New Teacher Blog Tuesday & New Blog Design!

Yes, this is still my blog... Lacy's Letters!  If you didn't hear... I won a blog design makeover from Megan at I Teach. What's Your Superpower?  And here it is!!!  Isn't is B-E-A-U-T-I-F-U-L?  I love all the bright colors!  Be sure to check out Megan's blog and let her know how awesome she did on my new design!  I know I LOVE it!

OK, I wasn't really supposed to be posting today, but I couldn't help letting you all know about my new blog design!  Today I'm actually featured on Dana's New Teacher Blog Tuesday over at Fun in First Grade!  Go over to Dana's blog to find out more about me and another new blogger!  Also, be sure to follow Dana's blog to get some great ideas!

PS... did I say how much I love my new blog design?!

Monday Made It #3

I am once again linking up with Tara from 4th Grade Frolics for Monday Made It!

So after posting last week's Monday Made It projects, I was sure I wouldn't have anything else to create or copy, but sure enough.... I did!!  Here are the projects I have been working on for the last week!  I apologize in advance for the picture quality... I took most of the pictures in the evening.

#1 - Colored Clothespins

I had extra green paint left over from previous projects so I decided to paint the tops of these clothespins.  I have a whole wall of windows in my classroom, so I plan to use these clothespins to hang students' work on the window shades.

#2 - Name Sticks

I have always used name sticks in my classroom for various things.  I usually use them when playing games or doing activities on the Smartboard.  This year though, I spray painted the front and back of one end of the craft sticks.  This way, when I choose a stick and call on a student, I can put their stick back in the cup upside down to to keep track of who has had a turn.  I did something similar with my Brain Break sticks last week.

#3 - Birthday Bags

I actually already put together my student birthday bags awhile ago, but I just got my student list last week so I finally got to finish the tags for them with student names.  I blurred out the names on the tags in these pictures.

#4 - Transportation Chart

I found the idea of a Transportation Chart from a few blogs (like here and here).  I use to just write student names on a pre-made chart that I bought at a store, but I decided to give this a try since it looked cute!  I also think it gives students some responsibility because they can change their own clip in the morning if they are going home a different way that day!  I still have to laminate it when I go up to school today, then I'll glue it to the ribbon and put it up on a wall.

#5 - Student Gift Bags

OK, these are EVERYWHERE!  Of course I stole borrowed the idea!  I will be putting these on students' desks at Meet the Teacher Night.  I haven't made all the baggies yet but I printed out the tags and cut them all out!  That was a lot of work in itself!  The tags were a FREEBIE from First Grade Blue Skies!  My friend at Brigid's Daily Lesson Log also has a super cute FREEBIE for this idea!  As you can see, I didn't spend too much time on the baggie.  I figure the kids are just going to rip them open and throw out the tag anyway, so I chose not to use cutesy baggies or ribbon.  I know.... I can be a cheapy sometimes!


#6 Tissue Paper Pom Poms

I made these last minute and I'm so glad I did!!  These are also on a lot of blogs but I just never really wanted to take the time to make them.  I saw them at Fourth and Ten last week and she gave the link to the tutorial she used.  I used the tutorial and it was super easy!

Well, I guess that's it for today!  I'm off to go work my rear end off at school preparing for Meet the Teacher THIS Thursday!   Ahhhhh!  Be sure to click on the Monday Made It picture at the top of this post to link up and/or check out all of the other great projects!!

Wedding Signs & A Surprise!

Today I helped a friend work her booth at the St. Louis Wedding Show!  She makes personalized gift table signs, plaques for your home, wedding party glasses and more!!  It was so fun to be there!  I got married last year and it brought all of these feelings back!  I even ask my husband from time to time if we can have another wedding because we had such a blast at ours!  Of course, he laughs at me as he thinks I'm crazy!  But it was so fun to walk around and see all of the wedding booths.  There were a lot of photographers, caterers, and hotels.  And all of the girls there were so cute because they were newly engaged and so excited about looking around!

Well, of course I'm biased but I thought my friend's booth was the best, because hers was so unique and personalized.

There's my friend Melanie by her booth!  I got to help her pass out her flyers and talk to brides.  She even personalized some of her bride and groom glasses on the spot!  If you look close, you can see my wedding sign at the bottom.  When she was first starting her business last year, she made my hubby and I a sign for our wedding.  We didn't see it until the day of our wedding.... I LOVED it!  We put it on gift table to spruce it up a bit and it was perfect!  Now we have it hanging up in the entryway of our home!

This is our sign!  Here it is on our gift table at our wedding!  Perfect, right?!

Well, I didn't mean for this post to be an advertisement but I wanted to share how much I enjoyed helping out my friend Melanie today.  And I'm super excited for her starting a small business!  She's a full-time teacher too!  She's a busy gal!  If you have time, check out her website at www.mmbymel.com, you'll love all of her ideas!!  Here's some more photos of her designs.

