A New Use for Old Christmas Cards

Christmas is over.  Now comes dreaded winter.  I don't mind the cold weather in December.  I do mind it January through March.  It's just no fun.  I still look forward to snow days, but after 12+ last year, even snow days got tiresome.

How many of you still receive Christmas cards?  We got a few this year.  Mostly, our friends send photo cards.  It's fun to see the pictures each year, and I usually keep them in a magnetic photo album.  So what do I do with the "old fashioned" cards?  Some of them are so pretty, I hate to just throw them away...one of my hoarding tendencies (I'm working on it, ok?).  So I don't throw them away, I repurpose them!  How many times do you have students come to you asking for a bookmark?  That's right, I cut up those old greeting cards into bookmarks for my students.  A pretty and practical use for the old Christmas cards!

I'm a Bad, Bad Blogger!

I have no idea how you other moms and teachers do it!  I am nearly drowning this year and blogging has been one of the last things on my mind.  My sister asked me to write a blog post for her travel blog, Glam Girls Travel and it got me in the mood to write again!  I'll let you guys know when it gets posted--it's all about traveling with young children.

I think I posted a while back that I was going to try out self-contained this year.  Well...it's going!  I do miss teaching reading all day long!  I also miss only having to prep for reading & language arts.  I do like having the same kids throughout the day, though. It can be challenging at times, but I do feel like I have a better grasp on behaviors and their progress in school in all subjects.  My teammate and I have discussed it and I think we have decided to go back to switching next year...one of the main reasons being....

I'm having a baby!  

We're expecting a little girl in May!  So, does that get me off the hook for not blogging since August?  All you moms out there know what that first trimester exhaustion is like.  Well, mine still hasn't gone away and I'm 26 weeks.  Today is actually the first day that I feel like my energy is coming back.  Thank goodness!  I'm even considering going into school tomorrow to get some stuff done that has been neglected for far too long. 

I'm also getting ready to start Math Workstations this week.  I was busy creating some games during family movie night (luckily my hubs and kid gets it!)  I went to Dollar Tree earlier and got some dice, playing cards, flash cards, and some containers to house everything.  Once I work out the kinks and see how things run, I will definitely be posting more.  I know it's going to take some trial and error, given this is my first go-round!  

Well, I hope everyone is having a great weekend and I hope my fellow midwesterners are staying warm!  It was 45 degrees here today, which is a heat wave compared to the -35 wind chills we were having three days ago!  I am going to make a goal to post at least once a week from now on, so stick with me!  

Week-end Randomness

Look what I've been up to this week....

Yep, that's what my room looked like when I walked in this week.  Actually, I had been in one time before and moved two bookshelves and left.  Haha.  No, really, I had the kid with me and he was way too bored.  This is what happened:  

At the end of the first day of mission: organization, this is what the room looked like:

I arranged the desks first, on the advice of a seasoned veteran.  I was complaining how it's just so overwhelming when you first walk in and you just don't know where to start!  In a previous post, I wrote about how I still was unsure how I wanted to arrange my room.  Well, I decided to make the group meeting area in front of the Smart Board.  I arranged the desks in tables scattered around that meeting area.  I need to buy another rug because the one I have is too small, but you can see the corner of it in the bottom right picture.  In the top picture, I have organized my library.  Once that was done, it finally started to feel like a classroom again.  I organize my library by genre.  I use the black dishpans you can buy at the Dollar Tree.  The red bins came from Scholastic when my district ordered 900 books for each grade level!  I try to keep them separate as best as I can, so the Scholastic books go in the red bins and the books I have purchased go in the others.  

You might see I have some bulletin boards already done.  I actually left some things up from last year because I knew they weren't going to be painting.  My Daily 5 posters are still up, but that was just an oversight and I will be taking them down because I make them with my students while we are launching each component of Daily 5.  

My first official day back is not until Tuesday, but I am working Monday as though it is a real work day.  My mom is actually going to come in and scan books into my Booksource app while I do other things around the room.  It's always nice to have a helper and to help me stay focused.  Otherwise, I end up spending a lot of time talking to friends and coworkers that I haven't seen all summer!  

Another little excitement in my life is...da-da-dah...

That's right, I ordered an Erin Condren teacher planner!  I went back and forth, and I found one similar on Etsy that was less-expensive, but she really sold me on that You Tube video posted on the EC site!  I decided I MUST have one.  So I spent a little extra dough and added extra checklists and additional plastic page protectors and hopefully it will be everything I hoped it would be.  

Another really random thing from this week, but kinda goes along with my EC planner is these new pens...

Have you seen these yet?  They are Pilot Frixion GEL pens...that are ERASEABLE!!  What?!  AYFKM?  That's short for "Are You Freaking Kidding Me?!"  They are amazing!!!  Someone I follow on Twitter tweeted about them and how they are on sale on Amazon, so I splurged.  I bought two sets.  That's how much I KNEW I was going to love these pens.  And my expectations are exceeded.  Yes, they are that amazing.  And they're super colorful, and so much fun to use to write in my new EC planner!!  By the way, they are still on sale and the $2 clickable coupon is still active, so go buy them now!  

One last exciting thing that happened this week is...

Yep, that's what you think it is.  The Quiestest Pencil Sharpener from Classroom Friendly Supplies.  

You know what that means?  A review and a giveaway is coming soon!!

Oriental Trading-Hall Passes

I bought these hall passes last year from Oriental Trading and I loved them and wanted to share them with all of you!  They hold up so well, and they are lanyards, so you don't have to worry about where they are being set down (or dropped into) in the bathroom!  I hang the restroom passes on a command hook by my door and the others stay behind my desk to use at my discretion.  They are only $8 for all six passes!  Oriental Trading also has a customer appreciation event that lasts through tomorrow, with free shipping and a $10 gift card on orders over $49. I also got myself some letter stamps (the ones I bought at Target last year did not hold up well), a personalized sign for my door that coordinates with my sports theme, and a soccer ball and basketball easter baskets-don't have a use for them yet, but I will definitely find something (only $4.25 each!).