Back from Being MIA: Classroom Under Construction - 1st Full Day in the Room

Well I've been MIA for a few weeks for a good reason...I was wrapping up my Master's in Educational Leadership including finishing my Internship Portfolio! I am proudly a Graduate!

So now that my Master's is completely finished, I finally had time to get into my classroom for more than 2 hours this summer...I logged 7 hours today (with distractions of catching up with other teachers) and now my classroom is officially under construction! I moved rooms this year (as pictures in previous posts have definitely showed lol), and have to get my room done by Wednesday because that's when the kiddos arrive! The time crunch is definitely there because Monday and Tuesday we have in-service meetings until 1 PM each day (However, I refuse to go in over the weekend - it is my LAST free weekend!) Here are the construction pictures as I like to call them!

 This is part of the area behind my desk...all the books and binders on the 2nd shelf will be moving (along with all the non-green binders) because I feel like they are just sticking out like a sore thumb!

 Another angle of behind my desk...I LOVE my tissue paper pom-poms!

This is the front - I have a cute idea to make my desk look "pretty" - can't wait to share it with you!

 I'm working on covering this BEAUTIFUL brown closet in my room (but my ADHD was in overdrive today while working so it didn't get finished lol).  It already looks better even with just one door done!  Wrapping paper is magical!

 This is what is done so far with the classroom library area...the basket labels are going to get changed out and I have to bring in the rest of the baskets that I spray painted still for the other levels.

This is my create-a-bulletin board to cover up this boring blank wall.  It's going to be my Word Wall. (Fabric and Borders do WONDERS!)

And this is the one bulletin board that I got completely finished today - others got fabric put on, but mainly today I worked on trying to unpack things and find space for them!

Definitely still a long way to go, but still not going in this weekend - instead I brought things home to do!  Can't wait to show you the finished room! How is your room coming along?

Well of COURSE there was another Classroom/Supply Shopping Trip - I'm a Teacher! ;-)

I think it is inevitable that teachers will continually post pictures and collages of pictures of all of their exciting finds for the next month and a half...and I LOVE IT!!! Who could not get excited of these kinds of things?!?! With that...my most recent excursion!

1st Stop: IKEA! I love this store because it's so cheap! And now they have a loyalty card, so you get certain discounts each month!

 I got 2 of the lime green body pillows for my reading corner, I got the black side table for my reading corner, I got 3 of the tall floor lamps in hopes to not use the florescent lights in my room!, I got the lamp base and pink lamp shade for my desk (might as well make it cozy since I'll be spending tons of time there!), and then I bought 12 of the lime green frames and 12 of the hot pink frames to hold my Desire to Inspire Brights Subway Art and Classroom Rules Posters by Hope King over at 2nd Grade Shenanigans!

Next Stops: Walmart, Target, Dollar Tree, and Five Below!

At Walmart I got 20 more clear pencil pouches for 47 cents each! (These ones will be to hold their tickets [see below] and their SPOTS [our PBIS incentive]), more laminating pouches (I'm sure they'll get used quickly!), and then this super cute, perfect sized pink create! It's the size of a desktop hanging file holder, but it was only $3! It's "technically" a locker crate, but as teachers we always use items for other things than their original intention. ;-)

At Target I got the gift wrap (See Below) and more of these pails from the Dollar Spot! (I already have tons of them that I use to hold markers, pens, tickets, etc.) These 2 are going to be used to hold the students' numbers by my job chart so I can remember who had a job already and who hasn't (since they'll be getting "paid" for their jobs I definitely want to be fair!).  I'm going to change out the ribbon on them to one of the zebra print ribbons that I have!

I did ended up exchanging my Dollar Tree erasers because my boyfriends' Dollar Tree had 8 packs instead of 6 packs AND these ones are way cuter! :-)

Then I went to Five Below and I got these chairs in black to match my room! (They didn't have the fun bright colors at my Five Below, only basic colors :-( ) I got 2 chairs for $5 each to put in my reading corner!

On the the next! - Lakeshore Learning! (A teacher store by me) - This store I bought a TON at so be prepared! lol

This store takes my money year round, but I feel it is the best teaching store in the area!!  First, everything I got was 20% off! The Planner in the picture was free (Not sure what exactly I'm going to do with it because I write my lesson plans on the computer, but who can pass up free?) I got a Common Core Reading Comprehension Practice Book for Grade 3 (I'll be going to back for the other grades since I have another 20% off coupon!).  I LOVE this book because it's differentiated into 3 different levels, and gives a correlation chart to guided reading levels!

Then I got 2 of the sentence strips storage boxes - 1 for the blank sentence strips and 1 for the ones that I can save for the next year.  Also these may be getting spray painted because the blue just doesn't go with all my other items (OCD, I know lol).  (I also got another border storage that rolls up because my other one is over stuffed :-X)

I got the super cute Welcome postcards that I am going to write to my kiddos with their Welcome Back gift on the first day of school.

