Ninja Mode & Boat Makeover

Just so you know ahead of time.... this post is not teacher related.  But you know what?  Teachers have lives too!  However minimal they are.  When I started this blog, my intention was to share things about my life as well as teaching ideas so I am taking a step away from all the "teacher stuff" today to share some random life happenings.

First of all, I'm home alone tonight!!  My husband is in Sales so he drives a lot.  Sometimes he has to go out of town for the day AND night!!  Today is one of those days :(.  He left this morning and won't be back until tomorrow evening!!  I do get sad when he has to leave, especially for a night.  But really, I will probably get a lot done around the house today!  And I'll probably do a bunch of school stuff, duh!  Anyway, I found these on Pinterest awhile ago and they cracked me up!!  I think it fits my situation for tonight!

No, I will not be answering the door bell if it rings, and yes I will be checking all of my locks several times throughout the evening, especially if I hear a noise.

I also want to share our boat makeover!  My husband was raised in St. Louis, where we currently live and he is a pretty big St. Louis Cardinals fan!  After two years of being together, he finally took me to my first Cardinals game in May! We have been a couple times since then.  Once was when the Cardinals were playing the Kansas City Royals, which is where I lived for almost ten years.  So... I felt more obligation to the Royals then to the Cardinals and felt like being a little bit of a rebel.  I wore Royals gear... to the Cardinals game!  That was a big NO-NO according to my husband.  But guess what.... the Royals just happened to win that game!!  I'm not joking when I say my husband wouldn't talk to me after the game.

Anyway, since my husband loves the Cardinals, he decided to show it on our boat.  He had the boat "wrapped" by Vinyl Images.  A boat's a boat to me!  But my husband loves it, and what makes him happy, makes me happy!  We took it out last weekend for the first time since it got it's makeover.  We got a lot of compliments!

I even got to wakeboard, which makes me happy!  I learned how to wakeboard last summer and love it!  Soon, school will be starting and we won't have the time to go out, so we need to enjoy it while we can!  What do you think of the boat?

Monday Made It!

Hooray - my second Monday Made It!  If you remember my first Monday Made It post, then you remember that I am not such a crafty person, but I love to get inspiration from others and attempt things on my own! Here are the things I have been working on this week!

Brain Breaks

 I have seen Brain Breaks on several blogs and heard about them through professional development.  I decided to give them a try this year!!  I painted one end of each stick (on both sides) so that once we do a Brain Break activity, I can place it back in the cup upside down.... see the first picture.... that way we aren't doing the same activity all the time.

Crayon Wreath

I got this idea here.  It was so simple to do, you just need a little patience gluing on all of the crayons!  I made two of them, one for myself and one as a gift to someone!

READ

I've seen a lot "READ" signs out there. I bought the letters at Michaels and just painted the faces green to match my classroom.  I'm not sure yet where I'm going to put them.



First Day Picture Frame

This idea has been on Pinterest, as well as other blogs.  I've seen some on The Hands-On Teacher and Fun in 1st Grade.  I really didn't want to buy a picture frame for it, so instead I cut out a frame from foam board and spray painted it!

Furniture

Before/during

After

Before

After

I've had this furniture for.ev.er.  The stool was just sitting in our guest room.  I got the table for free.... on the side of the road.... in college years ago.  It's been sitting in our garage.  So I decided to paint them to use in my classroom.  I don't know if my hubby wanted to be manly and help me out or if he just thought I was incapable of painting, but he INSISTED on painting them for me... thanks hubby!!  I told him I had to have them done by Monday morning for Monday Made It and he just laughed at my blog talk!!

So there you have it!  I don't know if there's any craft left in me, especially with school approaching but we'll see!  I always get inspiration when I look at what everyone else is doing!  Be sure to check out all the projects at 4th Grade Frolics by clicking on the picture at the top of this post!!

Books, Books, Books

My phone stopped working last night, so the hubby and I had to take it up to Sprint today.  Of course I was dreading having to wait in line, then wait for them to check it out.  The good news is that they were able to replace the screen and give it back to me until they order me a new one since some of the buttons still aren't working.

Since we were out, I begged asked my husband to take me to Once Upon A Child to check out their used children's books.  Since I'm moving to second grade this year, I needed to add to my chapter book collection.  A friend at my school who is also moving up to second grade with me told me she found a  bunch of books at this store for 50 cents!!!  I didn't get that lucky.... most of the ones I saw were $1.25. But that's a lot better than $6 new at the book store!!  So I went a little crazy and purchased several books.  I was so excited to see several in a series so I got most of them.  I can't wait to get them in my classroom and organize them!!

