Saturday, August 10, 2013

Getting Ready!

Hello All! It has been a super busy week at my house. I have spent multiple days at the local thrift store searching for books for my classroom library. (I found a few cute tops too, so that was a bonus!) I have also spent time in my classroom and school library preparing for the year. Recently, I helped reorganize our library so that it would be user friendly. After scouring Pinterest for ideas, I found a "Staff Favorites" area I liked for the library, but wasn't wild about the theme that was pictured. So...I got out my mom's Cricut and begin creating what I think turned out to be pretty darn cute.


I asked our teachers for help creating this, and they willingly complied by giving me lists of books. Enough that I can swap out displays throughout the year. I also created book recommendation bookmarks to keep in a few books throughout the library. Those can be found by looking in my posts for July.

Our school-wide theme this year is "Peace, Love, and Learning." Several teachers were making this slogan their own, and since I teach reading, I created a new display for my door.


The felt pieces were $1.97 each at Wal-Mart, and the letters were on clearance for $2.50. I also found some peace sign ribbon for $1.97. I hot glued the ribbon to the back of each felt design, and then hung the ribbon at different lengths. When I got it how I liked, I hot glued the end of the ribbon to the top of the door itself (not the frame) and then clipped the ribbon from the roll. Overall, it took about 30 minutes to add the letters, glue, and hang. Not too bad!

Does your school have a theme, or all you all allowed to choose classroom themes? What do you do to make your classroom warm and inviting?

Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Thursday, August 1, 2013

Chevron Labels

Most people do not understand the effort that goes into getting classroom ready for the school year. I don't know how many times this summer I heard, "Well, it must be nice to have the WHOLE summer off!" Ha! I don't know about you, but my summer was busy. I have been scouring the city trying to find copies of novels for literature circles (which I pay for out of my own pocket), creating different items to use in my classroom, taking care of my family, volunteering at church, etc. I have also spend several days in our school library, cleaning out clutter and organizing books in line with the Dewey Decimal System. So, no, I have not had the WHOLE summer off, thank you very much. Off my soapbox in 3...2...1....

While sifting through some of my classroom clutter, I discovered a lot of items that I haven't used in years. They were stuffed in a box that had no label. If you are like me, you are obsessed with office supplies, and that includes the packs of Avery labels in the paper section of Wal-Mart. I have tons of these things, but I never print any off because I can't make them as cute as I would like. After my kiddos went down for the night (fingers crossed), I got a little busy on my computer. While these aren't perfect, they do fit the 2"x4" labels from Avery, and they are a bright reminder for IEP files, binders, take-home folders, portfolios, etc. Since I downloaded the template from the Internet, these are free. I hope you can find a good use for them!

What have you been busy with this summer?