I kind of have a love affair with laminating things. I might even hum my own parody version of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles theme song while I do it… It may or may not sound like, “Super Duper Hot Laminator… LAMINATION POWER!”
So it should be no surprise that I found immense joy in heading here last night:
*angels sing* I picked up the last of the bulletin board trim I needed, and then I laminated it. All of it. Several pieces of trim across, it still ended up being 55 (FIFTY-FIVE!!!!!) linear feet long. Thank goodness for $0.29/foot laminating!
Let the record show that after “rough” cutting all of it last night and cutting out all of the green trim you see there… I’ve learned my lesson. I’m never ever ever buying scalloped trim again. It’s awful. Not even mindless television could take my mind off of how awful it was to try and cut.
But before we came home and I tackled that behemoth, Mr. Plum, little guy and I took an impromptu “adventure” to our nation’s capital. After the teacher store. At 10pm.
It was so so so so so worth it.
I feel so privileged to live so close to our capital that, on a whim, my family and I (or my students and I), can see sights like this. That we can experience history and feel the magnitude of our collective journey as a country right there in the flesh.
Let me tell you, there’s nothing like seeing a child experience the awe of seeing President Lincoln, larger-than-life, for the first time. Or a child asking you with wonder, “who is that man coming out of that rock?” It was well worth keeping little dude up WAY past his bedtime:
I hope all of you have the opportunity to travel — more than once — to Washington, D.C. When you do, please please please make a trip to the memorials at night; it is so vastly different than the daytime experience and it is moving beyond belief. As a native to the area, even I still get teary-eyed walking up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial at night, the Washington Monument and Capitol at my back.
I’ll be back tomorrow with a peek at some projects I’m working on, I’ll finally post that freebie, and I’ll finally (apologies to those of you that kindly thought of me!) round up the amazing awards I’ve been given over the past two weeks.
Hold. The. Phone.
And shut the front door. The windows, too. Maybe even the garage.
Did I really just list my first product on TPT? Yes, yes I did.
I’ve been feeling a wee bit under the weather in the past day and couldn’t sleep last night. I decided to work on my organizational binders for this upcoming year and put on The Wiz (I know, I know, I’m a walking cliche) and was hit with a ton of inspiration.
One of the things I love most about the Wizard of Oz is how diverse the story is. There are so many lessons you can learn from it, and as a teacher, so many ways you can utilize those lessons in your classroom. So, naturally, I used quotations from the movie and book to round out my binders and they. fit. perfectly.
I have yet to print + laminate (that’ll be a part of my Monday Made It since I just got my ink refilled at Costco — who knew? — and got a new laminator), so I can’t show you the binders in action… yet. I can, however, share with you my one of favorite covers (it’s hard to choose).
Raise your hand if you think I’m going to use this as a management technique. All hands raised? Great! You’re totally right. I might even play “Ease on Down the Road” to transition out of morning meeting. Who knows! Anything can happen in Oz, er, my classroom!
To celebrate my first paid item in my TPT store, the pack of binder covers + spine labels is on sale for $2.50 until tomorrow at midnight! Head on over and check them out!
Don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win all (now) current and future items in my TPT store! There will be five winners so spread the word!
I’m in a super-de-duper mood to night because I think we might’ve turned a potty-training corner (you have no idea how relieved I am!), the first person to correctly guess my favorite character from the original movie will get a copy of the binder set! Be sure and leave your e-mail!
Oh, Target. You had me at $1.00.
Our local Target turned over their Dollar Spot today to the back-to-school teacher goodies, so I was able to pick up a few more lightbulb stress-relievers for my classroom, and my husband was able to get some globe stress-relievers for his kiddos. (We also got some wipe-off sleeves, but those aren’t as exciting… clearly.)
I decided that I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to create something surrounding the globe stress-relievers, so I added-on to the lightbulb packet I posted this morning to include a “world of possibilities” version for your kiddos. (Even if your local Target lacks either of these stress-relievers, you can find cheap globe stress-relievers online! Yay, Internet!)