Something else I want to share is the great deal I got on Composition books.  I got these from Walmart a few weeks ago for 50 cents each.  I grabbed like 22 of them!!  I'm not completely sure how I want to use them this year, but I am thinking maybe as a Reader's Response Notebook!?

That's all I got today!  I am finishing up my projects for Monday Made It tomorrow!!  I'm so excited for the things I'll be sharing!!  Check back tomorrow!!

You Know You're a Teacher When....

So I don't have anything TOO exciting to post today.  I did get to work in my classroom again today.  And I did remember to bring my camera to take pictures.... but of course even though you spend hours in your room it looks like you got barely anything done, so I'll skip on the pictures.  I am happy with what I got accomplished today though AND I brought a ton of laminated stuff home to cut out!  Fun fun!  Also... my hubby is helping me with some of my Monday Made It projects!!  Love him!

Anyway.... back to the post title.  You may have seen this floating around Pinterest or elsewhere, BUT I have to share it!!  I literally laughed out loud to more than half of them!!  Enjoy!

Jeff Foxworthy's "How do you know you're a teacher?"

1. You get a secret thrill out of laminating things.
2. You can hear 25 voices behind you and know exactly which one belongs to the child out of line.
3. You walk into a store and hear the words, “It’s Ms./Mr. ____________ and know you have been spotted.
4. You have 25 people who  accidentally call you Mom/Dad at one time or another.
5. You can eat a multi-course meal in under 25 minutes.
6. You’ve trained yourself to go to the bathroom at two distinct times of the day, lunch and planning period.
7. You start saving other people’s trash, because most likely, you can use that toilet paper tube or plastic butter tub for something in the classroom.
8. You believe the Teacher’s Lounge should be equipped with a margarita machine.
9. You want to slap the next person who says, “Must be nice to work 7 to 3 and have summers off”.
10. You believe chocolate is a food group.
11. You can tell if it’s a full moon without ever looking outside.
12. You believe that unspeakable evils will befall you if anyone says, “Boy, the kids are sure mellow today.”
13. You feel the urge to talk to strange children and correct their behavior when you are out in public.
14. You believe in aerial spraying of Ritalin.
15. You think caffeine should be available in intravenous form.
16. You spend more money on school stuff than you do on your own children.
17. You can’t pass the school supply aisle without getting at least 5 items!
18. You ask your friends to use their words and explain if the left hand turn he made was a “good choice” or “bad choice.”
19. You find true beauty in a can full of perfectly sharpened pencils.
20. You are secretly addicted to hand sanitizer.
21. You understand, instantaneously, why a child behaves in a certain way after meeting his/her parents.

(I found this list here.)

*I know my hubby doesn't like it when I use #18's language with him!!

Award & Classroom Photos

Thanks to Abby at Mrs. Saunders' Lovelies, I received ANOTHER award... the One Lovely Blog Award!  Thank you Abby!

I'm going to try to live up to my award and spruce up my blog!  There's so many adorable blogs out there.  I don't know yet if I want to cave in and buy a blog design, so we'll just have to see!  I so much appreciate my blog being recognized anyway!! :)
OK, the rules:
1. Follow the person who gave you the award2. Link back to the person that gave you the award3. Pass the award on to 5 new bloggers
Passing on awards gets harder and harder.... of course, there's a bazillion wonderful blogs out there, but they're so wonderful that the've already received the award!!  I'm going to try my best to give this award to blogs who haven't received it yet, here we go.....



Buzz Buzz Buzz

First Grade Fascination




Just Wild About Teaching

Mrs. Wheeler's First Grade

That's So Second Grade

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I love seeing bloggers post pictures of their classroom and couldn't wait to finally get in my room and start organizing.  So today I FINALLY went up to school and worked on my classroom.  I was there for three hours and it felt like 20 minutes.  Where does the time go!?  I could have easily spent another three hours there!  My goal for today was to get some bulletin boards done in my room and start organizing my book baskets and reading area.  I didn't get to the reading area or book baskets.  But I did finish my bulletin board backgrounds, except for one in my room and one in the hallway.

Of course after repeatedly telling myself not to forget my camera when I left for school, what do I do?.....forget my camera!!  So I took some pictures of my classroom with my phone.  The lights were off and the shades were shut so the pictures didn't come out amazing, but oh well!

In the pictures, you'll see that I don't really a have a theme like some teachers, but I have a color scheme... and it's blue and green.  I really like how it's coming together!  Don't mind the disaster of a mess in my room.  Since I'm switching grades, I have first grade materials/boxes AND second grade materials/boxes just hanging out all over the place!

I was standing in the doorway to my classroom when I took this picture.  So to the right is the "front" of my classroom.