And now for my surprise....... Did you know that Megan at I Teach. What's Your Superpower was having a blog design giveaway??  Well she was and I entered.  As I working with my friend at the Wedding Show, I stopped to check my email.  And guess what???  I had an email from Megan telling me that I WON!!!!!  YAY!!  So I will be working with Megan and she will be sprucing up my blog BIG TIME, because it definitely needs it!  Be sure to check back to see the final product!  Thanks Megan!!  Btw, if you are not following Megan's blog... you are missing out!!!

I'm On A Boat

But not really.  I am NOT on a boat because it is raining.  Boo.  We had plans to go boating today as it is my last free weekend as a regular human being... before the school year takes over my life!  My husband has already told me more than once that he enjoys his Summer Wife better than his School Year Wife.... hmm.  But now it is raining.  No boating for us today.  I guess I'll just have to work on school stuff because as of yesterday, I am officially stressed out.  I realized that Meet the Teacher is next THURSDAY!  We don't even officially go back until Wednesday, but of course we've all been in our classrooms working!

When I thought I would be boating today, I was planning on leaving a few fun things for you all to read.  So I'll go ahead and leave them as planned.  And then I'll go work.

First of all, this is my new boating cup!  LOVE!  I was supposed to be having a margarita or a few right now on the boat in the sun.  Boo.  This one won't be coming to school with me, good thing I have three others to choose from to use for the school year!  If you don't have a cool Tervis Tumbler for your drink of choice at school (water for me), you need to go out and get one!

Whenever I see this saying, I think "Aw, that's cute!  Maybe I should hang it up in my classroom."  But who am I kidding!  Of course I love the saying, but I have a Type A personality.  My students DO make memories in my classroom, BUT I cannot handle a mess in my room.  Please tell me there are other teachers out there who have this same thought/feeling.  Anyone?!

Oh how I LOVE this one!!  I found this somewhere and now I don't remember where (oops).  I had to steal it.  I totally write things on my to-do list just so I can immediately cross them off.  It makes me feel productive.  I know there's got to be other teachers out there that do this as well!!

So now I'm off to tackle my to-do list instead of be out on the boat!  Enjoy your weekend!!!

Classroom Photos & A Question For You

Today I got to work in my classroom some more.  I was only there for about three hours then I had to leave for a doctor's appointment.  My original goal was to print and print some more!  I have found such great ideas and freebies this summer that I've downloaded to my computer, but I don't want to waste all MY printer ink so I was going to print out a bunch of stuff at school.  Well, my computer had a different idea.  For some reason, NOTHING wanted to print.  You see, a few weeks ago, our whole district got new laptops (yay) but I haven't printed anything on the school printers yet with my new computer.  They say it might have to do with the IP address..... whatever.  So instead, I decided to just do a few things around my classroom.  Here are some pictures to show you my progress.

This is a new cart I had ordered for this year!   I labeled the drawers and will be keeping each day's materials (papers, books, etc) in here.  It stands right next to a table at the front of the classroom, which will hold my Lesson Plan Binder.

I put up the "Writer's Workshop" letters.  Since the printer wasn't working for me, I didn't get to put up my writing posters!

I put up the "Star Student" letters.  I plan to use the photo board for the Star Student's pictures, and I still need to put up the student poster!

This is the shelving that I have behind my teacher desk table.  I still have organizing to do here!

This year I decided to keep all my teacher necessities (glue, staples, tape, paper clips, etc) in the clear tubs.  I think that's the hardest thing about not having a desk!

So... I have puzzles for indoor recess and as you can see here... they have been beat up throughout the years.  I've seen teachers store puzzles in plastic baggies and that's what I've decided to do this year.

I cut out the cover/picture of the puzzle for students to refer to as they put the puzzle together.  It's all in a Ziploc baggie!

I'll be storing them in a basket next to the indoor recess games!

My last job of the day.... I decided to organize my "craft" cabinet.  As you can see, it was pretty messy from me throwing random stuff in there all year long.  As you can see below, I'm not done yet but it looks A LOT better already!  I didn't need the blue baskets for books anymore so I used them to store craft stuff.

One of the blue baskets had some velcro on it so I used a box cutter to get it loose enough to rip off.  Of course the whole time I was telling myself "be careful or you're gonna cut yourself!"  Well........ I did it.  My hand slipped and I sliced my finger.  HARD.  Below is the bad boy that did it.

I instantly squeezed my finger with my other hand to stop any bleeding and hide the slice from my eyes.  You see, I'm really not good with being sick or injured.  I have passed out before.  Three times.  From doctor/hospital visits and the sight of blood.  Once I peeked at my finger and saw blood, I went to go wash it out (without looking at it) and got a bandaid on that sucker.  So now the box cutter is my ENEMY.


And Blogger hates me now because I CANNOT figure out why my font is now caption-sized when I'm not writing a caption.  Ugghhh.


OK, new topic, other than blood and sliced fingers!!  So I have read about the Cricut and Cameo on several blogs.  Everyone seems to love their devices.  I've mentioned it to my husband and he surprisingly didn't turn down my idea of possibly getting one.  He has already been on Craiglist (his favorite) to look for a cheaper one.  My question is.... which one is better??  What are you using and why do you like it??  Help me make a decision!!