So if you have already downloaded the packet, head back on over to my TPT store to re-download! (Or just click the picture below!)
Monday Made It + a Freebie!
I’m excited about today’s Monday Made It, because it’s something I saw on Pinterest and then had no choice but to complete after finding the perfect materials on my Michaels trip.
Moment of silence y’all, for Dorothy-gingham plates — 12 for $1. Perfect for my bulletin board headers (no purchasing of expensive letters!) and my word wall.
I thought that was going to be my only Monday Made It… but then I found these in the Target Dollar Spot:
What is it? A stress-reliever. And so this was born:
I’ve used stress-relievers before in the classroom to give kiddos a little brain-break and some tactile input, but these were begging to be used as a focal point for kiddos that are stuck.
So I created a little packet with a projectable anchor chart, a reproducible anchor chart, the labels, and some guidance on how I utilize stress-relievers in the classroom and plan on using these. You can find it by clicking on the cover below (it’ll take you to it on TPT)!
I would love to know what you’ve utilized in your classroom to get students “unstuck” and on the path to a lightbulb moment — share in the comments!
So there you have it, my Monday Made Its! I’ll be back later today or tomorrow to share a few things I’ve been working on for my classroom, as well as my plan to tackle creating my language arts curriculum for the first few weeks.
Update: Head on over to this post to see what I added to my “encouraging lightbulb moments” packet and re-download it at my TPT store!
Where do I begin?!
Yesterday both Mr. Plum and I were able to get into our classrooms to take some measurements, poke around a bit, and take pictures. I had seen my classroom briefly on Thursday (when we were in the area to look at daycares — *groan*), but I was too overwhelmed to take it all in. I was too excited. Giddy, even.
So, armed with a camera, I entered and UMMMMMMMMMMMMMM, that’s my name beside the door?! Giddy, again, and all focus was lost for about five minutes.
Then I looked at my room number. Y’all, before I even had a job, I knew what my classroom theme was going to be (Wizard of Oz). Therefore — as an affirmation — I started making “teachery” things in that theme, including binder covers. Well, I had to put in a room number in my formatting so that I could change it when I would get my real room number later.
I put room 108.
I’m going to pause here, because you probably know what’s coming.
I’m in room 108. For real. No jokes. My name is under room 108.
After I recovered from that shock, I peeked around the corner, and I saw what appeared to be a closet. I’m just going to lead-off with a homerun here, because I can’t contain my excitement.
Looks like a closet, right? That’s what I assumed. And then I opened it. What’s behind door number one?
A bathroom. Seriously. Pick me up off of the floor!
Once I regained composure, I took photos from all four corners of the room — starting from the door:
After letting it sink in that this was my room, I realized a few things:
- I have a ton of resources. In the closet next to the cubbies are book bins. For each kid. I about fell over. Above the student cubbies? Tons of manipulatives and games. On the bookshelves? A classroom library of leveled books… including all of the Magic Treehouse books.
- I have a ton of storage. Tons. There isn’t going to be an issue organizing and storing my belongings and resources for the kiddos in a way that is accessible to us both. On the back wall, there is even this:
- I have plans for those bins. Big plans. With labels.
- I don’t want a “teacher desk.” I didn’t see one — even in the hallway — and even if I somehow missed it… I don’t want one. There’s a nice raised area at the computer station for adult-sized me, and I can store things that I don’t want my kiddos to access in the cabinets above it.
- There aren’t many bulletin boards or empty wall-space, so I’m going to have to get creative. The wall above the windows is something I have permission to paint and affix things to, so that could potentially be our word wall. We shall see — it’s going to be like putting a puzzle together, figuring out where all of our focus items should go.
- I’m not sure if I have a whiteboard. I thought it was a chalkboard, but I didn’t actually touch it. So… I guess I’ll have to figure that out the next time I’m in my room!
- The biggest realization? I felt at home. That room felt like home.
Since I am brand spankin’ new at this — I need some veteran help. What stands out to you looking at these photos of my classroom? Is there something you think I should do (or avoid doing)? Any tips & tricks?