Monday, July 30, 2012

From drab to fab!

It is that time of year that we all are headed back to our classrooms to prepare for the new school year. Today I spent a good part of the day in my classroom trying to set up my room and create my space for the upcoming year.

The back wall of my room is a collapsible wall. While this does have advantages like being magnetic, being able to open it up to the room next door to create a larger. collaborative space, and is probably more sound proof than the cinder block. The negative is that it is a very dirty (and quite ugly) mauve color. I finally got permission to hot glue on the wall covering at the end of the school year so I have spent the summer looking for great decorating ideas on Pinterest.

Here are a few shots of the work done today. I have a long way to go but it feels good to have a good start.


This is the first section of the wall that I started with. I used plastic table clothes from Party City for $1.99 each. They worked well but were a little thinner than I would have liked.

The first section is complete with the purple covering and the sophisticated B/W boarder.

I wanted to have a clear divide in the sections on the wall to create mulitiple boards so I used a different color for the center section.


The first two sections will hold reading and writing charts that I refer to often during lessons. To the left is the arrangement I have set up for my student teacher. He will have a book shelf and file cabinet to use and a table for his desk. On the opposite side of his book shelf I have placed one of the three book shelves I have for books the kids can read. The other black table will mover over to the right further to be behind my desk.


I didn't spend much time setting up my desk today but I have moved it this year to be at the back of the room and in front of the window. I had to work with our technology department to make the arrangment work since we have to have a computer at the front of the room that will connect to the projector and audio system.


Thursday, July 12, 2012

Combining loves

What is one to do with time on her hands? Combine two of the best hobbies of course.

I decided to make some bookmarks with my Cricut using the Page Pals cartridge through Cricut Craft Room. What did I ever do before this program launched? I love all of the fun things I can create with it.





I also worked on a quote I am planning to put on my door at school.