Books Buddies

I'm SOOO excited!!!!  Look what came in the mail today:

I bought these bright, colorful totes from Oriental Trading and couldn't be happier.  They were just what I was hoping for!  I'm going to be filling them with books for the students to take home each week.  Here are some of the books I'll be putting inside:

Each tote will hold six books that vary in genre and reading level.  The kiddos will be able to check out a Book Buddy on Monday and keep it at home until Thursday.  What a great way to practice nightly reading!! 

Target Love

HOLY MOLY!!!  Does anyone love the Target Dollar Spot like me?  I can't believe all the goodies I've picked up for my classroom over the summer.  Check out this picture of my most recent purchases:

  Dollar Spot Deals

I was SO excited when I found out they had Dr. Seuss items in the dollar section!!  What a GREAT find!  :)

Cleaning and Organizing - Day 1

Phew, I am EXHAUSTED!!!  I made a visit to my classroom this morning thinking I was just going to drop a few things off; well I got there around 8:00 am and I didn't get home until after FIVE tonight!  Once I got in there and saw everything that needed to be done, I just couldn't stop!  Everything was in a huge pile (literally) in the center of my classroom.  Desks were turned upside down; bookshelves were on top of desks; crayon and marker bins were stacked high; it was unreal.  And that doesn't even begin to explain how things looked inside the closets; they were jam-packed FULL of things!!  There was no organization inside of them what-so-ever.  Of course that's no one's fault but my own.  When I moved classrooms in June, I had no desire to be there.  Instead of taking the time to organize then, I just had my husband and in-laws shove things anywhere they could make them fit.  Boy did I regret that decision when I opened them up today!  Surprisingly though, I was able to get most of the things cleaned up today.  I guess it could have been a lot worse.  I probably only need one more day of cleaning and organizing and then I can start on the fun...decorating!  I didn't even touch my bins of decorations today because I knew there would be no turning back.  I need to completely finish all the yucky stuff before I start in on the fun, cutesy decorating.  I'm going to post a few pictures of the classroom, but keep in mind that the pictures were taken after most of the pile was moved.  We were about three quarters of the way into it when I started shouting to my husband, "OH NO!  I FORGOT TO TAKE BEFORE PICTURES!!!"  Ugh, oh well; you'll still be able to get a good idea of what it looked like.  Here they are...

This is a view from my door; after we had moved most of the big things. 

Looking at the pile from the front of my classroom.  

Looking at the pile from the back of my classroom.  

I'm so ashamed of this picture.  

My closets have never EVER been this disorganized!!

Okay, well there you have it folks.  That's what I spent my whole entire day trying to tackle.  I must admit I'm pretty proud of everything I accomplished today.  What a HUGE task!  Now I think I'm ready for bed!!!  :)

Summers are for relaxing...wait, what?

Have you ever heard someone say, "Teachers have it so easy; they only work nine months out of the year."?  Well, I'm here to tell ya that people with those beliefs are SILLY!  It's true that I have some time away from my students during the summer months, but that does not mean that I'm not working.  In all my years of teaching, I have never taken a summer "off".  Today I'm here to show you just some of the things I've been working on this *week*. 

Yesterday, when I wasn't busy trying to figure out this whole blogging thing, I made a little trip to my good ol' go-to craft store, Michael's.  Why did I go there?  Because I had a 25% off coupon and I just knew I could find something for my classroom!  Well after wandering around for about an hour, I left there with a cartload of goodies and some fun classroom projects.  I would like you to meet Mrs. Tattle:

 Mrs. Tattle is going to replace an ugly (okay, cute) little tattle box that I had in my classroom in the past.  Her purpose is to give children an outlet for those not-so-serious situations that they feel like telling someone about.  Example - "Johnny has four pencils in his desk and he's only supposed to have two."  Of course Mrs. Tattle won't make her appearance until we've had plenty of time to distinguish the difference between important things that we need to tell an adult versus less important things that we can tell Mrs. Tattle. 

My other projects this week were much simpler (well, for me) than Mrs. Tattle because they only required my computer, the printer, and lots of cute fonts and clip art.  I'd like to thank DJ Inkers for all the fonts and clip art that make my teaching life so much cuter!  The first picture shows my adorable lesson plan book for this upcoming school year.  I'm in love!  I had so much fun creating it that I also made one for Mr. Weber. 

The next picture shows some of the class book covers I've been creating for the first week of school.  I'm going to mount the pages onto construction paper, laminate, and then use them as a cover for the class books my little darlings are going to write the first week of school.  I still have several more to create, but this is a good start. 

In addition to the class book covers, I've also been typing and creating several handouts that I will be using at Curriculum Night.  Some of them are questionnaires; some are just letters explaining my classroom policies and expectations.  I know one thing is certain; I've used up a lot of ink this week!!    

Finally, I've been racking my brain this week trying to come up with a new idea for a back-to-school bulletin board.  Last year I did this really cute iPod.  What should I do this year?  Hmmmmm......

Well, it's Sunday, so I guess that's it for this week.  Tomorrow I'm going into my classroom to see how it looks after the summer cleaning.  I'll post pictures of all that excitement tomorrow!