A feeling of success!

So, today was the last day that I can work on my room for a whole week.  I am certainly not sad about that because in the meantime I will be visiting family in Florida and then meeting up with friends at Disney World! I am super excited!!!

I managed to have a lot of focus today! I started with the cricuting and laminating center at home.  I do love cricuting but I will be glad when I get all my big projects complete!  I think I have about 50 little 2" circle charms to cut out from the laminating stuff still... and I want to make signs for each enhancement (special) so that I can put up which one they have each day.

Then I got lunch and went to my room! The goals for today were to finish unpacking my desk stuff, clear off the counter, put up bulletin boards, unpack the books that go in my teacher cabinet (the picture books I use to teach and some others), and put up the lantern lights.

When I got there, I discovered my cute curtains had fallen down.  I have got to figure out a way to keep them up!  I got all kinds of cute little containers to put my desk stuff in from the dollar section at Target.  They are little Dr. Suess square containers and circle ones with funny faces!  I also was excited because I found little pencils with cupcakes and matching erasers. I am going to actually make a point this year to do birthdays.  They will get their pencil with eraser, a birthday certificate, and get to wear a flashing birthday button.

I pretty much got everything on my list for today done! I am really happy with my bulletin boards for Daily 5.  I have the headings for the I-Charts. I got perfect little business card holders from staples for 1.99 each that I attached to the bottom of the bulletin board to hold their choice charms.    I started the CAFE board, and put up our schedule.  I really liked how the schedule colors look next to each other.  I will use a whiteboard marker to write the times for each thing on it.  I might end up moving it to the other whiteboard though, or maybe just the other side.

I am still waiting for the smartboard to be installed. Hopefully that will happen next week.  Then I can put up my word wall alphabet, and get my last bulletin board ready.  I am still working on task cards but now I get to pack for Disney!

I can't wait to go! I am the biggest kid ever when it comes to Disney, and a pin trading nerd! Whatare your major projects at this point?  

Adventures in Cricuting: Part 1

Ok, so the greastest thing to the classroom since the apple timer has got to be the cricut machine. It is so much fun to Cricut and so incredibly useful.If you don't have one, it is worth the cost. You can even go into it with a friend and then you not only have a Cricut for less money, but someone to Cricut with! :)So, since we got the Cricut (well, since Jess got the Cricut) I have been a Cricuting fool. My roommmate just joked that we might need to have an intervention. In my defense, I was only cleaning up from the cricuting adventure this morning and getting ready to write this post. Here are some things that I have made so far:1. I didn't have an alphabet strip so I made my alphabet for my word wall. My classroom is mostly fish themed, so I have been using the Life is Beach cartridge. For my alphabet, I made 5 1/2 inch Beach balls and Sand Pails. The beach balls are all consonants, and the Sand Pails are the Vowels. 2. Objective boards for each subject. I saw something on Pinterest where you could put cute paper into a cheap frame and write the objective on the plastic with a whiteboard marker. I never did find the cheap frame, but I am thinking the laminating plastic will work just the same. I will put these up on my whiteboard. I made one for Reading, Writing, Math, Science, and Social Studies. 3. Started the elements for Daily 5. I made the label for my daily 5 bulletin board in the shape of a super cute whale. Each choice will have a headline for the bulletin board and then small circle charms that match for students to make their choices for each round. I started Read to Self today. It has a turtle cut out, so its charms also have turtle cutouts. I am going to use the pocket charts from Targets dollar section for the students to make thier choices. What would you make for back to school? I have a pretty long list still, but I am always looking for new ideas!