I bought 4 packs of the tickets because I am going to implement parts of Teri's Classroom Management System over at A Cupcake for the Teacher! They're super cute, but I bought a ton because I don't feel like laminating all the little pieces...mainly I don't want to add that to the already tons of cutting that I will have lol.

Lastly, below I bought the yellow letters to go with the frog bulletin board set that I bought for one of my Back to School Bulletin Boards.

I bought the zebra letters to go with the lime green gift wrap (Target) and the pink, lime green, and zebra print double sided border to decorate my desk and my aide's desk with our names.

ANNNND I bought the boho birds, teal gift wrap (Target - hard to see the color in the picture), Teal Appeal Letters (I WISH all letters came prepunched!!), and green border for my Door Decor this year! (Of course the green border will be used for other borders as well since it's part of my theme - but I could only find this color that I wanted at Michael's, AND it was buy 2 get 1 free!)

PHEW That was 5 HOURS of shopping right there! I also finally got my lime green and hot pink pom-poms to go with my zebra print pom-poms from Hobby Lobby!  BUT with the exception of a few random things (art supplies, fabric, etc.), I am DONE shopping! (I have to be done otherwise I'll be more broke than I already am lol).  Off to upload my Decor that I finished creating to Office Max so it's printed in high quality versus my printer! <3

TOO EXCITED TO SLEEP SO....Some Class Room Theme Decorations I Purchased!

Tomorrow is the Chicago Blackhawks Stanley Cup Champions Victory Parade & Rally and I.CAN'T.WAIT. to join 2 Million or MORE of my closest friends to celebrate with my boys!! WHICH also means I am too excited to sleep even though I need to be up in less than 4 hours :-)

"WEEEEEE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS, AND WE'LL KEEP ON FIGHTING 'TIL THE END!!!"

This is the 2010 Parade when they won - I can only IMAGINE what tomorrow will be like!! (well technically today!!) 

This is RIGHT when they had the game winning goal and Crawford protected their goal like a BEAST!!

And a picture of them with THE Cup that they brought back home to the Chi!!!

And now on to the School Related portion of the post!...Since I can't sleep, I thought I would share some of the items I recently purchased for my classroom next year to go with my theme!

Here's a cute, little drawer set that I found at Target! It say it's for jewelry and make-up, but I'm going to use it on my desk to organize supplies!

Here's a clipboard (that also came with a bonus matching pad of paper!) that I found at Hobby Lobby!

 This is a cute picture frame that I found at Hobby Lobby for my desk!

 I plan on printing this to put in the frame above! (I was able to create it how I wanted on a website...I'll have to try and remember the website and post it for you all!)

 And another frame for my desk to put a picture in (also from Hobby Lobby!)

And one more frame from Hobby Lobby! (I love that store! They have great things for teachers to use, and they always have great sales and coupons!) 

Lastly, I found these super cute tissue paper pom-poms to hang from the ceiling in my classroom! (IF you didn't guess already, I found these at Hobby Lobby TOO! You get 3 of them for $4.99!)

I plan on going back and getting the hot pink and lime green ones to go with the rest of my theme! (The coupon I currently have you can only use one per a customer per a day :- ( )  BUT they'll be these ones

 I can't wait to start organizing everything next week and seeing what I still need to go buy for my new theme!! What theme are you doing in your classroom next year??

Classroom Decor Creation Attempt #1

Now that it is summer time, and I am determine to find some "me time" for things I wanted to do, I thought I would learn how to create my own items for my classroom similar to all the wonderful ideas on Teachers-Pay-Teachers and other blogs! So as I was playing around in Microsoft Word (although now I'm learning many people use PowerPoint), I have figured out how to create a few things!

Hope King over at Second Grade Shenanigans, she has wonderful decor she was posting which is how I got inspired to start on my own! I loved what she was making, but wanted it to match the zebra print theme that I have in my room and change things to make it my own obviously, and since I'm a resource teacher I often don't need as many things that come in the amazing theme and decor packages that you see on Teachers-Pay-Teachers. So I'm giving it a whirl!

I've also been using Ashley Hughes' super cute and amazing clipart over at TheSchoolSupplyAddict!  If I could afford her whole store I would buy it! The great thing is that her clipart is in png file form, so instead of trying to erase the background of an image in word, it's already background free and easy to use!

I've also been using Maree Trulove's rainbow zebra paper pack, Kevin and Amanda Fonts for Peas fonts, and By The Butterfly fonts for my classroom decor! Right now the decor is only for my personal use, until I learn all I need for commercial use and doing everything legally! :-)

Here is a Sneak Peak of the Supply Box Labels I created for my classroom decor! (not the best quality photo but my phone is acting up! :( - they're in multiple colors, but my theme is only going hot pink, lime green, and zebra print!) 

Of course since it's only attempt #1, and the beginning of summer, it may change as time goes on because I'm now starting to really like the "chalkboard" look instead of the solid black and the solid fonts...only time will tell this summer! :-) (especially since I purchased Schoolgirl Style's new book, Decorate Like A Pro the Schoolgirl Style Way!