Here's two bulletin boards I made today.  Notice the new border?  I got it at Michaels and wrote about it in one of my posts.  I think the bulletin board on the right will be for Writer's Workshop, and I'm not sure yet about the left one. 

This is basically the center of my room where my student tables will be.  Everything's a mess from when they moved everything to clean my room.  I do have a full wall of windows which is nice though!

This is the "back" of my room.  My reading area will be on the right.  My teacher desk/reading table is on the left.

This will be my Reader's Workshop bulletin board.

This is actually a white board that I covered so I can use it for our Math/calendar bulletin board.

There's my table and all my stuff and more stacked up on shelves.

Here's a better picture of the "front" of my room.  I still have to fix the small bulletin board on the left side.  By the way, I HATE the hexagon student tables.  Since I was an added section last year, I got stuck with them!

So there you have it.... my room so far!  I can't wait to get back in there and do some real decorating and organizing!  And I always get inspired by seeing other classrooms!  I'll keep you all posted on how mine's coming along!

Awards & Giveaway

I got MORE awards!!!!  My little blog?!

I received the Liebster Award from Vicky at The Madness that is Kindergarten AND Kelly at Kelly Teach!!  Thanks Vicky and Kelly!!  If you haven't checked out their blogs, definitely go check them out!!

The Madness that is Kindergarten

I ALSO received the Liebster Award AND Versatile Blogger Award from Michaela at O"fish"ally Learning with Mrs. May!!  Thanks Michaela!!  Go show her some blog some love too!!

OK, so I have a secret.... I have already received these awards (you can read about it here and here) and being new to the blogging world, I'm not quite sure what the etiquette is!  I know it's hard to find bloggers who haven't already received these awards so I will GLADLY accept them!!  I'm just not going to bestow them on others again because it took me a REALLY long time to do it the first time.... is that OK!?!  Can I still blog!?  Maybe if I smile :) and be real nice!?
How about I give another seven random facts?  THAT I can do!  Because I secretly wanted to link up with Amy Lemons Tell Me More linky anyway!
1. Mosquitos LOVE me... even if I have 16 layers of bug repellant on!  I'm that sweet! :)2. My hubby and I met in college but lost touch.... then reconnected seven years later via Facebook!3. Both times I was hired at the two districts I've worked at, I was hired one week before school started! Talk about rushing to get ready for the beginning of the school year!!4. My mother walked me down the aisle at my wedding!!5. I weighed 10 lbs 3 oz when I was born.... chunk-y baby!6. I HATE coffee but LOVE Pepsi!!7. I'm OCD about folding laundry and our towels.  They HAVE to all be folded the same way!
Thanks again to Vicky, Kelly, and Michaela!  Be sure to check out their wonderful blogs!


AND.... my friend Brigid from Brigid's Daily Lesson Log is having her first GIVEWAY and it's HUGE!  Go check it out!!

My First Monday Made It!!

Hooray!  I'm so excited to link up with Tara at 4th Grade Frolics for my first Monday Made It!

OK, you need to know that I am not a really crafty person.  I JUST bought my first hot glue gun a few weeks ago... which I'm sure is a teacher sin!  AND most of my stuff is still up at school and I haven't been by there.  So I've been trying to make some things with what I have at the house!

I saw this adorable pin on Pinterest and had to repin it!  I thought it would be super cute for a child's birthday!  But since the hubby and I don't have kids yet, I decided to take the idea and spin it a little to work for my classroom.

Source

Well, remember this sneak peek (from this post) about what I was making for Monday Made It?

Here's what I made!

It's a 2L sign for my classroom.  My school names classes by their grade level and last name initial.  I will be teaching 2nd grade next year and my last name is Lacy so my class will be 2L.  I used a TON of pom-poms and a foam board from the dollar store.  I hot glued all the pom-poms on the cut-outs.

I also posted about these seat covers in this post.  They inspired me to make something like it to recognize my Star Student.

Source

Here's what I made!

I will put this on the seat of our Star Student!  I used more foam board from the dollar tree, cut out the star, spray painted it and glued a hair band on the back!  I'm also planning on making an extra one with ribbon glued on the back to see which one I like better!



I also made this!

I found this classroom sign from The Hands-On Teacher.  She even has a freebie to print off!  I just used the saying and typed it up myself!



OK, one more thing!

The hubby and I got married last September and had a WONDERFUL photographer, but we didn't want to pay a boat-load for a wedding album.  So I made one on Shutterfly!  I waited to order it until there was a good deal - free shipping and 30% off!  Have I expressed how much I LOVE Shutterfly!  And no, they don't pay me to say that!!


Remember to click the picture at the top to check out all the wonderful projects everyone's been working on!!