I was thinking today, as I watched The Sound of Music (if my heading didn't give that one away) that the reason I started blogging in the first place, was to get ideas for my classroom/life. I was blogging way before I was actually writing my own blog. I love seeing what others have created and tweaking it to meet my needs. I decided to do a little snapshot into my life and my favorite things. I hope you enjoy!
1. Fonts
I lovvvee me some fonts. To the point where I get dizzy when creating a document because I have to scroll through to find just the right one. How do you find fun fonts you say? Most of the fonts I use are made by bloggers like us!
-The one above, which I am soooo obsessed with right now, was made by Jenn Bates over at
http://finallyinfirst.blogspot.com/.
-My all time favorites, which I use daily are from Jennifer Jones over at
http://helloliteracy.blogspot.com/ . I use them so frequently that I bought her commercial use license. Oh and guess what...she does borders too!
-I have also recently become addicted to
http://www.letteringdelights.com/ . This is a super fun site that has graphics, fonts, clipart, etc. You never know what you will find!
2. Graphics
The days of Google images are numbered. There are so many talented people sharing their talents with us! I can't even begin to tell you how much fun I have scrolling through and picking the adorable graphics I want. They are also great inspiration for activities I can create. Buy a snowman graphic set, create a snowman literacy center!
-I love
http://www.scrappindoodles.com/index.php?main_page=index . So much so, I bought gift certificates from them as Christmas presents for my teacher friends @ work.
-My favorite right now is
http://www.etsy.com/shop/kpmdoodles. I love her stuff!
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Etsy.com also has some also stuff you can look through.
3. Bouncing Balls
This is the coolest noise management system I have very seen. One of the girls that works at our school found this on Pinterest and shared! The kids actually beg for me to put it up as they work...but it does cause me to say some pretty obscene things. I hope none of my kids go home and play school and repeat things I've said like: "don't make my balls bounce", "Friends, your are making the balls bounce", or my favorite...when the kids try to touch the SmartBoard "don't touch my balls." Enough said.
http://neave.com/bouncy-balls/
4. Sally Hansen Real Nail Polish Strips
Kind of obsessed with these right now. I love having my nails painted, but they always chip and smear and I can't do school work as they are drying. I found these on sale at Target after Christmas and am now obsessed! There is no dry time and you can do cool designs you wouldn't be able to do yourself...or at least I couldn't.
5. Baskets, Crates, Tubs, Containers
These types of things are going to be the downfall of my future financial situation. I can say no to clothes, jewelry, shoes, purses, but you put this stuff in front of me and I go weak in the knees. I don't need a reason to have it, I know I'll use it for something!
6. My All Time Favorite
This is my "Teacher Toolbox" which is the best thing I ever did. You can download the idea and labels
here. My Favorite line...
Femi: Hey Spurdog can I borrow your whiteout?
Me: Yea, definitely!
Femi: Where is it?
Me: In my teacher toolbox in the whiteout drawer...duh.
Femi: Only you.
I hope you can use some of these ideas! I will be doing a post soon on all the things in my classroom!
