Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Bright Happiness

Paint.  Yard sales.  Dollar Tree.  Fabric.  Ribbon.  Border.  Contact paper.  Burlap.  My debit card.  Oh MY! 

It’s that time of year again.  Crazy busy, rush to enjoy the last moments of summer all while obsessing with getting your classroom ready for the new school year.  I absolutely love this time of year.  We get a fresh slate, a new opportunity to do things differently.  And I love the smell of school supplies.  Weird, I know.  Sorry, but not sorry.  It’s the teacher in me.
 
ANYWAY, on to the subject at hand.. I have been working feverishly on my classroom and classroom projects.  I took a HUGE leap this year.  I have moved away from primary colors.for a FOR.EV.ER. lover of RED, that’s a huge leap. 
I have gone BRIGHT.  Turquoise, hot pink, lime green, yellow, and burlap. With chevron and polka dots.    

 And I LOVE it! 

My entire classroom is getting a massive makeover.  Projects have ruled my summer.
As luck would have it, I found an awesome rocking chair at a yard sale for  a whopping $10.  Yep, $10.  Did I NEED a new chair?  Nah.  But, come on.$10?!  I had to bite. 

So, this project began.  I almost completely forgot to take a before picand if you look closely, you will see I had already started sanding.  I removed the cushions. (Sorry, I DID forget that before pic).  They were a horrid 70-early 80’s pastel paint fabric yuckiness.

 Gag me with a molded spoon. 




Sooooo…… after lots of sanding and TONS of sweating in this Texas heat. I painted it turquoise.  Then, recovered the cushions in a hot pink and white polka dot.  And there you have it.


Pure and simple.



 
Bright happiness.

Makes me smile.  BIG. 

Happy Tuesday! 
      ~Robin  
Tuesday, July 15, 2014

2013 Classroom Pics, Monster theme, and Peach Pie Goodness


It's that time of year again.  Time to re-organize and re-decorate to get your classroom ready for all the fresh faces that will be arriving in a few weeks.  Unfortunately, this years' room is not ready yet.  So, I thought I would do a flashback post.  After all, it's flashback Tuesday,  isn't it?  Wait, that's Friday.  Oh well.  We are flashing anyway!!

Before the big reveal, I must give you a little background knowledge.  It's the teacher in me.  Last year, in May, I had absolutely no plan or intention to go back to teaching.YET.  I was working part-time at our church as the secretary and homeschooling my boys.  I had been out of public school teaching for two years (I had a child with a medical issue). 
I was content.
 
Then my baby sister moves back to town and lands her first job at the local elementary.  That was a total game changer.  My child was doing great and dying to go back to public school and I had an opportunity to work at the same school as my sis.  I called to see if they had another opening and the rest is history.
 
Why did I tell you all that, you ask??  Well I had to sprint to get a classroom ready.  Although I was hired at the beginning of summer, I had a summer full of plans that did not include classroom decor.  Plus, I would be teaching Kindergarten for the first time in 10 years!! So, I’ve said all this to say.. I threw this room together with a lot less prep than usual.  There were lots of things I LOVEDand lots of things I didn’t.

Since we have just started this blogging bees-wax, I thought it would be good to share last years classroom pics.  I absolutely love looking at other teachers’ rooms and gleaning ideas from them.  So here we go. I hope you enjoy.    



View from the front door.  Can you tell I have a BRIGHT and BUSY personality??


 
This is right inside my door.  It is my main work area for morning classroom business.  This houses my emergency plans/forms, breakfast and lunch forms, nurses slips, lunch tags, etc.  Students drop any money or notes here as they enter the room. 



This board is also right inside my room.   It is the home to our class rules, how we get home, class jobs, and morning work routine.  The shelf with the polka dot fabric houses lunch kits and behavior folders.  The fabric only lasted through Meet the Teacher because it was in the way!  But it surely looked cute!  



We are blessed in my district with lots and lots of storage space.  Besides this area, I also had a walk-in closet to share with my neighbor teacher next door.  With the help of my sisters, we sewed the curtains to hide all the teachery chaos in the cabinets.  The mailbox area is also home to pencils, erasers, etc, etc.




The table in front of the word wall is a small, two-seater and it came in handy for those who had self-control issues.  You can also catch a peek at my block center to the right.


The rug area.  This is where the magic happens, people!  I





This is a combination of a teacher corner, my guided reading table, and student computer station.  I would like to say it doesn't usually stay this cluttered, but I would be struck down by lightning for sure.  Let's just say I'm an orginizational work in progress!  



