Back to School Soon!

Hello friends!

I know some of you are back to school already and I am sorry!  I still have a whole month left which is not enough for my never ending to do lists.

The first thing I needed to do was get my fabric for my classroom.  I had a Hollywood theme last two years so I had a lot of red and yellow fabric and I was over it!  So I made a trip to Joann fabrics and was overwhelmed to say the least.  After an hour or so of debating on fabric I decided on these:

I love how they tie in all my colors.  So excited to get my crafting on and attempt a curtain for my room.  

Next on my to do list was to finish my wardrobes and clean off the top because when I left school I literally just shoved everything up there.  So today I got up early and headed into my classroom to find this:

The janitors cleaned my room last week and moved all of my stuff right in front of my wardrobes.

What!!!!

So I spent an hour moving the desks out my way.  Not the way I wanted to spend my morning!

So I covered my ugly wood panel wardrobes with this beautiful wrapping paper. 

I know that there is contact paper out there I can use but let me tell you I tried it and I do not have the patience for it.  I detest air bubbles and they were popping up left and right.  If you have the patience then more power to you.  As for me I looked in the party supply section at Walmart and found this wrapping paper for $3 and I laminated it and mounted taped it onto my wardrobe.  No air bubbles and it was super quick to put up.  I just lined it with sparkly duct tape and voila I was done!

I redid my word wall as well.  

I love the pop of color.  

I redid my weekly drawers.  Look how cute they came out.  They are from Learning in Wonderland just click on the link.

The last thing I did today was update my table cubbies.  They were looking pretty boring so I decided to cutesify them.  

             

Today was a pretty productive day.  I will go back to school tomorrow and get some more done.  

Im trying to get as much done this week because next week my family and I are heading to Legoland.  

We are so excited!

Ok goodnight friends.

 

Instagram!

Hello friends,

I am checking in really quick to let you know that I am now on Instagram.  Just click on the button on the left side and head on over.  I am following a lot of my favorite bloggers on there because they share so many cute pictures.  Hope to see you soon over there!

 

Happy 4th sale!

 Hello Friends,

In honor of 4th of July my entire store is on sale.  Just click on the pic to head on over to my store!

Chevron and Polkadots!

Hello Friends,

I have big news!  I am changing my theme this year.  Although I loved my Hollywood theme I needed a change.  I am not going with an actual theme this year but more of a pattern and colors.  I am in love with chevron like most of you but I wanted something more.  So I decided to mix patterns and do chevron and polkadots.
Let me tell you friends I am in love!!!

So today I was super productive and got things printed, laminated and cut.  I will try to go into school and put it up next week.  I cant wait to see these up in my room.  

This was my giant pile of lamination.  

I have a confession.  I love cutting lamination.  I love sitting on the couch with my feet up and a stack of lamination.  Please tell me I am not the only weirdo!

Check it out.

You can click on any of the pics to head on over to my store.

     

This is my new alphabet line.  As you can see the top is chevron and the bottom is polkadot and it has beautiful graphics from Krista over at Creative Clips.  

Im in love!!!

This is my new color line.  

Are you as obsessed with Melonheadz as I am.  Love her graphics.  

This is my number line.

It has a beautiful teal polkadot background and gray chevron.  

This is my word wall.  I will be uploading this soon.  It will be editable so that you could add the words that you are working with in your classroom.  

I tried to stick to gray, hot pink, lime green, teal, and neon yellow.  I just love how those colors pop off that gray color without making it look too girly.  

This is my new clipchart.  It is from Lori and Teaching with Love and Laughter. 

love, love, love the graphics.  Guess what Lori is so amazing that she is giving this as a freebie on her facebook page.  Thank you! Thank you!

Go check out all my Chevron and Polkadot themed itemes now cause I put them on sale!!!!

They are all 20% off until July 5th.  

 

Help! I'm drowning in paper.

 Hello friends,

I have been enjoying summer break so much.
I love looking at all the things teachers do during the summer. 

This e card truly says it all

I have been on a mission to get back in shape.  I started back in January but have been hitting it really hardcore this summer.  I am on a mission to hit my pre-baby weight.  I'm not talking about baby #2, I  mean pre-baby #1.  At first I dreaded every minute of working out.  Now it truly has become second nature.  I also love that I am working out with my best bud. Its so much fun when you are doing it with someone.  I am happy to say I have lost 18 lbs so far.  I still have a way to go but I am loving all these new muscles that are showing up.  I must admit that I have a flex session every time I come from the gym.  It might be silly but it keeps me motivated.  Ha!

Well back to the point of my post.  I have been going in to school twice a week since summer break. Another mission of mine this summer is to get organized.  Let me tell you the work out is much easier.  I am tackling my file cabinets and they are a hot mess!

When I first started teaching I filed everything in monthly folders.  So everything I did in September went in one folder.  Then I continued the year like that.  So by the end of my first year I had 9 really fat folders.  They were literally filled to the brim.

The next year I decided to continue the monthly filing but I took it a step further and divided stuff into thematic folders within the month.


This is what it looked like.  As you can see it is still pretty full and looks messy!

So then 2 years ago I decided enough was enough I was going to file everything according to the week it happened in the month.  So I had a September week 1, September week 2 and so on.  This worked really well because it helped me tame my piles because I only had to keep on copy of what we did for my file.  Then I could look back and see what I did the first week of September for years to come.

Not a great picture but you can see how its divided.

Well last year this method was really good because it really helped with planing.  My teammate and I were able to go to week 1 and see what we did the previous year and decide what we wanted to redo or what we wanted to change.   It made planning sooooo much easier.  The only problem was when weeks didn't align but it wasn't too bad because you would just have to look through the weeks.  Another problem I had was with the things we didn't use.  Do I leave it in the folder and then add the new stuff we did that week?  Which now makes a huge file.I also never got rid of my thematic monthly files because sometimes I didn't want to do what we did last year, so I went to my trusty thematic files and pulled some new activity out.

So now I am starting my 5th year and I refuse to start with this file cabinet.  I need to let go of papers that I have never used and are super old and find a new system.  So as hard as it is for me because friends I will be the first to admit it.

I am a Hoarder!

I literally keep everything because you never know when you are going to use it.
its a serious problem people!

So I have been busy throwing paper away.


This is my 4th bag of just old files that I have never used or will never use.


I have 2 empty file drawers but still need to work on the other 2.

My question is this:

How do you file your thematic or everyday papers that you want to keep for future years?  Stuff you have done with your kiddos.  Like your math, reading, etc. files.  What do you do to tame the paper mountain?

Help!

Monday Meet me

                                                   
                       I am linking up with The Teaching Tribune for 'Monday Meet Me'! 
                                                     
                                                     

                                             Here is a little info about me:

 Head over to The Teaching Tribune to link up or leave a comment below so I can get to know you, too!

XOXO

Cindy

The Big Sale is Happening Now!

Hey Friends,
Im sure you already know that the big sale has started.  If you don't, TPT is throwing a big teacher appreciation sale. You can get up to 28% off of your purchase. So walk, no run, well no actually click as fast as you can on the banner to take advantage of this sale.



XOXO
Cindy