a while, but for good reason... I've been extremely busy getting ready for open house. You never really know how much work time and effort an elementary teacher puts into her room until you're the teacher! No one told me that decorating a classroom was so costly or that it took more than a month's work. Let me tell you, I'm past exhausted and I still have a few more things to add to my room like a carpet and rocking chair.  Feel free to copy anything you see... unless you're my co-worker.... then don't we don't need to be twins. (-;

So here's my classroom reveal!

I have a student work board outside of my classroom. I glued a push pin to a clothespin then glued an owl cut out onto it.

When you first walk on the hall one of the first things you see is my welcome flag. 

This is just a close up on my door.

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Quick Snaps:

Here you see a portion of my class library, my guided reading/teacher table, my student reading area, the bathroom door and storage closet.

Here you mostly just see student tables.  Also pictured is my math corner, miscellaneous board, student spot light, and calendar bulletin board.

This is my writing center, the buckets to the right are my center buckets, my word wall, student work board, and computers.

Left to right: my guided reading & take home book storage. Storage shelves covered with curtains. Underneath the curtains is where the students will hang their backpacks and jackets. My classroom library organized by book title. 

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I hung paper lanterns from the ceiling and turned the plain lanterns into birds using cardstock, sturdy construction paper, and a hot glue gun.

The rug was from wal-mart, but I bought it my first year of college. The owl chair is from the Dollar General... fairly inexpensive and really cute. Now for the razzle dazzle... my tree! I used butcher paper for the trunk and stuffed it with news paper. The top portion is tissue paper twisted and glued to a butcher paper foundation. 

I purchased the owl poster from oriental trading. Each week I'll highlight one student in my classroom so that we can learn more about them. I'm a kinder teacher, so I'm asking the parent to help the students fill out the information. I think it'll be a great way to make each student feel special.

Obviously this is my miscellaneous board. I have my rules posted which I purchased from teacherspayteachers. The blue pocket chart is actually for "I Can" statements that correlate with the Common Core State Standards that I will teach with each day. Daily objectives are pretty self explanatory. I will also keep up with my center rotation on this board. Each pocket has a number that correlates with a center on the owl belly. Lastly, when we do get a lunch menu I'll hang it in the space under menu.

I decided to put my shape owls in the space behind the sink in my class. I have a tutorial for these in a past post. The owl figurine you see is actually a piggy bank that I'll be using for collecting box tops.

I'll probably do another post in the future when everything is completely finished, but for now this is what I have. Hope you enjoyed this post. (:

OOTD: Just Chilling.

Who says you have to look busted when you're doing absolutely nothing all day? I still wore a decent outfit today even though I didn't really do anything or have plans. I really like the kimono trend right now. Extremely simple... perfect for a day of just chilling, shopping, or running errands. I think kimonos give you the look of putting forth effort without you having to put forth the effort. They can be paired with shorts, leggings, or jeans. Love this outfit.

kimono: It's Fashion Metro | cami: Old Navy | shorts: American Eagle 

OOTD: Casual & Bright

It's hard to determine what exactly can be considered "professional dress" for a kindergarten teacher. I think that a two piece suit isn't appropriate and many times slacks just aren't all that comfortable. I think this will be something that I battle with when school begins... I love dresses but they aren't really all that practical either. While I'm busy figuring that out, I've been testing out some possible outfits and here's one that I love. In my opinion it reads bright, cheery, fun, and approachable. Hope you enjoy this outfit as much as I do. 

Dress: Old Navy | Jacket: Old Navy | Jewelry: It's Fashion Metro

OOTD PSA: Dressing Modestly.

One of my pet peeves is when people (especially girls) don't dress appropriately at church. I don't attend a strict church, so people have a choice to wear anything they please whether it's jeans and a t-shirt, dresses, slacks, etc. I absolutely hate to see girls and women wear party clothes to church. What is the point of dressing provocatively at church? Wearing skirts that don't even come close to knee length yet alone reach mid-thigh and wearing tops with deep cuts. I want to make this a public service announcement.... wearing a cardigan or blazer with your short dress/skirt does not automatically make it church appropriate. As a matter of fact, if you can wear it to a party or the club, you probably shouldn't be wearing it to church period. It's not pleasing to me, but most importantly it does not please God. With that being said I realize many young girls may not have been taught how to dress modestly, therefore, I want to provide an example of how to dress appropriately for church.

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes. (1 Timothy 2:9)

Dress: JcPenney | Cardigan: Wal-mart | Necklace: It's Fashion Metro

Learning Shapes Will Be A Hoot!

It's safe to say that Pinterest is really inspiring the decor for my classroom. I had an hour of free time on Sunday and decided to knock out another Pinterest project. My classroom has wall to wall bulletin boards that I have to cover, so I decided to have a shape bulletin board where all the shapes are owls. 

No need for a tutuorial. I used a template, so it's basically download, print, cut, glue. Extremely simple. 

Helpful hint: My only tip for this is to fold your construction paper into fourths and eighths on repetitive items like the eyes and noses.

Owl shape template found HERE.

Crate Seat Tutorial

Hello all you educators & DIY mommies! I'm sure you're like me and you've seen these seats all over Pinterest. After seeing them, I knew I wanted to make crate seats for my first classroom. Coincidentally they happened to be my first DIY project for my class and they turned out pretty darn good.

Although these seemed like a great idea and are extremely cute, I had no clue these would quickly become a very pricey project. This is not a project I would suggest you do if you are on a budget. It costs about $26 for me to make each seat.

Now for the tutorial... which is why you're actually reading this post.

Materials:

• 6 Sterilite file crates ($50)

• 1 large sheet of wood ($22)

• 3 yards of fabric ($18)

• Spray adhesive ($6)

• Staple gun ($30)

• Scissors

• 1 Sharpie

• Hammer (optional)

• 6 ft of foam padding ($30)

*All prices listed are estimates... rounded figures of what I actually paid.

Step 1:

Have a home improvement store (Home Depot, Lowes, etc) cut a large sheet of wood to fit snugly into your crate's opening.

Step 2:

Roll out your foam padding. Trace the outline of each piece of wood individually with a Sharpie onto the padding. Then cut each piece of foam you traced.

Step 3:

Glue your foam cut outs to the wood cut outs using spray adhesive. Let this dry for 20 minutes to an hour.
I forgot to take a picture of this step, so I had to take a picture of the last seat I made which I had to piece together using left over foam... sorry. 

Step 4:

Cover each of your cushions with half yard of your fabric. I suggest wrapping it similar to a how you wrap a present. Secure the fabric with plenty of staples using your staple gun. If staples don't go through completely just use a hammer to bang them in good.

Step Five: 

Place your covered cushion in the opening of the crate. 

That's it! It's really that simple. Happy crafting. 

Chevron Fun

First, I think we should take a second to acknowledge that this is my first post on my “big girl” blog. Yay! Now moving right along… I've noticed that summer time has not aided in me being very fashionable nor productive. I've literally been bare faced and clothed in t-shirts and shorts since summer began. In typical Sunday fashion I went to church, but I didn't wear my usual boring attire… decided to spice it up and wore this beautiful chevron dress. Hope you guys enjoy this ootd.

Dress: Factory Connection | Jewlery: It's Fashion Metro

Nail Info: Sinful Colors Mint Apple & Sinful Colors All About You