This is my classroom library.  My monster tent is definitely adorable and yes, I know..... it looks like a ladybug.  Actually is WAS a ladybug until I labored to attach mullti-colored felt polka dots, furry strips, and even horns (look closely).  I was hoping beyond hope to transform it into a Monster tent, but everyone just loved the ladybug!  eeeekkk!  Oh, well, you can't win them all.  I guess.  







This is my display board for the hall.  It didn't make it too long because I am the last classroom next to the back doors, so the sun faded it pretty quickly.  




Well, I couldn't dare end this post without a little yummy goodness.  I am in love with McDonalds' strawberry cream pies.  But guess what?  They quit selling them.  Boo.  But guess what??  They started selling peach cream pies.  And I must say, YUMMO DELICIOUSNESS!!!  

                                         ~  Robin 


Sunday, July 13, 2014

Crazy Weeks Ahead!

I am typing this just after laying out clothes for 3 girls, all excited about one thing. Well, maybe two things! First, they are having sleep over #1 without the boys. The boys are staying at grandma's house (across the street). Why do girls love having their own space? The boys could care less about the girls being in their room and in fact, they like it. However, the girls want them GONE, OUT, AWAY! It is like they are carrying a virus that is highly contagious! Second, tomorrow is the start to VBS at our church. The cousins (Ashley's kiddos) are staying all week for the occasion. 

I am STOKED after a day of decorating and studying the lesson OVER and OVER! Why do I get nervous about VBS when I teach kids on a daily basis? Anyways, after we finished decorating, we had COFFEE! You should have guessed that one. My sisters and I have a love for coffee that is just WEIRD! Then, it happened! I talked my sister into letting my babysit all the kids while they ran to Wal-Mart. I had all 6 kids including little Levi. I am officially his first baby sitter. He loves me more than Robin already. Don't tell Robin I mentioned it because she is super jealous. 

This week we have a night to cook between all of us, camping out, movie under the stars, craft night at a local business, and next week we are going for real camping. Ahhhhhhhh........... I love summer. I am hosting mexican night at my place on Tuesday. I plan to teach the kids how to make chessecake chimichanga's. Shhhhhhhh..... It's my first time to make them too. They will never know. Here is the link to the recipe below.

http://www.justataste.com/2013/06/strawberry-cheesecake-dessert-chimichangas-recipe/

It looks so yummy! I think they will love it.  I will post pictures of our craziness and fun times soon. Please leave a comment if you have tried this recipe. Have a great week!


Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Say Goodbye to the Ugly Grey File Cabinets!!!!!

I have planned to cover my file cabinets with contact paper for over a year. However, I never could find any that I LOVE! Then, the chevron fad came in which I am obsessed with and BOOM! School Aids was selling rolls of chevron contact paper. Robin made a trip to Beaumont and was going to swing by the teacher store for a few things. Bhuahahahahahaha! I said a FEW things! I am a little happy since I just had a slice of fruit pizza. Yumm-o! So, she got more than a few things but, I love her because she got me a few of those things too. She picked up the black and white for me and a chevron anchor chart. Who would have thought it? :) I went to the school today to finish leveling my books! Another post to come on all the jazz! I was sick of looking up books, labeling, and organizing. The chevron contact paper was staring at me. It was just sitting there on the green table and it looked so sad. So, the makeover began!

Materials Needed:
- Scissors
-contact paper of your choice
- yard stick or measuring tape
- screw driver
- credit card or license (for smoothing the paper)

1st step:

Empty all of the drawers and take them out of the cabinet.



2nd Step:

This depends on your file cabinet! Mine had a black cover with two flat head screws on it. I unscrewed it and it popped out. Then, you can just slip the hardware out of its position. You need to remember how to put it back so that your drawers open properly. I did one at a time so that I could look at one to figure out how it went back together.

3rd Step:
Measure the drawer and add an extra half inch to tuck it on the sides. Measure the contact paper and cut it to fit.

4th Step:
Stand the drawer up so that it’s easier to hold onto. I started with the corner of the contact paper pulled just about an inch of it back and stuck it to the top of the drawer. Use the credit card, slide it back and forth as you pull the paper down and stick it to the drawer. I pulled a little at a time and went over it with the card pressing firmly. If you see any bubbles, just run the card over them until they are gone. When you get to the bottom, check for bubbles. Smooth out any that you see with the card. Then, tuck the sides.


5th Step:
Put the hardware back on the drawer and put your drawer back in the cabinet!

6th Step: Admire your creation and enjoy!

Now is the perfect time to organize the files you are putting back into it. :0


By: Mollie Clark