Windowwwww Treatmentssss! (you have to say this in the voice from Despicable Me 2 when she goes "liiippstticcck tassseeerrr"

Ok, so I know I told you I'd blog about my apartment....but I haven't taken a ton of pictures yet...so stand by!  I will however, show you a little Pintrest gone right DIY I did last week. Ok, so at my apartment I have three windows I needed to decide what to do with...curtains, valances, THE CHOICES WERE ENDLESS!  And like I said before, my decision making skills decorating a home are not as sharp as decorating a classroom.

The one that really sent me over the edge was this bad ride pictured below.  Its a french door but only one of the frenches opens...I was stumped.  Even after looking at Pinterest for 4.6 hours.

Then...I found this post while clicking around. And I knew, I had found the answer.  Now off to Hobby Lobby! I literally only bought...

• batting 
• fabric
• duct tape
• foam poster board

After a not very long time of cutting, taping, wrapping, and stapling, I had my Pelmet (as I'm writing this, I just realized I've been calling them Peplum boxes all week...hehe) boxes for my three window areas!  I was not able to hang them with Command Strips as she does in her post, and was talked out of hot gluing them to my wall...so I ended up pulling up some of the fabric from the top, nailing them in, and then tucking the fabric back around. 

I'm kind of obsessed!  Now don't get me wrong, if you look REALLLLLY closely, you can totally tell they aren't custom made window treatments, but a. I don't have that many people come over and b. those who do read this blog and know they aren't custom made anyway.  Also, the french door treatment is still a work in progress, because sometimes when I go out on my patio it decides it would like to join and falls down.....I have my glue gun on standby :)

Classroom Tour...Better Late than Never!

Hi friends!  My enthusiasm for blogging and creating came to a screeching halt on August 27th.  Wowzaaaa this is going to be a year to remember....full of crazy common core days, awesome adventures, and college, college, college. But guess what!  After this year I (fingers crossed) have tenure!  (insert choir of angels singing....HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH HALLELUJAH) So I may be sparse this year, but know I'm still kicking it in a windowless classroom!


Enjoy the tour!

WELCOME, WELCOME, WELCOME

Our schedule is cray cray this year, so I made magnetic circles that are super easy to change daily...my kiddos will say on the regular, "how many circles do we have left?" 

My math/everyday board. This includes lunch choices, date, addition strategy posters, and our problem solving apple tree. I put my math manipulatives here for easy accessibility this year...the blue, pink and green bins are where I put the three math rotation activities each day. Also, I love my new fabric for my stools!

My social studies board was pretty blank when I started school, but it is up and running now!  I hot glued ribbon to each of my letters on my alphabet so I can clothes pin my weekly words as they are taught.

The card system worked really well for me last year, so I stuck with it this year...so far so good!

This is my fav!  My reading nook has my reading board, read to self and read to someone bins, and my custom built bookcase!  I hang the theme, pictures of the story covers, CC standards and high frequency words each week.

Writing corner time....I try to utatlize every nook and cranny in this tiny box of a classroom.

This dry erase board has become my BFF. For real. It is fabulous.  I use it for every lesson.  The kids love writing on it and it is so easy to quickly model something...plus when the Smart Board gets mad at me and we need a break from each other, I won't have to waste hundreds of sheets of chart paper!

"In my own little corner, in my own little chair, I can be whoever I want to be..."  I was Cinderella in our school musical...don't judge. I do love me some teacher desk cubby hole time.  The placement of the filing cabinet really makes me feel like I have my own space, and my kids know that is my space. 

Can you say holy desk skirt??? My mom is AMAZING.  She made this little ditty and velcroed that baby up. Ugly desk turned cute.  Magic. 

Curtains for fake windows?  Why, yes I think I will. 

With our crazy schedule and the rigor of common core, we barley have time for a routine calendar time during the day.  I try very hard to do this daily, but there is only so much I can do :( My weekly calendar helper will change things, even if we don't have time to do this as a whole group. 

Itty bitty lap top desk!  Squeezed between a wall and a sink...so what?  Its space and I used it!

Probably 76% of my day is spent sitting at this small group table, so pillow to match my desk skirt was a must. A mini dry erase board is a necessity too for SPED, ESOL or anyone working with a small group. 

Math games organized by unit and lesson...plus extra math manipulatives. 

Another amazing mom creation!  I needed a space where I could store not so cute, not so organized or not so tidy things....so pretend its oz and don't step behind the curtain. 

Cubbies, a little touch of home decor, and my favorite bees!

Table caddies filled with scissors, glue, pencils, crayons, 100's charts and number lines. I put washi tape on all of the caddy materials so I know what is mine.  Each table will get a table tally if all materials are in place at the end of the day. 

We have been in school for almost a month and I am O-FISH-ALLY exhausted....but I'm gonna keep on swimming :) 

We Painted, We Sewed, We Built.

I had a funny moment today where I laughed at myself out loud...for thinking classroom set up got easier your third year.  HA. HA. HA.  I'm sure it would be easier if I didn't want to redo everything, every year.  Needless to say, I'm tired and a little stressed.

An empty classroom is inspiring and exciting.  A set up and finished classroom is amazing.  A classroom in the process of being set up with things EVERYWHERE and you working for 8 hours and feeling like nothing was accomplished....that's stressful.  But this is my kind of stress.  I live for it.


This is how my mind and life work....

I didn't want my teacher toolbox to be blue anymore....so I painted it pink.

I didn't want my curtains for my fake window to be fake anymore...so my mom sewed me real ones.

I was not even a little bit happy with the book shelf situation in my classroom....so my Daddy custom built me one this weekend.

I needed a table for the two laptops in my room....we found an old one in the shed and the sister repainted it.

I needed smaller stools to fit the above said table, but they don't make small stools for above said table....so we bought regular ones and Dad cut the legs off. 

Moral of this post written out of pure exhaustion...my family is exhausted, they wish I weren't so type A, and I am extremely blessed to have them.  Another moral is that my room is not done quite yet, but I will post pics as soon as I am happy with it!

Monday Made It!

This is my first Monday Made It! and I am so excited to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics.  I was at an amazing baby shower yesterday and Shafer was telling me all about the awesomeness of linky parties...so after another text to encourage (Thanks Shaf) I tried it!

On Friday, we headed to the beach.  And to get to the beach, you have to pass a town that has a HOBBY LOBBY. Which, of course means, we had to stop...or my parade would have been rained on (remember, I make a lot of Broadway references).

Any hoo, I had already had a very large cup of coffee...which makes for fun times (caffeine mixed with my already caffeinated personality). I was a girl on a bouncing off the walls, going down every aisle, touching absolutely everything mission. 

so SOY glad you love and put up with me mom and J!

After a while (a very long time) we made it to the beach and had an amazing time!  A sun burn and a last Monday spent at summer school later, It's Monday Made It! time!!!! Last year, I was doing my Pinterest thing and I came across a picture of this awesome dry erase board calendar made with gray chevron and yellow embellishments.  I was obsessed, but it was mid school year and I took a mental and Iphone picture and moved on.  This was before I actually began pinning. HUGE PROBLEM!  This summer I wanted to make it and I can't find the link or pin anywhere! So I had to make the whole thing using the original pic.

I got everything I needed from Hobby Lobby. P.S. This would have been a lot cheaper if I used and distressed an old frame I already had, which I'll do in the future! I got fabric to cover the back, a frame, letters, and thick and thin ribbon.

The first thing I did was take the frame apart and assemble everything to the backing of the frame. Measure the fabric and cut it out...dog help not required.

Then I honestly just began laying things out, eyeballing with my OCD I know when things aren't even eye. If you don't own one of those, I'd just grab a ruler.

I added burlap embellishments, because along with chevron I'm obsessed with the burlap look.

The letters I got were made out of cork and had their own adhesive backing, which made placement so much easier.

Word to the Wise: BEFORE you start gluing, make sure to put your design inside the actual frame to ensure the frame won't cover something you already glued down.

 Then, you just start gluing!  I left everything down, so I wouldn't mess up my layout.  I just picked up a small edge of each ribbon and did a dab of hot glue.  Once I had the front glued on, I pulled it tight around the backing and hot glued the excess fabric down, so that it is permanently on the backing of the frame.  My thinking is that if something ever falls down or needs to be replaced this will make taking it in and out of the frame so much easier.

Once it was all glued down, I put the frame together with glass in front.  And voila!  I have my behind the desk dry erase calendar.